The trap of philosophical identity

Life is complex and often confusing. We’re scared little animals with consciousnesses, stranded on a planet floating through empty space, with no means of escape. There seems to be no meaning, rhyme or reason to any of this, so we all try and  find our own meaning in the madness. We seek out the patterns, and try to fill our void of understanding with knowledge, philosophies or doctrines like religion. It goes without saying, knowledge is power, however within the hunt for knowledge there is a trap many of us fall into. I like to call this, the trap of philosophical identity.

Once we’ve accumulated an array of ideas that fit neatly together, we often like to group them together into a philosophy or belief system. Some notable examples would be stoicism, solopisism or even buddhism. This is fine for the most part, as it categorises different beliefs and gives us a reference point for various ideas. However, we fall into a trap when we identify ourselves with these philosophies.

People start calling themselves Buddhists, Christians and atheist, amongst other things, to give their beliefs and ideas a sense of identity. An identity, that by it’s very nature is an illusion created by the ego. A false perception of a so called ‘self’ that does not exist. We are nothing more than a collection of cells and brain chemical changes, how can a conditioned object possibly give itself an identity. If you want to gain true knowledge, and form your own truth, then identifying yourself with your beliefs is the biggest hindrance in all your intellectual pursuits.

When you identify yourself with your beliefs, then you narrow you thinking to that one specific belief. Anything that goes against this is dismissed, and you gain a sort of confirmation bias against anything that goes against your said belief. Atheists are terrible for this. They are against religion, yet by identifying themselves as an atheist, they have just traded one belief system for another, atheism. There’s no problem believing or disbelieving in a god, but saying your belief is fact and everyone else is stupid, is ludicrous. Identifying yourself with a certain belief system just hinders you from greater understanding, as you will never look at different perspectives and form your OWN opinion. Rather, just the opinions of a philosophy devised by others.

I suggest rather than following any sort of philosophy, we remain neutral and sceptical of all possibilities. Remain open to new opinions rather than staying stuck in you own stubborn beliefs. You will never learn anything if you form your ideology and leave it at that. New knowledge should be open to interpretation, and not just thrown away because it goes against your beliefs, you may be throwing away something valuable.

So, don’t just read the bible and call it day. Don’t read, a science encyclopaedia and leave it at that. Research every angle of every argument and remain open to change. Place ideas and opinions in different contexts, and accept that you are not your beliefs, rather an ever-changing state of being.

–THE LONELY WEST–

The holy cycle

The universe is strange place, and as science progresses, our understanding of how it works changes year by year. It seems like whenever we have a solid foundation of scientific knowledge about ur world, another theory or finding destroys what we thought we knew. For example, when I was in school, my psychics teacher would tell us that a ‘quark‘ was the smallest fundamental particle in the universe. However, for anyone with an interest in science and the confusing world of quantum physics, you’ll know that this this could very well not be the case. Thanks a lot string theory!

It’s a current belief that as we go smaller and smaller into the particles that make up this reality, we find that on a subatomic level, every piece of matter is made up of vibrational waves of energy. As physics clearly tells us, energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred. So if everything in the universe is made up of energy, then what does this tell us about the nature of our existence?

Well, if energy can’t be created or destroyed, then that means nothing in our observable universe can be created or destroyed, even ourselves. But how can that be possible? Nothing is eternal, humans die and physical objects eventually decay. When we die, we are gone, we longer exist, however the basic laws of physics go against this. With this in mind, I hypothesise that everything that exists within our universe, has always been here, and nothing new is ever added to it. Neither, is anything removed from it.

Think about it, all life is energy. When we die, our bodies decay and rot, we are eaten by other animals to keep them alive and reproducing. When them animals die, their bodies decay and the cycle goes on. Nothing ever ceases to exist, it is simply impossible. Rather, like physics tells us, everything that matter makes up, is just transferred into another form. Birth, growth and decay, it’s the cycle of life. This is the bigger picture we are all a part of, everything is one and connected, just in different, transferring and interchangeable forms.

