What if Irony is Judging Others for Lacking Empathy?
Sometimes
we think we have to decide
one
over the other.
As if to approach decision-making
as a problem
to be solved.
But when we approach decision-making
as a paradox
to be dissolved,
we may realize
that we need not decide
one
over the other,
because the two
can become
one
through integration.
There are times
when we cannot reconcile
the conflict between
what is right
for us
and what is right
for them.
A paradox.
This is a place,
where we may recognize
what is right for others,
but feel stuck
because what is right for us
seems negated
by their’s.
Let us learn the choice
to give and receive support
in this place.
A place
of struggle.
Support
that can help us all realize empathy
so we can finally see
where it is
we previously did not look
and respect it
so as to let
the paradox dissolve
and give rise
to a new way
of being
together.
If
1 + 1 = ?
is a problem
and
“This is a lie.”
is a paradox,
a problem often implies
the method—
in this case
addition
—with which to solve
the problem,
while a paradox
does not.
If you mistake
a paradox
for a problem,
the more time you spend
applying the method
you think
will solve the problem,
the more time
you may spend
staying stuck.
Richard Feynman—
Physicist—
once said,
“Paradox
is only a conflict between
Reality
vs
Our feeling of what reality
ought to be.”
I define tension
as a conflict between
What we have
vs
What we need or value.
When I noticed
the remarkable similarity
between these two,
I realized
that we can either
judge tension as “bad,”
so as to frame it as a “problem.”
or
We can let it evoke
our curiosity and wonder
so as to frame it
as a “paradox.”
The choice
can be ours.
A common inner conflict revolves around these two thoughts:
It may seem like these two thoughts cannot be thought by the same person.
Yet they are often thought by the same person at the same time.
That’s why it is an inner conflict.
Our inner conflict often takes the form of a paradox.
When laid out logically, paradoxes will not make sense.
By connecting what may seem like contradictory perspectives through empathy,
we can give birth to what we call creativity.
It is through such act of creation,
that paradoxes dissolve itself,
leaving behind a sense of clarity and understanding.
