Polarization is a time-honored technique in social action and protest movements. Some people enjoy it, some people don't. Basically, the tactic is to take a strong stance on something - maybe something controversial. This will alienate a certain number of middle-of-the-road-ers, but will also mobilize a number of people who were sitting on the fence, unconvinced of the seriousness of the situation.
Perhaps you can see why some people dig this technique, and some people really dislike it! It can force people to "take sides" in issues that are more complex than just black-or-white, but it can also get people moving, when they might have just sat around waiting for more clarity and remaining stagnant.
It could bring up a wild game of "who's right?" in one's mind.
And it's a great example of what the mind is doing all the time. Our minds are polarization machines!
Many of the great meditators claim that there is a state of meditation in which one moves "beyond doubts." And let me tell you, right about now that sounds SUPER REFRESHING!
But immediately, it sets up another polarity - doubt -vs- non-doubt. Is there a path "beyond" this kind of polarizing of the mind? I have to tell you that in any grandiose, ultimate sense, I personally don't know. Perhaps ask the Dalai Lama, or Matthieu Ricard, or another great meditator.
What I do know, is that on the small-scale, homegrown level that someone like me aspires to, there does seem to be a freedom from the mind's incessant need to polarize everything. This state, and the method to invoke it, was called by one mediaeval Christian mystic "The Cloud of Unknowing."
In Mahayana Buddhism, too, there are many contemplations brought up that don't have a good logical solution. They are polarities that cannot be reconciled by ordinary logical means. This is the essence of the Zen Koan. There is no good answer that comes from ordinary, dualistic thinking.
It is taught, and it can be experienced that there is a state one can enter that is, as the masters call it, beyond [dualistic] thinking.
This is a beautiful secret of profound meditation. That the way to peace is not to try to forcefully suppress the thought words that go-round in the mind. That's actually a losing battle, because it's based on the same fundamental polarization. By trying to repress thoughts and set up an anti-thought regime, you're back in the same stress-producing game as before!
The trick, it seems, is to fully embrace whatever is happening. Not to attempt to pick one side of the battle in the mind - whatever battle it may be at the moment. But just to enjoy the absurdity of the entire thing. This is not a way of trying to distance yourself from it, no, the very humor and joyfulness of the method is a non-dichotomous way of being.
One method of entering this practice that surprised me was when a meditation teacher gave the instruction to "embrace my doubts." Rather than trying to meditate right, rather than trying to learn more, rather than trying to escape the discomfort of not-knowing, you just be with what is. And it was so weird when I tried it, that the uncomfortable thoughts just ground to a halt all on their own. I was in a totally different state.
Is this state useful? I can only speak from the limited experience that I've had, which I've related to what I've learned from masters of Zen, Sufism, and other lineages. These lineages claim that it is only through entering the state that transcends our usual polarizing habit that we can gain new awareness. So, the point of this meditative state is not to enter a dull, murky zone, where everything sort-of mushes together in grey. No, when this state is tasted, it is lucid and joyful, and entails the integration of what was previously seen as dualistic.
My friends, in a world that can't seem to come together, one thing we can do is learn to come together within. Not by staking a claim on one stance to the exclusion of all others. Not be stiff-jawing a form of imposed confidence. But by embracing the vulnerability of "don't know mind" - which is found, in practice, to be sublime knowing itself!
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