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Originally posted by Blogbuster
Very well put JSG74. I have had this conversations several times with friends of mine, especially two who were philosophy majors in college, one in most part agreed and the other was mostly disinterested but that didn't stop me from rambling on.
I equate this to an individual's interpretation of reality, the polarity of consciousness, which is based more on biology than philosophy, since the biological process is the basis for cognition and is at its core a polarized system. which is to say, two independent hemispheres of the brain, performing opposite tasks while communicating through the corpus collosum to generate an individuals view of reality. I believe this is why there are two different interpretations for the same experiences, and are categorized as left-brained or right-brained.
The most basic example of this is white and black, which works well with light and dark. White and black are defined in opposite terms, not only to each other, but within themselves as well. for example, white (light) is defined in a basic scientific term (left-brained) as the collection of all color. But in an artistic sense (right-brained) it is the absence of color. A clear and opposite example.
This is only our interpretation of reality because in the universe these absolutes don't actually exist. As far as I know, there is no example of either definition of absolute white or black. It is an invented concept to generalize experience and aid in the explanation of reality. The same can be said for all experience and judgments relating to consciousness.
I believe right and wrong are also created absolutes, and have similar examples of opposition in definition. There is no such example of right or wrong in the universe, just shades of gray which are determined by the perception of the individual at the time of the event. When I came to this realization I was able to remove myself from judgment, and consequently, hatred toward mankind. that was a good day.
I could go on and on, as some of my friends know, but ill leave it at that for now. Thanks for bringing this up and I look forward to what others have to say.
Originally posted by tgidkp
a sequence of words:
PALM HAND TREE
and another:
PALM TREE HAND
the meaning of the word "palm" is being forceably acted upon by the subsequent word. initially, there is a certain "quantum is-ness", but by the time you get to the second word, the potentiality is collapsed into a certainty and it is very difficult, if not impossible, to return "palm" to its initial state unbounded by context.
this is the tyranny of dialectics and, although you seem to want to believe that this condition is something that we as human-intelligences have imposed on reality, it is well established that most known processes in the universe (including the physical, biological, and computational sciences) operate on a "threshold ON" "threshold OFF" decision procedure.
i find that your presentation is a bit wandering and your need to improperly invoke the mathematical concept of absolute value is puzzling. you seem to have a genuine philosophical intuition and it would serve you well to READ so that you might better apply your concepts.
ETA: it is important for me to acknowledge, however, that the "enlightened" state of the soul is usually represented by a return to the point of view "unbounded by context". this is an highly advanced state of being which is not particularly practical or functional....which is why you will see spiritual sages chillin out in monasteries. also, there is no way (aside from manipulating your neural chemistry) to short-cut the learning process. you must pass through the Good vs. Evil dialectic to get to the other side. in other words, sitting around musing about meaninglessness is meaningless.
best to you
edit on 25-12-2010 by tgidkp because: (no reason given)