🦉 In Search of Wisdom
In Search of Wisdom is a podcast for seekers and curious minds interested in tools for the art of living. Each episode attempts to introduce principles and practices to help us live our highest good. Join the search with J.W. Bertolotti and leading thinkers in philosophy, theology, and everything in between.
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How to Make Space for Paradox
In this episode of In Search of Wisdom, we discuss how to make space for paradox in daily life. By paradox, I mean the ability to hold opposing truths (or practices) in our minds. You can expect to learn what it means to be more open to life, how Carl Jung defined psychological and spiritual development, what Joseph Campbell meant by saying “yes” to life, and much more.
Key Takeaways
How to navigate paradoxes and polarities.
Creating harmony amid the chaos.
Why we need to get comfortable with ambiguity.
How to say “yes” to life.
Here’s a short clip from my conversation with Dr. Wendy Smith (co-author of Both/And Thinking) on the meaning and history of paradoxes:
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Episode Transcript
To get us started, I will define our terms as we do on most episodes. Then, I’ll read a short meditation titled Make Space for Paradox (from the Letters to a Young Seeker series). To conclude the episode, we’ll discuss how we put these ideas into practice in daily life.
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What is a Paradox?
Paradoxes have energized and mystified philosophers, scientists, and psychologists for millennia. The most common image of a paradox is probably the yin-yang symbol, which originated in Chinese philosophy. Around the fifth century BCE, named the “Axial Age” by the philosopher Karl Jaspers, thinkers like Lao Tzu from the East and Heraclitus from the West grappled with ideas of paradox.
In their book Both/And Thinking, authors Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis explain that we are not alone in seeing interwoven opposites everywhere. Philosophers and others have grappled with these issues from early history to modern times. “Examples of paradoxes abound: knowing and unknowing, power and vulnerability, good and evil, stability and change, love and hate, …, work and life, discipline and pleasure.” Life is full of paradoxes.
Make Space for Paradox
Dear Fellow Traveler,
You may have noticed that many topics we discuss contradict one another. For example, one week, we might explore the practice of solitude, and the next, the art of friendship. Learning to live is recognizing and holding the wisdom of apparent opposites (e.g., solitude and connection).
In his book Lessons from an American Stoic, Mark Matousek (a previous podcast guest) calls it making space for paradox,
Reflect on the doubleness of experience and how apparent opposites can be equally true at the same time. Remember that there are two sides to what happens, at least, and that wisdom results in the ability to hold opposing truths in your mind at the same time without either canceling the other out.
When we reach conclusions in daily life, we are wise to attempt to reflect on how the opposite might also be true (or have potential upsides). You could use Montaigne’s maxim, “What do I know?” multiple times throughout the day to help loosen and test your initial assumptions.
