Opposites

October 28, 2008


Yesterday I received a message via Facebook (yes, I’m on Facebook, and if you are, come by and say hello) from a friend who is preparing a talk for an upcoming retreat. She said she wanted to focus on the importance of spiritual balance. She said she had been thinking about some opposites—or maybe some are what you would call complements:

Order/legalism
Grace/tolerance
Saving/hoarding
Confidence/boastful

She asked if I had any ideas. So I threw out these suggestions:

Talking/listening
Doing/waiting
Forgiving/blaming
Yielding/demanding
Confessing/justifying
Holding on/letting go

The last one may be cheating because I added an extra word. Still, it’s an interesting exercise. I thought I would throw this open to our readers. What other opposites/complements come to mind?

Do you have any thoughts or questions about this post?