Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Is There A Way Out? Part Six


The Chinese sage Lao-Tzu said: Is there a difference between yes and no?
Is there a difference between good and evil?
Must I fear what others fear? What nonsense!
Having and not having rise together
Difficult and wasy complement each other
Long and short contrast each other
High and Low rest upon each other
Front and back follow one another.

We can wonder why our reality-our universe seems to be so grounded in opposites when you try to think of the 'nature of reality.' Light/Dark, Good/Evil, Ecstasy/Agony....ad infinitum seem to spring into existence together at the same moment you think of these concepts-one idea/concept being defined by its counterpart at the other pole of being that doesn't share any of the qualities of the idea being defined. Or does it?

From Ken Wilber's No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth from pages 15-27: "Even our highest abstractions rest on opposites. Logic, for instance, is concerned with the true vs. the false; epistemology, with appearance vs. reality; ontology, with being vs. non-being. Our world seems to be a massive collection of opposites.

It is certainly true that some of the things we call "opposites" appear to exist in Nature. There are for instance, big frogs and small frogs, large trees and small trees, ripe oranges and unripe oranges. But it isn't a problem for them, it doesn't throw them into paroxysms of anxiety...Likewise, there is life and death in the world of nature, but again it doesn't seem to hold the terrifying dimensions ascribed to it in the world of humans. A very old cat isn't swept with torrents of terror over its impending death. It just calmly walks out to the woods, curls up under a tree and dies.

According to the book of Genesis, one of the first tasks given to Adam was to name the animals and plants existing in nature...But Adam's real task was not so much thinking up names for the animals and plants, laborious as that undoubtedly was. Rather, the crucial part of his job was the sorting out process itself... He had to learn to draw a mental boundary line between the various groups of animals, because only after he did this could he fully recognize, and therefore name, the different beasts. In other words, the great task Adam initiated was the construction of mental or symbolic dividing lines."

To be continued....

6 comments:

Sharon Day said...

Very nice. I like that way of looking at things. The other day, a friend and I were talking and I said that I liked hairy men and hate when they wax and shave their bodies. She looked at me like I was insane. I said, "I never feel quite as feminine and soft as when I rub my bare body against a hair man who's all muscle and fur. I feel more female and he feels more male." Sometimes, opposites are necessary for attraction. They balance the universe, I suppose. Just like the extremes of mood...
Hope is all going well, baby brother!

Devin said...

HI Autumnforest!!
thanks so much for stopping by - you always leave great and well thought out comments - usually my comments are "Hi nice article - have a great day" haha-
There is nothing to me sexier than a man with a five o clock shadow - some muscles and "body fur" -and a Jeep:=) I don't know why i don't like beards or mustaches on most guys
the trend has seemed in the last decade or so -both straight and definitely gay - for men to have zero body hair - Nando shaved his chest etc now and then (much against my wishes:-)
I hope you are doing suberbly also my big and smart sister -and your wonderful family also !!!!!!!!!

Sharon Day said...

Hey Baby Bro (did you know I call Anadæ Big Bro?) I agree! I love 2 days' hair growth on a guy's face but hate mustaches and beards--and those godawful VanDykes middle aged men wear all the time--ick! (throw out the baseball caps too dudes--I'd rather see your shiny head if you're bald). Jeeps--yes! Guys who look like they could step out of their vehicle and climb a rock face and would eat at an Indian restaurant without picking out the veggies from the dishes--cool! I absolutely hate the shaved look. I think it's wrong-wrong-wrong. Okay, that being said, if you've seen "Cold Creek Manor" the bad guy is pretty much both our types--I think! BTW, I told Julie from Above the Norm that the next time we head east for our next girl's ghost hunting trip, we should stop by and meet Dev in person! We're actually making a trip in May to Globe for a ghost hunt in hopefully two places in one night. You'll have to let me know whatcha think of giving us a hug in person. I very much want to win the lottery, buy a hybrid car and drive the country hugging all the bloggers in person and writing about their interesting lives and doing their hobbies with them and call it "Hug a Blogger." I love the concept. I'd be perfect for that role! Anyways, you can always contact me psychic62@hotmail.com if you ever want to chat. Love ya, little bro! You're one of the lights of sunshine on the paranormal/supernatural blog world.

Devin said...

Autumnforest - thanks so much for the wonderful comment and I would love to meet you and Julie !!!!!!!!!
I agree about the guy btw:-)!!!!!!
I say a prayer of thanks to all of you who have supported me during this absolutely crazy last year and half - really and truly it has made a world of difference!!!!!!!!!!
I need to say hi to Anadae myself very soon -
with love and hugs to you also !!!!!!!!!!and Ghost Hunting Theories is just incredibly powerful for the amazing variety of subjects you talk about - it is a "supernova" sized light in the paranormal world- truly!!!!!!!!!!
I so enjoy the short stories and videos also that you do so wonderfully - congrats again on the award win last year -amazing talent!!!!!!!!!-all the best to you always!!!!!!!!!!
ps - what do you think of Hugh Grant?:-) me - yucck - who made him a star? along with SJP of course:-)

X. Dell said...

Hmm. I guess I would personally disagree that logic is concerned with the true vs. the false, although one could dichotomize it as consistency vs. chaos. And epistemology is more a question of one perception of reality vs. another perception of reality vs. another perception, not appearance vs. reality (more the purview of ontology).

Devin said...

You would know a lot more about the philosophical concepts than me Xdell- but I certainly agree with your thoughts about epistemology and ontology - perhaps i should look at this article again - it is interesting to see this comment of yours today because just yesterday i remembered Terrance McKenna's saying that "Conspiracy theory or theories (can't remember which) are comic book epistemology" and I was trying to run that one around my brain - this in response to my feeling that 98 or 99 percent of the population don't (or can't?) believe in conspiracies -even the well documented "smaller" ones - many of which you have looked at at your wonderful blog-
and I was wondering what causes this huge mental block in people -sorry to go so off-topic
your friend always!!!!!!!!!