What is reason?
Tat for tit
Tit for tat
What is this?
What is that?
What is rhyme?
What is reason?
Would you say
It's time
For Love to have its day...
Or am I just a-teasin'?
Many of us confuse this word reason with other words, like logic, cognizance, mind, sense, consciousness, truth, rationality or cause - as in cause and effect - because it is by applying concepts of language (words, symbols, feelings, and/or perceptions by which we have learned to communicate), consciousness (mindful self-awareness of one's own thoughts, identity, and environment), and logic (that part of reasoning which forms the basis for inquiry into questions of cause and effect) that we have come to understand human reasoning and its effects on our actions within the realms of knowledge, free will, and moral and ethical responsibility.
Knowledge can generally be described as being rational, a priori, independent of our experience, or, empirical, a posteriori, dependent on our experience - central core meanings within epistemology, the study of knowledge.
Free will, on the one hand, is a laughable social and political oxymoron; while, on the other, it is an individual human conundrum debated ad infinitum since before the time of Socrates. Whether we are dispossessed of this causality agent by virtue of having given in to societal dictates, even before our birth - or not - is a question often left unanswered by most of us...given that most of us assume we are naturally possessed with this ability to freely choose our actions...bound within the laws of nature...if often quite apart from our cultural inheritance.
Of this debate, the crux of the dilemma, nevertheless, calls upon rational human societies and individuals to resolve age-old conflict in new ways consistent with Man's natural bent toward survival and environmental sustainability. If free will be but illusory - even transcendental - does not escape the argument of whether or not it is of the determinist or compatibilist school of philosophy, for instance.
Our power to reason is often cited as the difference between us and the lower animals. It is what causes us to act upon our free will by logically processing derivative answers to questions...or stated premises to conclusions...by subtracting - or deducting - seemingly illogical abstractions - in order to bring about inferences, answers, or conclusions...by way of stimulation, influence or persuasion. The commonly-held belief here is that Man is somehow superior in Nature, and hence, must assume stewardship - or dominion - over much of Creation.
And it is through our supposed ability to reason we consciously form our motives... which inspire or call us to action.
Thus it is the force of our arguments by which we are often falsely led down the primrose path leading to nowhere in particular...
Do you think this is often so?
Could it be we are but fallible beings who easily and often are misled by our own false assumptions?
Are our arguments and conclusions - our less than completely logical or honest answers to life's many riddles - leading us away from our most-honorable purposes more often than not?
Reason does not rule out unconscious influence on our thoughts and behavioral activities; nor does it explain away very well all lingering questions about...
Intention and Desire
Observation and Experience
Evaluation and Discussion
Self-Imposed Limitations
Denial of Facts
Lies and Distortions
Myth and Reality
...and the like.
Instead, it reinforces my belief that our thoughts and actions are ultimately rooted...and persist...not so much in reason, but in our built-in biological propensities toward a primordial game of survival - seeking pleasure at every turn.
Therefore, if this be true - on its surface, at least - then reason itself becomes suspect as nothing more than manufactured thought borne from an illusory premise; and our reliance upon evolutionary trends in communication to see us through our days only exposes us for the _[fill in the blank]_ we have become - our own worst enemies!
We know this from history and we know this from our own experience - if we but simply examine the evidence.
If we are to evolve as a species we must challenge our assumptions and beliefs about a lot of things. If we are to hold on to our perception of ourselves as even rational reasoning creatures, that is.
In suspending our hard-held beliefs...those voices of obvious or apparent reason...by constantly challenging their underlying assumptions; by trusting in our own physiologically-rooted emotional interactions...both inside and outside our spheres of influence...we will be less-guided by words and imagery...which tend only to lead us away from our better, more-highly-evolved instincts.
Instead, we will merely allow our natural instincts for survival and our natural seeking of pleasure to inform and supersede all other honest appraisals of this question.
All rational discourse must naturally devolve from these elemental understandings innate to our individual and collective concepts of being - well before silly words obfuscate the picture - lest we delude ourselves again with still more of the same... less-than-honest, illogical questions and answers using them.
Seeing the world in this way is not to discount reason; it is simply a means to an end - a way to use reason to serve us in the more beneficent manner we deserve.
I dare say, without real emotional love - of ourselves and all life (though reasonable persons may agree to disagree) - and without conclusive proof of love's existence in objective reality, then does subjective reason even really matter?
Can we deny the existence of our emotions - even of love?
Furthermore, is reason alone a sound enough basis for coordinating our myriad thought communiques or for organizing our intentional actions in this world?
I think not.
Only the truth of this...will finally set us free...toward the path of our own salvation...and the lessening of our suffering, don't ya think?
So what...do you think...is reason?
Would you trust in the truth of your answer?
Let us know if you care so much about these words, huh?
For me, my own words read here are meant to inspire playfulness and joyfulness - hardly amounting much to anything else at all!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
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