This was a great read. It’s crazy to think we have been provided with technology and other resources to bring us closer together but yet we are more separated than ever before.
Do you actually believe that personal perception is what reality is made of? Does anything exist outside your perception? This is a grave philosophical error - one of the Big Ones put forward in the 18th century. Ultimately it means that actual reality - that thing that actually exists and doesn't care about our perceptions - recedes from subjective perception, replaced with personal preference. Humans have one thing universally in common; our ability and eagerness to deceive ourselves. If reality is nothing more than what is perceived then we are all monads living in our own little solipsistic bubbleverses. It's the ideology of the sociopathic narcissist who says, "Well, in MY reality, I can do whatever I want." In short, it's how we got into this appalling mess.
Psychologists and saints alike have long maintained that the road to both sanity and sanctification is abandoning our dedication to our personal preferences and perceptions, and to confront the painful fact that reality is a thing that doesn't conform to us.
I've seen that a lot of younger people, especially those who have been sent through the mental woodchipper that is current academic philosophy departments, like to use the "reality is perception" line, and seem never to have encountered any idea opposed to it, as though it is as obvious as up is up and down is down. It makes me think they're being taught very badly, and glad I gave philosophy a pass in university in favour of languages.
I've been thinking about this since you shared your perspective. Here's my questions I'd be curious to hear your thoughts - If reality is not just what we perceive it to be, but rather something that exists independently of our minds, what exactly is that that just is and how can we be sure that our perceptions are accurate? And if our perceptions are fallible, how can we distinguish between what is real and what is merely a product of our own biases and limitations?
But this is the job of life, isn't it? It's the reason we have consciousness, to order ourselves to be in keeping with the Real, to learn to perceive correctly. It's difficult and can take a lifetime. But what else are we here for? If human life is to have meaning, how can it just be to make up whatever we happen to fancy at this moment or the next? Isn't that just the egoistic solipsism of an infant? We have become a culture of narcissists because of this philosophical error, and our societies are disintegrating because we are all taught to pursue only "my reality". What an empty and shallow existence we must have if we are only interested in ourselves.
This was a great read. It’s crazy to think we have been provided with technology and other resources to bring us closer together but yet we are more separated than ever before.
I think your graphic is outdated. I’m Gen-X and I’m 57. The dates are usually 1964-1984. I’m on the older end, b. ‘66.
Also, perception isn't reality. Reality is reality, and doesn't depend for its existence or nature on anyone's perception of it.
Hmm, can you expound on this?
Do you actually believe that personal perception is what reality is made of? Does anything exist outside your perception? This is a grave philosophical error - one of the Big Ones put forward in the 18th century. Ultimately it means that actual reality - that thing that actually exists and doesn't care about our perceptions - recedes from subjective perception, replaced with personal preference. Humans have one thing universally in common; our ability and eagerness to deceive ourselves. If reality is nothing more than what is perceived then we are all monads living in our own little solipsistic bubbleverses. It's the ideology of the sociopathic narcissist who says, "Well, in MY reality, I can do whatever I want." In short, it's how we got into this appalling mess.
Psychologists and saints alike have long maintained that the road to both sanity and sanctification is abandoning our dedication to our personal preferences and perceptions, and to confront the painful fact that reality is a thing that doesn't conform to us.
I've seen that a lot of younger people, especially those who have been sent through the mental woodchipper that is current academic philosophy departments, like to use the "reality is perception" line, and seem never to have encountered any idea opposed to it, as though it is as obvious as up is up and down is down. It makes me think they're being taught very badly, and glad I gave philosophy a pass in university in favour of languages.
I've been thinking about this since you shared your perspective. Here's my questions I'd be curious to hear your thoughts - If reality is not just what we perceive it to be, but rather something that exists independently of our minds, what exactly is that that just is and how can we be sure that our perceptions are accurate? And if our perceptions are fallible, how can we distinguish between what is real and what is merely a product of our own biases and limitations?
But this is the job of life, isn't it? It's the reason we have consciousness, to order ourselves to be in keeping with the Real, to learn to perceive correctly. It's difficult and can take a lifetime. But what else are we here for? If human life is to have meaning, how can it just be to make up whatever we happen to fancy at this moment or the next? Isn't that just the egoistic solipsism of an infant? We have become a culture of narcissists because of this philosophical error, and our societies are disintegrating because we are all taught to pursue only "my reality". What an empty and shallow existence we must have if we are only interested in ourselves.