Why is Neutrality a Dirty Word in a Polarized World?

Scroll your feed on any platform and you will see it: a hurling of extreme viewpoints, purposefully designed to stir our tribal alliances, rooted in splintering us into little factions of aligned ideals that create a deepening divide that feels too enormous to ever bridge.

I recently posted a video on social media about the importance of trying to look at everything these days from a place of neutrality. While this concept was generally accepted by those who follow me, I received a pointed comment that essentially implied I was "dangerous" for promoting this idea.

It's understandable how the word "neutral" could feel like weakness - like apathy.

It's almost as if we are saying we're going to refuse to "pick a side," and for many, that may feel like you are indeed picking a side - just not "their" side.

Why has neutrality become such a dirty word in our world today? 

Politics, media, and even family dynamics have pushed us into such extremes that if you are not visibly aligned to one viewpoint or another, you are at risk of being misunderstood, dismissed, or in my case, labeled "dangerous."

Much of this harkens back to tribalism and our need to feel like we belong to something bigger than ourselves.

The Energetics of Collective Thought

As an energetics practitioner and teacher, I see the world through the lens of energy, how it moves and shifts based upon how we choose to use it as individuals and how it can be co-opted as collective thought forms.

When we attach our energy to a collective thought form, we imprint our energetic blueprint into that thought. When more people begin to join that collective thought form, it begins to look like an energetic snowball. Except that the snowball doesn't stay pristine - it begins to collect all the particles of distortion that each individual carries (unhealed traumas) until it becomes a gigantic mess filled with distorted debris from every single person who touches it. In other words, what may have started out as something pure has turned into a distortion of "we are better than you," "I'm right and you are wrong," "you don't get it."

What Neutrality Really Means

Neutrality is not absence. It's presence. 

Neutrality isn't about shrinking back. It's about expanding out.

In the liminal space, you are able to look at every situation from outside of it.

Some may refer to this as taking a 50,000-foot viewpoint. But what it means from an energetic standpoint is that your energy is no longer available to be siphoned, pulled on, or manipulated. It doesn't stop you from caring, it allows you to fully stand in your sovereignty and anchor your truth, free from reactivity. It's the absence of conviction and the presence of clarity.

When you can allow yourself the space to breathe, to hear your own voice and not be influenced by things outside of you, this is where you are able to find clarity in any situation. It may not change your initial viewpoint, but it allows you to look at it from a different lens to come to your own conclusions without the influence or pressure of others.

Why Neutrality Matters Now More Than Ever

We are living in a time of collapsing structures. Everything around us is in an evolutionary cycle of change, and as the old paradigm begins to shift, our emotions run high because we are unsure of what this change is going to mean and how it will affect us and our daily lives. Fear, anger, and grief are natural responses to these changes and a very important process for us all to go through.

But if we lose ourselves in those waves, we add to the chaos instead of helping to stabilize it. Neutrality doesn't mean "do nothing.” It means becoming the still point that others can orient around. Just like a rock that is able to stay anchored when waves are crashing upon it, we are being asked to be that stable force in times of great change.

The Radical Invitation

Neutrality can be viewed as dangerous to any system that thrives on polarity. And that's exactly why it's needed now.

Neutrality can't be controlled. Neutrality can't be baited. Neutrality can't be monetized. Neutrality can't be guilted. Neutrality can't be manipulated.

Applying Neutrality to Your Life

So, how can you apply this to your life?

Frankly, it's a daily practice. At times, it looks like turning off the news or social media. Other days it looks like breathing before responding to anything. It's the pause before the reaction. To feel, but not so deeply that it consumes you. To see, but not to jump to judgment.

And when practiced consistently, neutrality turns into something greater than just a coping mechanism. It becomes a frequency, a stabilizer, and a recalibrator to bring us back into a more harmonic world that we can all live in - free from the extremes that try to keep us disconnected from ourselves.

Yes, this may sound like lofty idealism, but in reality, it comes down to each of us taking full responsibility for ourselves, our actions, and our reactions to things. Easier said than done, but I think it might be worth a try if we are really committed to making our world a better place to live.