h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I see in the world that life is full of 'creative crusts' or protective containers. The planet has an atmosphere or life couldn't exist and we see it in eggs, seeds, pupa+, mollusc shells, cysts, crustaceans, arachnids, insects, cells with their semi-permeable membranes (countries and their borders), skin, skulls, wombs, factories & assembly lines, cars, planes, ships, submarines, houses, (caves & mud huts in the past, where tool making could be carried out in peace), fridges and freezers, showers and baths, walled gardens, plant pots, tins, bottles, jars and other preservative containers, cardboard cartons, cupboards, drawers, shoes, socks, hats, clothing in general as a protective layer. I see these patterns as necessary for all life to have a stable base, free of outside disturbance, in which to develop - whether it is nature or human imitation, building bodies or artifacts. Is this a new idea or one already noted?



+ If you view society as a chrysalis, then re-organization of it can be seen in the same way, politically, socially etc.

This is a really interesting idea which has been expounded in various forms, for example:
https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/03/02/amelie-rorty-the-identities-of-persons/
At its core, it comes back to that Cartesian dualist problem of balancing the connection between individualism and belonging.

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Yes, the solution to Cartesian dualism is, almost certainly, alcohol...

I'll drink to that

Individualism or belonging? It could also be argued that it's about protecting your own existence or values, versus promoting your own existence or values (buy my wares or be aware of my possessions - Get off my property! Buy my house? Mate with me! Stop shooting at me, I don't want to be your lunch)

Not individualism OR belonging; both are necessary components of individual identity of which, I think, all these things you mention are manifestations. To be an individual, which is the basis of our reality, is necessarily to differentiate yourself from everything else and also to recognise that you cannot exist without being a product of that reality. All those other things follow from that.

Yes I am a bit of a dualist in that I find contrasting pairs of opposites, through comparison, help define and make sense of the world. In Eastern philosophy you have a calm, meditative state of withdrawal from the world of action, into one of observation. In this position of passive acceptance of your fate (All things must pass), you become tolerant and patient. Desire or wanting things to be different, is what leads to action or rebellion (no-ing as opposed to knowing). It is fighting the current order, be it your own government or the world. It can be fighting your family or even yourself, if you feel stuck in a rut. All in all it's movement away from one thing and towards another, where stability is sticking with what is. This is head versus heart and exploring things in detail (science / intellect) or the breakdown of order into simplicity (sport / art / emotion).

Chris, we take things apart to understand them and put them back together to make them work

Ultimately, dualism means that we can take physical things to pieces and put them back together but mind-constructed reality has to be grasped holistically.