What is Dualism Philosophy | Why Humanity is Bound by Dualistic Awareness
“Not only does God play dice but... he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.” ― Stephen Hawking
What is the idea of dualism? What is the dualistic view of a human person?
Hello, and welcome to the Ancient wisdom modern mind Blog and today I would like to share with you the idea of “Infinite Duality”.
So, in the concept of Infinite Duality I will bring together five different concepts as evidence for why Humanity is Bound by Dualistic Awareness and these are; the Five Elements theory of ancient philosophy, the Philosophy of Dualism, the Five Platonic Solids of geometry, the Penrose Pattern of mathematics, and the Light wave particle duality of probability in quantum mechanics.
So first I will give a short explanation of the five different concepts:
Five Elements theory of ancient philosophy: The Five Elements Theory is an ancient philosophy used to describe interactions and relationships between things. The five elements are — wood, fire, earth, metal, and water — and these five elements were believed to be the fundamental elements of everything in the universe between which interactions occur.
Philosophy of Dualism: The Philosophy of Dualism believes that everything has two parts, and each has an opposite meanings, like the duality of good and evil. If there are two sides to a coin, metaphorically speaking, there's a duality. Peace and war, love and hate, up and down, and black and white are dualities. This is also Newton's third law of motion: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction” Newton's third law of motion is the law of cause and effect, so that every action creates another reaction, which produces a new counteraction. Thus an endless chain of actions and reactions is created. Even the idea of Karma is an expression of this law of motion or Dualistic Philosophy.
Five Platonic Solids: What the idea of the Five Platonic Solids means, is that any geometric solids whose faces are all identical, like regular polygons (meaning a three-dimensional shape) meeting at the same three-dimensional angles. Also known as the five regular polyhedra. These are the tetrahedron (or pyramid) which has 4-faces, cube-6 faces, octahedrone-8 faces, dodecahedrone-12 faces, and icosahedron-20 faces.
Now this is nothing new, as the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. 360 B.C. theorized that the classical elements of the world were made of these regular solids. And theorized that the Five Platonic Solids represented the Five Basic Elements: — wood or (air), fire, earth, metal or (universe), and water.
The octahedron is associated with wood sometimes interpreted as (Tree) or (air), and is the growing of matter, or matter's growth stage.
The tetrahedron is associated with fire, and is the affluence of matter, or matter's prosperity stage or expansion stage.
The cube is associated with the earth, and is a balance of both yin and yang, the positive and negative stabilized. Its motion is inward, centering and meditative.
The dodecahedron is associated with metal (universe), and is associated with the decline of matter, or matter's deterioration.
And the icosahedron is associated with water, and this is the low point of matter, or matter's dying or final stage.
Note I have followed the Chinese meaning of the elements rather that what passes as Plato’s interpretations, since Plato’s denotations do seem to be corrupted with a lot of modern emotional overtones.
Next is the Penrose Pattern or Tiling: In 1974, Roger Penrose, a British mathematician, created a revolutionary set of tiles that could be used to cover an infinite plane in a pattern that never repeats. Called an Aperiodic Tiling which is a set of tiles that can cover an infinite plane with neither gap nor overlap, without the tiling pattern ever repeating itself. The Penrose Pattern uses only two patterns infinitely, a thick rhombus and a thin rhombus, which can be tiled in a non-periodically pattern all the way out to infinity without ever repeating. This means that there are an unaccountably infinite different patterns that extend out to infinity and every pattern occurs in an infinite number of ways and it is impossible to tell that unless you can see the whole pattern, which is impossible.
At the heart of Roger Penrose’s breakthroughs is “forbidden symmetry,” so-called because it flies in the face of a deeply ingrained association between symmetry and repetition. Symmetry is based on axes of reflection—whatever appears on one side of a line is duplicated on the other. In mathematics, that relationship is reflected in Tiling Patterns. Symmetrical shapes such as rectangles and triangles can cover a plane with neither gap nor overlap, and in an ever-repeating pattern. Repeated patterns are called “periodic” and are said to have “translational symmetry.” If you move a pattern from place to place, it looks the same.
But there is a kind of paradox to the Penrose Pattern, there is this uncountable infinity of different versions, but just by looking at them you could never tell them apart.
However, despite their lack of translational symmetry, Penrose Tiling’s may have both “reflection symmetry” and fivefold “rotational symmetry”. For example the five-axis symmetry of the pentagon creates a plane of non-repeating patterns and even though Penrose’s Tiles are generated from the lines and angles of pentagons, Penrose’s shapes left no awkward gaps. They snugged together perfectly, twisting and turning across the plane, always coming close to repetition, but never quite getting there.
The Penrose Pattern is important in the context of duality, because it shows that no matter how much information you have, how much you’ve seen in this reality, you’ll never be able to predict what happens next. It will always be something that you’ve never seen before.
