Ego . & . Relativity

The links in the table on the left take you to sub-headings in this article.

Western thinkers have not clearly dis-entangled the boundaries between the three concepts of subjectivity, objectivity, and relativity.

To understand the central importance of relativity to human values we have to understand the ground of relativity itself. Consider the ego. The ego splits life up into a subject and one or more objects. The ego is the subject and everything else is object to it. How does this split or dichotomy arise? . The subject-object dichotomy is related to relativity. In a static world, subject and object can blend together into a unity – this is the psychological process of absorption (or identification). [¹]. But the process of change destabilises unity.

Classic states of absorption occur during meditation and mysticism. However, even during meditation the meditator cannot remain indefinitely in his state of trance, of absorption, of unity with the object of his meditation ; nor can the mystic remain absorbed in his divine ecstasy. Neither the meditator nor the mystic can halt the process of change. Therefore it is the process of change that creates the subject-object dichotomy.

If we look at a clear blue sky, with no clouds in it, initially it all looks one colour. On closer inspection we can see that the blue of the horizon is a deeper shade than that of the zenith ; that is, on closer inspection we can relativise the colour of the sky into shades. Relativising sensory stimuli into different shades and colours is the first act in trying to make sense of perception: from shades and colours we can identify shapes.

Consider the infant of a few days or weeks of age. It has no consciousness, no ego ; it functions on levels of mind below normal consciousness. It exists only as a mixture of a subconscious mind and an unconscious mind. At first the infant sees merely a constant interplay of colours. Gradually it learns to relativise these colours into certain recurrent shapes, shapes that one day it will recognise as being the teddy bear, the rattle, the face of the mother, etc. It learns to discriminate by relativising its sensory stimuli into patterns. This process of discrimination leads to the construction of the ego, the ego being the subject of the subject-object dichotomy. Therefore the ego is constructed by this relativising process.

The infant stabilises recurrent stimuli into shapes because they are associated with feelings and emotions in him. He learns to value patterns that are associated with happiness and to avoid those associated with pain. The introjected emotions from the mother help to produce value judgements in the infant, enabling him to consolidate the sensory stimuli into the patterns of her face and body. [²]. His interpretations of his relationship to the mother create fixed beliefs and underpin the emerging ego. These beliefs and value judgements are relative ones. Hence the world of the infant is a relative world. [³]

The ego stabilises its world into subject and object by the production of fixed beliefs and values ; this creates Being. Relativity is the ground of all Being.

Therefore the ego is a relative construction.

A relative arrangement has existence but not essence. The ego is a relative entity. Therefore it has existence but no essence. However, each ego is unique, since it is the product of countless incarnations with countless psychological and social factors operating on it. This means that each subject-object dichotomy is also unique. And the way that each ego directs its consciousness onto the external world is unique too. Hence each ego creates its own perspective on life.

[ Many theories of human nature presume that each person has an essence. There is some confusion here. The idea that each person has a unique essence really denotes that the person has a soul. The soul can be considered to be essence, but not the ego].

I Summarise these ideas.

It is the process of change that creates the subject-object dichotomy, and this change is always relative.

The relativity of the ego is the ground of the relativity of all values and all beliefs.

A person is a relative being. As such he has existence but no essence. For a relative being there is only change.

Perception

Now I turn to the nature of a relative concept. I consider the process of perception. Perception is the central feature of consciousness, since the individual engages in it in all states of consciousness (that is, waking consciousness, dream sleep, and trance) except dreamless sleep. Whatever relativity means within the process of perception will, in my view, apply to everything else within consciousness.

To understand relativity we have to consider the influence on it of both subjectivity and objectivity.

I look at a tree in the distance. It will appear small to me. The size is in the mind of the observer and so is subjective. Subjectivity means that something is only in the mind of the thinker or observer. The size is also relative, since the nearer that I approach the tree, the larger it will appear to be. Therefore, size is a relationship between the object and the observer. Relativity determines the format within which subjectivity operates (by this statement I mean that the way the subjective image appears in the person's mind depends on the relative relationship between the person and the object).

The relativity of the size of the tree also depends on the size of the eye of the observer (a tree will appear larger to an insect than to a human). Hence the physical eye is an objective factor of perception, and so is a factor of relativity.

In this illustration, relativity, subjectivity and objectivity are associated together.

As I walk towards the tree the size will get larger. This size is due to the size of the angle that the rays of light make to the eye of the observer. If two people walk together towards the tree, both will see the change in size. As they walk together the rate of change of the size will be equal for both of them, since the change in the angle of the light rays will be the same for both. Hence the rate of change is an objective factor to perception.

This simple illustration shows that in the process of perception, subjectivity and objectivity and relativity are all linked together.

I simplify this illustration. Consider again the person who is looking at the tree. The image on the retina of the eye produces the subjective image in the mind. However, the size of the retinal image depends upon the optical angle subtended at the eye by the tree. This angle will be the same for all observers at the same position of observation. Hence the optical angle of the object is an objective component of perception, while the mental image is a subjective component. Both the subjectivity and the objectivity function within the overall framework of relativity.

What this illustration means is that in perception, which is a relative process, a subjective effect always goes hand-in-hand with an objective effect. This result is the general meaning of relativity.

In any relative relationship,
a subjective effect is always tied to an objective effect.

The importance of this conception of relativity is immense. Perception is a relative process. All life depends upon perception ; there is no way that anyone can escape it. Perception usually entails interpretations of what we see. So perception is usually tied to our beliefs and values. We do not usually perceive the world in a neutral frame of mind, apart from the background (unless we are practising the Buddhist technique of mindfulness). We only notice what interests us. We only notice what has value for us. Perception is a value-laden process and begins from birth. The new-born baby engages in relativity the moment that it opens its eyes, and never ceases from this process during life.

All values are based on perception, and all values are thereby relative. This means that all values have both a subjective component and an objective component.

There are no such things as purely subjective values nor such things as purely objective values.

[ We may perhaps be able to have purely subjective ideas, though I doubt it, but all values are relative].

The next article, on Semiology, looks at the links between language, signs,
emotions and desires.

The number in brackets at the end of each reference takes you back to the paragraph that featured it. The addresses of my websites are on the References & Links page.

[¹]. See the article Identification & Absorption on my websites The Subconscious Mind and Discover Your Mind. [1]

[²]. To understand the idea of introjection in more detail, see the article Projection & Introjection on my websites The Strange World of Emotion and Discover Your Mind. [2]

[³]. The process of ego creation is described in detail in the article Creating the Ego on my website Discover Your Mind. [3]

Copyright © 2002 Ian Heath
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Ian Heath
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www.relative-mindmatter.co.uk

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