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Old 08-15-2007, 04:48 AM   #23 (permalink)
Sean.M.Connelly
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Join Date: Nov 2006
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I've always disagreed with the whole "polarization" concept. I'll outline why below, if anyone is interested.

I disagree with "polarization" because it's dualistic. Light/dark, Love/fear, Good/evil, selfish/selfless. The idea is drenched in dualistic thinking, which I usually reject instantly.

You may ask: so what? What's so bad about dualistic thinking anyways? I mean... maybe dualistic thinking is useful in this situation?

Dualistic thinking is dangerous for a lot of reasons. The main reason it's dangerous is that it puts blinders on our eyes, so we only see a 1 or 0. A or B. Up or down. When, in reality, if we step back and take a look at the whole picture, we see that there are an infinite number of choices. Dualistic thinking forces us to focus on only two possible choices in a sea of endless possibilities. It limits the mind.

The dualistic mind says: "There are only two ways to reach this point. You must choose one or the other. There are no third options. You must pick one."

The non-dualistic mind says: "There are as many paths as there are people. You don't have to choose any specific one. Follow your heart, and just do your best."

For example: suppose you watch a movie. Your friend asks you, "Oh, was it good? Thumbs up or thumbs down?" You reply, "It was a pretty good comedy, and it had some really funny parts." The dualistic mind insists, "So, thumbs up or thumbs down?" You say, "Well, it was pretty good. I wouldn't say thumbs up... nor would I say thumbs down. It's like thumbs 45 degree angle up." The dualistic mind insists, "You can't choose that. It's either thumbs up, or thumbs down. You can only pick one."

It's silly. There is so much that goes into what makes a good movie, it's too much information to channel into a binary system. But the dualistic mind refuses to accept that.

The same way: there is so much behind what motivates us. When I'm motivated to do something, there are thousands of selfish reasons, and there are thousands of selfless reasons. Why must I force myself to pick A or B? It's limiting.

Why not be more intelligent about it? "I want to get healthy for myself. Not for anyone else. I'm going to exercise every day for completely selfish reasons." And, "I'm love writing computer games. I'm going to spend a lot of time programming this game, and then just give it away for free. I want everyone to enjoy it, and I want to make it an awesome game for my friends to play with, because it makes me happy to see them excited."

What's so wrong about that? Why is it wrong to do some things for selfish reasons, and some things for selfless reasons? So if I want to be a "darkworker", I should stop writing my computer game? And if I want to be a "lightworker", I should stop exercising? That's silly. I want to do both. I want my thumb at 45 degrees. If it doesn't fit into a dualistic model of reality... then so be it :-).

That's just how I've felt about the whole polarization topic. I cringed just as much when I read Tony Robbins' pleasure/pain concept as well. Things are simply more complicated than a binary system. And there's nothing wrong with that.

~Sean
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