Random Musings #1
Well, I can't find anything snarky to say about the news, so I'll throw out some of my recorded wit and wisdom. Such as it is.
The world is. It is self existent, self evident. The world could be an illusion, false, but that would not matter; for we are a part of the world, therefore equally illusionary. The un-reality of our world would seem just as real to us as its reality. “I am not part of the world,” this is the first philosophical untruth. Strike the man, does he not fall down, prick him does he not bleed?
“I am part of the world, and yet am also not part,” the existence of the self, pure mind, the soul, the I, immortal consciousness, life energy, is a great mystery, a great story even; but without form and void, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing. It could be, it could not be, we have no evidence for existence or non-existence and to argue either way is pure folly. There is no way of knowing without evidence, no evidence without measurement, and no measurement without tools.
If souls are real, and we have them, great, and if they are false, mere superstition, then also great. Does the non existence of super-natural, meta-physical phenomenon somehow make us less than we are, how so? If it is true then it was always true, and our doubt only evidence of our reason. If it is false then it was always false, and our faith evidence of our imagination. And reason and imagination are nothing without each other, a world with one and not the other could not be as sweet.
language is not reality.
mathematics is not reality.
reality is reality.
reality is beautiful, and you get one lifetime to notice, then you die.
which is meet and right.
Language and mathematics are useful for describing reality but have none of their own. Saying 'water' does not quench your thirst, calculating the calories required to operate your organs does not feed you. Only food and water can do these things. Assigning labels to them is merely descriptive, not creative, and counting them in various amounts and units through a multitude of operations the same.
The world is. It is self existent, self evident. The world could be an illusion, false, but that would not matter; for we are a part of the world, therefore equally illusionary. The un-reality of our world would seem just as real to us as its reality. “I am not part of the world,” this is the first philosophical untruth. Strike the man, does he not fall down, prick him does he not bleed?
“I am part of the world, and yet am also not part,” the existence of the self, pure mind, the soul, the I, immortal consciousness, life energy, is a great mystery, a great story even; but without form and void, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing. It could be, it could not be, we have no evidence for existence or non-existence and to argue either way is pure folly. There is no way of knowing without evidence, no evidence without measurement, and no measurement without tools.
If souls are real, and we have them, great, and if they are false, mere superstition, then also great. Does the non existence of super-natural, meta-physical phenomenon somehow make us less than we are, how so? If it is true then it was always true, and our doubt only evidence of our reason. If it is false then it was always false, and our faith evidence of our imagination. And reason and imagination are nothing without each other, a world with one and not the other could not be as sweet.
language is not reality.
mathematics is not reality.
reality is reality.
reality is beautiful, and you get one lifetime to notice, then you die.
which is meet and right.
Language and mathematics are useful for describing reality but have none of their own. Saying 'water' does not quench your thirst, calculating the calories required to operate your organs does not feed you. Only food and water can do these things. Assigning labels to them is merely descriptive, not creative, and counting them in various amounts and units through a multitude of operations the same.