We are a species that often gravitates toward poles, toward thinking in either/ors, toward duality. We talk more about night and day than that crepuscular time of in-between. We often castigate our political candidates for nuance and ambivalence, preferring strong rhetoric that comes with black and white thinking, rather than complex analysis that is often wiser (although this may be changing …). We forget that there is not only a middle path, but also the perspective of both/and, in which one thing can be true and its opposite can be true, too.

Too often we feel compelled to narrow ourselves, to decide that we are thinkers rather than feelers; extroverts, not introverts; believers instead of nonbelievers; animal people versus people people; pro-choice, not pro-life; business folks rather than non-profit types; sanguine not melancholic; type A’s not type B’s.

There are times to choose, to cast our vote, to commit to our values through our actions and our decisions – this is true. And its opposite is true, too. In the midst of our choosing, of our taking sides, of our speaking our truth, we can and must remember that we – the human family, the Earth family – are one, inextricably connected, the same despite our myriad differences. We know and learn with our hearts, our hands, our spirits, and our minds.

Openness to all and commitment to our deepest values. Let’s find the balance.

Happy Equinox,

~ Zoe

Filed under: MOGO (Most Good), balance | Tagged: balance, both/and, equinox