The Principle of Polarity is the fourth Hermetic principle as stated in The Kybalion.
It’s explained in the following quote.
“Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; 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.”
– The Kybalion
But what does this all mean and how can we apply this principle of polarity to our lives?
It begins with understanding Duality.
The Law Of Polarity And The illusion of Duality
In the English language, we have a plethora of words to describe distinct attributes of certain phenomena.
For temperature we have hot and cold.
For height we distinguish with tall and short.
It’s common to hear people saying things like,
Hitler was evil and the Budha was good.
But these words are subjective and do not hint at any true reality.
For instance, some people would say Australia is hot.
But how hot is Australia compared to the Sahara Desert?
How about the Sahara Desert when compared to the surface of the sun?
Some people might say the basketball player Shaquille O’Neal is tall.
But had he stood next to Robert Wadlow the tallest man ever recorded (8-foot-11),
He would have looked short.
As you can see, many of the words used as adjectives only make sense within relative measures.
These words have been created to help us make sense of the world.
The objective world has no use for words like hot and cold.
“Look at your thermometer and see if you can discover where “heat” terminates and “cold” begins! There is no such thing as “absolute heat” or “absolute cold” — the two terms “heat” and “cold” simply indicate varying degrees of the same thing,”
From a universal perspective there is only ever one phenomena manifesting at different degrees.
Cold is less heat.
You can’t increase the cold in a room, you can however remove some of the heat.
Darkness is the absence of light.
You can’t increase the darkness of a room, you simply remove some of the light.
In a pitch dark room, nocturnal animals can still see because their eyes are better attuned to pick up the scattered light particles.
What looks dark to you, looks normal to them.
Silence is just less noise,
If you had a powerful microphone you would hear an orchestra of activity in a ‘silent’ room.
The concept of duality in all spheres of manifestation is a stubborn illusion.
This is why the Hermetics say.
all truths are but half-truths,
what you might consider a truth from your subjective view might be a falsehood when viewed from another perspective.
The Principle of Polarity on The Mental and Spiritual Planes
The second Hermetic principle of Correspondence states that there is a correspondence of the Hermetic Laws across all planes.
This means that the phenomena we see on the physical plane is a reflection of what is seen on the higher planes (Mental and Spirit).
“As above so below.”
Hence, the law of Polarity also applies to Mental and Spiritual phenomena.
On the physical plane we saw how there was no difference between concepts such as hot and cold, light and dark.
The same idea applies to concepts of the higher planes such as emotions,
“Let us take a radical and extreme example — that of “Love and Hate,” two mental states apparently totally different. And yet there are degrees of hate and degrees of Love,”
– The Kybalion
We have all seen examples of couples who were madly in love with each other.
Everything about them seemed perfect, but something happens, and things get very ugly.
Perhaps it all ends with a painful divorce and with resentment and hurt felt by both parties.
“Many of you, who read these lines, have had personal experiences of the involuntary rapid transition from Love to Hate, and the reverse,”
– The Kybalion
How can things change so rapidly?
Things change because love and hate operate on the same line.
There is no such thing as hate only love of differing degrees.
Very low levels of love are perceived as hate.
Just as quickly as a room full of light can be darkened at the flick of a switch,
Love can transform into ‘hate’.
People can polarize themselves very quickly from one end of the spectrum to another.
This is why ‘crimes of passion’ tend to be the most brutal.
Let’s look at another example,
What’s the difference between courage and fear?
Nothing, they are just differing degrees of the same stuff.
“Take the case of a Fearful man. By raising his mental vibrations along the line of Fear-Courage, he can be filled with the highest degree of Courage and Fearlessness.”
– The Kybalion
A scared cat when cornered can transform its fear into courage.
It can quickly begin to resemble a powerful tiger.
The art of alchemy is learning to transmute mental states at will.
The student of Hermetic Philosophy with sufficient training will be able to transmute fear into courage.
Sickness into health.
Poverty into wealth.
Why?
Because they are all the same things, he simply needs to polarize his mind to the desired outcome.
As long as the mental alchemist is working within the same class of a thing he can find success.
Rules for The Principle of Polarity
Things belonging to different classes cannot be transmuted into each other…Thus Love never becomes East or West, or Red or Violet — but it may and often does turn into Hate and likewise.
– The Kybalion
Within our limited human perspective it’s best to play by the rules and focus on distinct categories.
Perhaps on higher planes the distinction between colour and sound, direction and light become blurred.
