I ran across this in Albert Pike's "Morals and Dogmas". Mr. Pike writes: "To illuminate the sphere on one side, is to project a cone of darkness on the other; and Error also is the shadow of Truth with which God illuminates the Soul". (pg 845, Chapter 32.

There is a parallel of this in Isaiah 45.7 "I am he that prepared light, and formed darkness; who make peace, and create evil;..."

This is very true what Pike said, "Illuminate a sphere on one side and a cone of darkness is projected on the other side". This is so very true. There is opposite reactions--not equal but opposite nonetheless.

What is the technical term, philosophical term for this paradigm? I am having difficulty naming this. I know this is about Greek interpretation but I believe this is a part of Greek philosophy or at the least Pythogorean. This is part of the Natural Law and would in hence be part of the logos. What is this called? Is there a Greek name for this phenomena?

Don't let metaphors drag you. The way you understand Pike's metaphor and consequently Isaiah, would mean that good and evil are the same. They are not. Not for the ancient Greeks, neither in Christianity.

In NO way do I think they are the same! Good and evil are NOT the same. But it is true, I stand in the sun. The sun illuminates my body, but when I look behind me, I see a shadow.

This is a mystery. But there has got to be a name for this paradigm, Yeah?

I began this thread with Pike's philosophical principle but this principle reappears also in human psychology. Here is another aspect of this paradigm:

Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other." Matthew 6:19-21,24


Love and loyalty have "one object" as their focus. As one loves one object--its competitor has to recieve the opposite effect of animosity. Love and Hate go together. To love something also means that I hate something else. One can't love two women simultaneously, (not normally). One's affection must be presented to one person while another gets no affection. St. Paul alludes to this in the married man and the celibate; the married man is concerned with pleasing his wife and the celibate is concerned with pleasing God. While a man is pleasing his wife, leads him to not give fully to pleasing God.

The name for this is not "harmony" is it? Harmony or the Golden Mean mean something else, similar but not the same.

This paradigm of illumination/cone of darkness thing is a two part thing. And this two parts are not equal but one cause automatically creates an effect.

I am wondering if ratios are the same way/thing. Pythagoras studied ratios. They come in 2:4, 1:4, 2:3, so on and so forth. There is the Divine Proportion 1.6. Many things in nature are that way. Our arms and legs are in a proportion of 1.6. We have a forearm and the bicep. The forearm being longer than the bicep. With the leg, the calf is longer than the thigh. A ratio has a connection between its two parts. Is there a correlation between ratios and this paradigm of illumination/cone of darkness; the same type of system or just a coincidence?