Perspective and Embracing Contradiction

I’m not sure how to put this into words, so please bear with me.

The Universe is riddled with contradiction. They are everywhere.

Here is an excellent example:

It is generally agreed the idea “Thou shall not kill” is a good moral statement we should all live by. However, when we have a bacterial infection and the doctor prescribes antibiotics, we gratefully take the medicine without any concern for the millions of bacteria we are killing. Now I’m not saying we should die to let the bacteria live (in fact when we die, any bacteria living off our bodies at that time will also die). I’m merely pointing out that if we include All Living Things within that good moral statement, it is impossible to comply.

It is one of the basic contradictions of the Universe.

How does one “resolve” these basic contradictions? The answer is: We don’t.

Such contradictions are everywhere.

Cause and Effect contains such a contradiction.

When we see two related or associated things separated by space, say two different sides of the same cardboard box, we do not say that one caused the other, we say they are two parts of the same thing. On the other hand, when we see two related or associated things separated by time, say the burning of a piece of paper, we do say that something caused something else.

It seems clear that the two sides of the one cardboard box are two aspects of the same thing. Why is this less true of the  burning paper and the subsequent ashes? Are they not different “sides” of the one “burning”?

It is a matter of perspective.

Back to “Thou shall not kill”. Thou shall not kill who? Perspective on this question matters greatly. If we could not kill, bacteria, we would have to let them kill us. If we could not kill fruits and vegetables, what would we eat? If we could not kill other animals, we could eat only vegetables and fruits (assuming that killing fruits and vegetables is OK).

So… Our perspective on “who is us” and “who is them” come into play with “Thou shall not kill”. On one extreme we have rules in Buddhist monastaries where no animals (even fleas and cockroaches) are killed within the walls of the monastery and on the other extreme we have the Third Reich where large groups of people were killed the way many of us kill fleas and cockroaches.

Did the burning of the paper cause the ashes or are the burning paper and the ashes different aspects of the same thing? The answer is both, because it depends on your perspective.

The Universe is expanding. Is the stuff in the Universe moving away from each other and thereby causing the spaces between the stuff to get larger and larger, or is the space expanding and thereby pushing the stuff in the space farther and farther apart. The answer is both, because it depends on your perspective.

Is evolution correct or is creationism correct? They’re both correct, because it depends on your perspective.

So… The next time you simply can not see eye to eye with someone else, ask yourself if it is possible for two different people to view the same event and have two completely different experiences of what happened? Is it possible for two opposing views or ideas to both be “right”? The answer is yes, because what something looks like to anyone depends on their perspective.

What is the best way to “resolve” the basic contradictions of the Universe? The best way to resolve them is not to bother trying. The best way to “resolve” them is to embrace them.

K

 

 

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