The Art of Balance: How Embracing Your “Opposites” Leads to Success

The Problem: Making a villain out of your “opposites”

In modern society, we’ve been conditioned to see what we think of as “opposite” to us as our enemy. As a result, we bias toward one side of something and view the other side as “bad”. For example:

Hustle culture teaches that work is more important than sleep, so you should sleep as little as possible and work as much as possible to achieve success. But if you don’t sleep, you’ll burn out, become unable to work, and ultimately be forced to stop working altogether.
Quiet quitting tells you to do the bare minimum at your job so you can have an enjoyable life. But by doing this you’ll get fired, which causes massive stress as you now have to frantically figure out a way to make money. Leading you away from the “enjoyable life” that quiet quitting promised.
Extroverts tell you that success is all about networking and selling all day long. However, if you don’t take time to be introverted occasionally, you won’t be able to identify issues with your business or product improvements which might take things to the next level.
Introverts tell you that success is all about coding their app or building cool products, but if you’re not extroverted from time to time, you won’t promote your products, people will never discover them and you’ll never make any money.
Spiritual people tell you to disregard money and material possessions altogether. But by doing this you’re unable to pay the bills, groceries and rent, ultimately leading you to chronic stress day to day and therefore never actually being able to attain “enlightenment” they promised
Business people tell you that spirituality is stupid. But with this mindset, you’ll constantly chase the next thing, so much so that even if you attain that Lambo, it doesn’t bring you any joy or fulfillment
“Alpha male” philosophy teaches you to “put your purpose first”, ahead of your woman. But by doing this, you end up working all day, never spending any time with your her, leading her to leave you altogether!
“Beta male” philosophy teaches you to simp and “white night” your girl. But by doing this, your neediness pushes her away as she’s turned off by the fact you are too obsessed with her and don’t have a life of your own

On the surface biasing to a single philosophy, or side of something seems like the right way to live. I’m part of “this” group and “they” are the enemy, what could be wrong with that?

The problem is that what you deem as your “opposite” or “enemy” has qualities that you need to embody more if you want to be successful in life.

For example:

“Alpha males” need more “compassion” and “love” which they learn from “beta” males
“Beta males” need more “assertiveness” and “leadership” which they learn from “alpha” males
Spiritual people need more “pragmatism” and “money” which they learn from “business people”
Business people need more “presence” and “gratitude” which they learn from “spiritual people”
Introverts need more “marketing”, “sales” and “self-promotion” which they learn from “extroverts”
Extroverts need more “introspection” and “analysis” which they learn from “introverts”

Imbalance is what causes suffering, chaos and failure. Balance is what leads to life, joy and success. This concept of balance between opposites has been talked about extensively throughout history. First let’s see how this concept is discussed in Hermetic philosophy.

Hermetic Philosophy: The Principle of Polarity

According to The Kybalion, a book that explores Hermetic philosophy, there are seven Hermetic principles that explain the nature of the universe. One of these is the Principle of Polarity, which states that everything in the universe has what we, as humans, perceive as “opposites.” For example:

Hot and cold
Love and hate
Light and dark

We’ve been taught to see these pairs as opposites. But Hermetic philosophy suggests that they’re not actually opposites—they’re just different degrees of the same thing.

Think about temperature and darkness:

Is cold really the opposite of heat? Or is it simply the absence of heat?
Is darkness really the opposite of light? Or is it just the absence of light?

If you want to make a room dark, you don’t “create” darkness—you remove light by turning off the switch. Darkness isn’t a real thing; it’s just the absence of light. Similarly, cold is just the absence of heat.

This is what the Principle of Polarity means: opposites aren’t truly opposites—they’re different degrees of the same thing.

From The Kybalion (Chapter 10):

"Like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled."

Let’s break this down:

“Like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree”: This means that the fundamental nature of things we perceive as opposites is the same—only the degree differs (e.g., heat and cold are both forms of energy, just at different levels).
“Extremes meet”: For example, if you travel far enough west, you’ll eventually end up in the east. Similarly, extreme freedom (no rules) and extreme authoritarianism (too many rules) both lead to chaos. They may seem different, but they produce similar outcomes.
“All truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled”: This means that every belief is only partially true. For example, saying “conservative ideas are correct” or “woke ideas are stupid” is mere a half-truth. The reality is that there is some truth to every idea. There is no absolute truth, or “absolute correct” viewpoint.

What the Kybalion suggests is to transcend this way of perceiving the world where you see others and things as “opposites” and instead, see them as fundamentally the same thing, but just different degrees.

The Taoist View: Yin and Yang

This idea of reconciling opposites isn’t unique to Hermetic philosophy. It’s also found in Taoism, where it’s represented by the yin and yang symbol. Yin and yang symbolize the balance between opposites. They remind us that embracing both sides of something—rather than demonizing one—leads to harmony and success.

