A paradox is a spiritual concept beyond philosophy and religious philosophy; it embraces two distinct opposites, which become one. Some people have difficulty embracing paradox or infinity; I don’t have much of this problem; I think it’s the key to freedom within the heart. In reality, the world is a peaceful or violent paradox; it’s like the concept of life and death; they are two sides of the same coin. Think of an imaginary distance, away, yet enhancing that paradox, then seeing life and death as the same, realizing one must follow the other; without evil, good cannot exist on its own; only through observing opposites can we know the other, I began to realize that this was one of the driving engines of the universe. Batteries power devices using negative and positive. Mythical worlds and characters are created as paradoxes. I think of contradiction as the engine that drives the universe.

I think of an engine as something non-physical. Can it be called a metaphor, or do thoughts make the universe work, a non-physical machine?

Words and images convey metaphor, political, religious, spiritual, or personal. I have thought that metaphor is a way of condensing lengthy paragraphs into something short and simple and a way for people to own thoughts on a text that is relevant to their age.

Creation is a paradox; even in creation, not everything is logical. Always embracing logic impedes the creative process. Logic is a tool for the mind, it’s one of the tools we need to live, but it can’t be the only tool in life. Thoughts can become an obsession, logic, or paradox; the point is not to dwell on either, in a sense, it becomes an addicting drug. In the creative process, I never live on things like logic, illogic, or paradox, I consider them tools. Think about the tools a carpenter, plumber, doctor, sculptor, or painter uses. In these professions they have many tools to work with; they never use one device. Some things are read it may seem paradoxical or illogical, but when they are experienced I start to understand the metaphor of the word, many religious writings are written in this way. I try to broaden myself by embracing logic, illogic, paradox, common sense, scientific thought, artistic thought, or metaphor, there are many other tools, tools without physical form. A human being is not called a logical person; that’s just a tool; we are ourselves. We use these concepts as tools to understand our world.

Robert J. Matsunaga