Is it Possible to Stop being a Black and White Thinker?

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They're (typically) not natural compounds found in nature. They're man made and have various consequences that most natural remedies do not. How is that difficult to comprehend?

Oils and vitamins are found in nature, but we extract them and take them in higher doses.

I just don't think chemical mixing is unnatural. Our brains are full of chemicals, just like the gut is full of bacteria.


Do I sense anger, frustration?



Or condescension?

I'm not saying you're not right about what you take, I just don't see why the horizon should be limited.

I said that we extract & concentrate them in measured doses.

Chemical mixing isn't unnatural. Chemical engineering is. Sometimes the results are positive and beneficial, but with many pharmaceutical compounds there are significant risks of terrible side effects. Ever read the side effects lists on any brain meds? Pretty scary stuff.

I've taken some in the past. Short term benefits, long term detriments. Fortunately I didn't have any terrible side effects save for the one solo Paxil pill I took to see how it affected me.. holy F it may as well have been a suicide pill. I had to remind myself it was just the effects of the drug and it would wear off. WORST experience of my life.

I'd rather ingest things in as natural a state as possible and forego the negative side effects of some chemistry lab experiment.

Never took Paxil, but you're not the first I've heard of to have a nasty reaction to it.
I take effexor and abilify, which make me drowsy, and seroquel, which makes me twitchy. However, the combination has prevented me from cutting and attempting suicide. And the seroquel has the added benefit of making me almost sane.
"Short term benefits, long term detriments." I am wondering what you mean by this. My short-term benefit is survival.

I used to take effexor for a few years. It was ok.

I took dexedrine for a year or two. Initially it was beneficial. Big time. But then over the long run I had to increase the dose, which came with increased negative side effects. Then over the long run I am certain, that as a strong stimulant, that it contributed to the increase in intestinal dysbiosis that was the underlying cause of/what exacerbated numerous neurological symptoms. I stopped taking it, changed my diet completely to a natural medicinal one, did many intestinal cleanses, and take vitamins/supplements and a ton of probiotics in order to balance my digestive system - and in turn my brain functions. That's what I mean by short term benefits but long term detriments.. which I've since undone via natural medicine & am MUCH happier and healthier for it. So, F chemistry lab concoctions - I'd rather be healthy.

Can't help but feel that "natural = good, synthetic = bad" is a prime example of black and white thinking...

Yes, and so is "either it is right" or "it is wrong". It might be both or neither - and therefore difficult to let go.
and:
Either the problems of other people "fill the entire screen" or own affairs "fill the entire screen".
No middle area, where everybody gets a little space.(I´m practising).
That´s black&white.
And...having to analyze every pixel to know, what "it" is about, and how handle it the "right way", instead of taking a broad overview and quickly dismissing what seems minor at the moment.
Drowning in details is a product of black&white.

Personally I think, that it is possible to learn good stategies and that being concious about those things helps as we mature, - but the basic black&white character of our thinking remains.

Black&White seems to be the idea of subjective-concepts where an individual auto-categorises with terms like...:

Good or Evil
Us versus Them
Realists versus Idealists
Authoritarianism/Government versus Anarchism/Voluntarism
Smart/Intelligent versus Dumb/Stupid
Awake versus Asleep/Sheeple

...typically when it becomes a "rigid" thing within an individual.

Society still has its "ambiguity" issues not to mention the fact that "fear" is used to control/manipulate the general-public... time for a clip from Larken Rose...

Larken Rose, man, everybody should hear him out !

Just by experience and reading I learned the situations are not always black and white. That said there are to many times where 50 shades of gray gets in the way of the truth and doing.

As a rule, I remain more black and white in thought. I might change to recognize some grey on specific topics but only after profound input by study or incorporating thoughts of other people.

And then I continue on to the next topic, in black and white. It's a default setting of sorts

I believe there is a way to (approximately of course) calculate how "black or white" you are being.

