We all know about the law of polarity. Each thing is understood only in relation to its opposite: black in relation to white, tall in relation to short, good in relation to evil.
Remember the Genesis story of the Garden of Eden?
God told Adam and Eve they could eat anything in the garden, except the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. When they disobeyed God, they suddenly realized they were naked and they suddenly became ashamed. Absolutely nothing changed about Adam and Eve except the way they perceived themselves and their environment. Before, they had been one with God. Now they were separate and apart from God. If they hadn’t eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, the concepts ‘naked’ and ‘ashamed’ would have meant nothing. Because they ate of the Tree of Knowledge, these concepts suddenly became divisive.
What does this story mean in relation to language?
Doesn’t language separate and divide? Can the concept ‘naked’ have any meaning except in relation to the concept ‘clothed’? Can the concept ‘ashamed’ have any meaning except in relation to the concept ‘unashamed’? If it weren’t for language, wouldn’t we simply be experiencing sensations and feelings? Before Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, weren’t they simply experiencing sensations and feelings?
Do we really have knowledge, or don’t we? For example, we know the earth is round, we know the sky is blue, we know the icing on the cake is chocolate.
But how do we know these things? Don’t we know them because we’ve been taught by other fallible, creative human beings, by others who’ve arbitrarily split up the substance of experience into this part and that part, this word and that word?
If I were to ask you to describe the color black, without reference to anything else, how would you describe it? As a void? As an absence of light? What do these phrases mean?
Difficult, isn’t it?
But if you were allowed to describe ‘black’ by pointing to a black umbrella, a black flashlight, a black shirt, pretty soon I’d get the idea of what ‘black’ meant. Maybe you’d turn out all the lights in a dark room at night. This is a different idea of ‘black’. Which is the real meaning of ‘black’? Aren’t all these concepts created? Aren’t they all taught?
Remember the story of the Tower of Babel?
The Babylonians decided to build a tower to reach God. When God learned about it, He confounded their speech so they couldn’t understand one another and scattered them throughout the earth.
What if all linguistic opposites were created by the human mind?
What if these linguistic opposites could be transformed back into pure creative energy? Then words would become tools for approximate communication, not fixed truths. Then words would become catalysts to a larger Truth – a return to the Garden of Eden, a return to unity with God.
God is the Creator. Man is created in the image of his Maker. Is man also a creator – of words – of images – of environments – of hate – of love?
Think of the implications of this.
Every human on this planet has free choice. Is that a soothing or a frightening thought?
If I have free choice, that’s soothing. It’s also overwhelming. I’ve got a lot of responsibility.
If you have free choice, that’s scary. You might not do what I want you to do.
It’s also pretty humbling. I’d better treat you well, because I may need your help and cooperation.
