But how do I become the philosopher whom I want to be? What do I see about which I can make synthetic judgments about later? Sight in philosophy is the privileged sense because if one sees things with their eyes it is reasonably certain the event happened. (Even critiques of sight in philosophy, primarily the rationalist philosophies of the 1500-1600's did not deny seeing events, they denied whether what they saw was real life or not.) This entry will give just a taste of what I see in the world which a philosophy is written about.
"Dude, that party this weekend was epic awesome, but now I have to go to class :(." This brief snippet of loud cell phone conversation on a Friday morning before class tells us two things about human nature. In human experience, there is joy and there is suffering. In this case, the joy is an ecstasy of sorts brought on by the party experience. The suffering is coming back to reality after the crazy Thursday party of having a class. Existence continues in this paradox of joy and suffering.
I also see a pretty sunrise and a pretty sunset. The colors in the sky glow magically, and this pattern of sunrise and sunset happens every day, at a predictable time, even when I cannot see the fullness of the sun because of cloud cover. However, in this same experience, every day when I see a sunrise I may see people who are going about a work/school routine, or people who are doing things out of the ordinary, like having pink hair or walking a dog in sub-zero temperatures. I see people who care, and people who are cold to the world. The one thing I can say for certain in life is that there is order and there is disorder. This order and disorder deepens the experience of a paradox because things are and are not at the same time.
The question now is, "what do I do with this experience of a paradox?" Am I doomed to think life is meaningless because I see this paradox and see importance in experience? To answer this question, I must examine if there is anything common in human nature which I see in my experience, as well as others. The first commonality I see, is that all who can realize their own existence in this manner are humans. Animals cannot detect the importance of a pattern and reason events out; they live by instincts and their appetites. Thus, there must be something special about people, no matter how they fit into the patterns of order and disorder, and the difference in their physical attributes.
However, to make this distinction is not enough for the discussion at hand. All people are special, and all people fit into the flow of order and disorder; however, there is little agreement about what is order and what is disorder. Also, each individual person in themselves at the same time lives a life of order and disorder because of the choices people make. (Good choices bring one closer to order, bad choices bring one closer to disorder, generally speaking anyway.) If a person can be in order and disorder at the same time, then for observational purposes there needs to be something in the experience of all people which can be observed in order to make a connection to order.
As I examine and think about the people I have encountered in my life, one thing is clear, love is necessary. Without this love, people become cold to the world and lost in its disorder. It is easier to act in disorder when one does not receive love and instead receive cruelty. Meaning is difficult to find, and order becomes harder to ascertain when one sees disorder all around them. Families that break and leave children neglected, the poor in India who long for their material and emotional/spiritual/mental needs, and the struggling migrant worker trying to work in America to make a living for his family back home, all of these people see vast amounts of disorder. In all of these examples, something is missing and not on the part of these people, but on those who observe. Many people see these kinds of situations and see a situation similar to animal nature, in which the strong survive and the weak are left to starve.
However, this sentiment is one which cannot stand because people do have an empathy for those who suffer, seen in all the little and great ways. There are friends who help the child know a loving environment and affirm their achievements. There are religious orders, social workers, caregivers, and volunteers who do care about the needs of people in India and Latin America. In disordered society, when needs are not met by those who hold the power, there are those who rise up and meet the needs of people in compassion. In this way, order is brought to those who suffer in isolation. Because of this, there is a connection between love and order. (This connection needs further examination later.)
A quick review is important here: sight is important because it is the one sense which is privileged in both a legal and a philosophical sense. What people see with their eyes has a higher probability of being true because the eyes input information in an instantaneous and direct way which does not need another source of mediation. (e.g. hearing requiring imagination to get an image of what is going on in another space, feeling needing some interpretation of the surface being felt in order to know who/what is being felt, etc.) The world one sees is one of order and disorder, and individual people can be in order and disorder at the same time. Examples of order and disorder are prevalent in the world if people know for where and what to look. However, in the midst of order and disorder, there is this empathy for those who suffer in the disorder of communal living. This empathy draws people back to the order of things.
Since what I see has now been made clear, and sight is something which is only a step in building a philosophy, the process of which I have discussed here. Then for the next step, I need the help of the readers. I want the readers of this blog to discuss with me what they see in the world. This does two things for me. First, it helps me move to step 2 in building a philosophy and becoming a philosopher :). Second, and probably more importantly, it helps ascertain whether the synthesis I have currently made can stand to reason. The synthesis I have begun to make in this text is jumping the gun a little bit, since experience is something which is greater than the self; however, I feel this error in philosophy will be forgiven, because the response of the readers will either be to agree with the synthesis or propose a different model based on the experience of the reader. So I need your help and I know you won't let me down. :) Think of this as an opportunity to help yourself grow by asking yourself the fundamental questions and at the same time, you're helping a potential philosopher, (e.g. me) to develop more by responding to your experience.
I hope all have a blessed Christmas season (as this is the only actual holiday going on right now, as Hanukkah was early this year, and I'm not exactly sure about Kwanzaa.)
Aristocrates
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment