The Slow as Molasses Press
Looking at things in threes means that any
train of thought you have does not need to stop at two. Thought starts with a
sign that rises up in your mind, generally related to a sense or a feeling.
Remember that light that goes on in old comics, to signify a thought?
If you just have that feeling and the next
thought-step is action, you are giving up the most precious quality we people
possess.
Freedom. The freedom to choose among
alternatives. How can you claim to have freedom with only a two-step thought
process? You can't.
For example:
You feel dizzy as you are walking from bed to
bath in the middle of the night. A light goes on in your head, but you keep on
walking. Without considering! And you end up taking a serious fall.
Freedom has no role in that little story. We
call such results accidents. But they are really the product of not looking at
things in threes. All triadic considerations involve a crucial second step
before acting.
What is this second thing that should be
interposed between the dizziness and the fall? It is called an INDEX. It's an
interlude that could take just a fraction of a second. Or a much longer time,
depending. It is a list of possible choices.
Dizzy. INDEX: Should I ask what's going on?
Should I ask if it's safe to continue? Should I ask what can I do now? Should I call my sweetheart from her slumber?
Should I stop? Each question points to a choice. The very existence of choices
suggests what I believe is the main, perhaps the only, real freedom we have.
The freedom to select among alternatives. The freedom to consider the value of
any particular act.
The person who continues and falls never has
that choice. He never took time to think. He was literally thought-less. He
stopped at two. The next thing he knew he was laying on the floor.
How many even think of looking at things in
threes? How many have thought of an INDEX? How many think that truth and beauty
should influence all human actions?
The answer is: More than you may think. And:
Not enough.
