In astrology, most commonly we refer to our sun signs. Our sun signs are determined by the position of the sun when we were born. I made my grand entrance into the world on a Monday evening, when the sun was in the sign of Libra. Our sun signs usually represent our egos and our motivations in life. People – like me – born with the sun sign Libra are often motivated by fairness, equality, and justice. The symbol that represents Libra is the scales. We are all about balance. We strive for peace. And we tend to be quite intellectual.  

While some may say they don’t believe in astrology, if you know me even a little, I think you’d agree that my ego and motivations are absolutely in line with my sun sign.

Duality

It may also be no surprise that the concept of duality is something I often ponder and have written about before. Good and evil. Yin and yang. Masculine and feminine. Life and death. Noesis and gnosis. Wait, what?

The concept of noesis and gnosis is new to me. I read about it in Dr. Dan Siegel’s book IntraConnected. And I immediately had to look further into the meaning. The definition of noesis is purely intellectual apprehension. The definition of gnosis is esoteric knowledge of spiritual truth. A duality, indeed. And one I hadn’t really explored before. My Libra ego was intrigued!

Dr. Siegel says, “Noesis and gnosis each provide foundational ways of gaining new insights, understanding, and ways of being.”

We are all capable of intellectual apprehension and esoteric spiritual knowledge. In fact, if we can find balance between the two, we can understand our very existence in deeper ways than we’d be able to if we singularly clung to either side. While intellect can help me in moments of discovery, my spirituality assists me in moments of deep contemplation. If peace and balance are my motivations, the best way to accomplish both would be to accept the dualities all around me, to discover as many as I can, and learn to embrace the ideas they bring.

Being a Libra, there are a couple things I know for sure. The first is that I was born between September 23 and October 22. The second is I’ll always seek balance between the dualities that surround me.