By force of habits we are always want to stay with dichotomies. This tends to limit our choices to just two options. Failure to think out the third option may result in us being unable to engage ourselves fully in our daily lives.
The present demand of us is really to get involve in what we are doing. We are expected to make a difference by applying the extra 'mile' to our endeavours. It is important that we resolve this conflict within us so that we can enjoy life to the full. It is not always the best way to reduce everything to the factor of two.
What really have been the origins of this 'dichotomies'? In part this has been cultural-based. To the Western mind, there is the factor of 'agency'. Western civilization has been built on the notion that Man has to conquer the self and move on to overcome nature to realize his place on Earth. Western progress has documented all this to the point that there is nothing left for Man to explore on Earth but to go out into the cyber-sphere. In contrast an Asian is always reminded to preserve 'harmony' in whatever that he is doing for fear that going against Nature will upset the balance on Earth. We have therefore talked about the 'yin-yang' harmony and the need to allow for the Tao or chi top take its normal course. Thus Nature is said to bear the best guide for how humans must conduct their lives.
The solution in the West has always been to seek the winner: there must be an adversary, a competitor, an enemy, the unbeliever, you and us or the 'Other'. Never in their minds has there been an inkling that life is never black or white but comes in shades of grey and blue. Upon this philosophy the Western enterprise has gone on to build political, economic and social institutions that pit David and Goliath, fight to the end and the ends justify the means. It is as if for the Western mind they can never be free from the clutches of Scylla and Charybdis of Greek mythology.
Win-win has been a modern invention indeed. Before this there is no middle way or the third option as the means towards a solution. Hence relationships have been established on adversarial terms instead of a partnership.
There is reason here to expect this new paradigm to assist us in our efforts at getting to full sustainability. We have to get out of thinking in terms of dichotomies and strive to move from 'this' or 'that' to 'this' and 'that'. The emphasis is on 'or' and 'and'. Only then can Man hope to challenge their biases, beliefs and hang-ups and finally to become involved in the process of living once again.
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