June 10 – Wisdom in Holding Both Sides
What Jung calls the “transcendent function” is the reconciliation that emerges after opposites have been identified and the tension between them patiently held in awareness. Bill Plotkin
Gregg’s Reflection
When two sides are in conflict, our reflex is usually to choose one. It feels safer. It gives us clarity and a place to stand. But I’ve learned that real wisdom often comes when I resist the urge to choose too soon — when I take both sides seriously and hold them in tension before God.
Richard Rohr says that if you hold both sides seriously, that is the space where you can grow spiritually and enter into the deeper mystery of God. It’s not about balancing the opposites or watering them down; it’s about honoring the truth in each and allowing a reconciling third to emerge — something bigger than both and not limited by either.
This isn’t comfortable work. In church leadership, I’ve sat in meetings where the easiest path would have been to side quickly with one group. But when I slowed down, asked more questions, and listened without judgment, I sometimes saw a solution neither side had imagined.
Holding both sides is not indecision. It’s a spiritual discipline — one that requires humility, patience, and trust in the Spirit’s timing. And when the way forward comes, it’s often marked by a surprising peace, as if everyone can finally say, “Yes, this honors what matters most to us.”
Scripture
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
James 1:5
The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
James 3:17
Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.
James 1:19
Ancient Quotes
Patience is the companion of wisdom.
Augustine of Hippo
Modern Quotes
Wisdom is the capacity to hold both disorder and order, both the wound and the healing, both the fall and the redemption, until they become one.” — Richard Rohr, Falling Upward, p. 159
What Jung calls the “transcendent function” is the intrapsychic reconciliation that emerges after opposites have been consciously identified and the tension between them patiently held in awareness.
Bill Plotkin, Nature and the Human Soul, p. 366
Journaling Prompts
- Where are you feeling pressure to choose one side too quickly?
- How could holding both sides open a path you can’t yet see?
- What would it take for you to truly honor the truth in each perspective?
- How might you invite the Spirit into that tension today?
There is a spark of God in every created thing. Acknowledging those we disagree with as children of God is the doorway to nondual thinking. It is quite popular these days to take sides and castigate the opponent, but holding paradox is the path to a deeper journey.
👉 Go deeper into this week’s theme:
Read the full Week 23 Reflection: Non-Dualistic Thinking