This bigger picture, or cycle, is what I like to think most, if not all religions were getting at when they spoke of a ‘God.’ This ultimate truth of everything being one part of a larger picture, is God. The very essence of everything in our existence, not some almighty creator. I believe that many of the holy scriptures, such as bible, were using metaphors to describe this truth of oneness. However, humans misconstrued this stories and took them too literally, envisioning a creator or all seeing deity.

In an early Christian scripture, it was said that ‘Jesus’ quoted this, as an explanation of where God is…

“I am the light which is over all things”

“I am all”

“From me came forth, and to me all attained”

“Split a piece of wood, I am there”

“Lift up the stone, and I am there”

If one was to take this quote literally, you would bring forth the assumption that our creator ‘God,’ is everywhere at once. However, I feel that the word God itself has grown shallow and meaningless throughout time. As stated, if you dismiss all preconceptions of the word God, and take it as this cycle, or bigger picture I’m speaking of, the quote resonates with this theory. It tells us of an overall essence of all life and things, that is everything and everywhere at once. Not a concious being, rather a unity of everything.

It’s worth saying now, that thinking for yourself is one of the most valuable skills you can have. You can take what you’ve read here however you want, but please don;t form your opinions based on a single book, belief system or blog post. Look at every side of the coin from every perspective, and form your own truth. Because most of the time, you’ll find a deeper truth, hidden within what you once thought was the ultimate truth.

–THE LONELY WEST–

Here’s a thought…

What if our entire lives are a computer simulation. I know this idea has been thrown around a lot, but hear me out. Say the current reality we find ourselves in, is in fact, just a simulation of human life. We are unaware of this truth, and go about our seemingly real lives without this knowledge. Now say the human race within this simulation progresses to the point were we can simulate our reality and the human experience. The problem is, we are already in a simulation of reality, so we would actually just be creating a simulation of an already simulated simulation.

What if in fact, the ‘humans’ that are initially simulating our existence are too, unaware that they are living in a simulated reality. So in creating our reality, they are just creating a simulation of a simulation that eventually creates a simulation of there own simulated simulation. With all this in mind, who’s to say that we’re not just a simulation in a long chain of simulated simulations that are simulating themselves without the knowledge that they are already in a simulation.

Before dismissing this theory and writing it off as something obviously wrote by someone who’s taken too much acid, just bear with me for a few more paragraphs. Of the wall theories like this, are often dismissed by most people and remain in the realms of science fiction. However, I ask you, is there anyway of disproving this theory?

No. There is not. Don’t try to tell me otherwise, because as it stands, there is no way of proving that we are not living within a simulation. I am not saying it is true or that I believe it, I am simply saying that it is plausible, and should not simply be thrown out because it goes against our normal beliefs. Normally, the truth is something far stranger than what we thought at the time. I mean back in day, one would be burnt as a witch for assuming that the earth revolves around the sun. All I’m saying is that if a theory is plausible, then it is something that should still be considered, and not simply looked down upon because of our pre-conceptions associated with it.

Some final thoughts before I end my ramblings. As we’ve established, there is no way of disproving that we are not living in a simulation. If we can’t know for a fact that our lives are real, then how can be so sure of ANYTHING else. You can sit there all day and argue the fact that you definitely have legs, because you can see them. However, if we do live in a simulation, then you don’t have legs, your nothing more than a piece of code. If we cannot rule out the idea that we could be nothing more than a computer simulation then how can we be so sure about something as simple as having legs. The fact of the matter is, we can never be 100% certain of anything until we can rule out theories like this.

It’s cool to think about stuff like this, or you can just ignore it at the risk of realising maybe all of your life dreams and ambitious are completely and utterly pointless. Just maybe all these social constructs and emotions we hold so solidly are nothing more than a figment of our imaginations. But hey, whatever helps you enter sleep simulation better at night.

–THE LONELY WEST–