Light-wave particle duality of probability: Wave–particle duality is a concept in quantum mechanics that says every particle or quantum entity may be described as either a particle or a wave. It expresses the inability of the classical concepts "particle" or "wave" to fully describe the behavior of quantum-scale objects. As Albert Einstein wrote: It seems as though we must use sometimes the one theory and sometimes the other, while at times we may use either. We are faced with a new kind of difficulty. We have two contradictory pictures of reality; and separately neither of them fully explains the phenomena of light, but together they do.
Now to understand this we need to go back to the Five Elements theory of ancient philosophy which was used to describe the interactions and relationships of elemental processes.
The Five Elements — wood, fire, earth, metal, and water — were understood to be the fundamental elements of everything in the universe from which all movement and the rhythm or interactions of life occurred. But this Five Elements idea, as you will see was corrupted and came to mean the five common elements such as wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.
But thanks in part to modern quantum mechanics we have stumbled again upon this lost knowledge, which now sheds some light on the many paradoxes within our often three dimensional perspective, and by understanding the quasiperiodicity of light particles vs waves, we can at least see at the quantum level, how the Five Elements idea interacts in a wave particle of probability, but that this wave of possibly is restricted by the Five Platonic Solids.
(Quasiperiodicity means a behavior that has a pattern of recurrence with a component of unpredictability that does not lend itself to precise measurement).
These Five Platonic Solids expand infinity in a partly chaotic and partly orderly pattern of recurrence with a component of unpredictability that does not lend itself to precise measurement. This is a difficult idea to grasp because of our ingrained bias associated with symmetry and repetition, but thanks to Roger Penrose this pattern can be better understood at the physical level in the Penrose Pattern.
And by combining the Penrose Pattern and the Five Platonic Solids with the quasiperiodicity of wave particle probability in quantum mechanics, we have a clearer picture of how reality is bound by Duality.
This also implies that the proposition of the Five Elements and what the ancients referred to as the Five Elements from which all interactions of life occurred, are the same as the Five Platonic Solids, so it seems that Plato’s ideas rises to the fore of modern mathematics since he was the first recorded philosopher to come to this same conclusion.
what this implies through the five different principles that come together in this conjecture, is that this is also the reason why we cannot manifest our own reality and this also puts a dent in the popular “Law of Attraction” idea, as it shows how this idea is grossly exaggerated and as much as we want to have control over our personal reality, this conjecture implies that we are trapped in this dualistic reality due to the five elements, which means that our thoughts cannot change the world to any great extent.
And if you will bear with me I would like to take you on quick walk through of how this “Law of Attraction” idea became so entangled in both Christianity and the New Age Movement.
The “Law of Attraction” grew out of the teachings of Phineas Quimby in the early 19th century. Quimby was diagnosed with tuberculosis and with no reliable cure for tuberculosis at the time. Quimby took to horse riding and noted that intense excitement temporarily relieved him from his affliction. This prompted Phineas to pursue the study of "Mind over Body”. Quimby claimed that the trouble was in the mind, for the body is only the house for the mind to dwell in, and we put a value on it according to its worth. Therefore if your mind has been deceived by some invisible enemy into a belief of illness then you would manifest that illness.
This idea quickly attracted the attention of Christians and occultist alike, who either wanted to find proof for miracles or proof of a supernatural influence, and as this idea is also linked with the ideas of the Russian occultist Helena Blavatsky. Who first used the term "Law of Attraction" which appeared in print for the first time in 1877 in a book written by Helena Blavatsky.
In the 20th century we again saw a surge of interest in the subject with many books being written about it, amongst which are two of the best-selling books of all time; Think and Grow Rich (1937) by Napoleon Hill, and The Power of Positive Thinking (1952) by Norman Vincent Peale, and You Can Heal Your Life (1984) by Louise Hay.
In 2006, the concept of the “Law of Attraction” gained renewed exposure with the release of the film The Secret which was then developed into a book of the same title in 2007. The movie and book gained widespread media coverage. This was followed by a sequel, The Power in 2010 that talks about the “Law of Attraction” being the “Law of Love”.
If you did stick with me and have not turned me off in disgust, I would like to show also how Wave–particle duality does offer us a small thread of truth to the idea that consciousness can influence our world. Because the Wave–particle duality idea does allow us to influence the world at the quantum level. The “Law of Attraction” claims that that if you are thinking, visualizing and making big inspired action towards your desired goal, you WILL influence your reality. But the key word is ACTIONS, and without action, thinking and visualizing will not lead to a manifestation of your desires.
Now I also know that some believe that the Wave–particle duality idea is evidence of the “Law of Attraction” and that thoughts change reality, but what is missed in this idea is that the wave particle nature of reality is more a reflection of Duality and that what the Wave–particle duality idea actually reflects is the positive and negative aspects of Duality.
