# Paradox > Paradox holds apparent opposites together until wider inclusive frame reveals unity at center point. - Canonical: https://sassani.app/topic/paradox # Paradox Paradox, in Bashar's teaching, is not a failure of logic to be solved or a contradiction to be collapsed. It is the signature of higher consciousness breaking through into a physical reality whose job is to separate wholeness into perceivable parts. When you encounter paradox you are at the center — at the crossroads where both apparent opposites are being projected from you, and where, within you, they are already one idea, one event, one thing. The deepest shift Bashar asks of the learner is the move from "this or that" to "this and that": learning to live in the inclusive both/and rather than collapsing the tension by picking a side. Reality itself, he says, is an oxymoron — a self-contained paradox — and making a friend of paradox is the way back to the center point where the apparently opposed definitions are seen to connect. ## Paradox as the mark of higher consciousness The framing axiom is that physical reality is by definition the medium that separates so that the components of a homogeneous higher wholeness can be seen. Higher consciousness is whole; it does not come in opposed halves. So when something appears paradoxical in physical experience, it is the unbroken wholeness of higher consciousness showing through the separating filter of physicality — the two apparent poles are one event projected as two. To meet paradox is therefore to stand at the center of the two, which is to stand at the gateway where the experience is being created. This is why, Bashar notes, people expanding in awareness run into paradox more and more: the wider view re-introduces the wholeness that ordinary, polarized perception had been filtering out. ## "This and that," not "this or that" The recurring instruction across the paradox sessions is the both/and move. At the center of every two diametrically opposed concepts lies the truth of the idea being dealt with, and reality is really composed of this and that rather than this or that. Accepting both sides of the coin is what allows you to have the coin — without one side there cannot be the other. The same structure applies to spiritual surrender: total surrender into the "I am" does not erase individuality or multiplicity, because what you discover is that "it is this and that, not this or that" — you experience both the unity and the everything at once, not one to the exclusion of the other. ## Focusing down and expanding out at once A concrete shape this takes is the paradox of focus. Asked whether narrowing to one frequency must by nature limit the spectrum, Bashar answers that the question is still caught in an either/or frame: paradox always moves in both directions at the same time. Focusing down in a particular vibration, done in a certain way, is precisely what gives you more ability to expand out — the two occur together, not as opposites. The narrowing is the engine of the widening; insisting they trade off misses the actual mechanism. ## The paradox of process and equilibrium The same pattern governs how a process completes. Equilibrium is not something you struggle toward; you are reaching it, and the challenge of getting there can be exciting rather than painful. The paradox is that the more you honor whatever you have created — owning the difficulties rather than denying or pushing them away — the easier it gets and the faster you arrive at equilibrium. Owning and learning from what you have created is what accelerates the balance, not fighting the process. Resistance to "going through it" is what slows it; staying right with the process uses it up. ## How paradox is applied in practice When asked how the power of paradox is actually used, Bashar describes it as a recognition followed by a redefinition. The recognition that an experience is "not actually remote" allows a different relationship to it; the redefinition opens understanding of how to approach the experience from a different — sometimes 180-degree opposite — way. The neutral center is where this becomes possible, and even neutrality can carry a spin — which is itself the paradox. The practical move is therefore not to resolve the paradox by picking a side but to redefine the experience so that the opposite relationship becomes available from the center. ## Practical implications The transcripts frame paradox as an orientation toward apparent opposition rather than as a problem to be eliminated: Treat paradox as a signal, not a bug. Encountering it means you are dealing with higher consciousness more directly; you are at the center of two projected poles. Replace "this or that" with "this and that." Hold both sides of the coin so that you can have the coin; the center between two opposed concepts is where the truth of the idea lives. Use focus without fearing it narrows you. Focusing down and expanding out can operate together; the focus, done in the right vibration, becomes the engine of the expansion. Own what you have created. The fastest route to equilibrium is to acknowledge the difficulty you have created and learn from it, rather than deny or fight the process. Redefine from the neutral center. When an experience seems locked in one meaning, redefine it; from the true zero point an opposite relationship becomes available. These points are metaphysical orientations toward attention and meaning. They are not medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice, and paradox is not presented by Bashar as a substitute for ordinary discernment or professional care. ## Representative passages When you find yourself coming across the expression in your lives you call paradox, then you know you are dealing with the higher consciousness more directly... you know you are standing firmly and squarely at the center of those two seemingly opposite events. And that means that they both come from you, they are both projected from you. Within you they are blended, they are one concept, they are one event, they are one idea, they are one thing.— Bashar, Paradox (paradox#qa-1) By allowing yourself, that in light, reality is really composed of this and that, rather than this or that, then you begin to allow yourself to become comfortable with paradoxical occurrences, paradoxical structures, oxymoronic life is reality.— Bashar, The Power Of Paradox (the-power-of-paradox#text) You're still looking at it in this or that way. Remember, it's always about paradox and it's always moving in both directions... Focusing down allows you to expand out when you focus down in a particular way, in a certain vibration.— Bashar, This And That Paradox Changing Definitions And Perceptions (this-and-that-paradox-changing-definitions-and-perceptions#qa-2) It is this and that, not this or that. When you wake up and understand that it is all one, you understand simultaneously that it is also everything. And you experience both, not just one or the other.— Bashar, Surrender (surrender#qa-5) The paradox is, the more you honor whatever you have created, the easier it will get and the faster you will go into equilibrium. It is about owning what you have created, not denying it, not pushing it away.— Bashar, The Paradox Of Creating Equilibrium (the-paradox-of-creating-equilibrium#qa-1) ## Related - [Definitions & Beliefs](https://sassani.app/topic/definitions-and-beliefs) - [Polarity](https://sassani.app/topic/polarity) - [Oneness & Individuality](https://sassani.app/topic/oneness-and-individuality) - [Manifestation](https://sassani.app/topic/manifestation) - [Uniqueness](https://sassani.app/topic/uniqueness) - [Unconditional Love](https://sassani.app/topic/unconditional-love) - [Neutrality of Reality](https://sassani.app/topic/neutrality) - [Balance](https://sassani.app/topic/balance) - [Surrender & Letting Go](https://sassani.app/topic/surrender) Markdown twin of https://sassani.app/topic/paradox. The HTML page is the source of truth.