Ever since I was young, I had this feeling that I wouldn't live to be very old. It's not that I have a death wish, I really don't, but my life for a long time felt like a story playing out and, somehow, I've gotten past the end of it. Now, it seems I'm living nebulously. Every moment that I live is borrowed time, stolen from some other poor sap. That reminds me of a movie that's coming out soon with Justin Timberlake where, instead of money, people earn a living, literally. Interesting concept but not my topic of choice at the moment.
What I really want to talk about is not death but life. What is it all about? Don't expect me to answer that question but I will spout off a few assumptions I've made thus far about it and, hopefully, you'll agree with me. If not, well, tell me why I'm wrong and maybe, just maybe, I'll change my mind!
I think the first and most basic assumption that I need to make is that existence is not only possible, it's actual and anything that I claim to be must take on the attribute of existence. That's a mouthful but let me take this reasoning step-by-step.
Assumption 1: Existence is possible
It has come to my attention that it is quite possible that I exist. Not shocking in the least given my circumstances, the potentially random recollections I have of what I may have lived previously, the seemingly steady nature of what seems to have come in the past that would help me come to grasps on the reliability of the very ambiguous "future." Yes, these things point to my existence being possible. I may be a little bias though. Empirical evidence is very persuasive but to say that it points to truth is to make an entirely separate assumption. I feel that it relies heavily on the assumption that these recollections actually happened and that my thoughts and experiences point to some form of a reality. At the same time, this could be a lie.
I have had a number of unfinished debates about how existence is even possible and, maybe it's due to not asking the right questions, as Heidegger would have us believe, or maybe it's due to a lack of understanding on my part of the basic tenants of philosophical inquiry but it seems to me that one thing is truly certain without assumption and that is I cannot be certain of anything.
I cannot let this stop me. There seems to be a reality around me and through me. I seem to be a part of something that truly is, whether it be a fantasy or the only possible world. I see no other route than to make an assumption and that is...
Assumption 2: Existence is actual
This is is to say that I believe there must be something. From things like Star Trek, we get this notion that people could be living in a simulated world. There could be an absolute reality around us and we have no idea of what that reality is. However, my point here is not to claim a higher ground of one absolute reality and it's not to claim that there are alternate realities that may exist. It is simply to say that there is a reality we observe, there are things that are true to that reality, whether we are aware of them or not. All this being said and, yet, I still don't feel this goes far enough. I need another assumption.
Assumption 3: That which I claim to be takes on the attribute of existence
This is madness. (I can hear someone out there saying, "No, this is Sparta!" but I digress) At first glance, the phrase may seem a little tautological but once you understand my intent behind the phrase, I assure you, it's far from being a rephrasing of a statement. What I perceive and think to be real is real. It may be a bit of an odd thought when encountered, especially since a good number of people would associate it with a relativistic approach to understanding reality but I am, in no way, attempting to push forth such an idea. It might as well be the case that there is some absolute reality that underpins all of reality but I find it difficult to distinguish between the reality which we can "know" (I use that loosely to mean more along lines of perception or imagination) and the reality that truly is. To say that there is something that exists but cannot be perceived in any way (through the senses or, if you so choose, divinely laid upon the observe otherwise), is the same as saying that there exists something that has no baring upon the reality in which we exist. To me, this is nonsense.
To me, the true meaning of existence is, in essence, some state of being that has some effect upon the reality in which it exists. In this manner, every fantasy that has happened, even if it does not match with the plausible absolute reality or the set of plausible absolute realities, still has an effect upon the absolute reality in which it is claimed to not exist in. In this way, it exists. Possible not in a tangible form or from an empirically provable standpoint and, quite possibly, it has not true correlation with the reality that actually is but it touches it. In some way, it strikes a reverberating wave throughout the reality in which it exists.
This one way form of existence, to exists towards something instead of absolutely, is what I would like to explore in my next few blog posts. That is, of course, unless I am totally misled in these thoughts of mine and, if that is the case, please tell me. Otherwise, next time, I want to talk about what makes up reality, through assumptions of course.
Until next time, then.
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