I didn't write this, nor did I see it before I wrote my entry, "ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS GET LAID."
BUT... I just discovered that in the NY Times 2 days ago was a story entitled: "SHOULD PARENTING REQUIRE A LICENSE?" by Lisa Belkin. READ IT HERE: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/should-parenting-require-a-license/
YOU SEE HERE'S THE THING - THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE.
Some people think that I'm coming from my ego on this blog, or from some theory or philosophy. But I hate theory and philosophy. That's ego. What I seek to learn about and to talk about is the truth. So when I discover that I'm onto something that others seeking the truth are also onto, I'm not at all surprised because the truth is the Truth and is accessible to anyone who really wants to know it.
Just like I said the other day to Rick, it's not all subjective or a matter of opinion. There is such a thing as Reality with a capital "R," and there is such a thing as Truth with a capital "T."
Hey Pete,
ReplyDeleteI've been a long time away, but I've been following this interesting exchange between you and Rick...
Here's my two sense...
Actually I'm going to ignore the main part of the debate about licensing parents.
But I'm interested in your statement about Reality with a capital "R". In your previous entry you used gravity as an example of an unquestionable "R"eality. You also stated that "it (reality) is not all subjective or relative".
I actually strongly disagree with this.
Even with something as simple as saying gravity has only one effect (that of a person falling towards earth) is technically wrong. Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein said that it's just as correct to say that the earth falls up towards you as it is to say that you fall down towards the earth. Gravity is relative. And everything in the universe is relative according to Einstein.
I believe that this applies very importantly on a human level as well. If you and I have two different opinions on a given topic, my opinion doesn't exist only in the framework of your "R"eality and your opinion doesn't exist only in the framework of my "R"eality. We could be saying two completely contradictory things, the sky is blue and the sky is red, but within the contexts of our own realities we are both correct no matter how disparate the facts are. Think about it... If for some reason, I've learned for as long as I can remember that the sky is red, how absurd would your claim be that the sky is blue? It's all relative.
This plays an important role when dealing with other people or groups of people. If a group of people believe that they will be received by 17 virgins when they die, and we simply dismiss that idea as heathen, surprise surprise, they get mad and eventually start throwing bombs at us. But the fact is we don't know anymore than they do about what happens to you (if anything) when you die. Our insistence to constantly ignore the relative nature of reality is what isolates us and causes us harm.
Now I would postulate perhaps that the collective conscious of the world does in fact have a "R"eality, an average reality if you will, but I think if any one person postulates that they are tapped in to that, I'd say that they are... well... living in their own reality.
We all have to accept our humble relative view of reality, and understand that as much as we know individually and as a whole we will never be fully aware of the absolute truth. No matter how sure we are.
600 years ago 100% of all people in the world believed that the sun revolved around the earth. And they were absolutely correct in relation to their relative understanding of their Reality (with a capital R). And not one person would have ever been deemed unenlightened based solely on that belief.
Everything is relative. Period. Ask Einstein.