SEASON 8 THEME: POLARITY

The Beautiful Thinkers Podcast | IU Edition

Power Lies in the Pull: A Manifesto on Polarity.

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there," - Rumi, 13th-century

Our society is caught between extremes, living in a black-and-white world obsessed with the need to pick sides. Everywhere we look, we’re asked to choose classical or jazz, theory or practice, innovation or tradition, fiction or nonfiction, research or performance. But life isn’t that simple. We are more than binaries, more than boxes we try to fit into.

To break out of this, we must first acknowledge that we are polarized.

Polarity exists both within and outside of ourselves. When we aren’t spending our time battling each other, we are at war with our inner thoughts. We must fight less and listen more. Listening to our opposition, even when that person is ourselves, is what creates beautiful thinking. The type of thinking that shows that we are more than “this or that”—we are both, neither, and all the shades in between. After all, the opposite poles of magnets are the ones that pull together.

We’re calling on those who feel the pull, those who reject the simplicity of the binary and embrace the beauty of contradiction. For those who see the value in the gray, the nuance, the infinite perspectives.

Season VIII of The Beautiful Thinkers Podcast will feature IU faculty who lean into the pull. They will speak on their experience with polarity, both in their personal and professional lives without pressure to choose a “right” side. We aim not to deepen divisions, but to find common ground through conversation.

The power lies in the pull, that’s how we change the world.