Are we good/bad or good or bad? That is the question. Are we ambiguous? But we can’t sustain ambiguity because you can’t choose in an ambiguous situation. Both choices are equal but opposite. Catch 22. Ambiguity creates a tape-loop out of which we must get. I explain in the talk how we create a compulsive ritual in consumerism to get out of the double-bind. You can be unique or Bad by joining a unique and bad group. You can eat your cake and have it too.
This solves the dilemma of ambiguity where you have to be one or the other. That is our classical logic. You have to choose, either be bad or good, but you can’t choose bad/good because that is not a choice. That is ambiguity. But we must choose. You see the problem, the existential problem here? I must choose but I can’t. This creates the strategy that is unconscious, to be sure, where we create a self-image that is the rebel because it joins a group of rebels, a self image of the rebel.
The bottom line is that every choice is both good/bad. No matter what we do, it is going to create good and bad. Life is ambiguous that way. There is no way to calculate an action that will be absolutely good for everyone. You choose to go to Walmart. A good action. You run over someone’s dog. Bad action. Life is a mix…so to choose life you have to choose the mix. We do out best, but there is no certainty.
So what this means is that there is no certainty of who I am. I am not fixed as either good or bad. There is tremendous freedom in this realization. You never have to worry about being liked or worthy…you can just be who you are in this moment. No apologies.
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