Triadic thinking can solve the problem of abortion. First by conceding it is a problem. Women rightly suggest that the problem is solved already. The choice is sacred. Women control their bodies. Women are persons with all the rights accorded every precious soul on the planet. Case closed. But then comes the predictable 'ahem.'

Men are the creators of the abortion problem in two ways. They impregnate women, often with impunity. Then when they gain political power they take it upon themselves to instruct the female class in how to behave. Lately, this has resulted in some embarrassing political defeats.

But there is more than one way to make life miserable for women. You can appoint judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade We now have a SCOTUS made up of majority males who could do just that.

Universal values

Universal values come into play when abortion is the issue. And one would love to maintain that the value of life itself is sacred, but it isn't. Slow down now. Consider all life including plants and animals. The more we know the more we sense that consciousness may extend even to the simplest of life forms. There are few who would deny that the living creatures we routinely slaughter for our delectation have consciousness. Clearly, at some point in their transit from egg and sperm to babyhood, we become conscious.

Abortion is among the thorny issues which must be seen as creating a binary opposition among Universal Values. I don't say that lightly. There is only one way to transcend a binary and therefore insoluble issue. It is the way of Triadic Philosophy and I shall now suggest how it works in dealing with our sign, the reality of abortion as an issue for which there is no acceptable solution.

Triadic thinking

We move from reality to ethics and submit our issue to three values which have accounted for most of the progress we have made since the dawn of history. What do tolerance, helpfulness, and democracy have to offer as we consciously consider this insoluble problem?.

Tolerance suggests a mutual respect that sadly is hard to come by. It also suggests the strength needed to see this question through. Patience is required because this is not answered simply or in a single day, Helpfulness is the second of the action values and it summons us to be both tolerant and supportive of all who are concerned with this matter, regardless of their position. Help is education and education that recognizes the essential dilemma is the difficult but necessary course.

This article will be completed in the next installment.

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED