Literary notes about duality (AI summary)
In literature, duality is often invoked as a metaphorical tool to capture the tension and interplay between opposing forces in both the human experience and the cosmos. Authors use the concept to explore internal conflicts—such as the division between reason and understanding [1] or the dual aspects of the mind [2]—while also examining the broader, metaphysical contrasts between creation and the divine [3] and the finite and infinite [4]. This recurring theme not only underscores the inherent paradoxes of our existence but also suggests that what appear to be polar opposites might ultimately converge into a deeper, unified reality [5][6].
- In truth, however, the English duality between prudence and science is no more fundamental than the German duality between reason and understanding.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - We speak of "the duality of the human mind," but here are half a dozen spirits in one.
— from Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 01 Little Journeys to the Homes of Good Men and Great by Elbert Hubbard - To rise above the duality of creation and perceive the unity of the Creator was conceived of as man's highest goal.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - The result of our preceding article was a supreme duality—the infinite and the finite.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 10, October, 1869 to March, 1870 by Various - The ultimate duality revealed by the complex vision is a duality on both sides of which we have unfathomable abysses of consciousness.
— from The Complex Vision by John Cowper Powys - The ancient Vedic scriptures declare that the physical world operates under one fundamental law of maya , the principle of relativity and duality.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
