Dichotomies and Dualities

So I finished Ender's Game last Wednesday, and watched Crash (on TV, for all you ultra-conservatives out there) for the second time last night, and have since been waxing philosophical on the idea that human nature can be fragmented-- that a rational being can contain contradicting beliefs and ideals that will never coincide nor agree with one another. (Well, at least not in this life. But I will return to that later.) At this point you are probably thinking "why thank you Captain Obvious... welcome to the world in which we live"; but I hope not. This is really interesting. Or else I'm REALLY REALLY bored and grasping at straws.

It's amazing how apt we are to spot this division in others. How we can look at another person's character and judge them for their discontinuities (the whole "i-saw-him-partying-last-night- and-now-he's-blessing-the-sacrament-what-a-hypocrite" idea), yet glaze over our own. I won't lie... I've done it. We all have. It's an almost subconscious thing at times, how we judge others. It's a pesky part of that whole natural man thing, and I think it's the reason for most of our earthly problems. And I think we're more prone to point out our flaws in other people, rather than recognizing them in ourselves. Just a thought.

It makes sense, then, that part of the reason we are here is to combat those internal dichotomies that could eventually tear us from where we're supposed to end up. Maybe the reason we are so dichotomous is to push us beyond our normal limits, and force us to utilize the intellect that we've been given. I mean, there's a reason why we're not gorillas people. We are human. We are rational.

But we all have vices. We all have little guilty pleasures in our lives that probably do, or have the potential to, directly oppose our end goal. The whole point is to work at it. Like watching a rated R movie on TV... or listening to edited rap. Whatever. (Not that I'm judging those who either watch rated R movies or listen to unedited rap, I am merely employing typical LDS-type examples here because it is within my frame of reference.) The point is that no matter who you are or what you believe in, there is most likely something you enjoy right now that contradicts your core belief system. Some little vice that could be harmless or could destroy. And you are the only one who can determine which it will be.