Cyclical Duality
I was told by a good friend to read a book Demian, and a quick Wiki of it made me realise that this was a new story written upon an idea that has always existed since the dawn of humanity.
The cyclical duality of life as well as the mysticism associated with not being able to explain inexpressible feelings, are some of the subjects that have always been around.
What is cyclical duality? I think people in the west closely associate it with Irony and Contradictions in life. As I wrote in my previous entry about the Aeneid, War is never quite far from Peace, Success is not very far from destruction.. Love is not so far from Hate, and so on.
One comfortable with Eastern philosophy can easily observe these apparent contradictions as two sides of the same coin, but I believe that one such as myself, growing up in a Western approach to logic and life, will find it difficult to rectify the seeming differences in these similarities; we only have easy access to difficult material like Bertrand Russell's mathematical paradox or lengthy discourses in Irony, whereas in the East, it is everywhere reflected in society through images and speech and way of life; the Tao, the Yin and the Yang, the Way, Buddhism, Zen etc.
What is this mysticism? It is what the gnostic writers have always been trying to hint at. I believe it is a form of profound writing to hint at some other worldly, inexpressible mood or feeling, which I believe is what we can only call the Divine. We have limited means to express what we feel, and writing in a profound, guru-like manner is the closest means that we have to share this feeling with others.
For Example, simply saying "When you turn over a leaf, you will find Me. You will discover Me in absolute darkness. I am everywhere. The way was always within you... etc" or, how certain music or song speaks so deep to you that you have played it in your Ipod more than a thousand times when no one else appreciates it... all of which evoking a kind of mood that is indescribable yet palpable.
That is why music, esoteric knowledge, hullucinogens, meditation, every form of art play such a big role in our lifes, because by engaging in them we are constantly having a taste of spirituality, other worldliness, the divine, GODhood, transcendental emotions.
The cyclical duality of life as well as the mysticism associated with not being able to explain inexpressible feelings, are some of the subjects that have always been around.
What is cyclical duality? I think people in the west closely associate it with Irony and Contradictions in life. As I wrote in my previous entry about the Aeneid, War is never quite far from Peace, Success is not very far from destruction.. Love is not so far from Hate, and so on.
One comfortable with Eastern philosophy can easily observe these apparent contradictions as two sides of the same coin, but I believe that one such as myself, growing up in a Western approach to logic and life, will find it difficult to rectify the seeming differences in these similarities; we only have easy access to difficult material like Bertrand Russell's mathematical paradox or lengthy discourses in Irony, whereas in the East, it is everywhere reflected in society through images and speech and way of life; the Tao, the Yin and the Yang, the Way, Buddhism, Zen etc.
What is this mysticism? It is what the gnostic writers have always been trying to hint at. I believe it is a form of profound writing to hint at some other worldly, inexpressible mood or feeling, which I believe is what we can only call the Divine. We have limited means to express what we feel, and writing in a profound, guru-like manner is the closest means that we have to share this feeling with others.
For Example, simply saying "When you turn over a leaf, you will find Me. You will discover Me in absolute darkness. I am everywhere. The way was always within you... etc" or, how certain music or song speaks so deep to you that you have played it in your Ipod more than a thousand times when no one else appreciates it... all of which evoking a kind of mood that is indescribable yet palpable.
That is why music, esoteric knowledge, hullucinogens, meditation, every form of art play such a big role in our lifes, because by engaging in them we are constantly having a taste of spirituality, other worldliness, the divine, GODhood, transcendental emotions.
posted by deadpoet at 4:02 AM
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