Suppose you were an author or journalist, who was being paid to produce a piece of writing on the subject under consideration. How long a piece of writing could you reasonably produce on it, so that all the bases were adequately covered? Would it be a paragraph? An essay? A book? Then compare the length of that imaginary piece of writing to the length of the argument you are currently putting forward.

I suggest that the difference in length between the two is a measure of how "black and white" you are being. Here I am suggesting that the term "black and white" means to split down an argument into too few ( and too simple), components (not necessarily 2). I believe this is one way in which the term can be used.

By this definition, I would suggest that everyone is necessarily "black and white" a lot of the time, otherwise no one would ever get anything done!

There are only shades of gray.

(and I'm not talking about that damn book).

This seems like good eggsample, I think I get it about black and white thinking now.
I think this is different from what Rocket describes, which seems like what I recognize as analytical, detail-oriented thinking, not the black and white thinking that I didn't recognize until this eggsample.

I think black and white thinking can mean different things. Sometimes people mean literal thinking, concrete, but to me black and white thinking means you are always right, you are not open to other peoples views and opinions, they are always wrong, you don't seem to see there are different perspectives, you are very judgmental and closed minded, you are willful ignorant because you will not open your mind and be more educated and you expect everyone to be like you and you refuse to listen to other stories to see how it's different for everyone and you will not allow anyone to have their own opinion so you will argue it until they surrender and agree with you and think you are right. I see lot of this online from people and from time to time I will find someone online who refuses to agree to disagree so it's like they enjoy arguing and they are arguing just to argue because they can never say anything new so they are doing is repeating themselves and they must have their last word. Sometimes they are known as trolls.

I think anyone can be black and white and then they realize it's not black and white when they read and realize. Like with stealing. Not everyone is a bad person or a criminal when they steal. Let's say a parent goes to a grocery store and steals $300 worth of groceries because she was doing it to feed her kids and she had hit a rough spot so they didn't have any money and kids need to eat. Reading this makes me feel sad for the mother. So desperate to take care of her kids and meet their needs, she does a crime but is she a bad person? A black and white thinker would think she should go to jail and be locked away because she broke the law. The person who can see shades of gray would find this all sad and not view her as a bad person because she had hit rough spot in her life so now she was struggling and then she needed more food for her kids and didn't have the money so she resorted to stealing, something that she would never do. But I have seen this black and white thinking among NTs and it's more common with the childfree than with parents but I think that comes from them being frustrated because when you have kids, you get more sympathy and don't face charges and if they hit a rough spot and steal groceries, they would go to jail because they don't have any kids so how fair is that? I can see their perspective and understand where they are coming from which makes them be black and white about it. If they will go to jail for that, so should the parent in their view. I see that as a kid saying "it's not fair, if I can't have it, neither can they" but it's an adult version of it.

I also say just because we are literal doesn't make us black and white thinkers because let's say I was told something, I take it literal so I think it applies everywhere and then it gets pointed out to me that in a certain situation that is okay. I know now and know that gray area. A black and white thinker wouldn't listen because they will be too willful and stubborn to listen which is what makes them closed minded. I think we can get caught up in it and then we snap out of it when we see the gray or when it gets pointed out because we now know the gray now.

I actually think empathy is the key, specifically the ability to look at an act or a person who you think is wrong or evil and think through why they may have done something and how they might of believed it to be good or right, and then actually weigh it against your own internal feelings and truly consider the other point. I started doing this to better understand other people, but the helpful side effect has been a huge shift in the way I think things through and a massive decrease in my own certainty of being right, as I realize that everyone thinks they're right.

To be considered a black and white thinker, I would think that ALL of your thinking would have to be black or white. Not, just one thought ("natural = good, synthetic = bad"). Otherwise, it seems you could classify members of certain groups (e.g. steadfast republicans or democrats) as black and white thinkers. And, that doesn’t seem right.

By the way, regarding the idea of: "natural = good, synthetic = bad". I prefer natural. But not always. So, for that one, I am OK with shades of gray.