Contemplating Polarity

I've often heard of political shifts described as a pendulum swing between extremes. The same description is sometimes used to criticize those who have changed their views on any particular controversial topic. On any given spectrum of opinion, we are expected to pin and defend our position. Those who like neither extreme often pride themselves in placing their pin as close to the center of the spectrum as they are able to perceive. Wherever we place our pin along the spectrum, there we find our camp — those people who will solidify our sense of correctness and superiority over and against the other camps.

But what if there is no pendulum? What if all of the pins we have placed on the spectrum of opinion are the result of oversimplification, a concession made against our own ability to see with nuance, complexity, and compassion — all for the sake of belonging to a group? What if we didn't shy away from complexity? What if we were able to see ourselves as existing on the entire spectrum?

“Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.” - Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

So many ideas that become polarized appear to present us with contradicting positions that cannot be held together within one mind. We are either conservative or progressive, a person of faith or a person of science, thin New York pizza or Chicago deep dish. Perhaps with pizza we have discovered within ourselves the ability to hold an appreciation for both things at once, even as we feel compelled to make a case for the superiority of one style. Is it possible to discover the same complexity on less trivial topics?

In what ways do we all have a desire to conserve what is good in the world? As the world seems to change at a more rapid pace than ever before, it isn't too hard to understand those who feel like they are being left behind. Most of us experience a nostalgia for aspects of the past that seem to reflect simpler times. For many, the comfort of the familiar is getting harder to find in a globalized society. Perhaps the international food aisle in the grocery store displaced our favorite childhood snack? Maybe a skate park now occupies the space where we used to play tennis? We can all relate to wanting to hold onto those things that brought us comfort and consistency in the past, even as they lose their broader relevance.

On the other hand, in what ways do we all have a desire to make a better world than the one we were born into? In what areas do we desire to see progress? If we are honest with ourselves, no amount of nostalgia for the past can erase the obvious harm humanity has inflicted on each other. It isn't hard to see areas where we need to change and leave a better world for those who will live beyond us. Progress often involves risking unexplored territory and trying new things that may or may not work. Our comfort with the familiar often stands in the way of risking a new path that could be better in the long run for humanity. Surely we can all see areas where the injustices of the past can teach us a better way forward that will require change and compromise.

Perhaps too we can feel a desire to stand in the middle and explore a third way that doesn't bend to the extremes. This tendency, if it doesn't foster pride or apathy on its own, can allow us to be peacemakers and create a space for dialogue that isn't cut short by either/or thinking. This tendency can teach us to hold our opinions more loosely if centrism doesn't become our identity in and of itself. It prevents us from mindlessly following the party line on any given hot button issue, and instead stepping back to consider how complex issues affect different types of people in a variety of ways.

"But there is no energy unless there is a tension of opposites; hence it is necessary to discover the opposite to the attitude of the conscious mind.” - C.G Jung

If we can see aspects of ourselves in someone who holds a different view than we do, then we prevent ourselves from seeing others as the enemy. Fear often drives both extremes — fear of the unknown drives our conservative tendencies while fear of the known drives our progressive tendencies. And fear rarely makes fertile ground for productive conversation. If we can find both polar tendencies within ourselves, along with a desire to explore all of the nuance in between, perhaps we can begin the process of collectively preserving the good we have already achieved as well as creating the good we hope to achieve.