Hypothesis: The forefront of human development lies in the cultivation of intentionality across common polarities such as Masculine — Feminine
I’ve been thinking about polarities recently.
This post is meant to share some concepts and definitions as a foundation for future writing. Some of that future writing will hopefully be more applied.
I’ll start by sharing some working (i.e. provisional) definitions – these words have other definitions in other contexts, I’m defining them here like this for my purposes:
I’m using the word polarity as
- A dialectic between seemingly contrasting qualities or perspectives, generating a dynamic equilibrium essential to life.
The word dialectic above means something like conversation and implies a living process.
Common examples of polarities include Yin and Yang, Masculine and Feminine, Left Brain and Right Brain, Form and Emptiness, Finite and Infinite, Local and Global, Part and Whole, ‘Right/Wrong’ and ‘Both/And’.
Polarities are essential for the cultivation of intentionality.
I’m using intentionality in a particular way – I am using it to mean that which powers and directs agency. By agency I am referring to the expression of meaningful choice.
I think intentionality is fundamentally relational and about care. In the Beyond Goals course framework we’ve defined an intention as:
- A relationship one holds with something they care about that causes them to act differently so as to attend to it.
One way of looking at the world is that it is composed of “relationships all the way down”. From a human perspective, there is care embedded in the relationships we hold and that we are a part of. This care is made up of meaning. It expresses as the purpose that motivates and directs our actions through the choices we make in our lives.
Intentionality is cultivated in part through presence. When we use our presence to cultivate our intentionality, our agency (our choices and actions) become more attuned towards what truly matters to us. A big part of the journey for many in the Beyond Goals community is how to build a life practice and a life context that supports this process.
I think understanding polarities is really important for attuning toward what is in fact real. When we look at the world through only one side of a polarity we end up with a limited view on what is going on. We can end up attuning ourselves to this limited view, which ultimately results in deep rooted issues and suffering that we can’t solve within the frame we are operating within.
What is needed is to get outside of the limited frame. This is where understanding dialectic as a living conversation between different ways of looking at something is so central to living well, as individuals and as collectives. When our epistemic processes (our ways of knowing) are dialectical in nature, we thrive. When our ways of knowing are calcified in one position, or are fragmented and polarized against one another, we suffer and fall apart.
Dialectical Intentionality happens when agency is birthed through the living conversation between differences. What I’m suggesting is fundamentally a practice of awareness, attunement and discernment – where my sensitivity to this particular situation and context, including the perspectives and values that I and others are holding, informs my full embodied intelligence around what choices are being called for.
I think this perspective has a lot to offer when considering the cultivation of clarity and alignment in our lives, such as coming into “right relationship” with our goals.
~Benjamin
