“They saw their injured country's woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, - but left the shield.”
―Philip Freneau
.
And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again?
Archilochus
Sunday, September 7, 2025
In Praise of Dualities (a Dualistic Bias)
Overton Windows and the Shifting Meanings within Dialectics and Polemics
Aware folks eventually realize duality is a separation created in the mind of humans. It's a struggle for most to recognize none duality, the actual essence and nature of life as society has conditioned people to believe duality is reality. And in the conventional sense of reality duality then actually does exist. It does not in absolute (actual) reality.
No, the "thing in itself" is not an image. But all "phenonmena" are. So we "castrate" the thing in itself, and marry it to "desire' so that we may carry it into ourselves.
Hesiod, "Theogony"
[176] And Heaven came, bringing on night and longing for love, and he lay about Earth spreading himself full upon her.7 Then the son from his ambush stretched forth his left hand and in his right took the great long sickle with jagged teeth, and swiftly lopped off his own father's members and cast them away to fall behind him. And not vainly did they fall from his hand; for all the bloody drops that gushed forth Earth received, and as the seasons moved round she bare the strong Erinyes and the great Giants with gleaming armour, holding long spears in their hands and the Nymphs whom they call Meliae8 all over the boundless earth. And so soon as he had cut off the members with flint and cast them from the land into the surging sea, they were swept away over the main a long time: and a white foam spread around them from the immortal flesh, and in it there grew a maiden. First she drew near holy Cythera, and from there, afterwards, she came to sea-girt Cyprus, and came forth an awful and lovely goddess, and grass grew up about her beneath her shapely feet. Her gods and men call Aphrodite, and the foam-born goddess and rich-crowned Cytherea, because she grew amid the foam, and Cytherea because she reached Cythera, and Cyprogenes because she was born in billowy Cyprus, and Philommedes9 because sprang from the members. And with her went Eros, and comely Desire followed her at her birth at the first and as she went into the assembly of the gods. This honour she has from the beginning, and this is the portion allotted to her amongst men and undying gods, -- the whisperings of maidens and smiles and deceits with sweet delight and love and graciousness.
[207] But these sons whom be begot himself great Heaven used to call Titans (Strainers) in reproach, for he said that they strained and did presumptuously a fearful deed, and that vengeance for it would come afterwards.
You characterize all opposed processes "negatively". It imposes a bias (negativity) that I don't share. Yes, our current post-modern bias is towards openness and positivity. But I think you're overcompensating. IMO, avoiding Suffering and Dissatisfaction is precisely the psych mechanism drives our culture into this post-modern consumerist death-spiral of passivity. Pain and suffering are just "part of he process". What doesn't kill me makes me stronger. It's not anything "to be avoided".
You talk about religion being a "pacifier" (opium of the masses). Avoiding pain and suffering are simply secular opiates. The purpose of opiates being to alleviate the pain and suffering.
Buddhism, simply a different "false consciousness", IMO. And we all have suffer from false-consciousnesses. It's how we process and interpret phenomenology. There is no "real" consciousness to process. There is only the mental admixture of the imaginary, the symbolic, the sensed phenomena of the real, and how we "feel" about it (interpreted on a scale of mental surplus jouissance from disgust to ecstasy, and physical pain to pleasure).
Again, not so. I simply understand the path and practices that can ultimately achieving non-duality. Which is liberation from samsara thinking and views.
Good luck achieving "thoughtlessness". A path to either existence w/o change... or change without existence. I'm a meden agan guy. The "poles" are uninhabitable.
Dancing around within the dualities... not escaping them:
Buddhist practices leading to non-duality involve cultivating mindfulness, insight into dependent arising and emptiness, and letting go of the subject-object split through meditation and ethical conduct. Key practices include meditation focusing on awareness and interconnectedness, developing wisdom to see through dualistic concepts, and following the Noble Eightfold Path. While early Buddhism emphasized the Middle Way, non-dual concepts like advaya became prominent in Mahayana Buddhism, particularly in schools like Madhyamaka, aiming for a direct experience of reality's interconnected, empty nature.
When you actually have a clue about the philosophy and psychology behind Buddhism you know where to find me. Until then... have a gloriously delusional day.
