The Misuse of Reality
By Dr. Matthew Thornton
What I write now is not for the sake of wanting to be heard, though I fall to this temptation just as others, but for the sake of observing humble beginnings. I am humble whether I wish to be or not, for it is written that the wisdom of men should be made foolish (Isaiah 29:14, 1 Corinthians 1:19). I am only a part created trying to study the whole of creation. The perplexities of which should astound all. Heinz Von Forester wrote that one must use a brain to develop a theory of the brain. The paradoxes are paramount in such existential musing. Such as the great quote Cogito Ergo Sum which is “I think therefore I am” or as Von Forester modified it “I thing therefore we are.” We shall find ourselves starring at a reflection of a reflection of a reflection… by looking into such mirrored philosophies of self. Think such thoughts as what I see exists because I see it, and diving headlong into the post-modern fantasies of a created reality. We have no more control over the creation of reality than the height of the mountains, least we forget and great catastrophe bring us back to our knees.
When one begins to look closely at the major philosophies associated with post-modern ideologies the question of what is sacred should come to mind. Those things that are sacred in life are not simply symbols of meaning, but are untouchable truths that remain eternal regardless of human limitations. It is a part of humanity but also above it, being both connected to all and out of reach of destruction. That which is sacred holds meaning to a degree that changes all who open themselves to it. That which is sacred touches the very spirit.
The words sacred and spirituality apart of the popular secular culture and have been used recklessly without full recognition of the measure of meaning associated with the terms. The popular terms generally lack substance and support. This is due in part to the dramatic shift to post-modern thinking.
Postmodernism claims that we can not know truth in a sacred sense. There are no absolutes from this ideology, but paradoxically the only absolute is there is no absolute. There is no reality that can be known, thus humans are seen as creating reality for themselves. The primary themes of post-modernism are those ideas that place the individual human on the throne of God. Those that do not accept this theology are looked down as being unenlightened or ignorant for having such historic views in a post-modern world. To operate from a framework that suggest that human beings create reality rather than participate within it, creates a society in which men are made gods and all that is sacred is undermined.
If that which is sacred is taking down from its holy place and put into a frame that it is only sacred to you, the implications of which are that it is not scared at all. By definition that which is sacred must be divine and therefore unmovable by human doings. If indeed something is to be sacred it must be such whether or not I personally find it to be sacred. If it is only sacred because I find it to be sacred then it is not sacred at all. It is simply sentimental.
The levels of abstraction in post-modern thinking have become tangled. Perception of reality has become reality itself. The human experience of the world is now simply the world. It is as if we have turned the black box theory inside out. We have jumped in the black box. Now we see only what is on the inside and pretend there is nothing outside.
My call is to open up the black box and see the world around us. We understand that to be human is to have limits to understanding. We cannot experience in full the measure of reality, but that does not mean that our experience is completely divorced from reality. We do engage in constructivism and social construction, but that construction is not of reality but of perception and sensation. These are processes of delusion and collusion that we indulge in and induce on ourselves and others because we can not tolerate the wretch beauty of life and the state of the human condition. If we do not hold on to those things sacred, then all meaning is lost. We are lost.
When one begins to look closely at the major philosophies associated with post-modern ideologies the question of what is sacred should come to mind. Those things that are sacred in life are not simply symbols of meaning, but are untouchable truths that remain eternal regardless of human limitations. It is a part of humanity but also above it, being both connected to all and out of reach of destruction. That which is sacred holds meaning to a degree that changes all who open themselves to it. That which is sacred touches the very spirit.
The words sacred and spirituality apart of the popular secular culture and have been used recklessly without full recognition of the measure of meaning associated with the terms. The popular terms generally lack substance and support. This is due in part to the dramatic shift to post-modern thinking.
Postmodernism claims that we can not know truth in a sacred sense. There are no absolutes from this ideology, but paradoxically the only absolute is there is no absolute. There is no reality that can be known, thus humans are seen as creating reality for themselves. The primary themes of post-modernism are those ideas that place the individual human on the throne of God. Those that do not accept this theology are looked down as being unenlightened or ignorant for having such historic views in a post-modern world. To operate from a framework that suggest that human beings create reality rather than participate within it, creates a society in which men are made gods and all that is sacred is undermined.
If that which is sacred is taking down from its holy place and put into a frame that it is only sacred to you, the implications of which are that it is not scared at all. By definition that which is sacred must be divine and therefore unmovable by human doings. If indeed something is to be sacred it must be such whether or not I personally find it to be sacred. If it is only sacred because I find it to be sacred then it is not sacred at all. It is simply sentimental.
The levels of abstraction in post-modern thinking have become tangled. Perception of reality has become reality itself. The human experience of the world is now simply the world. It is as if we have turned the black box theory inside out. We have jumped in the black box. Now we see only what is on the inside and pretend there is nothing outside.
My call is to open up the black box and see the world around us. We understand that to be human is to have limits to understanding. We cannot experience in full the measure of reality, but that does not mean that our experience is completely divorced from reality. We do engage in constructivism and social construction, but that construction is not of reality but of perception and sensation. These are processes of delusion and collusion that we indulge in and induce on ourselves and others because we can not tolerate the wretch beauty of life and the state of the human condition. If we do not hold on to those things sacred, then all meaning is lost. We are lost.
