Sirona, about duality..

by Introspection 2 Replies latest jw friends

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  Introspection

  Hi, I thought this should really be in a separate thread..

  I dont think that part of duality is "bad" as such. I accept the bad as necessary. I can't see how duality itself could be bad - Im not sure if you mean the fact it exists is bad or that people believe it exists is bad.

  I just cant see there being a world where there is no negative. E.g. the negative is often what challenges us and pushes us to change things. Thats just one example.

  Well, I'm not so sure about that. I don't know if good and evil as we know it fit into that model. But to answer your first question, I meant that people believe it exists is bad. However, it is all a matter of perspective I think.

  But even if you work with the model of polarity, why does it have to be the negative in the sense of bad things happening in the world that drives us? I tend to think of the duality of known/not known, there is a lot to discover. If we can get over the good and bad business maybe life would be more interesting..
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  Sirona

  Hi Intro,

  I didnt notice this thread until just now!!

  About your comment regarding people believing in duality being bad...well personally I think that this belief has had a good effect on my life. Firstly, I dont see negative things as *purely* things that "bring me down" and I certainly dont see them as caused by some negative external force (e.g. Satan). This means that when something happens thats negative, I dont feel powerless against it. When I was JW, I often felt powerless against evil because the all powerful "god of this system" was inflicting it upon me and my only way out was to plead Jehovah to help me. I viewed the solution as external to myself. This is a form of "learned helplessness" that exists within the JW community. Believing that good and bad exist naturally and serve their purpose allows me to view bad things in a different way (or at least attempt to) and approach the issue feeling ABLE to do something about it.

  I admit its not just the bad that encourages us to change things. However, imagine a world that is perfect (according to the JW perfect world theory). If your life was "perfect" why would you ever seek to make any changes? why would you challenge yourself? You may challenge yourself in little ways, but lets face it, things would really remain the same *forever*!

  If we can get over the good and bad business maybe life would be more interesting..

  Interesting idea. How could this possibly happen though? Human beings will always label a +tive experience as "good" and a -tive experience as "bad". Maybe the polarity discussion has centered a little too much on good/bad though. This discussion could move on to the Yin/Yang idea - with that, Yin/Yang is accepted by many as NATURAL. Thats the point I was making. Why do we want a perfect world anyway?

  Sirona
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  Introspection

  Hi Sirona,

  Just a quick note before I head to work, maybe I'll write a bit more later.

  Why do we want a perfect world anyway?

  Well, to be frank I no longer see things through the JW world view so it's hard for me to address your reply, (I really don't use the word perfection much) but a short answer to that question is compassion, from the perspective of relieving suffering.

  I agree that yin and yang is natural, (I have an interest in Taoism) but only from the perspective of the relative. But I do not believe it applies to the "western" idea of good and evil, I think such an application is a misconception based on my understanding of the Chinese language (my native tongue) if you go with Taoist ideas.

  Of course, people for the most part is going to have the same thinking as you mentioned, but it doesn't hurt to introduce the non-dual perspective. I'm guessing because you are relatively new to the board you have not seen this quote I've used before, so I'll end the message with this for now..

  "Love your neighbor as yourself means your neighbor is yourself, and that recognition of oneness is love." -Eckhart Tolle