Mr. E said:
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I'm reluctant to apply my ordinary notions of 'communication' blithely in this matter. If you are assuming that there is a non-material facet to the universe, I would like to hear more about your thinking.
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My reference to "communication" may be a bad term for what I intended. Perhaps "interacting" is better. What I'm getting at is the ability for one "thing" (thought, object, spirit, whatever) to influence another. Such interaction must have natural "laws" or rules enabling such interactions if they are to include any being, mind, or spirit. These rules would encompass both sides of any interaction (and both sides of any communication). Without rules of interaction, none could occur.
Atlas said:
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Perhaps this is why I cannot escape my own dualistic perspective.
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Bodhi Dharma Zen said:
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The mind is a powerful shield.
Okay, let's take a crack at putting monism and dualism together in a coherent framework.
Regarding “monism†and “dualism,†a variant may be supportable such that monists and dualists can be brought to common ground and agreement. This variant depends upon “Time†being multi-dimensional ...
All of our “time travel†books and movies (The Time Machine, Back to the Future, Somewhere in Time, etc.) have a common factor: regardless of traveling into the future or the past, the time traveler retains memories
in sequence. For instance, when Christopher Reeve’s character (Somewhere in Time) goes back to the early 20th century, the character retains memories of being an author from the late 1970s. Thus, his sequence of memories is: birth until 1979, cut to 1916 (roughly), sequence forward for a couple of days in 1916, cut back to 1979, and sequence forward again. He remembered that he, FIRST lived from the 1950s through the 1970s, SECOND lived in 1916 for a couple of days, and THIRD lived again in the 1970s. If his memories were trapped within 1979, then, as he went backwards, his memories would be erased in reverse sequence ... college, high school, grade school, toddler, babbling babe, etc. Without a separate “time track†for the mind and memories, by the time Reeve’s character reached 1916, his mind would be wiped clean leaving him virtually catatonic or infantile at best. (His body should likewise reverse and disappear by the time the early 1950s are reached.) But to retain memories in sequence across time, as it is for time travelers in other books and movies, this must require a separate “time track†or time dimension – at least for the mind. Referencing our three classical material dimensions, X, Y, and Z, the mind would need at least two similar dimensions for our favored concept of time travel to work. One axis (X) would be the material universe. Another axis (Y) would be perpendicular to it and represent the mind which would track upon it. Memories would continue to track forward on the Y (mind) axis regardless of jumping left or right on the X (material/historical) axis.
For an analogy, tornadoes offer a decent reference. Typically, in the northern hemisphere, tornadoes move northeastward. Why? It is the result of two motions: one north and one east. Weather systems usually track west to east (the X axis). Meanwhile, thunderstorms associated with a frontal system move parallel to the front and northward (the Y axis). Put both motions together, and a northeasterly track is created (X,Y). Tornadoes, being manifestations of thunderstorms, show the general track of their parent storms – north and east combined. Even so, the tornado track appears to be in a singular direction of its own accord.
If the mind follows the Y axis and material objects follow the X axis, the combined motion would present the "apparent" direction of time. This, too, would seem singular to us and appear traveling of its own accord.
As for a Z “time†axis? “Spirit,†perhaps? With each lifetime representing an XY plane, a spiritual entity could progress along a Z axis. Each lifetime would be another XY track. (With each new life and XY track being higher on the Z axis, the memories of earlier lives may become inaccessible.) Thus, “spirit†would spiral upwards on the Z axis while creating a stack of lives in XY planes – like a stack of dishes. (And just as dishes have material thickness, a life would have “thickness†on the Z axis.) Kharma/Dharma would become, primarily, part of the Z axis.
This XYZ structure would support an overall “monistic†view while appearing “dualistic.†IF monism and dualism can find common ground, it may be some variant of what I have just described. Multi-dimensional time, again, may hold the key.