In a nutshell what this basically means is that if you focus on the negative then that’s what you will see and if you focus on the positive then that’s what you see, and that it is through our actions we are actually creating our own growth or decline.
So what this means is that fundamentally we are trapped in a dualistic-dimension, and it does not matter what the consciousness believes or what ideology we hold; we cannot escape this dualistic reality through thinking or belief.
Dualism is a consequence of our Preference Awareness which is in itself a construct of being self-aware of one's surround and that this self-awareness is effected by the Five Platonic Solids which influences duality in infinite ways, but because of our bias towards symmetry and repetition, this gives us the impression that we have or can escape this dualistic-dimensional monopoly.
Dualistic Awareness or as I prefer to call “Preference Awareness”, is a state of being aware of and responsive to one's surroundings. Consciousness constructs mental representations, and abstract objects or abilities that make up the fundamental building blocks of a hieratical awareness. Examples of this dualistic state are; science from the perspective of classical physics, the evolution hypothesis, and polytheistic religions are all a consequence of Preference Awareness.
Dualism and the idea of karma is a construct of being self-aware of one's surround and the experience of cause and effect, Newton's third law of motion is an example of dualistic Preference Awareness and so is Nihilism, Existentialism, Absurdism and Minimalism vs Consumerism. These are all variants of Dualistic thinking or Preference Awareness.
Dualism is a perceptual dimension, meaning that we perceive in a one directional movement. For example we cannot move freely in time but are forced to subjectively move in one direction, and this is also how duality binds us to this dimension.
Because of Preference Awareness it is not possible to ignore the dualistic nature of reality, as awareness of patterns gives order to our lives and the world around us, giving us meaning and purpose, but this dualistic awareness also consume us by compel us and driving us to obsession. And this obsessive Preference Awareness then forces us to make elaborate databases with an inventory of all the patterns that the mind has a preference for.
But the fact that there are a multitude of preferences also shows that we can choose whether to accept our preferences or to discard them, if we accept our preferences then we will take them to their logical conclusions, and this then becomes our core reality, our specialty, our ideology, our religion.
Ironically Preference Awareness is ultimately an illusion, a subjective choice. What this means is that although we function within a matrix of subjective patterns we can reject a pattern if we choose because of its subjective nature.
And this is probably also the most common error made in the understanding of what is reality, since most simply assume that the idea of reality is objective in the context of being physical and having a cause and effect on our lives; for example in the context that gravity is a universal law, basic science right. What goes up must come down, this is the dualists understanding of reality, for the dualistic perception is from the perspective of separation, the mind and physical reality are distinct and separable.
Yet mind and reality is a paradox, a contradiction where reality is objective, and bound by immutable laws, but it is also subjectively altered by the minds perception of reality. This is the paradox, two perceptions existing simultaneously.
Now I am not saying that we should reject our preferences or that patterns do not exist, but what I am saying is that preferences are all-consuming to the point that they affect how the mind perceives reality. The mind is compelled to see only the patterns that it has a preference for, and it is this excluding of unrelated patterns that creates and forcibly applies a subjective preference on the mind. “You can choose this pattern or this pattern or this pattern, but you must choose”.
And this is the important differentiation that Concept Construction teaches us; the art is not to reject our pattern preference or to be un-attached from “things” or even to reject our objective world, but to see that “things” are simply patterns which we apply subjectively to an objective matrix. And this unnoticed influence happens because of pattern recognition which then absorbs the self within a web of relevant but often trivial complexity.
Preference Awareness is overcome by Concept Construction, and this is the state where the minds comprehension of the unity of reality; mind fathoms that reality is as one interconnectedness, or more simply expressed as a reasoned interconnectedness between the subjective and the objective.
Concept construction has its roots in a Monotheistic idea of reality. This Monotheistic view focuses on the philosophical idea that there is one God or one interconnected multi- dimensional reality, a singular Divine, which manifests itself in many ways, including as the Christian Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but equally so are concepts such as Mindfulness.
Philosophy is also an outgrowth of this Monotheistic view of reality, which uses reason to form concepts, engage in problem solving, and then form reasonable hypotheses, and likewise so is Quantum Field Theory a development of concept construction.
The act of Mindfulness is a final development of the monotheistic view and Concept Construction, since mindfulness is the psychological process of bringing one's attention to experiences occurring in the present moment. This has the effect of stepping the mind outside of its natural preferences and into a moment-by-moment awareness of the subjective nature of reality.
If you’re interested in taking your understanding beyond duality and the idea of Concept Construction then I also have a post that explores the idea of a 9th dimensional reality, called “Time Perception and the 9th Dimension” just follow the link in the description. Plus Preference Awareness is also expanded on in the posts “The Human agreement” and “The Rational Side of Awareness” see links
So Thanks for taking the time to read this blog. and an audio version is also available follow the link......
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