The word “or” indicates the possibility to choose. Take for example the invitation to choose if you are going to eat an apple or a peach.

It’s a choice between two separate objects. And it’s a choice that leads to a clear result. It’s either the apple or the peach.

Things immediately become more complex when it comes to deciding within dualities like “on or off”, “good or evil”, “liberty or authority”, “fact or opinion”, or “reason or empathy”. Dualities are intrinsically linked to one another, they are abstractions of the same concept.

Some are mutually exclusive, but most are not.

In the words of the Tao:

When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.
Being and non-being create each other.

They create one another.

Good creates evil.

They can’t exist without the other.

Attachment can’t exist without letting go.

They transform into the other.

Protection easily shifts into aggression.

Harmony results from conflict.

Why then assume that it’s possible to only have one of both?