The Absurdity of Binary

By Cathy Holt from Columbia, South America

"Binary" is used in several ways in our culture these days...let's consider this:

On my newsletter "Gifted ND" for neuro-divergent, Lilian wrote this week about "The Absurdity of Binary."

We live in a society obsessed with measuring value by output. With this in mind what then is the ultimate output?

It’s not products, inventions, or even AI.

It’s HUMANS...

She then goes down the rabbit hole that proves the most valued humans are obviously females. But then she finally gets to the point about Binary.

Flipping Dysfunction into Function

Binary thinking is mathematically dysfunctional because it artificially limits infinite possibilities to exactly two options.

In any complex situation, there are countless potential approaches, solutions, and outcomes. But binary systems force everything into either/or categories: win or lose, right or wrong, superior or inferior, employed or homeless.

This creates artificial scarcity where abundance naturally exists.

The Math of 2D vs Reality

Reality = Multi-dimensional = Infinite possibilities

Binary thinking = 2 Finite Choices, pre-selected by others

Reality (Infinity) - Binary = Loss of 2 (crappy) options with everything else still allowed.

Multidimensional intelligence uses more perspectives which generates more novel solutions, more combinations of different approaches, and more entirely new directions to explore options. Simply because they have greater access to the full spectrum of possibilities.

When someone is trapped in binary thinking approaches and approach the same problem, they can only choose between the two predetermined options they’ve been given. They cannot see/perceive/comprehend that other possibilities even exist.

Binary systems start and become increasingly more controlling because they don’t present the two best options. They limit it down to the two options that serve the system while “pretending” it is a choice. Most eventually end with monopoly or no choice at all.

There are more details. But I like the idea of 3D vs 2D. I'm going to stop here for now.

An old photo to share

Here I am, 3-1/2 years old, and there's this squirming wiggly little baby that my parents are always holding. But this day they say, lets let her hold her and take her photo! Mary Beth and I weren't at all sure about things, but we did our best. In  Dallas Texas, 1946.

Negativity vs. positivity

Posting all of this daily "inspiration" from which I often just take the header statement and use it as a quote. But today I have a reason for doing so.

INSPIRATION

Relating to the Negative When negative thoughts arise, it is best to address them rather than pushing them down where they will surface again.

For the last several years, there has been a lot of focus on the power of positive thinking. Many people have come to misinterpret this wisdom to mean that it is not okay to have a negative thought or feeling. This can lend a kind of superficiality to their relationship with life and relationships with other people. It also can lead them to feel that if a negative thought or feeling comes up, they must immediately block it out. When they do this, they are engaging in the act of repressing a part of themselves that needs to be seen, heard, and processed.

When we repress parts of ourselves, they don’t go away so much as they get buried deep within us, and they often come out when we least expect it. On the other hand, if we allow ourselves to be fully human, honoring all the thoughts, feelings, and moods that pass through us on a given day, we create a more conscious relationship with ourselves. Instead of blocking out thoughts and feelings that we label as negative, we can simply observe them and then let them go. They only get stuck when we react to them negatively, pushing them down and out of sight where they get lodged in our unconscious minds. A healthier solution might be to develop a practice of following any negative thought we may have with a positive thought. This works well because positive thoughts can be more powerful than negative thoughts.

Rather than setting our minds up in such a way that we become fearful of the contents of our own consciousness, blocking out anything that is less than 100 percent positive, we might resolve to develop a friendlier attitude toward ourselves, trusting in our inherent goodness. When we recognize our true inner worth, a few dark clouds passing through our minds will not intimidate us. We will see them for what they are — small, dark figures passing through an expansive sky of well-being and truth.

But the point to this post is to consider negativity. The forces of evil, if you will.

We do have lives of judgement, at all times...considering whether something is good or bad. That's survival. But also we tend to put everything into those categories.

My question is (and my friends are really tired of talking about this by now) ... where does an evil or negative force come from? Is it really bad?

This is my attempt to understand if we're locked into a dualistic way of seeing things. Or is there maybe a more unified was of looking at things, circular perhaps. Or Yin/Yang? Where the heart of each opposite contains that one's opposite. And they are considered male/female aspects as well, not negative/positive.

Magnetism works with two poles.

We have night and day (except at the earth's poles where there's lots of twilight).

Without yin no yang
Without opposites, no harmony.
And so the Master, cultivating the practice of harmony
Accepts good and evil as necessary to each other.

Tao te Ching

Today's second quote:

We are healed of a suffering only by expressing it to the full. -Marcel Proust, novelist (1871-1922)

The thoughts above have been around for a long time! But below is a physiological healing approach with the sense of emotional safety.

This approach of the psyche reassembling itself when its "Right Brain" feels safe gave me pause.

It's looking at safety fostering cellular restructuring. I like that. Maybe not cells becoming different structures, but the relationships between them perhaps

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I found more to express...soon. About binary functions, and just think, without a world of "ones and zeros" we'd never have achieved computers!