The Limits of Either/Or Thinking

While I believe most people just want to get up, go to work, raise their kids, and live their lives; the messages in our world are often polarized. There seems to be an effort to turn everything into an Either/Or proposition.Either God exists or science explains everything. Either natural cures are best and Big Pharma is evil or Big Pharma is helping people and natural cure purveyors are quacks. Either you're Democrat or Republican, Christian, Jew, or Buddhist.It's no coincidence, in my mind, that Either/Or sounds a lot like the sound a stubborn donkey makes. This mindset limits our options, limits our thinking, and, worst of all, limits the progress of our civilization.Some Either/Or people make it their life's mission to win the argument with the opposition. Others take the shortcut of simply eliminating people who disagree. Largely, people do this based on conditioned beliefs or rigid approaches to data. They do it without ever having stood a moment in their opposition's shoes, looked around through their eyes, and most importantly looked back at themselves to see how they look from that perspective.I've had people get mad at me for suggesting they are taking away half of their freedom to vote by ALWAYS voting for one party. Often I hear a response such, "But they're evil. They can't be allowed to rule. The sky would fall." I call this the divided and conquered mindset and it flows naturally from Either/Or thinking.Have you ever attended the religious service of someone you totally disagree with? Have you ever looked at the scientific evidence that counters your religious beliefs? Have you ever actually read the political arguments of your opposition and tried to see that they're not evil or crazy and that there are sound reasons for what they believe? If not, you might be caught in the Either/Or mindset.Open your mind. Consider new possibilities. Don't let other peoples' ideas limit what is possible for you - for all of us. When you do, you'll suddenly see that you had placed yourself in an ideological cage that had to defeat the opposition at any cost. You'll see you can be free from the cage and that whole universes open up when you do.Keep your eyes on the skies!Ray

Ray Davis is the founder of The Affirmation Spot, a writer, thinker, and advocate for human advancement and awakening.

His new speculative fiction novel - Anunnaki Awakening: Revelation - is shaking paradigms among believers and non-believers. It's a clever mix of ancient knowledge, modern conspiracy, and page-turning excitement.One reader wrote, "(My) mind is officially blown!"Author Graham Hancock said, "We are a species with amnesia." This book begins the awakening. Is it fact? Is it fiction? You decide!