Updated: Jan 25, 2022
How to live on the third side of the coin so you can find a creative solution to any problem.
The view that everything has just two sides ignores the key to happiness, creativity, objectivity, and finding solutions to all problems.
Even a razor blade, the sharpest of knives, has a third side. It is just a thin edge, the cutting edge.
This world is duality, hot and cold, black and white, good and evil. But as a ball tossed into the air stops for a brief moment before it returns to the ground, that moment is the key to wisdom. That moment of neither up nor down is stillness which sees all possibilities.
In Zen, there is a saying, enlightenment is found at the moment between the in-breath and the out-breath.
How do we achieve this state of mind where all solutions exist?
we Must live on the fine line
To live on the fine line is not saying to be without emotions. Instead, it is to have both opposite feelings or see both sides of an argument simultaneously.
This balancing of both sides is how we get true objective reason and understanding.
I describe myself as an optimistic pessimist. I am positive about the outcome but realistic about what can go wrong. Then, I am not disappointed if things go wrong, and I’m also prepared to deal with them effectively and efficiently.
by Giving up our personal Views
If you are not willing to give up your personal views that always suit your self-interested desires, you will never see the big picture.
A perfect person is a balanced person.
Sadly, this is interpreted as emotionally dead and flat or cold. But in reality, the only side with movement is the third side. A coin flat on one of its sides does not move, but when it’s balanced on its edge, it has the potential of movement.
It can roll around the world or down the drain, as I saw a coin do when it fell out of my pocket.
A coin fell out of my pocket and rolled about two meters right into the sewer. What was fascinating is that although I saw my money rolling away, I did not react to stop it.
This passive observation is a common human trait. We see our life or opportunities rolling away and do nothing about it. Why? Because we are stuck trying to be one of the two sides and are not flexible enough to change.
One solution is to understand the following principle about knowledge being limiting. Indeed this contradicts what is commonly accepted.
Although knowledge gives one the opportunity for further growth, in general day to day life, it is the most limiting factor of your personality.
We Must listen even after we think we know
When people think they know something, they stop listening.
Have you ever had a conversation where you thought you understood what the person said, so you stopped listening? Then only later find out that you were wrong?
How often have you shut down thinking you understood and missed out on the reality, truth or perhaps one tiny piece of information that you did not know, which was very valuable?
Your perceived knowledge stopped you from learning because you already thought you knew. And why waste your time listening to what you already know!
We Must Humbly accept we may be wrong
The way to open your mind to live on the third side is only through the humble acceptance that you may be wrong.
If you think you are right, your mind will not be open to anything.
But if you know you could very easily be wrong, then your mind will naturally be seeking the truth. It is a human characteristic; we need to know the truth.
Unfortunately, the need to know is so strong that we often accept a lie to settle our curiosity.
We Must Not Be fooled into accepting a lie
As a coin can rest on one of two sides, our mind can rest by accepting this or that, even if it’s an untruth!
Your soul – whatever it is in you that makes you read this article and search for answers as to what is bothering you – is never satisfied with a lie.
The subconscious intuition has an excellent lie detector that keeps you up at night or your mind too active to meditate or focus, especially never being present.
From the vantage point of the third side, we can see both sides of any argument and thus find common ground.
We can also see the real obstacle in a business situation or the critical point that is the next breakthrough to an invention.
we can resolve all our emotional issues on the third side of the coin
Only from this third side can we resolve all our mental and emotional issues limiting our lives.
Only on the third side can you see what prevents you from moving forward in business, work, relationships and, most importantly, your own emotional and mental frustrations and limitations.
To put it simply (and bluntly!), we humans are mentally and emotionally messed up to one degree or another.
We are this way because we only see things as this or that, one side or another, and cannot comprehend the balance of two opposites existing simultaneously, like sweet and sour sauce.
The third side is that combination that allows for opposites to exist simultaneously in harmony.
It all begins with you taking the constant view that you are possibly wrong and that there is nothing wrong with being wrong.
It does not mean you are stupid; it just means that your opinion is incorrect, so open your mind, be humble, and learn for the future.
Summary
To keep your life moving forward, guiding its direction as you roll along, you must look at all situations from the third side.
From this vantage point, you’ll be able to see both sides of every topic and guide your coin in the direction of objective reality.
You may not always get what you want, but in this way of dealing with life, you will succeed far more often.
Then, at the end of your time on earth, you will have gone a lot further in every aspect of a fulfilled life.
