Higher Learning
So I spent a good hour talking with this really cute guy i kinda like in the hallway outside the library. At first it was simply a Music Theory discussion, which was so refreshing because we were actually CHOOSING to discuss something we are studying beyond how horrible that midterm went etc etc. Then it kinda slowly morphed into a Philosophical discussion, which was really enlightening and yet scarry. I think i know now why Philosophers seem insane more often than not, after asking these questions i keep applying these same questions to everything i've done all day since and it's kinda cool/disturbing.
Ok, so here are some "Highlights" of our discussion.
What is truth exactly, since we assume so much in our everyday lives, is there any truth, or is it all just assumptions, and if there is a difference, would we even be able to distinguish between the two.
We assume almost everything. Every single thing we do can be related back to an assumtion. Why am I writing this? Because I assume someone will read it, or it will help me in some way. But dig deeper. What am I doing.... Ok I'm writing a journal, but what is writing. Putting information from my head down where other people can read it. So I'm assuming people can't read my mind, and not only that, digging deeper, I'm assuming I know how our world and bodies and minds work, Do I KNOW that my body is made up of cells and matter and energy, I have never really seen it, People tell me this is true, but do THEY really know, and in knowing, could they even share it or do I have to discover it for myself. Beyond that, What do I know? Am I real? there is the clichéd "I think therefore I am" But what does that mean? And is that not an assumption in itself? Do I really think? I am sure right now my computer is doing everything it's been programmed to do, and people would assume it is not aware of me, now if it isn't, isn't it arguable that it IS aware of it's programming? otherwise how does it manage to perform it? does it think it's programming is it's own thoughts? Could I simply be thinking what something else is telling me to, or designed me too? Yet I am unaware of this something because i am incapable of being aware of it? Does it think of me as non-living and a tool? So the basic question, "Do I exist?" cannot be answered without an assumption, so i MUST assume an answer of yes, SO if the basic reality of everything is assumed, then isn't everything based on that also just an assumption?
What about this world we live in. 3 Dimentional we call it, we are three dimentional beings. Yet we claim to be able to draw a square, a 2 dimentional object. However we clearly cannot, by making the square perceptable in our reality, we have made a three dimentional object, sure the lenght and width is clean, however there IS a height, It is ignorable true, but it is there. The pencil lead is three dimentional, therefore is marks are also three dimention, It's height can be measured in nanometers. We assume we comprehend 2 dimentional objects, and in our arrogance we even assume what 1 dimention is. Try this. Visualise 1 dimention. What do you see? A Line? Nope, that's a 2 dimentional object at best, the line, no matter how fine you make it, still HAS a width. We assume when dealing with 2 dimentions that we can only measure an area, yet in three dimentions we have Volume, and Mass, what is in four Dimentions? Is the 3rd dimention even relevant anymore when you get to the 700th dimention?
So, we assume there are other dimentions, but not only that, we assume there is a set order and then they are commulative. Ie. the third dimention is the second dimention plus one more dimention. But really, how do we know we live in the "third" dimention, Who's to say there isn't a DIFFERENT set of three dimentions to make a 3rd dimention, Moreso, who's to say dimention 1 is actually the first and that 2 follows it, Is it not possible that dimentions are all seperate realities which co-exist but cannot be co-perceived, as in you can only perceive one at a time (if you are capable) Therefore, Is everything we know even useful? Or does it apply only to this reality, Should we not call mathematics and logic etc "Three Dimentional Thinking?" but then we are assuming again that there is only ONE specific "three dimention". SO perhaps "Third Dimentional Thinking as applied to the dimention we exist in?" But what use is that to someone who doesn't know or comprehend "our dimention" Can we even share our knowledge, or are we forever ignorant of these other realms of existance, if they even exist. Perhaps we are part of a whole. Perhaps I am simply a Lung for example. I have 2 lungs, they are not particularly aware of each other, and they are not aware of the rest of my body. So if the brain is the only thing aware of my whole body, is it really aware? Afterall, without the body itself it is not aware of anything, the brain only knows what the body tells it. So if I am mearly a part of something, Should I just trust that there IS something making use of me. Or am I like a lung on a brain dead patient, Functional, but completly pointless. Or perhaps I am overestimating my importance, Perhaps I am simply a single oxygen receptor in this lung, or wait, Perhaps I am just a cell of that receptor, or no, I am a single mollecule, no an electron, no, a quark. Am I redundant? is there a point? If a single cell dies, the body lives on.
So, I assume I am something, what if I am under-estimating my role. What if I am that being, the one in control of all the parts, what then is my purpose? I can invent gods and higher existances, yet that would be once again assuming I am a small part of something larger, what if the truth is that there is nothing larger, is my existance then pointless? So what if I can enjoy my life, and possibly influence other lives, If I am pointless, wouldn't influence on other pointless things still be pointless? But people are afraid of this possibility, so we discard it as not true, yet why is it any less likely that being at the bottom of a chain. Or even more scarry, if eventually somethign HAS to be the top of that chain, what is it's purpose? if it is pointless, then we to are pointless, So we must assume that there IS no top, it is endless, but yet again that is an assumption simply because we are afraid of a posibility, why does fear warrant the dismissal of a possibility?
SO I think therefore I am? Sorry Descarte, but you are wrong there. I cannot simply ASSUME my thinking means I am. SO really what option do I have? I can contenplate this forever, yet I know not if there is an answer, or even if I am capable of finding it if there is one. So I must accept that I cannot answer that question yet. But if I do not answer it, I cannot move past it, all furthur answers are dependant on this one. So I must assume I exist simply because I cannot contenplate other posibilities other than I do not exist, and I cannot continue that line of thought beyond my non-existance, so I move forward with "I assume I exist". What happens when we get to the point that we cannot remember what we answered and what we were forced to assume? How do we know we haven't already reached that point? Are there fundamental questions before DO I exist that I no longer remember?
ANYWAYS, If anyone assumes this means anything and would like to add their own thoughts PLEASE DO, I would like to discuss this furthur, if you just want to comment without discussing go ahead ;) If you feel like simply calling me a nut case, do that ;) Now i'll try to remember how to do an LJ cut so as not to flood people's friends pages.