Friday, October 15, 2004

To each his own perspective

Have you ever thought about how something appears to others or what others may consider if in your shoes at a particular point of time in your life? I sometimes try to see things as others might be seeing them. It is difficult to really be accurate but it must be conceded that although we are all unique in the world, we are all flesh and blood beings and in that manner not that different from each other.

Is everything subjective to each individual? Yes, I believe so. I don't think anyone can be truly objective because we all have an opinion about everything and no matter what one attempts to do in a given situation, subjective tendencies will encroach on the attempt to be objective.

For instance, it may be abundantly evident to the friends of a man who is a cocaine user that he uses entirely too much cocaine and should cut back by a kilo or two a week. In the man's mind, he isn't getting enough cocaine as it is and wonders why there isn't enough time in the day, and money in the pocket, to get enough. And so on ad infinitum.

But here is where I digress continually to the dissatisfaction of many, and hopefully to the amusement of some. Having stated all the above, I now consider the possibility that something I write here I will see again. Maybe as evidence where someone is trying to prove how truly insane I am. Now don't get me wrong, I am not questioning my own sanity as much as I am questioning what others may consider about it from what I write. Can one write himself into a sanitarium?

I have lived long enough to have first hand experience in seeing a fellow human being believe something that was not true at all simply because of the group of friends she identified with. So I know my fellow humans out there in the real world can certainly champion a cause that has no foundation. People involved in the political arena do it all the time. Environmental extremists, anti-abortion protestors, Democrats, Republicans, and so on believe things that are not necessarily true to support their causes. The Communists were really good at it. Disprove the stated assertions, (outright lies?) and the basis for the cause goes away one would think.

Easier said than done. It might be possible to disprove an untrue, (outright lie?), assertion made by an organized group to you or any rational human being, but you will never disprove it to those who made it. Why is this?

For me the world can be a confusing place. It has taken a long time for me to begin seeing the grays in between the black and the white. Sometimes there is more gray than black and white combined.

To summarize, the world is, at the same time, a wonderful and awful place, and you are going to step in the shit once in a while. Get used to it and carry plenty of paper towels. Also, think hard and long about what you are willing to believe and why.

1 comment:

Elmarand said...

This sounds a lot like my current Theory of Knowledge class. What is true, what type of knowledge is it? Oh god, maybe I should talk to my teacher about this, I bet she could go on for YEARS!