We polarize for two or three reasons. When we take a polar position on anything, it gives us a sense of security. Polar positions are absolute. They leave us with no questions. A correlative of this is that we polarize because at the polar position we do not have to think. And, as always, it is easier to follow our comfortable crowd. Security, with no need to do the work of thinking, and plenty of company.
But the power of a magnet lies in neither its positive nor its negative pole. Rather the power resides in the tension between them. Were we to decide against negatives and make it all positive, or vice versa, we would be left with a piece of mere metal.
We are called on, regularly, to pick a pole: conservative or liberal, pro-life or pro-choice, freedom or determinism, capitalism or communism, socialism or individualism. “Which are you,” we are asked? Every time we adopt a polar position, something is destroyed, something vital. Reality, life, and truth exist in those polar tensions.
If we insist on the supremacy of individual rights and reject the claims of society, our thinking is invalid. If we claim that individual rights must be subordinated to the needs of society, our thinking is invalid. Neither pole, taken alone, is ever right. Only with the support of a healthy society can an individual attain her full potential; only when composed of a diverse body of well-developed individuals can a society maintain its health. The bipolarities of life are true, they are right but only in relation to each other, only as the tension is acknowledged.
Nor should we look for truth in a middle-of-the-road balance. Reality, life, and truth exist along an unceasingly shifting, fine line somewhere between the poles. Think of the tightrope walker with her balancing pole. It is rarely held perfectly horizontal. Sometimes it is tipped a little to the left or right, and sometimes it is tipped rather deeply one direction or the other, whatever is needed for the walker to maintain her balance. At times we see the pole tilted rapidly back and forth, from one side to the other.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Chapter 7/6
Living the Tension
At times truth may lie so close to one pole that it seems to be polarized. The difference is that, no matter how close to one pole, it still feels the pull of the other. Once polarized, however, we feel no tension at all–and thus, are out of touch with the real world, the world of tensions. Today, talking with you, I may sound like a flaming liberal, just like the dogmatic liberal. The difference between me and the liberal is that I am still aware of the conservative pole and the values and challenges it holds. Thus, next week, talking with her, I may sound just like a hidebound conservative. Again, however, I have not allowed myself to choose a pole, I am still in the tension, the living, moving tension. Truth, reality, and life exist along a fine line that continually moves between the poles.
Too many of us are uncomfortable with tension, change, and the relativity of living this spectrum. In our desire for stability, we want to be solidly anchored like a great oak tree. We are called, rather, to the stability of the eagle soaring high in the air, apparently with no support. The eagle, however, riding the wind currents and thermal air columns, is as secure as the oak. But it is a living security, not a fixed and static one. Life has to be engaged moment by moment. We can never lock into safety.
So learn, when confronted by an either/or situation, to stop and consider the possibility that a bipolarity is involved, in which case we should not accept the either/or that we are presented with. If the occasion is bipolar, we recognize that it is both/and, and must make a judgment about where across the spectrum we should take our stand. Make it habit always, in the face of either/or, to consider and be prepared to deal with the bipolar.
At times truth may lie so close to one pole that it seems to be polarized. The difference is that, no matter how close to one pole, it still feels the pull of the other. Once polarized, however, we feel no tension at all–and thus, are out of touch with the real world, the world of tensions. Today, talking with you, I may sound like a flaming liberal, just like the dogmatic liberal. The difference between me and the liberal is that I am still aware of the conservative pole and the values and challenges it holds. Thus, next week, talking with her, I may sound just like a hidebound conservative. Again, however, I have not allowed myself to choose a pole, I am still in the tension, the living, moving tension. Truth, reality, and life exist along a fine line that continually moves between the poles.
Too many of us are uncomfortable with tension, change, and the relativity of living this spectrum. In our desire for stability, we want to be solidly anchored like a great oak tree. We are called, rather, to the stability of the eagle soaring high in the air, apparently with no support. The eagle, however, riding the wind currents and thermal air columns, is as secure as the oak. But it is a living security, not a fixed and static one. Life has to be engaged moment by moment. We can never lock into safety.
So learn, when confronted by an either/or situation, to stop and consider the possibility that a bipolarity is involved, in which case we should not accept the either/or that we are presented with. If the occasion is bipolar, we recognize that it is both/and, and must make a judgment about where across the spectrum we should take our stand. Make it habit always, in the face of either/or, to consider and be prepared to deal with the bipolar.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
chapter 7/5
Other of the most general bipolarities of life are:
Community Character
Tension Release
Solitude Company
Work Sabbath
Worship Service
Being Doing
Doubt Belief
Decision Habit
Environment Genetics
Is Ought
Situation Rules
Act Wait
Yin Yang
Universal Singular
Serious Lighthearted
Individual Community
Personal Social
Again, truth exists in the tension between the poles. Note that it does not rest in the center between them, in fact it does not rest at all. Truth–and life and reality–move all along the spectrum between. Today, in this situation, relative to this moment, it may lie in the center, but later in the day, when the situation has changed, it may be closer to one pole and further from the other, still feeling the tension from both directions.
