Holding Opposing Ideas

The answer to most either/or questions is both; the best response to a paradox is to embrace both sides instead of cutting off one or the other for the sake of coherence.

The reluctance to disagree is the “lower-level you’s” mistaken interpretation of disagreement as conflict. That’s why radical open-mindedness isn’t easy: You need to teach yourself the art of having exchanges in ways that don’t trigger such reactions in yourself or others.

While it’s the nature of rationality to habitually pick a side and stick to it, real creativity lives in the friction and reconciliation of opposites. In the exchange between polarities, a new perspective is born.

Closed-minded people have trouble holding two thoughts simultaneously in their minds.

It takes some practice to hold open more than one idea about reality, particularly when those multiple ideas conflict with one another. Once your people have generated several interpretations of their collective challenge, your goal is to help them keep those interpretations alive instead of gravitating prematurely toward one of them.