It seems that Men mostly still hanker after the past era when perception dominated our thinking, when thinking was passively 'imposed' on us by the environment; and there is a great reluctance to come to terms with the reality that nowadays perceptions are dominated by thinking.
In a nutshell: for Modern Man subjective and inner concepts dominate perceptions...
Yet we Modern Men recurrently and persistently refuse to take personal responsibility for the metaphysical assumptions that dictate our interpretations - meanwhile continually asserting and pretending that the external (perceptions: 'environment', 'facts', 'evidence', the 'objective' world 'out-there' etc.) is the primary reality.
Partly the failure is sheer habit, partly a kind of laziness, partly it is due to sins such as (in particular) fear and resentment - and in general it is because we have trapped-ourselves in a self-stoking cycle of mutually-reinforcing errors, from which perspective it seems impossible to break-out.
But for whatever reason, it is evident that Modern Men will expend weeks, months or even years of time - and massive monetary resources - moving their bodies into situations in which they hope that the surrounding inputs will solve their ultimate problems...
While declining to spend even ten minutes of serious and consecutive thought about their core assumptions concerning reality.
Well put. I admire the clarity of this post, particularly in the last three sentences.
ReplyDeleteI spent a great portion of my adult life moving my body into situations in the hope that I would eventually find the sort of externals that thought would solve my problems. When I lived in the US, I observed that sort of body-moving comprises a large part of what it means to be an American. Always on the road or pining to be on the road, looking for that elusive place in that vast country where all problems would be solved . . . and never finding it.
I guess the big question is, how can men be motivated to spend even ten minutes seriously and consecutively thinking about their core assumptions concerning reality?
Such motivation cannot be imposed externally. It can, perhaps, be triggered externally, but the bulk of the work must come from within.
It often strikes me as a kind of freedom very few wish to approach.
@Frank - The real "Matrix" is in our basic assumptions; not in The System.
ReplyDeleteOr rather, it is The System that creates an immersive conceptual environment, to which the masses willingly surrender.
It is because the Matrix/ System rests on choices (evil must be invited) - and that then the made-choices are denied - which makes it so hard to imagine many people discovering a way out - despite that the way out is open to everyone.