Welcome to the Hidden Meaning Page!
The picture of the black and white Raven (right) reminded me of painting by Hilma af Klint, 1915 (on left above). A spiritualist and painter who explored the philosophical concept of duality and the idea that when one attains the perfect balance between the male and female they can leave the physical plane and enter into a harmonious "oneness."
Carl G. Jung based his "Analytical Psychology" on the question of opposites (dualities). In his Mysterium Coniunctionis (subtitled: "An Inquiry Into The Separation And Synthesis Of Psychic Opposites In Alchemy."), Jung notes that duality is the origination of opposition and that this polarity is often arranged in a system of four as a quaternio (note the four squares that make up the background of Klint's work).
Jung observed that the two opposites cross one another such as in the four elements or qualities in moist, dry, cold and warm or the four directions, or the four seasons. Note that the quaternio is behind the symbolism of the Christian cross.
His system of opposites consists of thousands of opposites but all are based around the key oppositions that Jung mentions at the beginning of Mysterium Coniunctionis (Latin: mystery of the conjunction). He notes that they are in perpetual conflict within nature, culture and in the life of the individual. During the conflict one of the opposites becomes dominant for a time and then gives way to the dominance of the other. The movement between these dominants forms the basis for the dynamics of "cyclic movement", the key movement within the system of symbolism.
All of us contain these opposites. In this sense, each of us harbors a neurosis to a certain extent as well as an artist at a particular time. For example, the western psyche contains pieces of the eastern psyche. The psyche becomes a battleground of the waring forces and over-dominance by one of the opposites always means a repression into the unconsciousness of the other. Just as light is needed for darkness so is darkness needed for light.
When the number 2 is seen in a dream it can speak to duality, conflict, opposition, or a balance of natures, or aspects.
In physics, too, there exists a duality. When an electron comes into existance its opposite or antiparticle (positron) also comes into existence. When they collide they annihilate each other, the resulting energy release creates a photon that releases its own energy creating an electron and positron and so on. At the subatomic level these dualities are always trying to balance each other in that they are trying to achieve symmetry.
Until the discipline of Quantum Physics, the Newtonian model of physics made it clear that objects were either one way or another, but not both simultaneously. In quantum physics it has been shown that light can be both a particle and a wave simultaneously. It is only when the experimenter 'observes' the light does it become one or the other. Actually it is the method of observation that the experimenter uses that determines the attribute of the light and until the point of observation the light exists as a 'superpotential' i.e. both a partile and a wave. This has led some theorists in physics to wonder if there were many potential realities that exist until an observer 'causes' only one to manifest. How curious! Are there many realities, or just the one we're experiencing?
The "Many Worlds" interpretation of the quantum wave/particle phenomenon."
Yet another view currently enjoying some attention is the many-worlds interpretation which was proposed in the 1950s by Princeton's Hugh Everett. His theory tried to answer the question of why, when we observe a quantum phenomenon, we see only one outcome of the many allowed by its wave function. Everett suggested that whenever a measurement forces a particle to make a choice, for instance, between going left or right in a two-slit apparatus, the entire universe splits into two separate universes. For example, the particle goes left in one universe and right in the other.
Although the theory was long dismissed as more science fiction than science it has been revived in a modified form by Murray Gell-Mann of the California Institute of Technology and James B. Hartle of the University of Califoniia at Santa Barbara. They call their version the many-histories interpretation and emphasize that the histories are 'Potentialities' rather than physical actualities. Gell-Mann predicted that this view will dominate the field by the end of the century.
The "Eagle and Hermaphrodite." It is both male and female, day and night, sun and moon holding the bat and the rabbit. Duality is a core concept in the Emerald Tablet (the Smaragdene Table, or the Secret of Hermes) written by the Egyptian wizard, Hermes Trimestigus whose lost knowledge is at the heart of the mystery of medieval alchemy. (see also David Bohm's concept of the "implicate/explicate order" a philosophy from modern physics.) See the page on Individuation for further explanation of this combining of opposites to achieve a "oneness" in mankind. The Dragon's Treasure discusses the Individuation process at length. On June 10 & 11, 2010 on my dream interpretation blog I shared a dream that dealt with the presence of an archetype symbol that Jung called the shadow. Frequently this symbol represents one of your opposites and when it shows up, it provides an opportunity for integration, or Individuation. I shared my still ongoing process toward this integration. Want to see the Tibetan Buddhist commentary on Duality? Click here for the Dreamscapes III page. Dualism shows up in I Corinthians xv:22, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." One interpretation of this line is that the body dies, but the spirit is forever while another holds that even in death will everything be restored.
Dualism also shows up in the figure of the fallen angel of the old testament where Satan, the prince of darkness is also Lucifer the resplendent bringer of light.
The question still remains
Does the duality actually exist?
In the Gospel of John, the last of the evangelists to write about the ministry of Jesus, as well as in his letters the concept of duality reigns supreme. No trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost for him. Just the Spirit and Man. But does even this dualism exist?
John often seems to quote Jesus as speaking about the One e.g. John 17:11 and 21.
Interestingly, though the new testament of the Christian Bible speaks of the One, it defines (presents) it primarily as a masculine One. Only weak attribution is given to the feminine side of God (perhaps a reaction to the earlier power of the Goddess religions?). I contend that though the One may exist, it exists as an combination of its different aspects and all are in balance. What has this separation of the feminine from the divine done to the Christian world?  see Sophia page
Other of the world's religions hint at a non-duality, a non-separation. It is often seen that the duality exists only in the Being form—the world of man—and not the monad that is God.
In the monistic philosophies (Buddhism, Tao, Gnosticism) there is only the one, and subject and object are one in the same.
Could it be that God is context for the content that is us? But without the content the context has nothing to be context for.
Perhaps we are both context and content with each generating the other, with the separation (the duality) being but an illusion—a means (platform) of observing the multitude of facets that is God—the ineffable everything.
How would we live our lives if we were to think of ourselves as being whole, a spirit/body so to speak? How would we live if we thought that there was no separation between us and all other things—that all were equal and to love the other was to love ourselves and to abuse, or exploit the other is to abuse, or exploit, ourselves? What would that look like? That's not a rhetorical question, try answering it!_____________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________
|