From the Tao Te Ching (Chapter 2):

“Being and non-being create each other. Difficult and easy support each other. Long and short define each other. High and low depend on each other. Before and after follow each other.”

From the Tao Te Ching (Chapter 42):

“All things carry yin and embrace yang. They reach harmony by blending with the vital force.”

This teaches us that the “opposites” we perceive in life are actually interdependent (they benefit each other). What we demonize as our enemy is actually our friend. By reconciling opposing views, we can take the positive attributes of each and apply them to our lives for greater success.

From my observation of politics, I can see that both the liberals and conservatives need a dash bit more of they’re perceived “enemy’s” qualities. For example:

Liberals tend to be highly emotional and illogical in their reasoning. This can be good because it shows they have empathy for others, however, empathy and love for others without discernment is foolishness. This is why liberals need more discernment, logic and wisdom (which the conservatives seem to have more of).
Conservatives tend to be highly logical and rational. This can be good because it means they make sound policy decisions. However, this logic often comes with being excessively cruel and lacking in compassion, leading to decisions which may be too extreme. This is why conservatives need more compassion and empathy (which they can learn from their liberal neighbors).

If we blended both the compassion of the liberals with the logic and reason of the conservatives, we have the perfect balance. Someone who is fundamentally reason driven, but also cares about the well-being of others.

Changing Your Inner Nature: The Key to Reconciling Opposites

Ultimately, adopting this new way of perceiving the world comes down to shifting your inner nature. If your inner nature is imbalanced, you’ll fall into judgment and demonize the “other.” To avoid this, you must cultivate an inner state of goodness, love and forgiveness to those who you view as your “enemy”.

Matthew 5:44-45 (Love Your Enemies):

"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

As we can see from that passage, God doesn’t just rise the sun on the good, but also the evil too! This teaches us to treat everyone—those we like and dislike—with love and kindness. By loving everyone, we can begin to embody the traits which we have rejected.

The Battery: A Real-World Example of Non-Opposite

To further illustrate why you must reconcile your “opposites” if you want the highest level of success in your life, consider a battery. For electricity to flow, a battery must have two oppositely charged poles: a positive and a negative. If both poles were of the same charge, no electricity would flow.

Similarly, in life, we need both “poles” for energy to flow. If we reject one side—whether it’s rest, relationships, or opposing viewpoints—we block the flow of success. By embracing both sides, we enable money, relationships, opportunities etc. to flow into our life.

The Law of Diminishing Returns: How to recognize when to switch modes

The Law of Diminishing Returns states that the more we invest in something, the less return we get over time. For example, if you listen to the same song on repeat, you’ll eventually get sick of it. The same principle applies to life.

If you over-invest in one area—whether it’s work, a set of beliefs, a political viewpoint, or a lifestyle—you’ll reach a tipping point where the returns (benefits) diminish or even become negative. When this happens, this is your cue to switch modes and introduce the “opposite” into your life. Once you’ve reached diminishing returns with the “opposite”, you then bring yourself back to the original mode again. So on and so fourth.

This is no different from basic cycles of life like work and sleep. When you wake up in the morning, you have tons of energy but as you go about your day, your energy diminishes. Finally, the end of the day, you go to sleep to recharge. After a certain amount of sleep, you’ve reached the “diminishing returns” of sleep (where further sleep makes you more lethargic) and at that point, it’s time to get up.

In fitness, you may be working too much and not resting enough. Without rest, you cannot build muscle. So you’ll need to figure out the right balance between work and rest.

In business, you may be overly introverted and spending too much time building products. However, without promotion, you won’t make any money.

So the key to perfect balance is to identify the “point of diminishing returns” of the mode you’re currently in. At this point, switch modes and fully embrace that side of things.

Practical Steps: How to stop demonizing your opposites

Identify What You Judge as “Bad”: What do you suppress? What types of people or ideas do you hate? Write these down.
Understand the Underlying Principles: For example, if you’re politically left, you don’t need to adopt all right-wing ideas—but you’ll benefit from embracing concepts like self-reliance, personal responsibility or rational thinking.
Stop Judging Things as “Good” or “Bad”: Remember, all truths are half-truths. Detach from societal conditioning and embrace a more balanced, “holy” way of thinking.

Recap

There Are No Opposites: All “opposites” are different degrees of the same thing. To achieve success, reconcile these opposites by bringing love and understanding to both sides.
Balance Is Key: Too much of one thing becomes toxic. Embrace the balance represented by the yin and yang symbol.
Cultivate Inner Goodness: Don’t let external circumstances dictate your inner state. Embrace a nature of love and kindness, regardless of who or what you’re dealing with. Forgive and love your enemies as Jesus said.

By adopting this new mindset, you’ll create flow in your life, attract abundance, and achieve greater success in all areas—wealth, health, relationships, and more. Remember, success starts with your inner state. Change that, and the rest will follow.