Knowledge: Perspective, Experience and Subjectivity
Just like many other aspects of this journey so far, the last month plus has been yet another whole process. If you would have asked me when I began deconstructing, if I was prideful in my thinking, I believe I would have told you no. However as I continue to reflect, it is quite clear to see that I was in fact arrogant. Arrogant because I thought that I could still flesh out some kind of absolute, universal knowledge or morality found in the Hebrew Bible.
But time and time again, I continue to realize that as you deconstruct, there is absolutely no control of the process. Just when you think you may have come to some kind of understanding, the yarn ball of thought takes a new direction you never would have anticipated. This time it has been deconstructing the origins of the Hebrew Bible. I wanted to believe that surely those well preserved scriptures hadn’t been altered. But as you can see from my past content, I didn’t make it very far into the first book, only to discover that they say a very different thing then the root language they are supposedly derived from. In fact the texts we have aren’t even that old and we don’t have the originals, soooo… everything is just man made with a human purpose and intention behind it.
I saw a post the other day that really got the wheels spinning. Consider history, yes, we know that there is a past and that things happened in the past that are true and fact but the way that information has been passed on is through story and story is subjective, written with bias, it is not neutral. Another post said, 90% of history has been lost and the 10% that remains was written by the victors. I encourage you to really consider that and what the potential ramifications would be if this is true.
On a lighter note, one of the comments on that post went something like this… I hope the only books that remain from our time is Harry Potter. That way in 1,000 years they’ll think we were all running around casting magic spells 😂
While I still believe that the pursuit of knowledge, truth and morality is admirable, I do also believe that it is in essence, futile, specifically because of perspective, experience and subjectivity and that maybe a more functional, beneficial venture may be that of seeking balance.
This space will no longer be looking to religion to find answers. We have surrendered to a place of “not knowing”. Do we now consider ourselves agnostic, maybe. Atheist, possibly… We just humbly admit that we can’t know all things AND will continue to question everything. Why? Because everything is subjective and nuanced based off of personal experience and perspective. We have experienced this first hand in a very public way and it has exposed the many flaws in the current “system”.
If you don’t find yourselves there yet, just spend some time watching any survival story, we’ve been enjoying The 100 series, the Mazerunner series and the Divergent series lately and you will quickly see that nothing is black and white, everything is subjective. There is no such thing as objective truth, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
So what then? Where does that leave us? Honestly, it has been overwhelming and difficult. We have found peace in the surrender but it’s hard to know what to do or think next. Brandon from Mindshift, who we highly recommend, has been putting out excellent content and we encourage you to check out his channel. As his tagline goes, we will continue to keep thinking but are choosing to place our intentions on the here and now.
To quote a recent book that I just read, “we must make them understand that physical strength and health as well as joie de vivre are much more important than phantasms about some afterlife.” Wilhelm Reich, Children of the Future. Throughout our explorations, albeit brief, we’ve seen a continued theme in many if not most of the major religions, a theme of escapism with a priority placed on the afterlife or achieving nirvana. Because of this escapism worldview, we as humanity are missing it. We have created a pseudo life that leaves us unfulfilled.
But what if, what if we considered the basic necessities and drives of life with an enjoyment and exuberant twist? What if we really considered the other golden rule of “Do not do unto others what you would not want others to do unto you.” I think that has a foundation for far more balance and health than “doing”. Maybe it is finding a balance between the two, between the do and do not.
I’m going to end here with several quotes for you to consider. The first being from Reich again, “We have no right to tell our children how to build their future, since we have proved unfit to build our own present. What we can do however is to tell our children exactly where and how we failed. And we can do everything possible to remove the obstacles which are in their way to building a new, better world for themselves.” Admitting failure is hard but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that while we have made advancements as humanity, we are still so far from hitting the mark.
Followed by a translation of the Tao te Ching chapter 76 from Ellen Chen, “At birth, a person is soft and yielding, at death hard an unyielding. All beings, grass and trees, when alive, are soft and bending, When dead they are dry and brittle. Therefore the hard and unyielding are companions of death, The soft and yielding are companions of life.” I think this sentiment is beautiful but maybe a little too black and white. What do you think?
And lastly from a meme that has been shared around the internet, Just a reminder that Mary Oliver's own answer to her question, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" was to stroll idly through the fields noticing things. The question out of context could appear to be about achieving more - it's not. There is no guarantee of a next life. How are you going to choose to live the one you do have, right NOW. It is up to you. The choices are yours to make. Don’t be controlled and manipulated.
What if we all considered the importance of our physical and mental health. What if we could admit and take responsibility for the trauma that religions and systems have created and what if we could focus more on the joys of life?
Consider man’s best friend for a moment. While their domestication may not be entirely natural, when in a healthy scenario where their needs are met, it would appear that they are not sad about yesterday, or worried about tomorrow? They seem very content to live in the present moment. While we can’t know for certain what they feel or how they think, some food, a belly rub, a toy, and someone to love appears to make their lives deliriously happy.