Day 25
So what of all these dichotomies we have in our minds, about the world and the human condition? We've got male and female, day and night, good and evil, right and wrong, and all the rest of them. GW Bush wants the world to know that "you're either with us or against us." Neutrality is no longer an option, as he so declares, for neutrality is by ommission a way of allying with the enemy, apparently.
The dichotomy is a great way to simplify the our perceptual world. What better a way than to take every thing we know, and lay each into either of any two given opposing categories.
Morality, in my view, is one place where the whole exercise has gone terribly awry. I do not believe it a stretch to say that violent movies and shows over the last generation have played their part in creating a public willing to accept the notion of a world comprising of 'good' and 'evil' nation states. Where we see an anomaly, we simply call it an ambiguity, rather than calling into question the system by which we categorize things.
But truthfully, the one thing that has promulgated this binary notion of morality is religion. There is absolutely no room for morally 'questionable' actions; all are good, or bad. Of course, Christianity takes this to its logical extreme, deeming nearly all bad actions as equally bad (note that in the 10 commandments, simply thinking lustful thoughts is an equal offence to actually committing adultery), while all good actions (or more accurately, dispositions and beliefs), lead to the same end, namely the better of the two possible afterlives.
It is easy, however, to charaterize the world in such a way. Problem is, you'll end up missing a lot of really important stuff. After all, perception is never pure. What we see (literally and figuratively) isn't the world, but a representative construction of it, put together by the mind's eye, which itself has been built by an immensely complex genetic code full of dispositions and priorities, as well as years of being told by the world and others what things are right and wrong to see.
So what is it that we're seeing, then? While the world may appear in multiple dimensions, and all our sounds and smells seem to come from without, it's all happening in the brain, everything. We're just looking in the mirror, all the time.
And now for the relation: I believe that our notion of all perceptions, thoughts, and feelings as either originating externally or internally is a false dichotomy. Perhaps this is the most basic false distinction of all: between the mind and the world outside of it. Sometimes I close my eyes and imagine something vivid, like bright red. Then I try my absolute hardest to literally locate where in my brain the colour is happening (as in nearer to the front, back, etc.) Of course nothing in the brain is actually turning red, so it is a strange and fun exercise.
The dichotomy is a great way to simplify the our perceptual world. What better a way than to take every thing we know, and lay each into either of any two given opposing categories.
Morality, in my view, is one place where the whole exercise has gone terribly awry. I do not believe it a stretch to say that violent movies and shows over the last generation have played their part in creating a public willing to accept the notion of a world comprising of 'good' and 'evil' nation states. Where we see an anomaly, we simply call it an ambiguity, rather than calling into question the system by which we categorize things.
But truthfully, the one thing that has promulgated this binary notion of morality is religion. There is absolutely no room for morally 'questionable' actions; all are good, or bad. Of course, Christianity takes this to its logical extreme, deeming nearly all bad actions as equally bad (note that in the 10 commandments, simply thinking lustful thoughts is an equal offence to actually committing adultery), while all good actions (or more accurately, dispositions and beliefs), lead to the same end, namely the better of the two possible afterlives.
It is easy, however, to charaterize the world in such a way. Problem is, you'll end up missing a lot of really important stuff. After all, perception is never pure. What we see (literally and figuratively) isn't the world, but a representative construction of it, put together by the mind's eye, which itself has been built by an immensely complex genetic code full of dispositions and priorities, as well as years of being told by the world and others what things are right and wrong to see.
So what is it that we're seeing, then? While the world may appear in multiple dimensions, and all our sounds and smells seem to come from without, it's all happening in the brain, everything. We're just looking in the mirror, all the time.
And now for the relation: I believe that our notion of all perceptions, thoughts, and feelings as either originating externally or internally is a false dichotomy. Perhaps this is the most basic false distinction of all: between the mind and the world outside of it. Sometimes I close my eyes and imagine something vivid, like bright red. Then I try my absolute hardest to literally locate where in my brain the colour is happening (as in nearer to the front, back, etc.) Of course nothing in the brain is actually turning red, so it is a strange and fun exercise.
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