Take just a minute and think about the world you live in. Have you ever noticed how everything you’re involved in is comprised of opposites? Opposites abound everywhere and in every situation. Webster has many definitions for opposites but they are best summed up in the one where he defines opposites as “elements that are so far apart as to be totally irreconcilable”. For example, we have such irreconcilable opposites as up and down, left and right, short and tall, light and dark, assets and liabilities, success and failure, freedom and bondage and on and on and on.

Think about it: We live in a world of division. We live in a world where “twoness” prevails; a world of duality where every position, situation and condition is challenged by some alternative where one side is always pulling against another or pushing up against a wall that will not yield. This is living in a world that is perfectly designed to promote struggle, turmoil, conflict, confusion, disputes and disagreements. This law of opposites is the cause of all problems. Without knowing how to control or overcome this law of opposites, people try to adapt to it without realizing that by so doing they only succeed in increasing their frustrations and prolonging any solution. Is it any wonder that so many people are suffering such pressures, stresses and anxieties!

If these people could somehow prevent this law from operating in their individual experiences they could enjoy living in a world where oneness prevailed and those things we call problems would have no influence over them. This might be best illustrated by using such familiar opposites as positive and negative. Positives and negatives are opposites and have nothing in common. They cannot mix or commingle. Neither can one be described in term of the other. Try as you might, you cannot successfully justify one to the other. They are opposites. It is the law!

A problem is defined by Webster as “an intricate, unsettled question without an answer; a source of perplexity and vexation”. By their very nature, problems are negative. Webster defines “negative’ as “something that is the opposite, or negation, of something”. That “something” is the positiveness of the problem’s solution. Webster’s definition of “positive” is “that which is real, not speculative, not fictitious and logically affirmative; that which has actual existence”. Just as a negative has absolutely no positive characteristics, so a positive has absolutely no negative characteristics. They are opposites. It is the law! And because it is an absolute, universal law it is not subject to chance, change, modification, circumvention or debate. It maintains its own integrity, is self- enforcing and works simply because it exists…forever! When properly applied it is your absolute assurance of successful conclusions.

The problem is negative and unreal. The objective is positive and real. Logic, then, demands that in order to experience your goal or objective or receive the answer to your question, you must discipline yourself to maintain a mind-set that is responsive to the positive ideas that will dissolve your negative problems.

This is probably the most demanding discipline you will ever be faced with because we’ve been trained to accept both positives and negatives as real. From this premise, we attempt to solve a problem by confronting it as an adversary with which we are compelled to do battle. We try to “understand” it and “deal” with it as though it were a reality instead of simply being a negation of that which we are seeking.

Does all this sound too abstract to be practical in what we call the “real” world of nuts and bolts? While individual circumstances will vary, the procedural application of this law is always the same. Consider this case study: Static sale plagued a company and great effort and money was invested to find some means by which they could increase the sales volume of their product. Their best efforts failed and they resigned themselves to the conviction that the market was flooded to the point of saturation and nothing further could be done. They were prepared to “eat their losses” and move on.

Then the principles embodied in this discovery were initiated by one individual who, in the secrecy of his own thought, maintained the integrity of this positive, constructive, solution oriented approach. He mentally rejected all discussions that focused on the “problem” even though circumstances required that he be involved in them. Soon he developed a plan. Every detail of a brand new merchandising procedure unfolded that was a radical departure from all traditional methods. The plan was implemented and sales increased immediately to a level that far exceeded the company’s most optimistic projections. As an added bonus, the implementation of this plan did not require any additional capital expenditures.

This confirms Victor Hugo’s statement that, “there is nothing more powerful than the right idea whose time has come”. The sales “problem” simply disappeared. Why? Because, being an unreal negation, it never did have the substance or reality of its positive opposite. Where did the problem go? It went to the same place the flat world went as soon as Columbus discovered that it was really round. It didn’t “go” anywhere because it wasn’t a real “something” to begin with!

We all seem to have more problems than we need. We can resolve many of them without any trouble, but once in a while a really difficult situation comes along that just won’t yield to our best efforts to get rid of them.

Our initial reaction is to resist them, put up a protective wall and confront it is an enemy with which we feel we must do battle. Now the struggle begins. This confrontational approach to problem solving is negative and can produce only negative results; we find ourselves producing more frustration, anxiety, stress and fear than solutions.

Is there an alternative? Indeed there is. Let’s take a close analytical view of problem solving and see what’s really going on here. To be successful we must first accept the fact that the “old” ways are less than effective so any new approach must be a departure from accepted traditional methods.

Look at the world around you and recognize that we live in a world of opposites. We have up & down, short & tall, assets & liabilities, abundance & lack, profits & losses, positive & negative, freedom & bondage, etc., etc., etc. I don’t believe you can think of anything that does not have an implied opposite. Webster defines “opposites” as, “elements that are so far apart and diverse as to be totally irreconcilable one to the other”.

If, then, one of these elements is negative, defined by Webster as, “something that is the opposite or negation of something”, its opposite must be positive, which Webster defines as, “that which is real, not speculative, not fictitious and logically affirmative”.

As we think about it, we realize that what this is saying is that anything negative (the problem) cannot exist alone but requires a positive something to be negative about. That positive “something” is the solution to our problem. We cannot have a problem unless its solution is already available. All we need do is learn how to access it.

To solve any problem, then, we must discipline ourselves to see it only as a negation or unawareness of the answer we are seeking and which already exists. How do we access this? By calmly rejecting that which presents itself to us as a problem, (“an intricate, unsettled question without an answer” [Webster]) as not a “something” we give reality to and quietly search our mind with a “listening” positive expectancy and be responsive to the answer that will present itself to you in this positive mental environment.

Consider the procedure you use when confronted with 2 plus 2 = 8. To resolve this error, you do not focus your efforts on trying to understand the “8” but you reject it and draw on the truth that only a “4” belongs at the end of 2 plus 2. The problem is “solved”.

I know how abstract, unrealistic and impractical this approach sounds, but for many years I have proven its viability in my own personal and professional experiences and to the benefit of a widely diverse client base that has included many of the giants of American business. This revolutionary approach to problem solving is predicated on natural laws and principles which Webster defines as, “the creative and controlling forces of the universe”. Such a condition is absolute and irrevocable. It is the law.