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Should we laugh or cry when we see obvious contradictions?

Francisco Miraval

I recently visited a place near Denver when they say you can see one million color lights. This exhibit is presented every year around this time of the year because of the holiday season. The visit, however, included an unexpected and paradoxical problem: it was difficult to find the access to the place because the access was not illuminated.

For obvious reasons, the place is open only after the sun sets, so the public can enjoy the lights. Also, this is an outdoor exhibit located at some distance from the city. It is not a place you will go every day or with a lot of traffic. The paradox was that, at the “one million color lights” place, there was no light at the main access gate and only one light at the parking lot.

The color lights were delightful, but I also enjoyed the contradiction, easily solvable, of telling people to come and see one million lights, and then you have to find the access gate in the darkness.

The situation reminded me of a problem I recently have with one of my computers. I was using the computer when suddenly a message appeared telling me the computer could not detect the network adapter. No network adapter means no Internet connection.

I pushed the link with “Help” that appeared inside the message and the solution was immediately there: the computer will go online to diagnose the problem and find the way to solve it. The problem with that solution, as it is obvious, was that the computer could not connect with Internet.

In other words, the computer wanted to connect with Internet to see why it could not connect with Internet. Obviously, there was a clear contradiction in the logical thinking of the computer. Sometimes I wonder if I am the only one irked by that kind of contradictions. I doubt I am the only one.

There are, of course, many more examples of those contradictions. Take, for example, the case of a pastor I recently hear speaking in the radio about the true meaning of Christmas. This pastor is, by the way, a real person with his own radio program.

He explained that the true meaning of Christmas has nothing to do with buying stuff or spending money on gifts. Christmas, he said, should be a time of deep spiritual reflection when we discover the true meaning of the season, that is, love and selflessness. For him, shopping and consumerism should not be part of the Holiday season.

So, to get his point across and to help us not to forget his message, he had that day a special offer for all his DVDs. The reduced price, he said, would allow listeners to buy DVDs in quantity to give them as gifts to those still in need of learning the true non-commercial meaning of Christmas.

I cannot tolerate those contradictions, but I must, because, as early Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously taught, without contradictions we will cease to exist.

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