As a mom of two children with profound autism + one typically developing tween, I feel and live this deep paradox daily, albeit differently than most. The OODA loop sketch by John Boyd has been one of the top ways I've been able to live in that paradox and grow from the separate natures of my motherhood journey. REORIENTATION = King!
Love this and I think IFS framing can give us even more purchase on the problem of polarities. When we relate to everything inside of us as a part (a sentient being) we see that nothing inside is lying to us. Each polarized part really does believe that the other side will overtake it if it doesn't fight like hell. Taking those small steps as you suggest, and in the presence of Self energy (the curiosity and openness you talk about), allows totally new possibilities to open up.
Dunno if you're familiar with Kate Bornstein's work but they're all about deconstructing apparent binaries through similar methods. Seeing this after that just kind of helps maybe affirm that the Cosmos or Lord wants me on this path maybe?
I've found that we do not have to move from polarity to polarity or try and resolve those contradictions (or ourselves) but rather hold them. In that very holding comes the expansion and the ability to see what looked like polarities as multiplicities. Your piece is itself a way of 'holding this multiplicity' that so many are moving us towards across many disciplines now; thank you for the clarity and the helpful visualizations, ripe with waymaking.
One metaphor I like to use when thinking about paradoxes: they are like buoys, connected by a submerged net. If you pull on each buoy individually and they seem to connect to two separate nets, but if you pull on both at the same time, slowly the part of the net that connects them is revealed.
As a mom of two children with profound autism + one typically developing tween, I feel and live this deep paradox daily, albeit differently than most. The OODA loop sketch by John Boyd has been one of the top ways I've been able to live in that paradox and grow from the separate natures of my motherhood journey. REORIENTATION = King!
Interesting how for me integrity is what for you is freedom, as in, "acting in integrity with myself"
Love this and I think IFS framing can give us even more purchase on the problem of polarities. When we relate to everything inside of us as a part (a sentient being) we see that nothing inside is lying to us. Each polarized part really does believe that the other side will overtake it if it doesn't fight like hell. Taking those small steps as you suggest, and in the presence of Self energy (the curiosity and openness you talk about), allows totally new possibilities to open up.
Dunno if you're familiar with Kate Bornstein's work but they're all about deconstructing apparent binaries through similar methods. Seeing this after that just kind of helps maybe affirm that the Cosmos or Lord wants me on this path maybe?
I've found that we do not have to move from polarity to polarity or try and resolve those contradictions (or ourselves) but rather hold them. In that very holding comes the expansion and the ability to see what looked like polarities as multiplicities. Your piece is itself a way of 'holding this multiplicity' that so many are moving us towards across many disciplines now; thank you for the clarity and the helpful visualizations, ripe with waymaking.
One metaphor I like to use when thinking about paradoxes: they are like buoys, connected by a submerged net. If you pull on each buoy individually and they seem to connect to two separate nets, but if you pull on both at the same time, slowly the part of the net that connects them is revealed.
Interesting