Community Character
Tension Release
Solitude Company
Work Sabbath
Worship Service
Being Doing
Doubt Belief
Decision Habit
Environment Genetics
Is Ought
Situation Rules
Act Wait
Yin Yang
Universal Singular
Serious Lighthearted
Individual Community
Personal Social
Again, truth exists in the tension between the poles. Note that it does not rest in the center between them, in fact it does not rest at all. Truth–and life and reality–move all along the spectrum between. Today, in this situation, relative to this moment, it may lie in the center, but later in the day, when the situation has changed, it may be closer to one pole and further from the other, still feeling the tension from both directions.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Think like an Octopus
Reminder that the book this blog, Think like an Octopus: the Key to Becoming a Good Thinker, is now available from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Chapter 7/4
Notice that the Bible doesn’t merely state that God is sovereign. It also emphasizes human freedom. But it doesn’t just emphasize human choice and responsibility, it also claims God’s control. We want to affirm that both are true, independently of the other--objectively true. But we live in a world where everything exists in relation to other things. Nothing exists independently of anything else. Thus, truth always exists in some relational context. Bipolar kinds of truths are true only in relation to each other. I reiterate, neither is true by itself.
Our common response to bipolarities is to either accept the copout notion that they are a paradox, or else we polarize. We agree they are contradictory, that the truth of one implies the falsity of the other and vice versa, so we feel compelled to defend one and attack the other. This is the root of many of our problems: we cannot accept the tensions inherent in bipolarity. If we affirm the truth of one and reject the other, the tension is eliminated. But we fail to consider the necessity of tension in the real world.
Everything exists and is held together in tensions of all sorts. If all tension--muscular, cellular, and other--were eliminated from our bodies, they would collapse into a protoplasmic heap. Tension is a necessary part of reality. Only inappropriate tension is a problem.
Our common response to bipolarities is to either accept the copout notion that they are a paradox, or else we polarize. We agree they are contradictory, that the truth of one implies the falsity of the other and vice versa, so we feel compelled to defend one and attack the other. This is the root of many of our problems: we cannot accept the tensions inherent in bipolarity. If we affirm the truth of one and reject the other, the tension is eliminated. But we fail to consider the necessity of tension in the real world.
Everything exists and is held together in tensions of all sorts. If all tension--muscular, cellular, and other--were eliminated from our bodies, they would collapse into a protoplasmic heap. Tension is a necessary part of reality. Only inappropriate tension is a problem.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Chapter 7/3
Both or Neither?
So much for an attempt at definition. What am I talking about? The simplest approach to understanding bipolarity is to picture the horseshoe-shaped magnet. We know that each pole of the magnet is charged, one positive, the other negative. Neither of the poles is the more important, neither the more necessary. If both poles were to be made positive, the magnetism would be lost. So if both were negative. The opposite poles set up a magnetic tension between. The magnetism is dependant on the tension rooted in this opposition of the poles.
Many of the most basic features of our world exist in bipolar tension with each other. Take, for instance, the classic tension between of the sovereignty of God and human freedom. These seem to be complete opposites, incompatible with each other. In its strongest statement, if God is the sovereign ruler of the universe, then everything that happens is as he directly ordains. Everything is done precisely as God desires, with no option for variation. Humans are left with no freedom of choice. On the other hand, if humans are genuinely free, they may contradict God’s desires and may do so on a regular basis, in which case, God is not sovereign in the strongest sense. Similar bipolarities characterize many of the basic realities of life and our understandings of it.
Quite commonly, these contradictions are accepted as paradoxical. The reference to paradox is intended to make contradictories acceptable while leaving them inexplicable. We need to note that the idea of contradiction, in the strict logical sense, means that one element--pole--must be true and the other must be false. When two things contradict, they cannot both be true. In a paradox we have that which seems to be contradictory, yet in which both elements seem to be true.
An understanding of bipolarity enables us to make sense of this and present a reasoned resolution to these difficulties. In contrast to many understandings of bipolarity, the concept I present affirms, not that, while they are contradictory, both poles seem to be true. Rather, I affirm that in a bipolarity, neither pole is true--not by itself. Just as a magnet’s positive or negative pole is magnetically useless if it exists by itself, so in bipolarity either pole is untrue, if taken alone. Both poles are true, but only in tension with the other pole.
So much for an attempt at definition. What am I talking about? The simplest approach to understanding bipolarity is to picture the horseshoe-shaped magnet. We know that each pole of the magnet is charged, one positive, the other negative. Neither of the poles is the more important, neither the more necessary. If both poles were to be made positive, the magnetism would be lost. So if both were negative. The opposite poles set up a magnetic tension between. The magnetism is dependant on the tension rooted in this opposition of the poles.
Many of the most basic features of our world exist in bipolar tension with each other. Take, for instance, the classic tension between of the sovereignty of God and human freedom. These seem to be complete opposites, incompatible with each other. In its strongest statement, if God is the sovereign ruler of the universe, then everything that happens is as he directly ordains. Everything is done precisely as God desires, with no option for variation. Humans are left with no freedom of choice. On the other hand, if humans are genuinely free, they may contradict God’s desires and may do so on a regular basis, in which case, God is not sovereign in the strongest sense. Similar bipolarities characterize many of the basic realities of life and our understandings of it.
Quite commonly, these contradictions are accepted as paradoxical. The reference to paradox is intended to make contradictories acceptable while leaving them inexplicable. We need to note that the idea of contradiction, in the strict logical sense, means that one element--pole--must be true and the other must be false. When two things contradict, they cannot both be true. In a paradox we have that which seems to be contradictory, yet in which both elements seem to be true.
An understanding of bipolarity enables us to make sense of this and present a reasoned resolution to these difficulties. In contrast to many understandings of bipolarity, the concept I present affirms, not that, while they are contradictory, both poles seem to be true. Rather, I affirm that in a bipolarity, neither pole is true--not by itself. Just as a magnet’s positive or negative pole is magnetically useless if it exists by itself, so in bipolarity either pole is untrue, if taken alone. Both poles are true, but only in tension with the other pole.
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