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Week One - Day Five
When we replace “either-or” with “and” we can be both optimistic and objective simultaneously. Life can be good and hard concurrently. We can be fearful and courageous at the same time. We can be introspective and outward facing in tandem. We can be generous and frugal, confident and humble, respectful and humorous. We can love data and still rely on intuition. We can feel happy and sad on the same day, in the same hour, and even at the same exact time.
Hidden Wholeness
“In the visible world of nature, a great truth is concealed in plain sight: diminishment and beauty, darkness and light, death and life are not opposites. They are held together in the paradox of the ‘hidden wholeness’.
In a paradox, opposites do not negate each other—they cohere in mysterious unity at the heart of reality. Deeper still, they need each other for health, as my body needs to breathe in as well as breathe out. But in a culture that prefers the ease of either-or thinking to the complexities of paradox, we have a hard time holding opposites together. We want light without darkness, the glories of spring and summer without the demands of autumn and winter… .”
—Parker Palmer
Questions / Prompts
Consider the concept of “bittersweet”. Recall a personal experience that encapsulates this blend of joy and sorrow. Reflect on your comfort level with uncertainty. How open are you to embracing the ambiguity and paradoxes that life presents? What are things you are holding in tension right now?
