Chocolate versus vanilla is a false binary. They are not opposites at all. I imagine that they are quite fond of each other, in fact. When we leave them alone in the freezer, for example, they laugh at us and at all of the battles that have been waged trying to determine which is a superior ice cream flavor. The opposite of either of them would have to be something devoid of all character and flavor - like mud or sand. The lesson here is that binaries are dangerous. They exist, but looking for them where they do not exist leads to unnecessary suffering.
Sometimes I feel hopeful. Other times I do not. Then I find myself searching for a label - do I feel hopeless? I don't think so. Am I facing "reality"? Not any more than the times when I feel hopeful. If I insist on labeling the absence of a particular feeling as the binary opposite of that feeling, I'll be in big trouble - when in fact, I'm not in trouble at all.
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