On Dichotomous Thinking

 

The present, postmodern spirit is that one must not be “judgmental.” The term I hear from a psychologist friend is that one must avoid “dichotomous thinking.”

However, all thought is dichotomous. Aristotle’s Law of Non-Contradiction: “either A or not A” is the basis of all logic. And the truth of this is reconfirmed by every computer program. Thought is binary. Yes or no, either/or.

Therefore, avoiding dichotomous thinking, avoiding judgements, is avoiding thinking. Is this a good thing?

It is at least arguable that it is not. “Ignorance is bliss.” “Don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

However, if you accept Plato’s contention, and Christianity’s contention, that all value comes from the three transcendentals, the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, refusing to think is evil. Seeking truth is why we are here, along with seeking justice and beauty. God himself is the perfection of these transcendentals: the perfectly real, the perfect good, and perfect beauty. Not to think is to turn away from God. Making postmodernism or modern psychology soul-destroying.

Why do we suppose truth matters? To Plato, the value of truth is self-evident, inherent, and incontrovertible: nobody genuinely believes falsehood or illusion is more valuable than truth or reality. 

Moreover, if you do, you are insane.

It seems obvious that anything and everything we class as “mental illness” is definitionally a failure to engage in “dichotomous thinking,” a failure to make clear judgements. Psychosis is an inability to distinguish what is real from what is not real. Depression or “neurosis”: is a sense of lack of direction—a lack of certainty about what has value, what is real, what is good, what is right or wrong. This is also the source of chronic anxiety. Clear direction, clarity of thought, heals all that.

Religion is the obvious antidote, and psychology is therefore harmful to mental health. Firstly in serving as a distraction. Consider if someone has cancer, and goes to a homeopath or a snake-oil salesman instead of a certified doctor. Wouldn’t you say that homeopathy or snake-oil here is causing harm by not working?

But worse: in condemning “dichotomous thinking” or “judgementalism,” psychology is actively causing and promoting mental illness. 

See too psychology’s concept of “mindfulness”: which to psychology means “being present in the moment.” You should empty your mind and concentrate only on immediate sensations.

Mindfulness is originally a Buddhist concept. But psychology, in appropriating the term, got it upside down. The original Pali term is actually cognate to “memory.” So it is very much not about being in the present moment. That would be the absence of mind, mindlessness. Surely it is odd, if the idea is to be alert to what is around you, that you should shut your eyes to meditate. This inversion of te practice is what psychology promotes. almost necessarily, because it denies the psyche.

To be fair, not thinking about things can indeed bring temporary relief to people with mental conflicts. But this is like getting good and drunk to forget your troubles. Not a cure, and sure to make matters worse over the longer term.