Voids

It doesn't matter much anymore I suppose, because I know the answer. And I have always known it. The bottle isn't either half-full or half-empty. It's both. But isn't it such a strange feeling? Though you have answered and beat a question so precisely right, you still feel beclouded. As if you're missing something.

I sat there staring at the Corona bottles in midst of all the cheers and laughter. The semester had ended and my college department had gone out to celebrate. Half-full or half-empty? I was reminded of the times when a friend had asked me that in high-school. After answering them blatantly in either-or fashion for a while, I found myself finally caught up with the answer. The truth is that it's both half-full and half-empty. How obvious it is when you've phrased it. By definition, one state entails the state of another. But we often miss that fact, because we seem so obliviously focused in answering the question rather than testing the question.

I quietly withdrew myself from the bar. I needed some room for myself. I'm not too fond of bars anyway. But still wondering about which, I felt the insuperable gap between perception and the truth. That is, how can you think beyond what you can perceive? Given the answer, you can say the bottle is both half-full and half-empty. But for those who haven't realized, how do you go about acknowledging that it's both? What pushes them to see that? If you're stuck, what makes you unstuck? My thoughts trailed on and I wondered whether this is very much the same as understanding another person. The differences and the likenesses of myself to another. I can easily identify how we are different and how we are similar. But trying to sense and withhold both the differences and the similarities together is distressing. Hard.

I'm not sure if I make much sense.