As far back as we can go to when man first became self-aware and understood the meaning of his impending death, he has been looking for a way to avoid death. Knowledge is a blessing, but as Genisis says it is a curse, too.
All of us, we are wrong...
by daystar 24 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
czarofmischief
Since absolute truth (tm) is unattainable, therefore, truth must become a functional set of useful ideas that permit me to establish an ironclad hold on mankind. Hm, since people like to have different ideas, why not make the functional truth the concept that "I know, and you are permitted to wallow in your ignorance." Ah, delicious...
Giggle....
CZAR
-
daystar
The basic accepted idea of reality is that it is that which is not based on our personal "take", and the basic accepted concept of fantasy is that it is primarily based on our own personal mental conceptions, yes?
I subscribe to the notion that it is much more difficult to tell the difference between the two than most people are comfortable accepting.
Reality for me, as a JW, was not based upon my personal "take". It was based upon what the WBTS told us was reality. And yet...
In fact, I feel comfy at this time accepting the notion that due to the nature of perception and how our minds like to deceive us, we cannot be sure at any time that anything bears a close relation to any sort of objective reality, if there is such a thing. For practical purposes, we must live as if certain things are true.
I will at this point admit that knowing what is wrong, is more easily achieved than knowing what is right. And all that said, I think you and I (if I read you correctly) end up with a way of seeing that is fairly similar, in practical terms.
Perhaps so, but I often find that very many of the "rights" and "wrongs" are relative. But this is a subject that I struggle with. Geesh, this seems anti-social. While I certainly do have an internal gauge dictating right from wrong... exploitation and the bending of another to my will being examples of "wrong". It's not so clear cut to me intellectually, especially seeing how we do manipulate people every day, whether we realize it or not, in small or larger ways. Is this only "bad" when we do this consciously? Might it be better to control it? I dunno.
I can imagine scenarios where "necessary evils" can benefit the greater good. And this sucks. It sucks because the belief that one person may have that it's for the greater good may be at odds with others. And for the greater good for whom? And it sucks because I feel a great deal of love for all and even something I can imagine as a "necessary evil" which causes others pain, disturbs me greatly.
But, I am digressing here. I find in my life (and everything really) that good things have eventually resulted from bad things, and vice versa. It is difficult for me to judge the value of the end results of a thing based upon this.
-
Narkissos
Great thread.
The other day I heard a short interview of French philosopher and epistemologist Michel Serres. He was picking on the famous adage errare humanum est, suggesting it held an unsuspected (and paradoxical) "truth" -- namely, that "error" is not just an "accident" in human knowledge, it is the very way the human mind works -- always distancing itself from any obvious "reality" through language, symbols, myths, etc., while keeping a necessary relationship with it. There is more to the creativity of the human mind than subjection to "truth" of any kind. In an unsuperably ambiguous way "truth" is the end of mankind.
Realising we have been massively wrong once is a mind-blowing experience, but perhaps it should not deter us from being wrong again...
-
SixofNine
::but perhaps it should not deter us from being wrong again...
Well, if we must be wrong, hopefully it will be about fresh new stuff. Otherwise....
I go back to my theory that we humans are really just comparison monkeys, and much strife could be avoided if we would just work to improve our craft (of comparing things). Of course, to really be good at comparing, you have to be a stickler for accuracy, which is damn close to truth :P~