Elana J. answered • 07/11/19
Harvard/Emory University Educated PhD in Religious Studies
I guess this depends on the epistemological system in which you are operating. For instance, in various African epistemological systems, 1 + 1 can equal 3 or much more. The concept of 1 is itself limiting in an African philosophical systems for it assumes that beings and entities can be singular or, in other words, individual. As a common African proverb reiterates: I am because we are. For example, a mother is a being who is by definition not singular. She is a person who in her being is multiple (2+). Moreover, in a system in which reincarnation is possible, even seeming individuals are communal beings, thus if we count each person as themselves plus the ancestors they have incarnated then each person is at least 2. In this equation, 1 (2) + 1 (2) = 4. Then, if these two people are producing another being, such as via procreation, then 1 (2) + 1 (2) = 6 (2 + 2 +2) because the child is also a reincarnation of a person who came before.
