This article posits distinction–union tendencies as parts of one structure, a kind of DNA/RNA of psychic life, co-tendencies that play organizing roles in culture and in individuals. The work of these tendencies are traced in clinical experience, psychoanalytic theory (Matte-Blanco, Bion, Balint, and Winnicott), physics (David Bohm), culture, and mystical experience (Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist). Further explorations are suggested.