Holding Paradox: Research Diary 7

Love and Philosophy? Beyond Dichotomy? What is this all about?
A few unscripted thoughts today in the diary on thinking paradoxically. These diaries are not usually published on the podcast (just on the Substack and YouTube) but this one seemed relevant to post here too as a trailer or sorts. Hugs and love to you all,
Andrea Hiott

Transcript

Hey everyone, this is Andrea Hiott. Thank you for being here. I'm working on a philosophy which has to do with how we might think differently beyond traditional either or dichotomies or divisions. Dichotomy means to cut and a lot of our language and a lot of our daily life  is structured around what we call binaries, things that seem opposites, polarities,  and there's a good reason for that.

I it's the way we've developed up till now. But I think we've reached a point where that sort of binary thinking doesn't work for us anymore. It doesn't work for us in terms of the big challenges we face, whatever those might be, from your perspective, wherever you are in the world.

the challenges we face as a world. However, it's also true in our individual lives. I think a lot of us now  feel a little bit lost and don't quite understand what is true or false or good or bad or  right or wrong. Of course we know this in our heart because These are real, but they're not binaries, and that's what's the hard thing.

The hard thing is to understand that these aren't actually either ors or polarities or opposites, even though they're very real. There is truth.  There is goodness. All of these are real, but this old way that we have of thinking, which structures really everything that we do and is very hard to break out of, tells us that If we choose one thing, there's an opposite to that that must be wrong. 

And that doesn't work anymore. So what I'm trying to introduce here is paradoxical thinking, holding the paradox, letting both seeming polarities sit together in a wider space  and see what happens.  There's a lot more to this than just that, but that's the place to start  because to develop a new way of thinking that isn't binary, but that still takes the world very seriously and doesn't, believe we're in a hallucination, or we don't share the same real world, or that there aren't actually real actions that hurt people or help people. 

All that's still true, but it's not binary. It's not oppositional either or decisions.  And to really understand that, we have to learn a new way of thinking.  And I think that's where we are in the world. A lot of people are trying to find ways to do this.  I'm trying to bring together what I see as the similarities and those many different ways of doing science, doing philosophy, doing psychology,  or just living one's life  in whatever way or capacity.

So that's why I talk to a lot of people that I feel are doing this or that I noticed this pattern within. So  I guess the call here is just simple. Can we think differently? Can we learn a new way of thinking?  Can we think of ourselves differently instead of just reacting and taking on a particular narrative and thinking that we are that narrative and that narrative can never change? And thinking of one another as, as that way where we have to fight about oppositional ideas, can we instead engage in debate and engage in thinking through these things with a different stance, knowing that we're doing that together towards trying to see a wider space differently, rather than just completely identifying with one side of that polarity and then fighting the other side.

What if we can see the space in a different way and allow one another to take on different sides of that polarity  and discuss it together towards trying to understand what that bigger space is that's holding those polarities.  So that's What I'm trying to do here,  I don't claim to be perfect at this or  to know exactly what is even going on, but I do feel very strongly that it's time for a new way of thinking and that a lot of us in the world, maybe even you too, feel that way and are looking for ways to think of our bodies, ourselves, our relationships,  our wider social circles, and organizations differently, and find a new level of sensory engagement, of motivation, and of meaning.

So that's what I hope we can help one another do. 

That's what this is about. That's what I want to connect to you through open my paths and try to understand your path. And I think that space, that wider space is something  that we mean in our best moments when we use the word love. So that's why this is love and philosophy.  So how can we help each other navigate?

Open up the space, understand that we're not, oppositional polarities in an either or world, but that we can learn a new way of thinking. And this is exciting and scary and a bit dangerous too, because it really is a totally different approach to the way we are in the world and what we think of as a self and what we think of as  all the categories that we've used to define our life.

So this is not an easy process, although I do believe it's very rich. And if we can do it with presence and love,  we really have no idea what's possible.  There's so much more possible than maybe we ever thought.  So thank you for being here, and I look forward to hearing all your ideas and what you think about all of this as we move forward, try to hold the paradox, think paradoxically, open up the space, move beyond binaries, however you want to think of it.

Let's try and do it together and help one another. Okay, thanks for being here.   📍 See you soon.