RE: A Beginners Guide to Consciousness
I agree with you in terms that yes, a principle of the universe is polarity and that to marginalise matter would be a mistake. The simple fact is that there are no opposites, only scales. Light and dark are the polars of the same scale, as is up and down, left and right, right and wrong etc. So this brings together all things.
I see your point that there is danger in prioritising one aspect over another but I'm unsure whether the ancients did. They, alot more than us, understood the importance of the balance between the material, mental and spiritual aspects of reality and this is reflected in hermetics, alchemy and other esoteric philosophies. Yes, modern religions are entirely the opposite unfortunately, but this is not an age of enlightenment.
if by 'the ancients' you mean the ancient Greek philosophers? they surely were very dualistic, and this rabidly misogynist and therefore ecocidal/matricidal..
By ancients, I mean pre-dynastic Egyptian, or Khemetian, as they referred to themselves. This is a philosophy unwritten in history and most of what we term as ancient philosophies (Greek, Eastern etc...) stem from it. It is hermetic philosophy.