Why is North considered 'up'?

I hope that this thread is placed in the right place. I don't know for a fact that a conspiracy has been perpetrated on the citizens of the world, but something feels weird about North being considered 'Up'.
Please be kind in regard to my lack of hard science... This is a theory after all.

I understand that gravity and magnetism are not considered the same force, but in many ways it seems like they are at least related. Gravity pulls you down to earth, and the arrow on your compass is attracted up, or to the North. Yet if you look at a drop of water affected by gravity to the shape of the continents on earth, the shapes are more similar if South is "Up".






So why is North "Up"? It seems like North should be considered "Down", because the magnetic field pulls that way.
DocMoreau

Edit to Add: Sorry that is the best drip image I could find. It still illustrates my point.

[edit on 4/10/2008 by DocMoreau]

Never mind.



[edit on 4-10-2008 by Copernicus]

when we go look at the night sky, one reference point is the 'North Star',

which coincidently is straight overhead (ooh, that strains my neck) for those of us in the northern hemisphere

Because it's a phrase and was in place long before the discovery of electromagnetism.

"Up North" is just that, it's up on a map.

Originally posted by St Udio
when we go look at the night sky, one reference point is the 'North Star',

which coincidently is straight overhead (ooh, that strains my neck) for those of us in the northern hemisphere

Polaris is called the North Star because it sits almost directly above the true (rotational, not magnetic) north pole. The only place on Earth where it appears straight overhead is at the north pole. Are you Santa? Can I give you my list now?

[edit on 4-10-2008 by Phage]

In which direction do most rivers run in North America? When you look at a compass rose what is at the top? It really doesnt matter what the name is i.e. north, south, it is just from our normal perspective that rules why "north" is up.

reply to post by DocMoreau


Why is North considered up?
That my friend is an excellent question.

It all has to do with relativity.
Most humans, unless you embrace non-dual spirituality, can only conceptualize in relative terms. That is to say that everything is what it is only in relation to its opposite. Up/down, love/hate, in/out. This often leads to grave misunderstanding. For example some consider the idea of life after death. This in fact is useless. The opposite of death is not life, it is birth. Thus one can consider, if they so wish, birth or re-birth after death. In fact, "life" is one of the few words/concepts without an opposite.

To go back to your question. The fact is there is no "real" North or "up", just relative concepts to help us through the day.

I don't know, but my guess is that when employing the magnetic compass as a means of determining the north to south directions and applying the new discovery to maps, someone flipped a coin.

East used to be up on maps, but then they realized that on an East-West plane the world just keeps going- you can never get "all the way west" or "all the way east". But you can all the way north or south. Keeping in mind that virtually all forms of written communication read from top to bottom, it was the natural way to orient a map if you were in the Northern Hemisphere (as most all civilizations were/are), because you'd see your civilization before you'd see oceans or 'uncivilized' places when you read it that way.

[edit on 4-10-2008 by SuperViking]

reply to post by SuperViking,& post by schrodingers dog

 

Excellent Posts SuperViking & schrodingers dog (Actually all the posts from the membership have been very insightful). I am glad I finally remembered to post this, it is something that has been on my mind for many years.

What you both describe is partly why I put this thread in "Conspiracy".

There is a definite 'system' to the way we perceive things. Some parts of the system are just plain common sense, but other aspects are not so sensical. Time Zones wrap the earth, the same way that the earth spins. But the 'time zone' was invented in order to systemically control train schedules in Europe.

In regard to North being up, in Regard to the North Star, I understand that, and laughed aloud about Santa Claus. I guess what I mean, similarly to how the scale of maps are distorted depending on origin, is if 'North' is 'Up' at least partially from a psychological and societal perspective. If history is written by the victors, then of course Europe would be 'Up North' so to speak.

As you can see from the en.wikipedia.org..., the origin of the word backs up Super Viking.

The word north is traced to the Old High German nord, and the Proto-Indo-European unit ner-, meaning "left" (or "under"). (Presumably a natural primitive description of its concept is "to the left of the rising sun".)

In regard to the spatiality of 'North' being 'Up'... I have never understood sci-fi tv shows with their spaceships flying around like airplanes. I guess that goes with my Question as to why North is Up, what besides the North Star is above the North part of our poles, our South as well. I understand that because the planets are orbiting the sun that there are certain 'planar' attributes to the solar system, and likewise the galaxy. But does the same hold true for the Universe, is the edge closer above and below then it is in the 'plane' of all sides?

Either way, the visual evidence I presented shows a majority of what I am trying to describe as to the connections between magnetism and gravity, the shape of a drop and the land masses. I hope to post some overlays if I can find a better drip that isn't as extended.

DocMoreau

reply to post by DocMoreau


There is no proven connection between magnetism and gravity.

I will now be swamped with piles of references to various "unified field" theories. None of which are a) falsifiable or b) have been experimentally verified.

The real question you should asking is why is south considered down?

maybe you should ask the cows

reply to post by Biscuit


I wish I could!

That is exactly the type of way that the 'invisible' force of magnetism works on animals I am trying to talk about. How the forces acted on humans long before we figured them out.

I wish I knew more scientific knowledge about how gravity and magnetism works.

From a Anthropologic point of view, I can see North being Up because Europe is the History writer, and of course would be 'above' Africa.

I truly don't know
DocMoreau