The Kybalion hints at this idea by claiming there is vertical correspondence between planes.
Imagine, that the higher spiritual plane is on one end and the lower physical plane on the other.
“They show that THE ALL and The Many are the same, the difference being merely a matter of degree of Mental Manifestation.”
– The Kybalion
This is why people claiming they are GOD might be partially correct.
They are not THE ALL, but a manifestation of THE ALL to a small degree.
They have the divine spark.
Imagine THE ALL being an incomprehensible realm of blinding light and the average human being a lone photon floating in some dark sector of space.
It’s the same substance manifesting at different degrees on different planes.
What a mindsmash!
How To Use The Principle of Polarity
We have talked about many deep concepts.
Now it’s time for some practical applications of The Principle of Polarity.
How can we polarize our minds to a desired state?
Say we are feeling sad or depressed.
We know sadness is just the absence of happiness.
How do we polarize our mental vibrations to a higher level of happiness?
As stated in the principle of vibration this is done by an effort of ‘Will’.
“Every thought, emotion or mental state has its corresponding rate and mode of vibration. And by an effort of the will of the person, or of other persons, these mental states may be reproduced, just as a musical tone may be reproduced by causing an instrument to vibrate at a certain rate.”
– The Kybalion
The mind is an instrument, and you need to learn how to play the notes.
Visualization is a powerful tool you can use to create desired emotions.
NLP anchoring is another great way to tune into a desired sensation.
You need to practice sitting in the desired state without the influence of outside events, this way you can call it whenever you need.
The idea is to train your subconscious mind to follow the commands of your conscious mind.
“the Masters, knowing the rules of the game, rise above the plane of material life.”
– The Kybalion
The more your practice the easier it will be the call upon a certain emotion when needed.
Typically, this process happens unconsciously for most people.
Various traumas can make it easier for you to call upon a certain emotion, even at inappropriate times.
Perhaps you are easily angered or often burst into tears at the slightest provocation.
You can regain control through understanding the law of polarization.
Remember the physical plane is a reflection of the higher Mental and Spiritual Planes.
The physical sensation in your body caused by negative emotions can be reversed when you polarize your mind on something positive in the mental spheres.
At any time you can switch the light and watch the darkness disappear.
A great philosophy which will aid you in this process is Stoicism.
Using The Principle of Polarity for Psychic Influence
“When it is understood that Mental Induction is possible, that is that mental states may be produced by “induction” from others, then we can readily see how a certain rate of vibration, or polarization of acertain mental state, may be communicated to another person…For instance, a person is “blue,” melancholy and full of fear. A mental scientist bringing his own mind up to the desired vibration by his trained will, and thus obtaining the desired polarization in his own case, then produces a similar mental state in the other by induction,”
– The Kybalion
Have you ever had a friend who loved to laugh, and you found yourself laughing more when in their company?
Or a friend who couldn’t stop complaining about life and you noticed yourself feeling drained after every exchange?
Sometimes just being around the person even without any words is enough to have you feeling high or low.
You feel this way because of mental induction.
Their mental state affects your mental state.
This is why you tend to feel drained when in large crowds where the collective mental state is often negative.
Mental states can be transferred.
The skilled mental alchemist uses this for their benefit.
All they have to do is polarize their own mind to the desired emotion and the same emotion will likely be reflected in the people around them.
In this way they form their own kind of personal Pendulum.
Take the salesperson who feels absolute confidence, fulfillment and gratitude.
When they sell, their vibration is very different to the salesperson who is fearful, desperate and resentful.
Both salespeople might say the same things and show the same presentation.
One will be radically more successful.
No one can explain why one seems to always win through physical means.
She always wins because she has mastered the mental game of selling.
How about in the field of healing?
Having a doctor who is hopeful, happy and assuring will likely increase your chances of recovery.
Many doctors instill a negative and doubtful state of mind in their clients.
“You have six-months left to live.”
Speaking in definites with no emotion.
Others use the principle of polarity to aid in healing.
Take the Hawaiian method of Hoʻoponopono in which the practitioner forgives themselves ‘cleaning’ for the mistakes of the client.
Through changing their inner state, they transmute healing energy to the client.
This is possible because All is one, all is connected.
Duality is an illusion.
In summary the principle of polarity can be summarized through the following Hermetic axiom,
“Mind (as well as metals and elements) may be transmuted from state to state; degree to degree; condition to condition; pole to pole; vibration to vibration.”
— The Kybalion.
Do this and you will be one step closer to living and dying well.