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Originally Posted by palimpsest  I see the spectrum as more of a triangle -- in one corner is dependency (similarity-focus, no individual empowered,) in the other corner independence (difference without fraternity) and in the other corner is interdependence (our individuality contributes something unique and necessary to the whole.) |
It's not really about dependency, though. As the word "interdependence" suggests, empowerment isn't about removing dependencies, but rather about creating choice through knowledge.
Knowledge can be thought of as the recognition of contrast. In similarity, you have homogeneity: all things are the same. Thus String Theory makes the case that all particles are resonating strings at different frequencies: protons are at frequency X and electrons are at frequency Y. Yet, therein lies information: the distinction between X and Y creates a contrast that allows you to distinguish the proton from the electron.
Thus, through contrast arises the gap between ignorance and knowledge, wherein the former territory is a place of no choice, because everything is the same, and the latter creates the possibility of change, and thus the concept of change for the better, because there
is a better.
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Originally Posted by palimpsest Just some random thing I've been percolating: I think it can be hard or easy to believe that life just ends, but just plain impossible to know... because once you're in a situation where you can know that life ends, you can't know 'cause you're dead. If you know that life doesn't end, then you haven't really died  |
Certainty may arise only from belief. Nothing else provides it. Science is good and fine, but in the presence of the possibility that the Flying Spaghetti Monster changes the results with His Noodly Appendage right then and there, you can only be certain if and only if you believe otherwise.