Second-Hand Knowledge

ἓν οἶδα ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα
Socrates

I often ask myself in this day and age of dis/misinformation about what I truly know and I feel that I can confidently say that if I myself have not experienced a phenomenon first-hand, either as an observer of or as a direct participant of, then I do not truly have knowledge of that phenomenon, rather only a belief of it. And what are beliefs if not a level of certainty in the validity or invalidity of some statement or assertion? The advantage of knowledge is that it allows belief/certainty to be transferred to others without the recipient’s necessity to experience it themselves first-hand, often at a lesser cost than what the propagators of that knowledge paid to gain that knowledge. There is an implicit level of trust involved in this relationship, in that, the knowledge is assumed to have been tested against a reasonable level of scrutiny and that there is no motive in its declaration other than to propagate truth. Even with this trust, we can and should always attempt to retrace the steps the originator traversed to assert the validity of what is stated so that the information the is not merely accepted at face-value. Only then should we accept something as being true or false. I think that we too often accept someone’s credentials as being sufficient to justify what they purport to be true and never go beyond that and it is corrupting all that we know or believe we know. These days, I do my best to state “I do not know” or “I believe that…” rather than state that something is because in the end, all I have are beliefs, some just stronger than others.

Divided, we are falling

The more we are told we are special, the more we believe it to be true and the more we feed our ego, thus the more divided we become. There are people who long ago figured out that if we are divided, then we are in the dark, reaching out for the light switch. They discovered that if you tell those people that you have the light switch, many will believe you, real or not and you can charge them a fee and profit. I see throughout media constant ways in which we are told one group is special or another is special, and divisions are formed as a result. We are truly being manipulated and I believe this is intentional and is limiting us as a species from realizing our potential and purpose. There’s a very powerful idiom that captures this, “United we stand, divided we fall.” It is only through directed focus that we achieve great things, either on our own or as a collective.

One of the main tenets of Buddhism is that in order to find happiness, one must dissolve ego. I wholeheartedly agree with this idea. I see so much unhappiness everywhere and unfailingly I see it attached to ego in some way. Taking only what we need and leaving the rest for others, giving to charity, detaching ourselves from material, useless things that do absolutely nothing to better our souls – these are the things we should keep on the forefront of our minds. You will be told that you deserve more because you work harder or because things that were done to your ancestors by other peoples’ ancestors means you should get more or that how you feel is always normal and you should have the right to feel that way and others must respect it no matter what. This is all food for your ego and buying into it continues to divide us infinitesimally. Lift the veil, perceive what is happening, think your own thoughts, question, attempt to understand and always ask, “who is to profit from all of this?”

Why are drugs so popular?

As I look back at my days when I was a regular drinker and drug user, I feel the impetus was most often to seek detachment from my body. Either I was dealing with stress that I did not want to feel, or I was so used to self-medicating to escape the feeling of stress that I sought to feel that sense of detachment again because it felt so good. These days, I no longer drink, or smoke or consume anything other than caffeine (which I may one day give up as well). I do still get my highs, however, but I do so through meditation, contemplation, intense exercise and rest.

I often question why I and many others seek that detachment from body. Many of us prefer that state and would choose not to come back, if given the opportunity. I feel that all creatures tend to follow their nature and given that so many people choose to detach from physical reality, it makes me wonder, if we are trying to reattune to a more natural state than physical reality? Could it be evidence for immortal spiritual existence that we tend to seek out a state more akin to our true endemic state, namely, one of disembodied consciousness?

Admittedly, I got pretty close on many occasions, since I’d wake and use any chance I could get and I’m sure you know the rest of the story. I had many health, social and familial problems. I missed out on countless opportunities for unique and once-in-a-lifetime experiences because I chose to drink/smoke instead. Those are some of the regrets I’ll carry with me as heavy baggage into my judgement or possibly my next lifetime, so I’m intent on really internalizing those mistakes in this incarnation such that if I were to be reincarnated (perhaps, yet again) then I hope to not make those same mistakes. And if I am to be judged, then I can only hope that I have properly atoned for the hurt I’ve caused.

I try to do a lot of soul searching and really drill into why I make certain choices and what I truly believe at year 43 of this lifetime. I have fought many battles, as I’m certain most others have and ultimately, I wish for internal peace. We are all warriors, so to speak, fighting the conditions life throws at us, or that we create ourselves, most often unknowingly. At some point in every warrior’s life, peace becomes the goal and I no longer believe it comes from outside sources.

On Existential Perspectives

I see at least three perspectives regarding the possibility of existential meaning:

The perspective that there is no meaning to anything that we do, other than that which we attach ourselves. Everything has a rational and scientific explanation and any meaning we perceive from the occurrence of events is purely psychological in origin.
The perspective that each of our decisions and actions have meaning relative to a grander scheme of which we have varying degrees of comprehension. To harbor such a perspective would be predicated by the belief that our decisions and actions are logged and that we are part of a system.
The perspective that it doesn’t matter either way. The belief that we should just enjoy ourselves and live life however we see fit is the cornerstone of this perspective. This makes no comment on whether a good or bad life is lived nor whether there is a greater system of which we are a part of. The argument can be made that sole intention of living is to soak up as many experiences as we can.