The Science of Mind & Reality By Matthieu Ricard and Wolf Singer

Secret of Truth

 We live in an ever-changing world.  This is no secret.  The concept of "Post-Truth" has invaded the collective consciousness and has taken residence in the present moment seemingly at our expense.  What can we define as Reality when Truth has it's foundations frequently obscured by falsehoods and unsound doctrines that counter the progress of all humanity in the form of major religious movements?  Could it be that there are phases of Truth separated by degrees of temporal states or two truths?  How can we prevent future generations afflicted with true-believer syndrome?  It's no secret that previous societies were dominated by formal fallacies that prevented their evolution and still occasionally manifests to restrict the progress of students studying predicate logic.

 

 

When someone posts an old article online, I've observed many people react as if since the factual information happens to be outdated then it must be unreliable but the truth does not have an expiration date.  How can we "hold these truths to be self-evident?"  When new information throws doubt onto old beliefs, does it negate the validity of the previous experience?  Many people accept the Bible as factually true only to blindly justify their beliefs in accordance with the weekly utterances of their local preacher but when they get home and learn about counter examples in the newspapers or on television, do they learn to live with both truths simultaneously?  Ralph Waldo Emerson said that, "imitation is suicide," so should we all strictly adhere to our own personal truths or risk denying our inner reality?  In my time enrolled at the university, it was clear that plenty students plagiarized and lifted information from their classmates in order to get good grades.  Did they really learn anything?  The honor code wouldn't exist without the persistence of this phenomena since human beings love to copy each other, especially the routines of the successful possibly due to our mirror neurons.  Is this what's created the divine in our conception of Truth?  What happens when a lie or falsehood gets copied down and shared as fact?  It wouldn't change the hard truths embedded in physical existence of organic life but only the minds interpretation of reality.  Therefore, in order to make progress towards understanding the secret of Truth, we should turn to the "Internalist vs. Externalist Conceptions of Epistemic Justification."        

We can repeat quotes from the wise ones among us (What do Philosophers Believe?) all day long but if we don't come to these conclusions ourselves did we actually experience the truth behind the utterance?  Do you trust the truth? 

 Truth according to the Etymology dictionary:

Secret:

Belief

True:

Deru:

Perhaps it could be said that the Truth is really like a tree that changes it's leaves depending on the season while the roots stay the same in the darkness of the fertile Earth.  Maybe the secret is that there is no secret and it is you that is the truth. 

We Know We Don't Know

 

 

Most students of Philosophy are forced to accept that they know nothing.  What then is the point of the endeavor?  How can progress be made with such a bleak expectation?  What am I doing keeping a blog on the topic of Philosophy if not to showcase my own ignorance for the world to see?  Truth be told, I had to take a required course on Logic three times and still didn't even get a good grade at the end of it.  If anybody knows how stupid a human being can be, it is me.  Know Thyself.  Yet, my extended study on the topic of Logic exposed me to many limits of modern analytic thought and ended up stumbling into the world of paraconsistency via the works of Graham Priest.  Through the lens of propositional calculus, I became fascinated with the concept of Dialetheism.  Life itself seemed to be an accumulation of endless paradoxical circumstances:  List of Paradoxes.  By the year 2012, I was considering the possibility the universe was merely a simulation and we had no free will that wasn't an illusion.  My professors seemed to have no choice but to routinely denigrate and fail me due to my lack of support for the Law of Non-Contradiction.  So, if we are supposed to know that we know nothing how is that not a true contradiction in itself?  In any case, it certainly seemed that my professors were positive that I knew nothing and deserved only the lowest of grades possible in spite of my many countless hours out of class in the library spent reading and attempting to regurgitate centuries of Philosophical wisdom at their command.  Perhaps, now I do know something but only that we know we don't know and might never know unless we take it upon ourselves to make progress.   Having grown accustomed to incompleteness and uncertainty, I never finished a degree in anything to this day.              

