John Ravilious

 

A civilised person's view of reality

John Ravilious 2009 

If one looks at what people believe to be the truth, one seems to come up against a small problem, in that what seems to be seen as the truth, could not possibly be the truth.  So what is going on here? 

So what I want to do now is paint a picture of how society’s truth strategies operate.  And here I intend to see truth as a social device, and not the truth at all.

Let me start this discussion with an observation, and this is that each country in the world behaves as though it had what one could call animal form.  So I see whole countries competing with each other, and this then puts genetic pressures on people in these groupings, to develop usable form, that supports group existence and evolve structures, that give whole countries practical workability.

So now if one looks inside one of these structures, we will expect to see ideas and truth models, that give the structure a workable form, that will support it internally, and also externally, and in combat with other groupings.
 
Now it so happens that when it comes to truths and beliefs, the human mind works more effectively if these truths and ideas are a logical form.  So what happens here is that a model of how reality works, is sort of given a logical shape like which is as near as possible to a picture of how things actually function.  So one ends up with a practical truth picture, that is a compromise between what seems to be true, and what seems like a logical understanding of how things actually are. 

So there is a lot of stretching and pulling here as the truth, which all people in a group, must believe, has to be, as near as possible logical, and as near as possible true.  And this group of ideas must then presumably be further modified, to make the whole thing workable. 

And now we are back to the start of this piece of writing, as one can now see why the truth, that people believe to be the truth, is simply not the truth. 

Now I had better step in here fairly fast, as I see many of the things that people believe to be the truth, as really true and correct.  But within this complete truth model, is a lot of logical nonsense, that people will support as the truth, with great violence.  So one mustn’t debunk people’s beliefs. 

So to sum up this process of human life then, we must see a collection of ideas and rules, that are the product of Darwinian natural selection. 

So within each group or country, there will be ideas and behaviour patterns that have evolved, due to pressures from competition between individuals within each group or country. 

But at the same time, ideas and behaviour patterns will be generated, due to natural selective pressure, produced by competitive forces, resulting from competition  between whole groups of people.  So we must see countries, or groups of people, as whole animal like and aggressive too. 

And now these directives are not in the slightest bit concerned whether the ideas that we must all live by, are the actual truth or not.  But naturally if ideas really are true, they tend to be practical ideas that work. 

So here we see the evolution of truth strategies that are practical and useful, and which are then held in place by violence. 

Now perhaps the picture I have painted, is a bit too simple, as these closed systems we call countries, will adopt truth where it is on offer, as it were.  And it will be evident that a civilisation that knows the real truth, will succeed, and be more successful than one that employs dogma and half truths as its ?

So the system is not exactly against individuals who seek truth.  But what I say about these groupings being blind systems, that require a truth model, that serves their purpose as competing units, is still true.  So you could say that countries both deny and seek truth.  So we must see the main drive is towards these belief forming units, that impose a false truth model, that everyone in each unit has to follow.  And the consequence of any like strange ideas, is social alienation, and the stopping of all practical support from society, at least where this is possible.

© John Ravilious 2009