When exactly does reality become obsolete?
Below what transpired between me and a friend in Orkut. I just wanted to document is somewhere my blog came in handy :)
I think reality by its very nature ought to be absolute. Reality is the Truth. If reality isn't the Truth, it cannot be reality anymore. Truth is absolute, it does not need rational justification. Truth is. Reality is. Always is :)
I believe that rational percpetion of reality can be a myth as you rightly pointed out, if there is no revelation. Lets just assume a case wherein Truth has made an effort to reveal itself to man. If this revelation is assumed to be correct, then it can be assumed that ones perception of reality need not be myth but the Truth.
And I believe that the revelation of Truth by Truth itself is the Bible. :) So if I were to use your analogy of life painted on some canvas and when I have the 'option' (God given freewill) to choose the canvas, I guess the safest option to me would be the word of God. I wouldn't place my bet on the ability of my rational perception to somehow transmogrify into reality ;)
The 'balance of reality VS perception' idea is good. How can one be sure that one has got the balance right?
Ans: sense of satisfaction in our daily works
Well so everything, the discernment of whether our balance is right or not, boils down to 'a sense of satisfaction and an ease of mind at the end of it all'. This just takes the question to another level, how would you know that that is all that is to life and that the 'degree' of sense of satisfaction which you feel enough is and that there aren't higher degrees of satisfaction and peace?
You know the story of a eagle hatched in a chicken nest right? There was an 'expressed' satisfaction but still there was somewhere deep within its heart a 'repressed' (Freud... ;) yearning as to why there couldn't be more to life.
Another thing about this satisfaction index or for that matter happiness index to judge if life is going in the right direction is that it makes life livable on a day to day basis but it does not answer the bigger quesions of life. like, What is life? Why live? Is there an ulterior purpose? Why be ethical?
If I am satisfied and happy robbing people, having the sadistic pleasure of infliction pain on people, why should I not continue with my life satisfied and happy as I am. What creates in me an obligation to others? For our day to day activities the answer to these importnat questions don't seem mandatory but there are times when these questions would gnaw at our hearts. At those times if we look UP seeking for an answer He'll give us one. :)
Life skills is good. But when one does not even know what life is all about, how can one be sure that one has got all life skills correct?
When you had to get skilled in Mainframes, someone at CTS came over and taught you that so that you'll get skilled right. A JAVA guy wouldn't be able to get you skilled in mainframes.
Now who tranied this trainer of Mainframes? Who trained his trainer you keep going back you'll reach a dead end with IBM. Obviously, because IBM invented the Mainframes (the Big Iron). If we have a doubt with Mainframes the first thing we do it refer to IBM online manual. This gives us a gurantee that we'll get our skillset right.
Likewise in life which is a lot more complex than Mainframes, if we need the surity that we have got our life skills right who else can we turn to other than the creator of life?Skill sets got from anywhere else wouldn't gurantee that it would be fool proof. If God is to life what IBM is to mainframes, then Bible is to living what IBM's mainframe manual is to application development.
I think reality by its very nature ought to be absolute. Reality is the Truth. If reality isn't the Truth, it cannot be reality anymore. Truth is absolute, it does not need rational justification. Truth is. Reality is. Always is :)
I believe that rational percpetion of reality can be a myth as you rightly pointed out, if there is no revelation. Lets just assume a case wherein Truth has made an effort to reveal itself to man. If this revelation is assumed to be correct, then it can be assumed that ones perception of reality need not be myth but the Truth.
And I believe that the revelation of Truth by Truth itself is the Bible. :) So if I were to use your analogy of life painted on some canvas and when I have the 'option' (God given freewill) to choose the canvas, I guess the safest option to me would be the word of God. I wouldn't place my bet on the ability of my rational perception to somehow transmogrify into reality ;)
The 'balance of reality VS perception' idea is good. How can one be sure that one has got the balance right?
Ans: sense of satisfaction in our daily works
Well so everything, the discernment of whether our balance is right or not, boils down to 'a sense of satisfaction and an ease of mind at the end of it all'. This just takes the question to another level, how would you know that that is all that is to life and that the 'degree' of sense of satisfaction which you feel enough is and that there aren't higher degrees of satisfaction and peace?
You know the story of a eagle hatched in a chicken nest right? There was an 'expressed' satisfaction but still there was somewhere deep within its heart a 'repressed' (Freud... ;) yearning as to why there couldn't be more to life.
Another thing about this satisfaction index or for that matter happiness index to judge if life is going in the right direction is that it makes life livable on a day to day basis but it does not answer the bigger quesions of life. like, What is life? Why live? Is there an ulterior purpose? Why be ethical?
If I am satisfied and happy robbing people, having the sadistic pleasure of infliction pain on people, why should I not continue with my life satisfied and happy as I am. What creates in me an obligation to others? For our day to day activities the answer to these importnat questions don't seem mandatory but there are times when these questions would gnaw at our hearts. At those times if we look UP seeking for an answer He'll give us one. :)
Life skills is good. But when one does not even know what life is all about, how can one be sure that one has got all life skills correct?
When you had to get skilled in Mainframes, someone at CTS came over and taught you that so that you'll get skilled right. A JAVA guy wouldn't be able to get you skilled in mainframes.
Now who tranied this trainer of Mainframes? Who trained his trainer you keep going back you'll reach a dead end with IBM. Obviously, because IBM invented the Mainframes (the Big Iron). If we have a doubt with Mainframes the first thing we do it refer to IBM online manual. This gives us a gurantee that we'll get our skillset right.
Likewise in life which is a lot more complex than Mainframes, if we need the surity that we have got our life skills right who else can we turn to other than the creator of life?Skill sets got from anywhere else wouldn't gurantee that it would be fool proof. If God is to life what IBM is to mainframes, then Bible is to living what IBM's mainframe manual is to application development.