"Follow those who seek the truth. Run from those who claim to have found it." attr. Vaclav Havel
I can't define "real". I'm not even sure I know it when I see it. But like most of us, I carry on every day in the expectation that I am experiencing it, and have no qualms about continuing to do so without question.
And yet... this is the fundamental question (well, "a" fundamental question). For good or for ill, we humans have developed some pretty ingrained approaches to what is real, and most depend upon the notion of authority. If the Bible (substitute the Koran, Talmud, Bhagavad Gita, Foundation Trilogy, CHUM-FM, guy next door, or anything you like) says so... then it must be so. Mustn't it?
Sometimes I wonder whether our philosophical positions reflect little more than our neurological anatomy, our chemical dependencies, our conditioned reactions, and our need to feel that they reflect none of these. And sometimes I wonder whether there are forces at work which we have not yet begun to comprehend. Do we continue to engage in futile competitive behaviour because it's our nature? Our chemistry? Our upbringing? Or perhaps it's the work of some kind of neuro-parasite which exploits some element of our survival instinct and turns it against ourselves, as we pursue goals without meaning?
In reflecting upon the pathology of schizophrenia, it seems as if the condition is determined to persist at all cost. Better to kill the host than the parasite, the unsuspecting host develops an inability to consider the possibility of infection. Everything else is possible, but not the illness.
Must think on this some more.
No comments:
Post a Comment