Abortion.

The topic alone is the ultimate expression of binary thinking. It is a very convoluted and complicated issue that touches not only on the physical health of both the mother and the child, but also their social, financial, and mental health. It also touches the mental health of everyone who might be in their social orbit, now and in the future. But pundits, politicians, and the media on both sides of the issue have reduced it into one of ONLY two possible outcomes.

"A planet of playthings, we dance on the strings of powers we cannot perceive."

For abortion's advocates, you are either FOR a woman's right to choose or you are a Neolithic troglodyte who needs to educate yourself as start living in at least the 20th century. For abortion's opponents, you are either FOR the sanctity of life or you are a sociopathic serial killer who does not deserve to breathe much less run for a political office. Advocates on both sides of this single issue have reduced - and will continue to reduce - any opinion, no matter how well thought out, into that simple binary choice. And for some voters, this is the ONLY issue that matters and they will ONLY cast their vote for someone who advocates what they already believe. For them, there is no middle ground.

"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. You can choose from phantom fears or kindness that can kill."

But I think differently, and I believe that there IS a middle ground. So, yes, I do have an opinion on the issue, and no, I will not declare what that opinion is because my opinion doesn't really matter for two reasons. The first is that extremists like those that I have described will never listen to, much less "hear" anything that does not meet their predetermined ideas, and the second is that I don't have the plumbing for it so I will never need to make that choice.

The Time For Binary Thinking Is Over

Binary. In our culture, the most frequent use of the term "binary" is as the ultimate base language of all of our electronic and computer systems; simply a sequence series of ones and zeroes. But the term is not limited to computer science, it also describes how some people think, reason, and consider the events in their lives.

'Binary thinking' is a system of thought that predominantly considers things in an "either/or", "right/wrong", "black/white" sort of way, simply ignoring any subtleties or considerations of third or more alternatives. The appeal of binary thought is its simplicity because absolutely everything can be broken down into one of two choices. People who operate with 'binary thinking' cannot allow for the possibility that there could be an "in-between state", or a "shade of grey", and if you try to explain that there is one, they will never acknowledge it because, for them, anything other than one choice or the other is just too complex for them to comprehend. More often though, they will devote a great deal of time and energy to mentally manipulate whatever it is until it finally emerges as a simple binary choice.

Then there's something that I have taken to calling 'quantum thinking'. This system of thought allows the person "to hold two or more opposing thoughts at the same time; the ability to simultaneously view any situation from multiple perspectives." Unfortunately, despite such a simplistic explanation, quantum thought is not simple to perform. It involves a shift from an older, linear way of thinking into a newer, more advanced multi-linear way of thinking. It's both uncomfortable and frightening, and most people will go out of their way to avoid anything that might remotely be considered uncomfortable or frightening.

But so was everything worthwhile that you have ever done.