In a message dated 11/20/99 3:25:57 PM,
> Is something real as a result of culture?
If one reads about the great gurus' from India many of them talk about
reality as a dream. In my simplistic summary, they describe how this world
is not real, but only a learning place, where we seek to become restored
with God, a Higher Entity or whatever label we would like to place on it.
If one were a physicist, and I believe some of you are, physical reality
gets described as open space. Our eyes are simply unable to perceive the
space....I am never certain though how the force field holding (the
sub-atomic particles, the atoms, the molecules, the cells, etc.) it all
together play out in the open space logic.
>real as a result of culture...
Whose real do we mean? Does culture simply rise out of a comingling of
the different realities or vice-a-versa? I just finished reading a book
by Andrea Barrett, "The Voyage of the Narwhal." It describes a fictional
exploration trip to the northern seas in search of adventure, fame,
discovery.... The story takes place in the mid 1800's. The setting
describes the theory of the day that different races are different
spiecies, with some debate taking place between the characters on the
subject.
However, they had a view of "real." A view, a culture, a belief does not
make it so. The thought that humans might come from non-human spieces
would have been abhorrent at the time (I suppose this is still true to
some people today). Our culture does not have a bearing on what is
real....culture only impacts (defines) what we believe to be real.
Few people can rise above their cultural boundaries and see things
differently. We can be thankful for those who do because they allow the
rest of us to redefine "reality" hopefully a little more holistically.
It will be interesting to see Part II and other discussion on the subject.
Regards to all,
Michael Bremer
Flow-Works, Inc.
PS I am off to Rome for a week with my wife the week of December 4. Don't
know if anyone is in the area, but it could be fun to chat face-to-face.
--Michael Bremer <cgcmike@aol.com>
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