Above we see these opposites connected by the word ‘and.’ This of course would be a perception of these things stemming from the female/mental perception that likes to see things connected or joined together to make a relative whole. Alternatively, from the male/material, perception these opposites would usually be connected by the word ‘or.’ For example: ‘yes’ or ‘no’ – ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ – ‘day’ or ‘night’ – ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ – ‘black’ or ‘white’ – ‘pleasure’ or ‘pain’ – ‘male’ or ‘female’ – ‘strong’ or ‘weak’ . . . ‘me or him’ . . . ‘man’ or ‘mouse’ etc.
From the male’s domain, things are generally seen as either being one thing or another. This makes for competitiveness as in one thing taking the ascendancy and authority over another – i.e., usually those things that are male related or masculine in preference or nature. We shall come back to this emphasis on the male and female opposites and all our relative perceptions of them many times throughout this work.
The success of Descartes’ philosophy was a ‘certainty’ that couldn’t fail, because we each have a ‘natural’ tendency to perceive all things as having an opposite polarity anyway. All contradiction, argument, conflict and hypocrisy is based on our dual perception related to our likes and dislikes – and in effect, all the resulting dichotomies and permutations relating to our ‘and’-‘or’ emphasis regarding our many expressions of them and references to them.
It may seem to many of our contemporary scholars, that Descartes unwittingly exploited this obvious and natural perception of ours by developing a philosophy around it. Developed it he did, but the subsequent establishment of Cartesianism as a workable doctrine was orchestrated by those who had ulterior motives. The authority of Descartes’ genius, which remained unchallenged and so therefore unquestionably accepted, guaranteed the success of Dualism, and so dualistic thought became part of the system.
Dualism was used to ‘officially’ divide mind from matter while at the same time extra emphasis was given to the world of matter – mainly because we don’t really have a comprehensive understanding in regard to the unpredictable realm of the mind.