 

   

Expand Your Thinking

 

“The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.” -Rabindranath Tagore

 

 

Chalmers

 

Pride or Improvement?

 

The Right to Ignore the State

 

Progress: Beyond Possible?

 

 

 

 The real me still is being born.

 

 

 

Why Progress?

 

My experience as a Philosophy major was disappointing to put it lightly.  Although I once ironically described myself as a "Philosophical Entrepreneur," I don't actually consider myself a Philosopher but mainly a lifelong student of Philosophy.  My professors in the Philosophy department tended to make the endeavor as excruciatingly painful and mundane as possible while also acting as if all the major questions had already been answered which I knew deep down to be untrue.  From what I could see, this didn't appear to be the case in other universities around the world.  Although, I entered the university system in 2008, I didn't declare my major until 2009 at the request of my admissions counselor who borrowed my book 'A Sense of the Cosmos' by Jacob Needleman (RIP) and never returned it to me.  I blame myself for being so generous.  

 

Now my aim is to figure out how to advance the field of Philosophy so that my experience doesn't become the norm for future students.  Though it very well could be that I was simply unprepared for the rigors expected and required by the university system, it didn't help that a handful of classmates in the program created Facebook profiles under the names of famous Philosophers and decided to ridicule and harass me.  Also was put in the unfortunate position of being enrolled in a "Critical Thinking on Moral Problems" class where the professor was accused of strangling my friend.  It's never a good idea for professors to date their students.  The idea of making progress initially entered my head thanks to taking a course called "Mind & Reality" and the professor was adamant that I do so.  Since then, I've been mildly obsessed with the many paradoxes of progress and hope to see some kind of light at the end of this tunnel vision.  

 

BBC:     Do we need a better understanding of 'progress'?

Substack:    What Progress Wants

 

"There is no progress whatever. Everything is just the same as it was thousands, and tens of thousands, of years ago. The outward form changes. The essence does not change." -Robert Louis Stevenson

 

 

 

Introduction: Why Am I Here?

Why Am I Here?

 My first encounter with Philosophy as a word was most likely in 3rd grade when my teacher read to us 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' in it's entirety.  We were also informed that this title was unique to the American publications as the original title was 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone.'  Having been partially raised in England, I could understand why they would choose this word since they actually prioritize education over there which doesn't seem to be the case in the states where "sorcery" is a better word for selling fantasy novels, at least.

  It's possible I saw the film Bill & Ted's excellent adventure long before this however I had no idea who Socrates was until much later.   

Entering Middle school, I happened to be cast as Schroeder in a musical about Charlie Brown which featured a song called "My New Philosophy" which made light of the entire field for the most part but re-introduced me to the term in a sing-song silly kind of way that also had a profound impact on my own personal philosophy on musical theater which persists to this very day.  

 

 

While still in Middle School, I happened to see the film Donnie Darko which referenced a fictional book called "The Philosophy of Time Travel."

Later on in High School, we were required to read 'Sophie's World' in English class as Freshmen.  This was the first time actually considering the History of Philosophy as literature.    

 

 

 My interest in Philosophy deepened when I received a book on the influence of Philosophy on the films of Woody Allen.  Being a fan of his work, I was interested in the potential for Philosophy to enrich the art of cinema and beyond. 

 

 Another film that expanded my awareness of Philosophy around this time was  Waking Life.  

Eventually I was recommended Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by a friend which really set the wheels in motion for my becoming a Philosophy major once I declared my major. 

 

 Another major influence for my choosing Philosophy was the work of Caetano Veloso who was also a Philosophy major.  I had become familiar with his music after a trip to Brazil in my teens. 

 

So, what is Philosophy?  Is it a series of mysterious books delivered by strangers or a magical substance that leads one to the elixir of life?  It seems to be a combination of the two since Philosophy has progressed civilizations in and out of existence for thousands of years.  The aim of this blog is to illuminate "Progress" as it relates to the practice of Philosophy as a whole while also explaining my own personal idea of "Progress Philosophy" in my own life.