Polarities

The second cornerstone of the system described here (the first being work with the past) is work with so-called “polarities.” Polarities are opposing concepts, evaluations, labels, and identifications that the mind operates with. In general, polarities form the basis of an ordinary person’s worldview and are one of the primary mechanisms through which reality is interpreted and decisions are made.

Polarities lie at the core of evaluative perception and the division of the world into categories. In itself, there is nothing wrong with this — we do need to distinguish hot from cold, up from down, near from far. The problem is elsewhere: we do not control this mechanism and begin applying it where it is not just useless, but harmful.

From early childhood, we diligently try to “divide the indivisible.” As a result of years of habit, we turn the living perception of reality into a set of automatic labels and reactions. The world ceases to be what it is and becomes what we are used to interpreting it as.

At some point, we were capable of perceiving reality more holistically and directly, without constant mental commentary. But as we grow up, we lose this ability — partly because for decades we continuously cut everything into pieces using polarities. For example: “good — bad,” “beauty — ugliness,” “danger — safety,” “freedom — lack of freedom,” and so on.

External events are automatically sorted by the subconscious according to their perceived belonging to one pole or another, and this triggers an automatic reaction: from attraction to aversion, from interest to fear, from desire to avoidance. Of course, the evaluation mechanism is more complex than just a list of polarities, but polarities play a major role in it. There is little room for freedom of response when incoming experience is constantly chopped into “pluses and minuses” by hundreds and thousands of internal labels.

I see no point in going deep into the theory of polarities. Dozens of books have already been written on the subject. What interests me is a practical question: is it possible to do something about these polarities quickly, without mysticism and without years of monastic practice.

It turns out that it is.

Many techniques aim at neutralizing polarities — that is, eliminating internal conflict and excessive separation between the poles. But only a small number of them do this efficiently. One of the best in terms of simplicity and speed is the GP-4 technique by Živorad Slavinski. The results of its application can be impressive. Within a few minutes, almost any pair of polarities can be neutralized: the emotional difference between the poles decreases, the internal “tilt” disappears, and a person begins to see both sides more soberly and with greater depth.

It should be noted that Slavinski and his approach often deal with more philosophical polarities (such as “true — false”), whereas we are also interested in more grounded, practical aspects that directly affect behavior and quality of life.

The methods described in this book are partially based on Slavinski’s approach (the theoretical explanation of the mechanism is provided in a separate chapter), but shift the work into the subconscious. This provides high speed and simplicity of the process. The trade-off is the absence of an immediate “wow effect”: the neutralization of polarities by the subconscious is spread over time and feels softer than manual GP-4 work.

Using the described techniques, it is possible to neutralize large volumes of polarities within relatively short timeframes. Even without pushing hard and processing just 20 polarities per day (less than an hour of work), over 600 polarities can be addressed in a month — an amount that is practically unattainable for most other approaches.

As a result of large-scale neutralization over time, there comes an understanding and direct experience that a significant portion of polarities are not properties of reality, but constructs of the mind: habitual ways of dividing the world into “good/bad,” “right/wrong,” “safe/dangerous,” “mine/not mine.” As this internal division weakens, perception becomes noticeably clearer and calmer.

There is no need to worry about safety or adequacy in everyday life. You will not start perceiving cold as hot or the tenth floor as the first. This is not about basic orientation in the physical world, but about psychological evaluation within the “human world.” Evaluative reactivity and internal tension decrease significantly; some things stop triggering and dramatizing — simply because the automatic fixation on one of the poles dissolves.

This state is valuable and interesting in itself. It brings many observations and insights. But it is not the end goal — it is just one stage of the process. Further on, there are many practical applications of polarity neutralization, which will be described later.