Becoming reconciliation

As the only child of an emotional artist and an eminently logical engineer, I knew almost from birth that my job was reconciliation of opposing forces.  Which may explain why I am so excited about Cynthia Bourgeault's new book, The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three: Discovering the Radical Truth at the Heart of Christianity.

The root of the law of three, which comes from Gurdjieff, is that there are always three forces involved in any sort of forward movement: affirming, denying and reconciling, sometimes called first, second and third forces to keep us from getting too caught up in old associations with those words.

And here's what excites me about this concept: "The first all-important implication to be drawn from this model is that all three forces are equally important participants in the unfolding of a new arising.  Denying (second force) is never an obstacle to be overcome but always a legitimate and essential component of the new manifestation.  In and of itself this realization brings a radically new orientation to problem solving.  The "enemy" is never the enemy but a necessary part of the givens in any situation, and solutions will never work that have as their goal the elimination of second force."

This concept -- that we need our opposites --our obstacles, our arguments -- in order to move forward -- just seems so important to me.  And I can't help but apply it to our current political situation: we are, in this country, so hopelessly stuck, so painfully polarized, and each side seems so determined to vilify the other.  How can we, as spiritual beings, begin to understand -- and help others to understand -- that we need those opposing points of view?  And how can we, as spiritual beings, become -- like Jesus -- a force for reconciliation and begin again to move this country forward?