Post 20

In order to be aware of experience and reality in the way that we are we need to isolate, divide and thus circumscribe aspects of it.

Take the experiences of space and time. We circumscribe areas of space and call them countries, towns, planets, solar systems, atoms - feeling that one area of space is closed off, separate, from all other areas, that one area of space is locally stuck and disconnected from other areas.

We divide time into minutes, hours, months, years and more broadly past, present and future - feeling that the past is separate from the present and future, that it has been and gone and has no more effect or existence.

We divide ourselves from each other too. We see ourselves as separate from our environment, from our neighbours, from our dead ancestors, and have done horrific things because of this.

These feelings we have of things being separate are just the result of us laying constructed abstract rigid grids over reality and not being aware of the effects such grids have on us.

When one thinks receptively and clearly all the constructed separating grids that we forcefully impress upon reality start to melt away, they may still be apparent in some superficial sense but you see far beyond them, understanding that nothing is actually separate or isolated.

Post 19

We are conditioned to automatically and unconsciously think and perceive in certain ways. I believe the individuals who implement and maintain such conditioning are themselves largely unaware of what they are doing, for they themselves were and are conditioned. Thus the vast majority of people are caught, stuck, in negative imprinted thought patterns, unable to perceive beyond the limits imposed on them by culture.

A powerful thought revolution or paradigm shift occurs in culture and society when individuals directly express ideas, insights, that go beyond and thus challenge the picture of reality impressed upon them. I thus find that largely what I am trying to do is think beyond what and how I have been taught to think. I feel like I am constantly trying to think on a level or plane different, alien, to the level I have been encouraged to think on, trying to find words or ideas to ground and become more aware of my particular ways of perceiving reality. This is a difficult task but one which is necessary for development and growth.

Post 18

Realities are made consciously intelligible through and by the development of systems of symbolic representation. Our raw experiences of reality or realities are translated into abstract constructed mediums, allowing for our unique ability to consciously reflect. This is a fundamental observation that ought to be taught, along with its numerous significant implications, from a young age and kept in mind as much as possible. It is coded symbolic information that maintains conscious reflection and civilisation.

Post 17

Every idea and and observation represents, primarily, an individual's attempts at coming to terms with, understanding, the world in which they live. This is all thinking and philosophizing has ever been, a record of people sorting out and interpreting their experiences. There are thus no ends, resolutions or conclusions in thinking and understanding. In this respect my writings, too, should be seen as gropings, as evidence of an individual attempting to understand the world in which they live, as records of a continual inconclusive process.

Post 16

Theories involve explanations. To formulate a theory, say, on aesthetics or poetics, is to try and explain what aesthetic and poetic processes are, as though their essences could be explicated and simply "understood". It should be clear that one cannot simply arrive at a final and literal explanation or theory regarding what the aesthetic or poetic process is, or what anything is.

The full beauty and meaning of things and events derives from the fact that they are fundamentally mysterious and indeterminate. One cannot absolutely pin anything down with words, categories and concepts. To think that one can is an immensely common human confusion that leads to much unnecessary negativity.

Post 15

I would never want to be right, wrong, true or untrue. Such words mean very little to me. I aspire to be perceptive, insightful, perhaps prescient, receptive, keen and aware.

Post 14

Even though it may be argued that there exists no objective or absolute reality, in the sense that there is no reality without a perceiving subject, I believe we have to assume that there exists some absolute universal stuff which is, fundamentally, the same for everyone.

When two people experience an object they will undoubtedly experience it in different ways, ways which are relative to how each person has been brought up to view reality. But the basic fundamental stuff or substance of which the object is composed and constituted remains the same for each individual.

All the objects of our conscious experience are coloured by our past, by our cultural and social upbringing. We thus abstract from the universal substance, of which everything is composed, and structure our own realities, including our own views and ideas of what reality is. To keep this in mind, to internalize this view, is to my mind exceedingly important, for it encourages individuals not to impose their views of what reality is onto other people. All dogmatic, absolutist and essentialist attitudes are alleviated by keeping this relativistic insight in mind.