The In-Betweens: How the Negative Shapes the Positive- A Short Reflection

[Squareinthecircle]

The In-Betweens: How the Negative Shapes the Positive


Why Everything Is Known By What It Is Not






by Kevin Boykin
11/19/2025

“Music is the space between the notes.”- Claude Debussy.

Meaning doesn’t emerge from what’s easily perceived but from what resists being seen. The articulated is only so due to the spaces between. The universe, like a photograph, reveals its truth through contrast. Light alone is chaos — aimless, without definition. When light finds its target it is recognized by its limitation, denoted by defined edges and their relationship with negative space. The cosmos is therefore not a creation of substance alone, but of opposition: the silent architecture of the negative.

A Principle of Negative Definition if you will — the idea that what is known comes courtesy of what is not. A virtue is best comprehended in its absence. Beauty exists because ugliness informed us. Truth emerges only against the substrate that allows it shape. Clarity and focus then rely on the unknown, the blurry, at least temporarily. The moral, aesthetic, and physical orders are bound by this.

Human perception, too, works using this negative/positive, photographic process. We define ourselves by resistance — by the forces that limit. “How much do you bench?” “What’s your fastest time?” “What grade did you get?” When an individual meets adversity and endures they don’t merely survive; they come into focus, they define themselves. What was once amorphous becomes something that can be understood under pressure. Suffering and limitation turn the cruelties of existence into development, multiple chemical baths that reveal the art underneath.

And in art, negation gives rise to texture, composition, depth; in ethics, it directs conscience. The yin and yang, the path and the wilderness, Shiva and Brahma, order and chaos — contrast is the universal grammar. Even this essay requires the white of the page to make its point, exploiting the very principle described.






https://kasspert.wordpress.com/2025/...-the-positive/

[rgray222]

What wonderful words.

Posted by Squareinthecircle (here)
Beauty exists because ugliness informs us.

Limitations and contradictions are not really obstacles; through them, we can find clarity and truth. That is precisely why we learn more from failure than success. So when we bump into challenges, limits, objections and protests, we must maintain our emotional stability and shift our thinking away from what is wrong to what is possible.

I know it is a bit cliché, but cultivating gratitude even for the negative will allow us to see the space between and (eventually) the dark matter. Gratitude will allow us to find resilience, hope and purpose in an ocean of failure and negativity. Easier said than done, but immensely doable.

[Squareinthecircle]

Posted by rgray222 (here)
What wonderful words.

Posted by Squareinthecircle (here)
Beauty exists because ugliness informs us.

Limitations and contradictions are not really obstacles; through them, we can find clarity and truth. That is precisely why we learn more from failure than success. So when we bump into challenges, limits, objections and protests, we must maintain our emotional stability and shift our thinking away from what is wrong to what is possible.

I know it is a bit cliché, but cultivating gratitude even for the negative will allow us to see the space between and (eventually) the dark matter. Gratitude will allow us to find resilience, hope and purpose in an ocean of failure and negativity. Easier said than done, but immensely doable.

I agree completely. The juice is worth the squeeze when it comes to the transition. In the moment it can be difficult to appreciate resistance but in retrospect it helps us to come to terms I think, and we can see how it informed our path. I've had a few essays recently that touch on this idea, probably due to what I go through. Thanks

[Mike]

Posted by Squareinthecircle (here)
The In-Betweens: How the Negative Shapes the Positive


Why Everything Is Known By What It Is Not






by Kevin Boykin
11/19/2025

“Music is the space between the notes.”- Claude Debussy.

Meaning doesn’t emerge from what’s easily perceived but from what resists being seen. The articulated is only so due to the spaces between. The universe, like a photograph, reveals its truth through contrast. Light alone is chaos — aimless, without definition. When light finds its target it is recognized by its limitation, denoted by defined edges and their relationship with negative space. The cosmos is therefore not a creation of substance alone, but of opposition: the silent architecture of the negative.

A Principle of Negative Definition if you will — the idea that what is known comes courtesy of what is not. A virtue is best comprehended in its absence. Beauty exists because ugliness informed us. Truth emerges only against the substrate that allows it shape. Clarity and focus then rely on the unknown, the blurry, at least temporarily. The moral, aesthetic, and physical orders are bound by this.

Human perception, too, works using this negative/positive, photographic process. We define ourselves by resistance — by the forces that limit. “How much do you bench?” “What’s your fastest time?” “What grade did you get?” When an individual meets adversity and endures they don’t merely survive; they come into focus, they define themselves. What was once amorphous becomes something that can be understood under pressure. Suffering and limitation turn the cruelties of existence into development, multiple chemical baths that reveal the art underneath.

And in art, negation gives rise to texture, composition, depth; in ethics, it directs conscience. The yin and yang, the path and the wilderness, Shiva and Brahma, order and chaos — contrast is the universal grammar. Even this essay requires the white of the page to make its point, exploiting the very principle described.






https://kasspert.wordpress.com/2025/...-the-positive/

This was excellent. Enjoyed the read.

Principle of Negative Definition.. it's great to have terms for phenomena you vaguely understand but might have a hard time articulating.