How Many Realities Does YOUR Brain Hold?

Dualism - a Greek philosophy which stated that reality was made up of opposites (see below post). Yet not only were there opposites, but they were ranked opposites, meaning that one member of the pair was always "better" in some way than the other. So that...

The Night is good and pure and moral
and
The Day is bad and evil and immoral.

What? You don't agree?

Well, of course not, because everyone knows that...

The Day is good
and
The Night is evil.

You can feel it, can't you? The sense that the world is back on kilter, now that I've "corrected" myself - now that I've told you what you "know" to be true. Do you see how you and I are influenced by dualism?

Of course if I asked you to defend the statement that "the period of time in a certain geographical location when solar light is not available is, in fact, an immoral time," you wouldn't even try. You would tell me, that of course night isn't immoral. What about Christmas night? What about the night your first child was born? These nights were not evil - no, no! Of course not!

But look how we carry our culture into the Bible - read Genesis 1. On the fourth day, God creates "a light to govern the day and a lesser light to govern the night." When you read of the "lesser light," you think "less in value" or "less important," don't you? You picture the great and glorious sun and the meeker, weaker, lesser moon, right?

That's because we are so influenced by dualism! The sun and the moon were a pair of opposites in dualistic philosophy - and the sun was greater (as in better) than the moon.

But that's not what the ancient Hebrews meant when they wrote Genesis 1. They simply meant that the moon wasn't as bright - didn't make as much light - the "lesser light"- that all. It wasn't a statement of value, it was a statement of fact.

There's no universal rule out there that says that things that make lots of light are more valuable than things that make less light. A raging forest fire versus a roaring fireplace? Ok, then.

Here's another pair the Greeks came up with - Man and Woman. And, as with most dualistic thought, the "Man / Woman Pair" was associated with other pairs, like this one: "Reason / Feeling" or this one "Head / Heart" or this one "Facts / Myths" or this one "Spiritual World / Physical World" or finally "Sun / Moon." Man was associated with Reason, Facts, The Spiritual World and The Sun. Woman, on the other hand, was associated with Feeling, Myths, The Physical World and the Moon.

Furthermore, as was common in dualism, there was a ranking or hierarchy in the comparison. You can see, of course, that our culture - as did the Greek culture - ranks those things associated with the Man as superior to those things associated with Woman.

You feel it too, don't you? I do. It feels right to say that the "Spiritual World" is superior to the "Physical World." "Facts" are clearly superior to "Myths."

But again, ask yourself to defend your "gut feelings."

John Milton wrote Paradise Lost - a great literary achievement - for sure. Of course, it is highly influenced by dualism, and so he associates the Man with the Sun - great and glorious, shining and powerful. The Woman is associated with Moon - demur and soft, reflecting the Man's glorious light.

Now, my question is this - does it feel just a little bit right to you? Doesn't it seem idyllic? Can't you picture it played out in movies and books and television shows, dramas and real life?

There is, of course, a fatal flaw with Milton's interpretation of dualism, and that is - as I've pointed out before - that Genesis 1 never divides the man from the woman. Instead, Genesis 1 divides the humans from the animals - check out the 6th day...

Now what does all this mean? Why talk about it at all?

Well, you have to wonder at the power of the mind. The world constructed between the ears becomes the real world despite evidence to the contrary. Or, it becomes the real world despite no evidence at all.

And what is most fascinating is that what we construct in our mind does become real to us. We really experience our reality.

Then of course, we have to figure out what is True and if what is True corresponds to what is real. Furthermore, we have to wonder if we can choose certain realities without being an affront to Truth - or more simply put, is the nature of Truth such that it can incorporate different realities?

Hmmm...

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 9/24/2004 01:58:00 PM