Often, the “truths” and “norms” which pervade our world are developed from subjective points of view. There are subjective, objective and absolute truths. Like the map of our world. Have you ever seen the world flipped South-Up?  Click on the image for a better view.

Not only are many “truths” subjective, the subjectivity is often the perspective of a dominant class.

The notion that North should always be up and East at the right was established by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy. This could be his subjective truth because the better-known places in his world were in the Northern hemisphere. Also, on a flat map this placement was more convenient for study (upper right corner).

But before his ideas were put on the map, East was at the top of the map. Think about it. To orient oneself. To find one’s way.  Orient actually means to turn towards or facing the East.

Up is a metaphor for North.

A traditional map distorts the sizes of land masses in the South.  Africa is actually 14x larger than Greenland, but you can’t tell that by looking at the maps.  So let’s say size matters to people. What you are seeing on our maps reflects an imperialistic attitude.

What little bit of this stuff we touched on in my International Political Economy class was also echoed in a West Wing episode, with the fictional group “Cartographers for Social Equality.”

And really, if you have another 3:49 to spare, spend it watching that video clip.

The point here isn’t simply that our traditional maps don’t represent an accurate land mass or that they are bias to a Western perspective. The point is that how many other ways do we need to stretch our mind? How many other “truths,” “norms,” and “myths” have we accepted as part of our culture–but whose origins have subjective beginnings. How many of those actually perpetuate a status quo to the advantage of a dominant class?

For instance, addiction and mental health. Addicts are perceived as weak individuals if they relapse. Neuro-science actually demonstrates that drugs stimulate the brain-reward circuit, which lies in the primitive brain. Being human means evolution granted us (most of us) a neocortex. What makes it so hard for addicts to quit, or even an obese person who wants to loose weight, is that our primitive brain, highly programmable, is engaged in a constant struggle with our intellectual knowledge (neo-cortex).

An addict actually has to re-program or de-program their primitive brain by integrating a new type of reward.

I started thinking about this tonight, because that South-Up image is on my calendar for November. As the map says;  “True ”up” from our standpoint on the earth, is away from the center, and the earth in space has no inherent up or down.

There are numerous examples of subjective truths which pervade our society and I would love if you leave your opinions!