Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia; Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.
Blessed are the flexible for they will not get bent out of shape
Post 85.May 22, 2019
The BothAnd Philosophy
Tolerant and Critical, Flexible and Firm
Philosophy is the study of ideas & beliefs. Not to determine which are right or wrong – that is the province of Religion and Politics – but which are closer to Universal Truth. Barring direct revelation, that ideal goal is un-reachable of course, and can only be approximated by careful Observation, Reason & Con-sensus, which is the method of Science. But the product of those practical procedures is isolated facts, whose meaning is limited to specific contexts. The role of Philosophy is to view those facts in a broader frame of reference ─ to generalize1, to idealize ─ to become wise. In order to go beyond ivory tower theories though, applied Philosophy endeavors to observe the behavior of wild ideas in their natural habitat.
The BothAnd philosophy is an experiment, which applies the idealist implications of the Enformationism worldview to real-world quandaries that are still being debated after millennia of study by Theologians, Scientists, and Philosophers. It’s a Metaphysical perspective, in that it is primarily concerned with Ontology, Epistemology, & Cosmology. Those categories include abstract & general concepts, such as : G*D, Existence, Causation, Logic, Mathematics, & Forms. But the blog neces-sarily takes into account the views of those with exclusive Physical versus Spiritual beliefs. Since it includes the principles of Complementarity, Reciprocity, and Holism, BothAnd can’t completely ignore other points of view. But it can be skeptical2 of belief systems that result in violent clashes between opposing adherents.
Almost everyone will agree with the broad precepts noted above, but many will disagree on specific applications, due to their backgrounds and biases. So, in order to live peacefully among people of many different creeds & cultures, we must practice tolerance, and seek win-win solutions to conflicts. Yet, those who believe that their steadfast faith is the only thing standing between them and eternal damnation may be in-tolerant of beliefs at odds with their own core principles. Only those who are able to doubt the absolute veracity of their personal perspective (or scriptural interpretation) will be open to correction. In other words, their faith is not fixed, but evolves as new information is available. Most people are somewhat uncertain of their knowledge and understanding. But political and religious extremists are not inclined to self-doubt.
The opinion leaders of the world have always been bold, arrogant & assertive, sometimes pretentious & prideful. So they often treat their followers as expendable pawns. Even so, most wise men have advised the masses to be humble & meek with each other. But such passive & submissive attitudes make them easily manipulated sheep for autocratic shepherds. Which is why BothAnd combines humility with freethinking. As Jesus said, “Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves”. The skeptical serpents are aware that it’s the intolerant minority3 in religion & politics that make life difficult for the silent majority. The middle-of-the-road masses tend to be more susceptible to the insistent influence of confident con-men and self-assured dictators. After all, Hitler and Mussolini preached to adoring crowds, even as they led them like lemmings into a world war. That’s why the BothAnd philosophy is both Flexible and Firm : bend like a reed in the wind, but don’t break.
Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken. ___Albert Camus
newborn – we are tender and weak in death – we are rigid and stiff
living plants are supple and yielding dead branches are dry and brittle
so the hard and unyielding belong to death and the soft and pliant belong to life
an inflexible army does not triumph an unbending tree breaks in the wind
thus the rigid and inflexible will surely fail while the soft and flowing will prevail
___Lao Tzu – Tao Te Ching
1. To Generalize : To infer (a general principle, trend, etc.) from particular facts, statistics, or examples. The facts may be real & physical, but the principles are ideal & meta-physical. Specific things are what we sense, but general concepts must be deduced by rational or imaginative means. Those holistic ideas are equivalent to Plato’s Forms or Archetypes.
2. Skeptical : The New Testament writer of 1 John 4:1 - 5 admonished his followers : “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world”. Nowadays we might warn against “Fake News”. That’s good advice, even though I’m skeptical of the divine inspiration of its author.
3. Intolerant Minority : N. N. Taleb noted an interesting observation. He said that inflexible extre-mists are few in number, but significant in power, because the amenable majority can be swayed by the views of those who seem certain of their beliefs. BothAnd is intended to be adaptable, hence vulnerable to exploitation. So that’s why a healthy skepticism is necessary : to fend off false prophets and con-artists . http://bothandblog3.enformationism.info/page30.html
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