David Peat

FiveTHE END OF REPRESENTATIONThe previous chapter ended withsome reflections on language and worldview. We will continue this generalexploration by looking at the various ways we represent the worldin everything from art and science to the way we speak. In fact, the waywe picture the world within the mind deeply influences what we actuallysee and, in turn, how we think about ourselves and structure society.And by “seeing” I mean both vision through the eyes and visionwithin the mind, as in “picturing” the world mentally.At first sight it seems rather extravagant to claim that the way wesee the world influences what we think about ourselves. How can thatbe true? To understand this argument, let us begin with the Copernicanrevolution, which radically changed our sense of our position inthe universe. Before Copernicus we located the earth firmly in the centerof things. For more than 2,000 years human beings had picturedthemselves as being contained, like a mandala, within a series of protectingspheres, planetary and divine.90