Duality--Food for Thought

This is for the people that don't understand what duality is, or for those that would appreciate a better understanding of it. This should provide a better example through something that we deal with on a daily basis; colour.


Think about colours quickly. Most people see them all day, every day. Blue skies. Green grass. Have you ever thought about how they work? (Yes, this pertains to duality. I'll try to keep this short.)

In this example we will use a leaf. Most people are aware that the leaf is in fact green. What makes it green? Light. Light is comprised of ALL colours. They shine down from the sun and hit the leaf. Now, all the colours get absorbed EXCEPT green. Green gets reflected back at you and that is the colour that you see. This is how colour is seen. It is a reflection. A basic question you must ask yourself is this; is the leaf green...or is it every colour BUT green?


Here is where I will tie duality and colour together.

Picture a table with a white piece of paper completely covering one half of the table, black on the other half. Light hits the white and all colour is reflected toward you, thus you see it as a white paper. Light also shines on the black paper, the difference is that on the black all colour is absorbed instead. Now, since all of the colour is reflected toward you on the white, technically it means that it has no colour. What do we call something with no colour? Black.


Stay with me. The black absorbs ALL colour. No colour is reflected because it has all of the colour. What is an object with all colour? White.

So duality: is the white paper actually black/is the black paper actually white?


You be the judge!

Here's a quick source to get your gears rolling on your research

Merriam Webster's defines Duality as the quality or state of having two parts. Totally understand the definition. Thanks.

Why did you hurt Lincoln?

I'd say that is a good premise for duality. However, more about the end result of duality and not the initially apparent dichotomy. Such as the Taiji symbol, it is black and white but when it spins in motion, it is one solid color of grey.

reply to post by ErroneousDylan


Sorry about Lincoln! :/

I am aware of it being grey in motion. I was trying to stur thoughts in you guys. When I realized it, I had to tell someone. It's weird to think about. That white is technically black and black is technically white.

reply to post by Theophorus


Thank you for your time in reading and posting on this.