Balancing on Paradoxes
I see paradoxes making up the foundation of the human experience. The contradictory states of concepts like freedom and security or order and chaos constantly challenge us.
Since paradoxes can’t be eliminated they require us to balance on top of them if we wish to have a semblance of meaning and peace. We stand on a platform that tips in every direction, so it’s nearly impossible to venture too far from the center. This seems to mean we’re trapped in some respects.
The solution to this instability is to try and counteract the random forces of life that always unpredictably bubble up. The counterweights we adopt to smooth things out range from the strength we acquire through self control to personal relationships and massive organizations. Self help books, religious organizations, etc.all stake their claim to having "the" answer. Some of these sources may even be insightful. When taken too far though prescriptions often become prisons in their own right and usually result in dogmatism. Constructing or adopting a finely tuned structure to surround one's position and absorb the volatility of life may address our anxieties, but they pose another problem.
Being too inhibited creates the security we need by removing our susceptibility to randomness, but it also exiles us, again, to a specific point where we’re unable to move. We, unavoidably, become part of the counterweight for our own system as well as other’s. In one sense this helps us escape much of the turmoil of nature, but can undermine our organic-ness and create a false sense of reality. Depression is usually the result of this condition of being stuck in such a rigid place. A vantage point upon which we can see the dull conclusion of our lives play out.
The solution to the paradox conundrum isn't itself hopeless either. Living with the flux and holding it close allows us to learn to dance with life to maintain our balance. The mistakes we make are how we inform ourselves to move with it better. Refusing to take part in this "dance", out of fear of disrupting tradition, is the logic of the fundamentalist. New problems can hardly be solved with this line of reasoning though. A willingness to engage with paradoxes is what makes novel answers possible. Something each of our lives are capable of doing. This chance to generate new knowledge about the world and reality itself is an attitude I find much more appealing.
