Holding paradox means taking a different stance towards reconciliation. It is a practice whereby we notice what feels like an either/or choice or situation in our lives, and we hold that tension, rather than try and make the choice or resolve it. We notice the polarities, and we begin to imagine them not as dual poles but as two parts we have focused on within a larger constellation. In so doing, we immediately enter a different way of thinking, which is also a different way of being. This is the portal towards exploring and connection with dimensions of the world around us, and within us, in new ways.
Holding paradox is not about not choosing a side, but it is about standing for something that is meaningful, assuming that position consciously and openly but also with a flexibility that allows us to slip out of it and slip into other positions in the constellation. This is one way of cultivating Kaleidoscopic Thinking, reimagining dimensions of perspective, and in so doing, finding new levels of agency.
This is the skill of the future, and because it is so effective, and because it is a way of thinkjing and can therefore be oriented towards any act, it is essential that we understand it better and learn how to do it, and also that we better understand how to orient it towards meaning, away from the collective Complexity of Optics and towards the Complexity of Love.
Holding paradox is the main theme behind every conversation we have on Love & Philosophy, and it is at the heart of much of the writing, philosophy, math and science we explore through various inspirations and themes. It is also the subject at the heart of Way-making, which is a term that allows us to explore the spaces holding traditional either/ors such as ‘mind and body’ or ‘spiritual and scientific’ or ‘mental and physical’ or even ‘virtual and natural’. Join us as we enter a new way of thinking that is as old as life.
On this page, you can download the book Embracing Paradox for free starting March 9th. You can also find a treasure trove of resources and work from many others all around the world and all through time and space that have been finding ways of Holding Paradox. Together we can become a new earth if we embrace the exploration of planetary thinking through the lens of the complexity of love, re-imagining the values of life and self to vision out from the patterns that connect.
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To buy the little guidebook Embracing Paradox, jus click here: