In Tantric philosophy, 1 + 1 = 3. How so, you say? (I thought Indians made great mathematicians!) Recently modern science has come to the same conclusion: one smell plus another smell, creates not a mixture, but a completely third smell.
What they are talking about is The Space In Between, the potential of two things coming together and making something other than the original ingredients. The old "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts" thing.
The word "tantra" itself illustrates the understanding: it means to weave. We have two simple piles of string, but when warp and weft combine, cloth results.
The Space Between. It's where great things happen. It's where potential resides. Conversation. Family. Friendship. Community. Culture. You never sit at home alone and laugh your head off. But get with friends and alchemy reigns. You brainstorm. You cooperate. You light up with love and the warmth of intimacy. You giggle your fool head off.
Each of us is unique. with our own set of likes and dislikes. We act differently, look differently, think differently. So if we consider these distinctions to be a problem--if only one way can be the right way--then where is the potential for growth? How can we ever be more than we are at this moment? Instead, we look to The Space Between, the conversation, to bring us somewhere we haven't been before. Our unique attributes increase in value when we value everyone's uniqueness; we all become indispensable. And from all of our contributions culture blossoms and bears its fine fruit.
Like a prism, our beauty is manifest in a full spectrum of colours. Yet, in truth, it is one light.
One Source.
