We need a triad
that makes
sense for
now
That triad
is
Reality
Ethics
Aesthetics
We'll
explain
Ω
Not
either-or
We cannot progress individually or
planetarily without moving past binary thinking. Binary thinking stops at two.
It contains little or or no thought about ethics. It clings to one side of
something until the other side collapses and then it declares victory. Until
the other side gets up the strength to to fight some more. This is the stuff of
fiction and the sad result of fact. It is like a disease. It eats away at the
fabric of hope.
If either-or is the only answer, thinking is
merely a matter of remembering what you believe. But if all you believe is that
you must strike out and if the result is harm,
you are engaged in a closed loop, based on either-or.
Either do this or do that. Never a third
option. Or another way. Or an alternative. Whether we are talking of an
individual or a group, things tend to come down to either-or.
There is one big reason the binary way fails. It fails because preventing
harm (ethics) is not even on the table.
Triadic thinking is an automatic brake on the
harmful binary mode.
It interposes ethics between the matter at
hand and the action that ensues. It subjects deeds to the criteria of truth and
beauty. It is a wake-up call. A mindfulness nudge. It is a call to remember
binary history when ethics was largely ignored and misunderstood. It is a call
to the unprecedented in today's iffy world.
The Slow as Molasses Press