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mr_kite
The Watcher
Registered: 09/16/02
Posts: 2,577
Loc: shambhala
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Opposites
#2486675 - 03/31/04 09:34 AM (20 years, 1 day ago) |
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An interesting idea, which has its origins in the I Ching, is that opposites should not be regarded as contradictory, but rather as complimentary, resulting in balance and unity. Two halves of a whole.
Thinking in this way, and applying this ideal to modern life would certainly solve a few problems!
Been thinking bout this quite a bit recently. It's something that crops up quite a bit in the lyrics of Dylan's holy trilogy of 65/66. Ceasing to argue etc.
-------------------- let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love
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sherlockalien
Stranger
Registered: 03/30/04
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Re: Opposites [Re: mr_kite]
#2487004 - 03/31/04 12:24 PM (20 years, 1 day ago) |
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sort of...
I mean, they are separate.. but they are united in another level... You should know when to separate (alchemical separatio) and when to unite (alchemical solutio).
Now you said that applying this to modern life would solve certain problems... But I think regardless of people knowing it or not, it is already in everything.. rich poor, happy sad, light darkness, etc..
Now the question I think about is: If there is such a thing as enlightenment, does that mean that the un-enlightened is just as necessary, as it is the other extreme? if so, then does that mean that enlightenment for all is not possible, and that un-enlightenment is perfectly valid (i.e. all conditioned human actions are ok ) ?
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gnrm23
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/29/99
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Loc: n. e. OH, USSA
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Re: Opposites [Re: mr_kite]
#2487204 - 03/31/04 01:43 PM (20 years, 1 day ago) |
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well, for sure check out alan watts' classic _the two hands of god_ 'nuff said...
-------------------- old enough to know better not old enough to care
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gnrm23
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/29/99
Posts: 6,488
Loc: n. e. OH, USSA
Last seen: 5 months, 20 days
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Re: Opposites [Re: mr_kite]
#2487208 - 03/31/04 01:45 PM (20 years, 1 day ago) |
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"dylan's holy trilogy of 65/66" ? ummm - izzat: bringin it all back home highway 61 revisited blonde on blonde
good stuff for sure... holy?
-------------------- old enough to know better not old enough to care
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Mystical_Craven
mentally illpsychonaught
Registered: 06/16/02
Posts: 439
Loc: Earth
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that's exactly right most 'enlightened' people make the mistake of trying to bring others up to their level (much like a person that tries E for the first time and imediately tries to get all their friends to try it too) but the truth is that for every person that raises theirselves to a certain height, there is someone else somewhere out there that's becoming overwhelmed by life and falling into a sort of depression this is the very nature of the universe - all things seek an equalibrium this is where a lot of the zen philosophies come into play - it's all about accepting things for what they are without trying to manipulate anything (not for fear of unbalance mind you - but rather out of respect for those who can't yet fend for themselves in a metaphysical sense of the term) the main aspiration of many zen enthusiasts is to one day bring everyone into this same sort of mindset - because then there would be no one trying to achieve greatness, and therefor no one being pushed down into dispair...we'd all (in theory anyway) reach a sort of middle ground where nothing is ever really 'good' nor is it ever really 'bad' - every experience we have would be completely neutral I'm sure that seems like a bad thing (like some sort of monotonistic existence full of reactionary individuals who never cherish a moment of their lives) but the truth is it really isn't - because once we all get on the same page we no longer become a group of individuals that are constantly building eachother up and pushing eachother back down again in some sort of whirlwind of emotions...we actually become as one, at which point all of us could raise ourselves to any height we were capable of reaching without having to worry about any one of us feeling the burden of everyone else's rise to greatness of course...because of that somewhere out there some other civilization *could* be experiencing a great downfall - but it's much more likely that our uprising would coincide with another civilization's rise to un-greatness (or whatever you'd technically call a service-to-self scociety's ultimate accomplishment) as opposed to it being thrust upon some other civilization that's trying to pull themselves up too after all - like always attracts like the negative energy we'd be creating by focusing in on the positive would be counterbalnced by another group of individuals that thrived off of negative energy...and we in turn would be thriving off of the positive energy they'd be 'creating' by focusing on the negative instead of there being millions of smaller symbiosis within our own species, there'd be a greater symbiosis between ourselves and someother species much like our own that just so happen to go down a different path
-------------------- "Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go..." T.S. Eliot
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Mystical_Craven
mentally illpsychonaught
Registered: 06/16/02
Posts: 439
Loc: Earth
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basically -
as one civilization that's service-to-others is raising in greatness, another civilizations that's service-to-self would be rising to greatness as well...each one would balance out the other
-------------------- "Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go..." T.S. Eliot
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