It is impossible to know a thing without awareness of how it differs from others things. This is true for all of our experiences. Some of the simplest and clearest contrasts are in our sensory perceptions. For instance, visual light has a spectrum of colors from white, which is the combination of all colors through the spectrum of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and indigo. Each color has its distinctiveness in the spectrum of all colors, and we know each through its contrast with the others. Such contrasts are legion in our lives: Masculine and Feminine These are not just physical gender designations. While there are separate sets of hard-wired neurophysiological characteristics for each gender, there are learned personal, family and cultural behaviors that are acquired through social interactions and learning. Members of each gender contrast with and highlight the characteristics of their opposite members. Yin and Yang The Oriental concepts of Yin and yang are polar opposites that must be balanced in order for life to proceed in harmony. The term yin denotes the shady side of the slope, and may be associated with qualities of femininity, openness, passivity, receptivity, introversion, diminution, repose, weakness, and coolness. Yang is the sunny side of the slope, and may be associated with the sun, masculinity, strength, brightness, assertiveness, movement, extroversion, growth and excitation Our understanding of reality in any given moment is based on limited awareness of the larger picture. In the fullness of time, we often come to appreciate that what we comprehended about a situation may have been partly or totally erroneous, based on the facts we had available for our consideration at the time. In hindsight, we might begin to appreciate that an apparent misfortune or even a tragedy turns out to have life-transforming benefits for us