This episode of Living Myth begins with the word polarization being chosen as the dictionary word of the year and ironically being the one thing that both sides of the political spectrum agree upon. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines polarization as “a division into sharply distinct opposites in which opinions and no longer range along a continuum, but become concentrated at opposing extremes.” When polarization becomes the key word, extreme levels of tension are being experienced, both on the collective level and in the psyche of each individual person.
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At critical times on Earth, the basic elements and energies of life polarize. We become crucified by seemingly irreconcilable aspects of a conflict that was under the surface all along. When that happens, simply choosing one side or the other in order to avoid the tension and the uncertainty simply causes the dilemma to reform in another area or at a different level. At that point, it becomes important to know that a tension of opposites is the precondition for creation and for any meaningful change.
While the two poles of a polarity seem to be irreconcilable opposites, they are secretly one. For in a true polarity, like light and dark or up and down, one side cannot exist without the other. Like night and day, existence itself is an essential unity, appearing as an oppositional duality. Seen that way, meaningful change and true transformation are the secret aims of the tension inside life itself.
While great uncertainty and fear can cause people to quickly choose one side of each dilemma, maturity, a word which can mean both “ripe and timely,” is related to our ability to withstand and understand the tension of the opposites. When we hold the tension of opposites long enough a surprising third way can appear that allows a truly creative solution that renews the energy of life itself.
This creative third way does not produce a one-sided victory, nor is it the result of simple negotiations, of bargaining or compromise. For in the end, only a creative solution can bring a genuine resolution of the things that tear us apart. And what ultimately stands against the threats of extremism, the delusions of conspiracy theories and the emptiness of growing nihilism is the awakening of the individual soul. For the human soul knows the presence of both chaos and creation. It can survive all the lost dreams and all the betrayals that break us down and nail us to the cross of life.
It is our mutual fate to be alive when culture has become divided and fragmented and needs to be made whole again. Yet, as the danger of further polarization and greater dissolution grows, the balancing imagination and the inherent energy for healing tries to awaken in each individual soul.
The courage demanded of us involves the necessity of facing the unknown and being open to the unseen that has always been nearby seeking to be revealed. For, something ancient and knowing that has already survived many catastrophes is now trying to catch up with us and be known by us again.
The modern keepers of the dictionary have proclaimed the word of the year to be polarization, but the soul, which also keeps track of what people are thinking and feeling and which is always trying to reconnect people and things that have become divided, might say that the word of the year is Kairos. For Kairos is the opportune moment in the midst of a crisis when meaningful change and genuine transformation become possible.
The radical moments in which polarity shifts to creativity depends upon the willingness of people to suffer the tensions of the opposites long enough. Then, the opportune moment becomes a breach in the relentless march of time, in which the eternal enters the world again and all manner of little redemptions become possible. Kairos names the moment of sweeping change that arrives just in the nick of time and makes it possible for everything to turn around and for life to renew itself.
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