More Dialectics

Not sure if I explained dialectics that well. Politics isn’t the best example, moving across the spectrum isn’t easy or quick. But the idea is to understand that there is no best, that there’s trade offs and to know the tension between them. Here’s some personal examples:

Comfort - Growth

I tend towards willingness to suffer for growth over living a comfortable, more insulated life. Covid taught me a harsh lesson. I wanted to do more without checking in for my own mental health. So I developed a general anxiety disorder. Maslow describes growing as a 2 steps forward, 1 step back cycle. You need your needs met before you can grow, but when you venture out too far, your needs get ignored. So there is time that you need to rest and recover. As much as the term self-care is overused, it is not to be ignored.

Focus - Broad

The only interest that has lasted a long term is climbing and learning. The good thing about focusing on one thing is establishing mastery and understanding the nuance of it. Being broad let’s you learn many things and find abstract links between them, which can lead to innovation. I mostly stuck with climbing because of social reasons. Learning is actually a focus on a broad range of topics. That’s my personal inclination, so I enjoy it. The downside is I don’t have much mastery in anything.

Centrist - Polarized

This is the variation on how to live dialectics. You can live more in the middle, or more on the ends. Even keeled or super enthusiastic. In a meta/inductionist conclusion, I think I live both of these pretty well. I look to push the limits, but also realize it’s okay to be centered and neutral.

I think you can get the idea. Here are some other ones I think about:

Logic - Emotion

Inward - Outward

Ideal - Practical