Logic and intuition, West and East, and the coming of Christ

"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat."
(Rudyard Kipling: The Ballad of East and West)

Hello. This is going to be a long post but perhaps it will give an insight into the current global situation and into what's coming... I'd like to know what you think about the theory.


There seem to be two fundamental approaches to man's perception and creation of reality, and they are wired in the structure of the human brain. Both approaches, in the right balance, are necessary for harmonious life, whereas preferring one approach to the other leads to suffering.

The first approach focuses on differences and individuality. It is the logical/analytical approach (analysis = breaking up into components), which has its center in the left brain hemisphere and manifests as individualism in social life - freedom and independence of the individual. (It has been suggested that the sense of one's individual self is located in the left hemisphere too.) This approach enables one to perceive and create structures, step by step (also by means of language), and to use individual free will. When used in excess though, it leads to being lost in details ("not seeing the forest for the trees"), losing the connection between oneself and others, lack of compassion, aggressiveness and neglect of the needy. This approach has been cultivated especially in the WEST, where it resulted in science, technology, democracy, and capitalism.

The second approach focuses on similarities and unity. It is the intuitive/holistic approach, which has its center in the right brain hemisphere and manifests as collectivism in social life - the individual is subjected to the collective. This approach enables one to see the connections and underlying unity of all things, immediately (intuitively), and thus creates harmony and coherence among differences, a compact whole. When used in excess though, it leads to lack of differentiation ("not seeing the trees"), loss of initiative, passivity, suppression of individual differences in political and ideological totalitarianism. This approach has been cultivated especially in the EAST, where it resulted in mysticism, religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism which emphasize the Oneness of all things, holistic medicine, yoga, and communist or socialist regimes.

In the age of globalization these two approaches interact and mix (which is unfortunately sometimes accompanied by fear and violence). And so in the West we can see the influence of Eastern religions (the New Age movement), growing socialist agenda, and growing liberalism that attempts to harmonize or ignore differences for the sake of unity and solidarity ("political correctness"). And in the East we can see the spread of technology, market economy and democracy. The two "brain hemispheres" of mankind are interacting like never before, and thinking becomes augmented and better integrated on the individual level too.

The key is the right balance between the logical/analytic perspective and the intuitive/holistic perspective. It means seeing both the detail and the whole, the individual and the collective, the microcosm in a macrovision. Such balance results in harmonious activity, while imbalance results in disharmonious activity (when analysis dominates) or in passivity (when holism dominates).

And finally, this balance may be critical for dealing successfully with the prophesied "outpouring of God's spirit", the coming of Christ, the Planetary Awakening. Why? Because if God's perspective encompasses the whole universe, we may experience His coming, the eschatological cataclysm, as A SUDDEN EXPANSION OF OUR AWARENESS, acquiring visionary/prophetic abilities. This seems similar to Carl Jung's process of "individuation", during which an individual reaches psychological maturity by integrating "the unconscious" into his/her conscious awareness. However, the individuation has its pitfalls; when the person is swamped by the unconscious material and fails to integrate it, the result can be neurosis or psychosis (see here). And as I see it, individuation could be a process during which a person receives information intuitively, via right brain, and makes sense of it by processing it in the analytical/logical left brain, so the two brain hemispheres must work in tandem for a successful individuation. Even if the unconscious material doesn't enter only through the right brain, the combination of the left brain perspective of details and the right brain perspective of a wider context may be necessary for processing this material. The integration of left brain and right brain thinking during globalization seems to make an appropriate setting for a successful absorption of a flood of unconscious material (the eschatological event).

The process of individuation also seems similar to the kundalini phenomenon (actually, Jung himself drew parallels between the two). Websites have cropped up that write about the kundalini syndrome - psychological and physiological symptoms and complications of kundalini awakening, which is said to happen even spontaneously in some cases (see for example here, here and here).

The bible says the following about the "end times":

"And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days." (Joel 2:28-29)

"[Jesus said:] I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth." (John 16:12-13)

Christ's arrival would be the arrival of the Macrovision, like a lightning from the east (=perspective of the Whole) to the west (=limited perspective of the details in our everyday lives):

"For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man (=Christ)." (Matthew 24:27)

And this Macrovision will need to be integrated into our everyday microcosm, in a harmonious, constructive way. That's why the balance between the analytic left brain and the holistic right brain may be necessary. Christ's coming will be like the flood in the days of Noah, and the ark will be like a catamaran with the left and right brain hemispheres as its hulls.

"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." (Matthew 24:37-39)

Those who deal with this successfully will experience heaven on earth. But many may also experience mental and nervous problems, possibly coupled with extraordinary abilities, and among them could be whom the bible calls "false Christs" and "false prophets".

