Balancing Either/or and Both/and

“A shift from either/or thinking to both/and thinking…” is what I posted yesterday. A shift.  Not, one or the other, not either/or or both/and, but both either/or and both/and--a balance.

 

The question then becomes when to shift, when to rebalance?  When have we had too much of one and need to shift to the other?

 

When the results, the phenomena and our experience have gone too far in one direction and are creating problems, not working for the benefit of people—individuals, society, and the planet—when we are not contributing to a world that works for everyone and everything.

 

We have, to me, reached an imbalance and a need to shift in our use of smart phones, iPads, Twitter, Tumblr and that kind of technology. These things have, as John J. Pitney Jr. wrote in the 10/15 Christian Science Monitor, “increased the speed and reach of communications…so that almost as soon as a thought enters your mind you can send it everywhere. Twitter-like thinking—the kind that relies on quick intuition and impulse—can work well when we’re playing sports, for instance.

 

“[But] public life is different.  Impulse reacting draws on stereotypes and mental shortcuts that can mislead us when we apply them to political questions. It is better to [shift to] a more deliberative and reasoned approach, thinking things through and seeking additional information.”