Beyond Binary

Is a spinning top in motion, or at rest? 

It stays in one place as it spins. But it is also in motion, because it is spinning. 

So each answer is both right and wrong, depending on your perspective. This contradiction is a direct consequence of the binary nature of the question.

Finding ways to ask better questions, and move beyond binary choices, is particularly salient as we emerge into a new year of this liminal decade.

Suspended Animation

Over the last year, everything has changed. Yet nothing has changed at the same time. 

This unnerving duality was very apparent on the shortest day (in the northern hemisphere); namely on the winter solstice. The word solstice comes from the latin sol ("sun") and sistere ("to stand still”).

On this day of suspended animation - with Covid closing in, Christmas plans getting cancelled, Saturn and Jupiter edging closer, Britain and Europe moving further apart, the climate catastrophe unfolding, and the American Election remaining both resolved and unresolved - it was unclear what could make any difference to these opposing forces. 

Should we just wait for the inevitable to happen? Or can we nudge the universe a little to see what gives? 

Quantum Questions

Part of the challenge, as with the spinning top, is to try to move beyond asking closed questions that force us to only give binary responses: yes or no; true or false; in or out?

Through asking more open-ended questions, we can surface different perspectives and shades of grey in the spaces in-between many different possible answers.

Perhaps we can learn from the paradigm shift of quantum physics, which moved beyond the illusion of waves and particles, and embraced the mathematical reality of an infinite number of possibilities that exist simultaneously instead. 

For example some of quantum questions that we are asking ourselves right now are:

1. In what ways can we strive to achieve net zero emissions by the end of the decade?
2. What is the new purpose of cities and nations in a post-Covid world?
3. How might we find a fair and equitable balance between purpose and profit?
4. How can communities harness their collective intelligence an interconnected world?
5. What else might we realise soon, that we already know?

All of these questions have many different answers which can trigger debate and discussion. It is through sitting with uncertainty, and experimenting with different possible solutions, that deeper insights are possible.

Complexity can emerge from contradictory responses to even a simple question about a spinning top. Yet through listening without prejudice, we can diffuse the toxicity of polarisation, and start to animate new opportunities instead. 

“For the simplicity that lies this side of complexity, I would not give a fig, but for the simplicity that lies on the other side of complexity, I would give my life.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

This post was first published on the Liminal blog at www.weareliminal.co/blog