As this paper was originally delivered as the British Journal of Psychotherapy Annual Lecture, I have retained the spoken tone of the original. In contemporary physics, cosmology and philosophy, there is now a recognition that no single paradigm or theory can represent reality and growing credence in the idea that learning is advanced more rapidly through a pluralistic model. This paper argues that the same applies to psychoanalysis and the psychoanalytic psychotherapies. It explores the value given to the recognition of difference in contemporary Independent, Lacanian and post-Kleinian thought and the psychopathology attributed to single vision, and argues for the urgent need to engage in constructive cross-paradigmatic discussion.