What a pity that our phantom can't be here!

[master_jesus]

Last saturday I sat down at about 4pm and started reading "1984," which I had not read before. I read pretty much straight through till about 1am when I finally got to the last four words of the book. Which I havn't read yet. Just kidding. I really enjoyed it. I've read books before that I "couldn't put down" but this one was like some sort of

Comments

tracy

[anonymous]

You know a friend of mine Elihu, is an Ortho Jew studying to be a rabbi gave me this quote from Thomas Merton saying, "Our idea of G-d tells us more about ourselves then him." I think that saying can go for each of our perceptions of reality. Like for example, Paul doesn't question reality, really and he believes that there is no way someone can prove that there is or isn't a G-d or that reality is a deception. But that is very Paul he is very nuetral and a bit of pragmatist so it doesn't shock me that that is his stance on it. Basically what I am trying to ask is if you feel your skeptism constricts your perception or is allowing you to explore more than say a person of faith? Like I believe and G-d but in the religion I chose to affiliate myself with we are encourage to argue the Torah, the Talmud and any human ideal of G-d because we believe that you can only put faith in G-d, not a human's word. So I feel like although I have faith I am not naive because I am allowed to question and often forced to by Rabbi Soifer. Do you feel that your skeptism limits you or frees you? I feel like sensation, pleasure, pain is very psychological and mostly exist in our minds, but I do not feel like my idea of reality is so much a deception as I feel that this is what my mind sees as the world. So another question I have is do you feel you skeptism is a deception of reality and something has convinced you to be that way or that you did it to yourself? Like G-d and free will? For example I believe G-d designed everything good and bad to be just the way it is for better or for worst. So is skeptism this disbelief of that for you or rather similar, like not G-d but something else with a design of how things are? Sorry, I love to hear other people deep thoughts, thus why I love reading your blog so much. I think it is important to gather knowledge on each person's belief structure. I just can relate, I took a whole scheldule of philosophy this semester and know I feel like a know nothing. But here is another quote I like from Chuang-Tzu, "Once upon a time, I, Chuang-tzu, dreamt I was a butterfly, flittering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly...suddenly I awoke... Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man." You probably know that one.

Re: tracy

[master_jesus]

I didn't know that quote from Chaung-Tzu, but it is a good one.

As for it being freeing to be a skeptic, at this point, no, I don't think it is. I was thinking of Platos alagory of the cave, with all the people starring at the shadows and the philosophers the only ones that could go outside and look at the actually forms. In that situation, I still feel like I am in the cave, I have simply stopped believing, however, that the shadows are the true forms. But I can't go outside the cave anymore than the people around me, and I can't prove that the shadows aren't real.

But even though I don't believe that reality is the way we see it, I have to have some sort of concept of how to deal with that reality. There are Common Sense philosophers, like G.E. Moore, who would raise his hand and say "I know I have a hand." Although I disagree that he could really know that he has a hand, for he could only believe he has a hand, a body, etc, when in reality he may not. But I would take myself to know that I have a hand, at least in this construct of reality. I am using my hand to type right now, how could I not know I have it? I may think I am not looking at the true forms of things, but I can accept that certain things are constant and I know what will happen within my construct of reality. I have to be able to deal with this world even if I don't completely accept it.

Of course this would completely rule out any form of religion for me, because if I can't take it to be true that I even have a hand (meaning, I believe I have a hand, but I do not know if that is a justified true belief. I can believe something that is not true, but I can't know someting that is not true and if I can't know that it is true I can't know anything) then it would be impossible for me to say that I know there is a god, or that I know there is not a god. If I chose, I can believe in a god, but I wouldn't have any faith that my belief was right, and since religion is based on faith, then it wouldn't work out for me.

Another reason that skepticism isn't freeing is because here I am, looking at the shadows and asking people "do you really think these shadows are real?" and they might say "yes, of course they are real, that is as real as anything gets." And I would say "I don't think thats true." and they would say "why not?" and I would say "it doesnt seem right." and they would just shrug and walk away. To most people there is no reason to question reality, and I don't blame such people, like if Paul doesn't question reality I dont think of him as a sheep being lead along and just accepting the world as it is presented, because the catch-22 of skepticism is that a skeptic can't know that other people aren't right anymore than they can know they are right.

Going back to that quote from Chuang-Tzu, I have often wondered about dreams. In fact, I think I could say that it is my dreams that make me realize how skeptical I really am. I had a dream once that I was running through an airport trying to catch a plane and I stopped and asked myself, still in the dream, if it was a dream. I looked around, grabbed one of my legs to see if it was really there, everything operated as if i were awake, everything looked real, I took a deep breath and continued running for the plane and then promptly woke up. A reality was suddenly shattered for me, something I was sure was real was nothing more than a figment of my unconcious imagination. And now I can't help but going through my day without worrying that at any point I am going to wake up into a completely different reality.

So, there is a breif overview of my philosophical leanings at the moment. I'm happy to talk more about them, but I don't want to just ramble on forever, so I will say goodbye now.

Re: tracy

[anonymous]

Yeah, see I don't think Paul is wrong or naive(nor does he think I am naive he is very engaged and interested in it but I tend to not like to talk about it), I think that is his perception and how the world is for him, but I contradict own beliefs by saying that. Because I believe in G-d saying that in Paul's perception there is no G-d then I am sort of saying there is no G-d. So I think either way there is a catch-22 to both faith and skeptism at times. But then again I know the most devote people that believe with all their heart that there is a "god" or "gods" and I admire that and slightly envy that. I believe in G-d but I don't know anything about the world or reality or the afterlife because my faith tells me that there is no way a human can know those things and I believe that is correct. But most people aren't constricted by their faith, they feel secure in it so that has to mean something I think. But I believe I have found freedom in faith and I believe that you can find freedom in other places as well. Are you seeking freedom or enlightenment? Like I feel I am looking not necessarly for answers but for "knowledge". I am not living my life being a faithful believer in G-d because I fear the consequences of not doing so or the rewards of doing so but because I desire to know G-d. I don't really seek freedom because I don't feel constricted or imprisoned. This is not some ad for my religion, but this is just how it is for me. I don't believe that our senses are completely honest with us, but that is my reality. Like I believe people can change and I am incredibly forgiving and hopeful. So just like Paul's idea of reality is very Paul mine is very Tracy. I really like the quote from Thomas Merton because it has shown me how much of myself I put into my faith. You can't have a un-bias opinion of your own perception I think. Like Rabbi Soifer says when I go to get a new book(I have to write arguments for her of things I find that contradict themselves or that confuse me in Jewish books, the Torah, Talmud and anything about the Jewish faith/rituals. She won't have answer to my questions nor can she ever because humans even Rabbis don't have the answers, only G-d but she gives me her ideas which ideas we are allowed to have and we argue and that's it. it's how it works!), "You can read until you are blue in the face, you still probably won't know anything. REAL knowledge isn't something you find in books. There is so much doing and living involved with knowing." She makes me challenge everything because our faith tells us that knowledge on earth and the written word is the word of a human. The Torah was originally the word of G-d but men held the pens to the bible and who knows what was changed? We can only have an idea, the rest we aren't suppose to know. Like we do not believe G-d has a name so refuse to refer to him as "god", we believe he is beyound human things like a name or sex. We say he just because it's an easy pronoun. But G-d has no sex. So that is where I am comin' from. Have you read any Phillip K. Dick or any thing like that? Feel free to browse our library anytime. I have tons of philosophy books. I want to check out The Physics of Consciousness, it sounds like something you would be into too.