There is no such thing as truth and error

There is no such thing as truth and error. If a crow sees mistakes the hoverfly for a wasp and chooses not to eat it – the crow could be said to be in error. But there is a certain truth in the crow’s error – it is correct that the crow should be in error. If we disagree with a group in consensus they might see us as in error – but who is to say that we are wrong to be in error. Who is the ultimate arbiter? Philosophers love discovering the truth – yet they fall into error less the understand that each discovery of truth is also a discovery of error.

Reason exists in the world and is perfect

Reason exists in this world and is perfect; it is reasoning that is necessarily flawed. This is for two reasons. First, the moment you try and substitute x into the real world it involves trying to partition and categorise a phenomenon in a way that can never be done. Nothing in the natural world is discrete in the mathematical sense. Second, people’s desires get confused with the reasoning – so one is never quite as rigorous as discovering a solution if it is likely to conflict with our needs and desires. And as Hume knew, reason is always the handmaiden of the passions.

Reason exists in the world and is perfect

Reason exists in this world and is perfect; it is reasoning that is necessarily flawed. This is for two reasons. First, the moment you try and substitute x into the real world it involves trying to partition and categorise a phenomenon in a way that can never be done. Nothing in the natural world is discrete in the mathematical sense. Second, people’s desires get confused with the reasoning – so one is never quite as rigorous as discovering a solution if it is likely to conflict with our needs and desires. And as Hume knew, reason is always the handmaiden of the passions.

The philosopher's peace

It is interesting that philosophers profess to be lovers of truth, yet very often what they seek is peace. They aim to construct a belief system that is so comprehensive that it cannot be assailed by doubt – especially their own. In this they are no different from other people. But something in their intellect or character means that they have to work much harder at not doubting themselves.

Living is knowing; knowing is distortion

Is there such a thing as truth that isn’t distorted by human prejudice? Yes, but we’ll never know it. Knowing and Prejudice are the same. As soon as we know we distort. In fact, knowing is distorting. As knowing increases prejudice increases. This is why only dead people attain truth – because they have stopped knowing. Living is knowing. Living is distorting.

Truths are constructions in which we believe

Many people go through life in possession of what they call ‘truths’. They are not truths, only constructions in which they believe. If they hear a contrasting version, they will generally hear it with the ears and not their mind. It will got ignored, forgotten, or repeated as something not to be taken seriously. They might call it a falsehood. Every now and then, for reasons that remain mysterious, we hear a conflicting construction to our own (or others) orthodox view and we are jarred. We see that the new account might also be true as is our old one. We do not know which one to believe and are plunged into a conflict. We feel despairing, and think incessantly about Truth. In these situations it is impossible to carry on with our old belief because we now know that it may not be true. At these times we use reason to assimilate the new idea, although reason is secondary to the mysterious inculcation of the new idea. Eventually, the conflict passes. The new truth may replace the old truth entirely or it may be a synthesis of the two. Sometimes people have not the reasoning power to synthesise, so simply swap an old belief for the new. The old truth will henceforward be viewed to contain falsehood. Each conflict that results in synthesis will bring them closer to Zen, but further from Zen. Sometimes people do not synthesise or swap, but choose to stick with their own belief after the conflict. Their old belief is tested and made stronger by this, and the new one revealed as falsehood. All this takes them closer to Zen, or further away.

We cannot choose to hear truth, nor to speak it

A truth can only be considered such as long as there are no alternative accounts believed by the individual. And these alternative accounts can only be assimilated if the individual has the ears to hear them. There is no truth that can be spoken of that will be relevant to all people. We can not choose to hear truth, nor to speak it.