The beginning – the inauguration. An introduction into a venture whose future is yet to be determined. I always find it interesting to go back to a blog’s first post to see where the author began – to see where they started – what was it they had to say first. Technically, I suppose, this isn’t my first post as I’ve crafted a Comment Policy along with a Copyright & Disclaimer Statement, but for all intents and purposes, this is my first post as a blogger – Jeremiah Stanghini.
In my time, it seems that beginnings are not always viewed as prosperous as they really are. For instance, as we learned from Semisonic’s Closing Time, “…every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end.” Usually when I think about endings, I think about endings and I forget that there is even a beginning to something else. Not until I’m well into the beginning of something else do I realize that the ending of one thing was the beginning to another.
This pattern seems to have persisted in this case, too. Not until I sat down to write this inaugural post did I realize that not only was it the beginning of my ‘blogging career,’ but it was also the ending of my non-blogging career. Yes, I can see how that may sound redundant, and it is, but it is in keeping with the laws of the universe. I suppose we could call it philosophical, too, couldn’t we? Let me explain.
Look up from your computer screen (or from whatever you’re viewing this post) to the nearest window.
Depending on what time of day it is, you will either see light or dark. Now, imagine you had no concept of the opposite – are you still seeing what you see as what you see? Let’s make this more concrete. Suppose you look outside and you see light. Great! Maybe it’s sunny where you are or you’re enjoying an atypical sunny day in the midst of winter. While your eyes are seeing light, pretend that you have no concept for dark – you don’t know what it is and you’ve never heard of it. Got it? Now that you don’t know what dark is and you’re looking outside and seeing this ‘light,’ can you really say you are still seeing light?
Without dark, there can’t be light. Without the contrasting nature of the absence of light, there can’t be light. 
Without light, there can’t be darkness. Without ending, there can’t be beginning. Without beginning, there can’t be ending. There are countless instances from life where without the experience that we are having now is directly tied to the non-experience of what we’re having now. Meaning, if you are experiencing joy, it is because you have experienced no-joy that you can feel the difference.
At first, this may sound a little strange or off-the-wall, but when you really sit with the idea of it, you begin to understand. If all you knew was one half of something, would you really know that it was half of something? If all you knew was the sky to be bright, you would take it for granted that the sky was bright. And not because you weren’t perceptive or anything to that effect, but just because that’s all you know. Another example we can use here is the fish in water. Does the fish know it is in water? No, not until it jumps out of the water and realizes that it can’t breathe!
When you consider this, it has to make you wonder a little… what is it that I’m taking for granted right now that’s preventing me from seeing the whole picture?
Jeremiah Stanghini 