I really enjoyed this one! It sums up your approach to therapy (and human behavior) so perfectly. But the critic in me (that little f*cker who can’t appreciate a beautiful thing when he sees it) tells me that in your effort to shed our systems from tyranny you may be (sort of) employing tyranny itself. I know you are well aware of this and often misunderstood by jihadists of political correctness, but you are not getting off that easy here. Insight and tolerance are not panacea.
Your title is asking your audience to pick sides. Reinforcing the illusion of choice. What if I don’t want to pick a side? Stubborn little sh!t I am, revolting my anal-retentive childhood by making a mess (to say it politely) of your Apollodyonisian continuums. And no compromises, like trying to strike a balanced solution that works for everyone. I agree, centrism as you put it ends up favoring the majority. There will always be losers. Anyway we try its never going to be a pure democracy. And by the way if everything was so well balanced or just in this world, then we would have no transfer of energies, no momentum. No dissonance = no reason to change. Equilibrium (order) is anxiety-free but so f’ing boring. Deadly too.
Problem here is (a) inaction can be a silent endorsement of the status quo (e.g., old tyranny), and b) action is, well, a new tyranny of sorts. Lose-lose. I am forced to play your game even if I don’t want to. That’s the price we pay for living in advanced organized societies. Those of us who are privileged to be part of them. Lest we forget.
But why despair or bound our dilemmas on the limitations of dualism? John McNeill would say something like, “Does it really matter what side you are on anyway? Just be the therapist/client/human you are, the rest takes care of itself. And don’t worry about sides. Have faith!” Easier said than done, but I really like it philosophically speaking. Its the only status quo that doesn’t give me as much indigestion. But in reality I remind myself the box of no box is still a box, so then my stomach gets upset even when my mind is at peace.
I mean, in the end lets pick something (a side, a vote, make a mess, put your ego out there somehow, do something dammit). Don’t get too passionate or think that’s going to make much difference in the grand scheme of things, but do it nevertheless. In other words be humble about it otherwise you are like Skinner’s pigeons attempting to decipher the capriciousness of fate. When you don’t control the context you are venturing in tautology. Tail chasing can be amusing, usually more for the observer than the observed. Joke is on you.
And what if ego is the symptom? The protest as you put it against death; a brilliant way to manage the boredom and voidness of our empty space. People will say the universe was doing just fine before consciousness arrived to the party. And I have read theories that we are the plague for this planet. But if she hadn’t got wasted, danced her butt off, and barfed a little on the way back home then its not called a party. Heck, if she does that a few more times and develops a substance abuse problem then I can help her with moderation (for a fee of course) and feed my kids too in the process. Whoa! I just turned this lose-lose into a win-win! Just by adding some more pieces on the chessboard.
Alas, because I am a greedy little sh!t I got to pay a tax for the kind of fun of adding more pieces. I accept some limitation to my freedoms because it reminds me that I have them in the first place.
Long story short, I don’t know what side to pick, and if it really matters or not. I do play a darn good chess game with black. And I like winning more than losing. I also like losing if it was a good match. Sometimes I like to rub it in (tons of fun and giggles), and sometimes I just don’t want to play. If this “side” is yet another box the bounds of which I can’t escape, that’s fine. I m very glad you asked me to pick one. Playing is life. And thanks for inviting us to play. With kids like you on the playground I almost can’t sit still those last minutes before recess.
Michael Karson, Ph.D. 
I really enjoyed this one! It sums up your approach to therapy (and human behavior) so perfectly. But the critic in me (that little f*cker who can’t appreciate a beautiful thing when he sees it) tells me that in your effort to shed our systems from tyranny you may be (sort of) employing tyranny itself. I know you are well aware of this and often misunderstood by jihadists of political correctness, but you are not getting off that easy here. Insight and tolerance are not panacea.
Your title is asking your audience to pick sides. Reinforcing the illusion of choice. What if I don’t want to pick a side? Stubborn little sh!t I am, revolting my anal-retentive childhood by making a mess (to say it politely) of your Apollodyonisian continuums. And no compromises, like trying to strike a balanced solution that works for everyone. I agree, centrism as you put it ends up favoring the majority. There will always be losers. Anyway we try its never going to be a pure democracy. And by the way if everything was so well balanced or just in this world, then we would have no transfer of energies, no momentum. No dissonance = no reason to change. Equilibrium (order) is anxiety-free but so f’ing boring. Deadly too.
Problem here is (a) inaction can be a silent endorsement of the status quo (e.g., old tyranny), and b) action is, well, a new tyranny of sorts. Lose-lose. I am forced to play your game even if I don’t want to. That’s the price we pay for living in advanced organized societies. Those of us who are privileged to be part of them. Lest we forget.
But why despair or bound our dilemmas on the limitations of dualism? John McNeill would say something like, “Does it really matter what side you are on anyway? Just be the therapist/client/human you are, the rest takes care of itself. And don’t worry about sides. Have faith!” Easier said than done, but I really like it philosophically speaking. Its the only status quo that doesn’t give me as much indigestion. But in reality I remind myself the box of no box is still a box, so then my stomach gets upset even when my mind is at peace.
I mean, in the end lets pick something (a side, a vote, make a mess, put your ego out there somehow, do something dammit). Don’t get too passionate or think that’s going to make much difference in the grand scheme of things, but do it nevertheless. In other words be humble about it otherwise you are like Skinner’s pigeons attempting to decipher the capriciousness of fate. When you don’t control the context you are venturing in tautology. Tail chasing can be amusing, usually more for the observer than the observed. Joke is on you.
And what if ego is the symptom? The protest as you put it against death; a brilliant way to manage the boredom and voidness of our empty space. People will say the universe was doing just fine before consciousness arrived to the party. And I have read theories that we are the plague for this planet. But if she hadn’t got wasted, danced her butt off, and barfed a little on the way back home then its not called a party. Heck, if she does that a few more times and develops a substance abuse problem then I can help her with moderation (for a fee of course) and feed my kids too in the process. Whoa! I just turned this lose-lose into a win-win! Just by adding some more pieces on the chessboard.
Alas, because I am a greedy little sh!t I got to pay a tax for the kind of fun of adding more pieces. I accept some limitation to my freedoms because it reminds me that I have them in the first place.
Long story short, I don’t know what side to pick, and if it really matters or not. I do play a darn good chess game with black. And I like winning more than losing. I also like losing if it was a good match. Sometimes I like to rub it in (tons of fun and giggles), and sometimes I just don’t want to play. If this “side” is yet another box the bounds of which I can’t escape, that’s fine. I m very glad you asked me to pick one. Playing is life. And thanks for inviting us to play. With kids like you on the playground I almost can’t sit still those last minutes before recess.
Your behavior strongly suggests you choose vitality. Just sayin’.