RE: Philosophical ideas and acting "as though"
March 31, 2017 at 8:44 am
(This post was last modified: March 31, 2017 at 8:46 am by henryp.)
On the meditating, while I'm sure it works on some things, on others, I imagine it's the equivalent of 'praying the gay away.' You seem to have more faith in the ability of the conscious part of the brain to change the wiring of person than I do.
As to why keep some delusions? Delusions aren't always bad, particularly on the large scale social level. If someone thinks cleaning toilets is noble, because they are doing their part, and hard work is a virtue, that's good. If everyone more accurately viewed cleaning toilets as a horrible waste of what little time we have on the earth, our toilets would be a lot dirtier. Just like the illusion that people are responsible for their behavior. It creates a stigma that demonizes some behavior, which influences people's behavior. So even though free will is an illusion, their behavior is being manipulated by the lie in a way beneficial to society.
Another good one, is caring about people. I think the empathy some people feel for every human on earth is pretty nonsensical. But if everybody thought it was nonsensical, and behaved accordingly, that'd probably be bad. Or right there, me thinking the human race descending into chaos is 'bad', rather than a meaningless occurrence.
The other thing, is that our evolutionary response to things is a tangible thing. I'm programmed to want to live indefinitely for now. So it's natural I don't want to die. At what point, do we take ownership of our subconscious reactions, rather than view them as something separate that needs to be conquered? I'm scared of dying, because I'm programmed to be scared of dying. Is that not a rational justification? I don't have an opinion yet. Something I still think about.
As to why keep some delusions? Delusions aren't always bad, particularly on the large scale social level. If someone thinks cleaning toilets is noble, because they are doing their part, and hard work is a virtue, that's good. If everyone more accurately viewed cleaning toilets as a horrible waste of what little time we have on the earth, our toilets would be a lot dirtier. Just like the illusion that people are responsible for their behavior. It creates a stigma that demonizes some behavior, which influences people's behavior. So even though free will is an illusion, their behavior is being manipulated by the lie in a way beneficial to society.
Another good one, is caring about people. I think the empathy some people feel for every human on earth is pretty nonsensical. But if everybody thought it was nonsensical, and behaved accordingly, that'd probably be bad. Or right there, me thinking the human race descending into chaos is 'bad', rather than a meaningless occurrence.
The other thing, is that our evolutionary response to things is a tangible thing. I'm programmed to want to live indefinitely for now. So it's natural I don't want to die. At what point, do we take ownership of our subconscious reactions, rather than view them as something separate that needs to be conquered? I'm scared of dying, because I'm programmed to be scared of dying. Is that not a rational justification? I don't have an opinion yet. Something I still think about.