"For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again." (Matthew 24:21)

"For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible." (Matthew 24:24)

A possible biblical indication that we may be deceived when we lean too much either to the left brain logic or to the right brain intuition appears in this passage:

"So if anyone tells you, 'There he (Christ) is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it." (Matthew 24:26)

The outward perspective is oriented to the material world; it uses analysis and logic; it drives Western materialism. On the other hand, with the inward perspective one withdraws from the world, seeking unity with God; it's a yearning for holism and it uses intuition; it drives Eastern mysticism.

Confused prophets will try to steer people into materialism or away from the material world, but not into a harmonious balance. They will stroke your ego or will encourage you to throw away your ego.

And again, that biblical passage is followed by: "For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." Salvation requires both the inward AND outward perspective.

The idea of a Savior and of a collective spiritual transformation exists in other religions too (see here), and many contemporary New Age channelings claim that this event (often referred to as ascension or awakening) is impending or under way (see for example here or here).

And finally, it seems that urgent indications of the eschatological event can also be found in pop music:


Natalie Imbruglia: That Day
Moby: Lift Me Up
The Chemical Brothers: Galvanize
Depeche Mode: Enjoy the Silence



Pink Floyd's The Division Bell front cover

 

Hare Krishna!

Dear litewave,

Welcome to the forums !

Wonderful thread and its logic is worth ruminating over, thank you.

However, Jesus came to us so many times in so many different human forms since time immemorial. Let us pray that He comes again now, let us be the blessed ones to see and hear Him to make our lives meaningful and significant.

Love,

Kumar.

 

I like this idea, it makes sense to me. It seems to say something new about what it means to become "fully human" in terms of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and what it means to become "awakened" according to the Hindu-Buddhist tradition.

I think it is a good idea to play with, for a while, just to see what it yields.

Peace and Love

 

isn't a baby fully human ? what a child is taught must be the trouble . why would anyone teach a child to be less than human ? because it's been going on for so long that parents don't know any better and even believe it is desirable and necessary to the whole . sub-human slaves = power . elements of human nature have been subverted , and especially so with the rise of urban society .


the prophets say it's a transitory condition . in that coming future so bright there'll be no slaves , nor war . we'll have a kinder , collective understanding of power .

 

kipling, if you will recall, was a product of westerns perception who as an adult encoutered an eastern spirituality that had been arround since long before the comming of his christ. what he witnessed and tried to lend a little more fairness to then was prevalent in his times, was none the less filtered through his 'western' perceptions of it.

=^^=
.../\...

 

oh , i feel more north and south . has that philosophical orientation been dismissed as bi-polar ?

 

Like the Buddha's Middle Way: walk the razor path between left and right. A narrow road, but once on it, the world opens wide.

Though the idea of strict left/right brainism is not accurate, as a metaphor/way of speaking about the two different modes, I agree with what you've said.

But do you really think enlightenment is something that happens TO us? Or is it something we work towards or somehow cultivate? That's what leads me to doubt this 2012 thing, or any apocalypse. Does spiritual awakening come from within, or without? How can it happen en masse, all at once?

 

I think we must do spiritual work in order to reach enlightenment. But then again, external influences can make it easier or harder for us. Did you know that electric or magnetic stimulation of the brain can induce altered states of consciousness, mystical or religious experiences?

I suppose that the prophesied eschatological event will involve stimulation of our brains which will trigger the overflow of unconscious material into the conscious awareness (Jungian individuation or Kundalini arousal). In the bible it's referred to as outpouring of God's spirit or the Second Coming of Christ. I imagine it as an opportunity to make a big leap forward. One article describes it as follows:

Also, in the song Galvanize by The Chemical Brothers it is sung repeatedly: "World, the time has come to push the button... My finger is on the button... The time has come to galvanize." The word "galvanize" implies stimulation. The song Galvanize comes from their latest album, Push the Button, which has this front cover:



(Kundalini rising to the head?)

 

the unknowable is a wonderful straingeness that fallable mortals have arrogantly presumed to name and attempt to impose their fantastic descirptions, which continue to begin and end in their own, circular, unrelated to anything outside of themselves, speculation, upon it.

from time to time, the unknowable attempts to remind us of this, by elevating certain receptive awairnessess, the christ of christianity, no more nor less then one among them, to deliver this simple clear message.

all but invariably they are mistaken, either for gods or mad men, of which they are neither.

=^^=
.../\...

 

the unknown and the unknowable make a wholistic set . the unknown can be reasoned 'conditionally of this set' though that judgement has no certainty . some unexpected unknown could thwart a discovery . not knowning is an absolute until otherwise .


neither is the unknowable certifiable , since no one has yet thunked to look for it .

i don't like the concept of 'if' . the one time i got around to editing my whole language and deleted it . direct relationships suffice for all directions , all four . this is how i think in the north . i got a feeling the south will agree .