A Third Way: The Stubborn Contemplation of Opposing Truths

Hello Hedge Schoolers,<br/><br/>A dear welcome to you wherever you are in the world. In the time of tumult we find ourselves in, I feel called to catch my thirsty mind and its desire to know and conquer. <br/><br/>Certainty. The eternal trickster. The calling card of fear. I see you everywhere. Social soapboxes where we scream the truth to all who will hear. And scream louder to those who won't. I find little solace in the eternal seeking. The perpetual treadmill of needing to trap, label and categorise has driven me mad in the past. The more sure I believe myself to be, the more doubtful I am. Certainty has been a cause of suffering.<br/><br/>"You suffer from uncertainty - and uncertainty is the nature of life. Certainty is<br/><br/>part of death. Be certain and you will be dead. Remain flowing, remain<br/><br/>uncertain, remain available to the changing circumstances, and you will remain<br/><br/>more and more alive." <br/><br/>Osho - What is Real Rebellion<br/><br/>The Conversation killer<br/><br/>One only needs to turn on the news or their favourite social media platform to gauge the divide in many areas of our lives. Take any issue and you will find sides picked, ideologies set, and backs against the wall. Comments, hashtags, subreddits, provide congregation fuel for gas lighting and insults. Dialogue is snuffed out early as troops with supporting beliefs rally to have your back. I find this really demoralising. So much noise. So hard to gain a clear signal. I want to see and hear but I find I'm lost in the mist of rhetoric and certainty. <br/><br/>So how do we fan the flames of discourse without burning each other?<br/><br/>Stubborn Contemplation of Opposing Truths<br/><br/>I am a big fan of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. As a poet, a thinker, and as a human being. Goethe's wisdom can help provide a light here. He developed a thinking strategy that allowed &#8220;holding two opposing truths in two hands and walking forward&#8221; in stubborn contemplation. Two key elements to his method were:<br/><br/>A Begi