¶

We need a triad

that  makes

sense for now

That triad is

Reality

Ethics

Aesthetics

We’ll

explain

Ω

Not either-or

We cannot progress individually or planetarily without moving past binary thinking. Binary thinking stops at two. It contains little or or no thought about ethics. It clings to one side of something until the other side collapses and then it declares victory. Until the other side gets up the strength to to fight some more. This is the stuff of fiction and the sad result of fact. It is like a disease. It eats away at the fabric of hope.

If either-or is the only answer, thinking is merely a matter of remembering what you believe. But if all you believe is that you must strike out and if the result is harm,  you are engaged in a closed loop, based on either-or.

Either do this or do that. Never a third option. Or another way. Or an alternative. Whether we are talking of an individual or a group, things tend to come down to either-or.

There is one big  reason the binary way fails. It fails because preventing harm (ethics) is not even on the table.

Triadic thinking is an automatic brake on the harmful binary mode.

It interposes ethics between the matter at hand and the action that ensues. It subjects deeds to the criteria of truth and beauty. It is a wake-up call. A mindfulness nudge. It is a call to remember binary history when ethics was largely ignored and misunderstood. It is a call to the unprecedented in today’s iffy world.