You’re a binary.
A binary usually refers to a system comprised of two parts. Like computer code is comprised of just two numbers 1 and 0. I’m borrowing on this idea a lot lately because, as a metaphor, it helps to illustrate this dynamic of what it is to be human and how success and failure defines us.
This whole duality in motivation thing is discussed rather succinctly in a wonderful TED talk by author Daniel Pink.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y[/youtube]
In my work with H.E.R.O. when I say that a human being is a binary I’m referring to the fact that these two parts of you, which reside in one body, are often in conflict. In religion the body is seen a egoistic and the soul as realistic. This idea goes back to the ancient Chinese who referred to this duality in humans as the “Yin” and the “Yang” many centuries ago.