De Novo

The two hemispheres of the human brain

The alchemical androgyne, from the Rosarium Philosophorum (1550); note the sun and moon symbols.  The central task of alchemy is solve et coagula, “distill and combine”, meaning that sulfur and quicksilver (solar/masculine and lunar/feminine) elements are to be distilled to purity, then recombined to create alchemical “gold”.

Ardhanarishvara, or the viewing of the androgynous deity composed of Shiva and his consort Shakti/Parvati (commonly viewed as male and female halves of the same deity).  They are accompanied by a lion and a bull, which are symbols, respectively, of the solar and lunar; in contrast to the European conception, however, Shiva is seen as a “moon-man”, while Parvati is a “sun-woman”, thus emphasizing the divisions within divisions.

Since the eighteenth century, science has debated about the many inherent dualisms woven throughout the human brain and nervous system … These dualities are probably not a surprise to most people.  We need polarities in order to modulate our attention and behavior in response to environmental cues.  Sometimes we need excitation and sometimes rest, sometimes intellectual and sometimes emotional intelligence, sometimes solitude and sometimes community… The key to health seems to be fluidity…

…

The problems inherent in a polarized dualism must have been evident [by the 6th century BCE], as we find Heraclitus of Ephesus (ca. 540-480) warning of the dangers. The opposites, he said, cannot be divided - rather the universe is made up of the opposites in interplay.  Without dark we don’t understand light, without absence we cannot grasp presence, without evil we can’t understand good.  Herclitus made it his life’s message to show that “human desire inevitably is imprisoned within the structure of opposition.”  Ignorant people strive only for what they see as “good” without recognizing that good and evil are inseparable.  Lao Tzu, a contemporary of Heraclitus, likewise taught that dark and light, yin and yang, are intertwined, and the ego’s attempt to treat them separately, or favor one over the other, is the source of error and conflict.

– Dr. Stephen Larsen: The Fundamentalist Mind, pp. 31 & 97 (Quest: 2007)

This entry was posted on Monday, December 8th, 2008 at 8:25 pm and is filed under Anthropology, Hinduism, Alchemy, Heraclitus, Psychology, Stephen Larsen, Fundamentalism, Mythology, Mysticism, isomorphism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.