We need ideas that define who we are. Every day we cultivate stories in which we should truly believe if we are to engage with the world and with others to acquire knowledge and to act. These stories are not just any ideas; they need to be logical and to make sense. We strive for coherence, and when facing the meaninglessness of a cluster of things that exhibit little to no coherence with each other, we instantaneously feel the urge to create a narrative from this inchoate mass. In the words of Cobb, “humans strive for positive logic.” A story is a tool we use to make sense out of apparent meaninglessness because the threat of meaninglessness leaves us petrified. But stories are not just innocuous words; therein lies their inherently virulent and dangerous nature. We don’t merely witness what’s in front of us; we live it. Much like in a dream, we’re never mere spectators to our experiences. As beings-in-the-world—that is, as individuals situated both in time and space and that have a body we can’t escape—it’s impossible to extirpate our “mind” from our perspective of where we are and who we are. The very fact that we’re embodied means that we’re always already engaged with the things and the environment in which we live and breathe, and that we’re never just spectators, be it in reality or in the dream. Because we’re embodied, we’re limited to our perspective on things. As beings-in-the-world, in actively participating and not being just witnesses, to make sense of the new things that constantly hit us, we’re forced to interpret what’s happening through the lens of past experiences, even though the process is already in progress at a subconscious level. Even if we achieve multiple perspectives on an event, these always bring their own load of interested views. Hoping to reach the god-like, detached, and disengaged viewpoint is a mere fantasy and never achievable. Illusion, tricks, resemblance are inherent to nature and to life, for some to survive, or others to escape. Most scientific research is developed from a hypothesis, a simplified model, that is applied to reality subsequently in order to understand reality further. A narrative creates a sense of stability, of unity, which is needed to engage with the materiality of the world. Emillle Dionne, in ‘Inception and Philosophy: Ideas to die for‘
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 08:43:26 +0000
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