14 comments:
Aware folks eventually realize duality is a separation created in the mind of humans. It's a struggle for most to recognize none duality, the actual essence and nature of life as society has conditioned people to believe duality is reality. And in the conventional sense of reality duality then actually does exist. It does not in absolute (actual) reality.
No, the "thing in itself" is not an image. But all "phenonmena" are. So we "castrate" the thing in itself, and marry it to "desire' so that we may carry it into ourselves.
Hesiod, "Theogony"
[176] And Heaven came, bringing on night and longing for love, and he lay about Earth spreading himself full upon her.7 Then the son from his ambush stretched forth his left hand and in his right took the great long sickle with jagged teeth, and swiftly lopped off his own father's members and cast them away to fall behind him. And not vainly did they fall from his hand; for all the bloody drops that gushed forth Earth received, and as the seasons moved round she bare the strong Erinyes and the great Giants with gleaming armour, holding long spears in their hands and the Nymphs whom they call Meliae8 all over the boundless earth. And so soon as he had cut off the members with flint and cast them from the land into the surging sea, they were swept away over the main a long time: and a white foam spread around them from the immortal flesh, and in it there grew a maiden. First she drew near holy Cythera, and from there, afterwards, she came to sea-girt Cyprus, and came forth an awful and lovely goddess, and grass grew up about her beneath her shapely feet. Her gods and men call Aphrodite, and the foam-born goddess and rich-crowned Cytherea, because she grew amid the foam, and Cytherea because she reached Cythera, and Cyprogenes because she was born in billowy Cyprus, and Philommedes9 because sprang from the members. And with her went Eros, and comely Desire followed her at her birth at the first and as she went into the assembly of the gods. This honour she has from the beginning, and this is the portion allotted to her amongst men and undying gods, -- the whisperings of maidens and smiles and deceits with sweet delight and love and graciousness.
[207] But these sons whom be begot himself great Heaven used to call Titans (Strainers) in reproach, for he said that they strained and did presumptuously a fearful deed, and that vengeance for it would come afterwards.
Not necessarily. I for one.
Desire and aversion are two opposing energies that are responsible for all dissatisfaction and suffering.
Also known as grasping/clinging and avoiding/pushing away.
As far as the mythology heaven, let me just say it's a great pacifier fir some.
You characterize all opposed processes "negatively". It imposes a bias (negativity) that I don't share. Yes, our current post-modern bias is towards openness and positivity. But I think you're overcompensating. IMO, avoiding Suffering and Dissatisfaction is precisely the psych mechanism drives our culture into this post-modern consumerist death-spiral of passivity. Pain and suffering are just "part of he process". What doesn't kill me makes me stronger. It's not anything "to be avoided".
You talk about religion being a "pacifier" (opium of the masses). Avoiding pain and suffering are simply secular opiates. The purpose of opiates being to alleviate the pain and suffering.
Buddhism, simply a different "false consciousness", IMO. And we all have suffer from false-consciousnesses. It's how we process and interpret phenomenology. There is no "real" consciousness to process. There is only the mental admixture of the imaginary, the symbolic, the sensed phenomena of the real, and how we "feel" about it (interpreted on a scale of mental surplus jouissance from disgust to ecstasy, and physical pain to pleasure).
Is that so?
No, you're right. You possess ABSOLUTE truth and experience ABSOLUTE reality... @@
Again, not so. I simply understand the path and practices that can ultimately achieving non-duality. Which is liberation from samsara thinking and views.
Good luck.
Good luck achieving "thoughtlessness". A path to either existence w/o change... or change without existence. I'm a meden agan guy. The "poles" are uninhabitable.
Dancing around within the dualities... not escaping them:
Buddhist practices leading to non-duality involve cultivating mindfulness, insight into dependent arising and emptiness, and letting go of the subject-object split through meditation and ethical conduct. Key practices include meditation focusing on awareness and interconnectedness, developing wisdom to see through dualistic concepts, and following the Noble Eightfold Path. While early Buddhism emphasized the Middle Way, non-dual concepts like advaya became prominent in Mahayana Buddhism, particularly in schools like Madhyamaka, aiming for a direct experience of reality's interconnected, empty nature.
Buddhist chasing the objet petit 'a.... when he "catches it".
I hereby offer you this laurel and hardy handshake.
When you actually have a clue about the philosophy and psychology behind Buddhism you know where to find me. Until then... have a gloriously delusional day.
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