Blake argues that opposition is not merely an obstacle but a condition of movement and development. By pairing attraction with repulsion, reason with energy, and love with hate, he presents human existence as shaped by forces that work against one another while also making change possible.

In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, this idea supports Blake’s broader rejection of rigid moral divisions. He challenges the view that qualities conventionally labelled good and bad can simply be separated, suggesting instead that opposing energies are deeply connected and necessary to life.

The quotation is therefore concerned with the structure of human existence as much as with personal conflict. Its central claim is that progress emerges through tension between contraries rather than through the complete removal of disagreement, difference or opposition.