The world often appears to be paradoxical. Paradoxes only exist in dualistic thinking though. That’s how we’ve been trained to see things. In trialistic thinking, in contrast, a paradox would be just indicating an inner state of incomplete awareness.
Like one can experience in climbing, only two points of contact expose to the danger of being left hanging by one hand or foot, and likely falling. To find the right compromise between only two opposites does risk to end up in an imbalance or a mental, respectively spiritual tumble. It would be much better to maintain a three-point mental anchor at all times.
Therefore, Awareness Intelligence as the threefold awareness about awareness requires to think thrice. Thinking three times involves the three Awareness Intelligence pointers in a silent trialogue of wisdom. Instead of a bipolar mind that typically tends to either over- or underthink, a harmonious mind, in contrast, mentalizes in a way that simultaneously includes our own past, our common present, and all humanity’s future. As a result, the whole scope of human experience unfolds and joy arises. Joy ultimately comes from the trialogue of awareness with the true self, unconditional relationships, and selfless contributions that connects to all humanity.
– Awareness Intelligence (M. Sager, 2019)
Did you intend the paradox of placing triadic thinking against paradox in order to argue against dualistic thinking? Good one. At first I thought you were presenting a false dichotomy, but now I think I get it. They’re not really opposites, are they? Both/and +, that sort of thing?
So a paradox challenges dichotomies by showing that two apparent opposites can/do actually co-exist, which in truth does only hold effect where there is dualistic thinking, whereas a triad is a group of three related elements or items or such, like the holy trinity, yes?
Triadic thinking allows for a three layers to co-exist. I think I get that. I get how a paradox forces our minds to see that truth is not as simple as either/or. It forces us to see that truth is often both/and. It opens the mind to see beyond polarities. Is it possible that comprehending paradox is a precursor or aid to triadic thinking? … that triadic thinking emerges once a person develops a strong enough awareness beyond our traditional dualistic thinking? I.e. man, woman, transgender, he, she, they…; black, white, and… everything in between? Im not so sure about that one in terms of race, but it is true that both black and white “are” all colours of the rainbow, either reflecting or absorbing them. That sort of thing?
I guess what I’m wondering is if you could apply triadic thinking to traditional dualities to help illustrate.? Your idea here is very interesting.
Hi Julie.
Thanks a lot for your comment. You’re adding some great additional points!
I’m glad you got my point against dualism. Balance is one against another (win-lose), while harmony is collaboration between three (win-win-win).
Yes, there are endless examples, and throughout my texts, I mention few of them. I’m just working on a painting based on a Triskelion/Triquetra, a three-legged celtic symbol, which can stand for life-death-rebirth, spirit-mind-body, mother-father-child, past-present-future, power-intellect-love, and creation-preservation-destruction. In popular culture, often one third is made hidden because politics is based on either/or concepts with the aim to unsettle people, so they want to be on the winning side of the balance forgetting, out of fear, that if they choose collaboration, nobody would be let down. Consequently, I also don’t think that dualistic thinking is a precursor/aid for triadic thinking.
For me, most important is always to not only see the “me” and “we” (which is the current state of awareness of most people), but also the “they.”
It’s a nice exercise to find the missing third parts in current daily balances to create more harmonious views. Take anything: left-right-(add middle), day-night (add dusk), outside-inside (add between), hot-cold (add warm), etc..
Thanks again, take care and all the best! Mathias