The universe is not binary
Your options are truly unlimited
Soon I woke, and there I was, veritably myself again. I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.
–Zhuangzi
Despite all efforts to divide things in two, the universe is not binary. As concepts, the extremes are clear: day and night, black and white, male and female, good and evil. In reality, each dyad (now that’s a ten dollar word) flanks a wide spectrum of possibility.
Remember this when you feel yourself pulled in two directions. “Should I stay or should I go?” There is perhaps a third option—and probably hundreds more (Murder your first born ideas).
Non-binary thinking is useful in analysis too. Critiques that reduce the efforts of an artist or creator to “good” (👍🏽) or “not good” (💩) aren’t worth a damn. Criticism that reflects the how, what, and why of something? That’s what’s up (👻).
After all, most dichotomies are arbitrary (Red vs blue). “Pepsi or Coke?” Why not a Fanta? “My way or the highway?” There may be a middle road (All endeavor requires compromise). “Particle or wave?” It’s neither. It’s both. It’s everything, everywhere, at all once.