Susan Carland: Tension keeps us together

Two more emotions can exist in us at the same time. The Australian Defense Force’s allegations of war crimes and fear of joy are embracing a new baby at the same moment. You can feel resentment and joy at the same time on various problems. More challenging than having the opposite feelings for different problems at the same time, and perhaps more importantly, having the opposite problem for the same problem or person.

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So we can violently oppose one thing that politicians have done, and at the same time warmly admit another very good thing they have done. The same celebrity can be good or bad. Admitting one does not have to reduce the other. We can uphold one claim and reject another. You can keep the complexity of a single problem and see many conflicting positive and negative threads in it. For example, the blockade of Melbourne was terribly difficult and very necessary for many. My feeling that it is essential is not indifferent to the pain that many have experienced, and my heartfelt sympathy for them is not a refusal of the blockade law.

Of course, this does not mean that we do not have a firm opinion on issues that are important to us. It means that we can have diverse emotions at the same time and accept that one does not deny the other, if necessary. Addressing this is intellectual and emotional maturity.

Despite the opposite feelings, or even because of it, we can feel one thing, but it can hold in us multiple beliefs and feelings at once without denying them. Because. This is not a mess, but a tension. And since tension is unpleasant, it’s no wonder we retreat to a singularity and make moral judgments on top of it (“Wow. You can be happy when X is happening.“). But feeling nervous is not a bad thing.

The spider web I’m removing is useless because it’s out of tension. The spider web works only with multiple threads, each of which is pulled tightly. If part of it sags or is chipped, the web will crumble. The tension created by multiple threads under strain paradoxically provides a delicate and strong composition.

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We can take advantage of this tension to create our own fragile and robust scaffolding for multiple threads (disagreements and agreements, happiness and sadness, acceptance and rejection) that exist within us at the same time. While hitting the spider web that has been abandoned by the host for a long time, I feel a lot at the same time. Despair for the unhindered march of COVIDs around the world, love for abundant generosity from strangers, sadness for leaving a very sick family, thanks for beautiful friends, anonymous coming to my inbox Frustration with abuse, gentle goodwill The same people who send it. This is not mean. It’s abundance.

This article will be displayed in Sunday life Magazine in Saint Herald And that Sunday age Released on December 13th. For more information on Sunday Life, please visit: Sydney Morning Herald And Era..