Friday, May 21, 2004
We assume too much
We assume that the world exists independently of us. It doesn't. We assume that the world was here before we were born. It wasn't. We assume that other people are as we see them. They aren't. But we also assume that they have hidden depths. They don't. We assume that there were and are great people in the world who know more than we do. There weren't and aren't. We assume that there is something waiting for us just around the corner. There is no corner. We assume that our words have meaning. They don't. We assume that there is a higher order, whether we call it God, science, or ethics. There isn't. We assume too much.
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I do try to question my own assumptions quite a bit. Really, that's the main reason I'm doing this blog, to examine the underpinnings of my own belief systems. As far as your point that in denying all of these supposed assumptions, I am making assumptions myself: that is a result of the rhetorical stance I adopted in this post. Actually my intention is not to assume anything, but to say that even the most cherished beliefs and received truths that we have are based on unconscious factors. In particular, we pretty much assume that our perceptions equate to reality, and indeed that our interpretations of those perceptions equate to reality. And that is why I say that we assume too much.
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