During one of my college literature classes I needed to interpret the meaning of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis. To me this story demonstrated that the mere act of getting out of bed in the morning is an act based upon an individual’s philosophy whether that individual is cognizant of that philosophy or not. Such an individual may not know the true heart or any other equally critical aspect of that philosophy, but that individual’s actions would be founded nonetheless upon that philosophical position. Any and all value systems are rooted in a philosophical point of view. All religions, even atheism, are philosophical positions even if your philosophical position is that your religion is inspired truth revealed by divine power.
Philosophy is not intellectual entertainment. Philosophy is an attempt by the individual or individuals to understand the nature of reality. Philosophy in and of itself is not the reality it seeks to understand. It is the intellectual process of attempting to describe the nature of reality. Reality precedes and supersedes any and all philosophy, even those philosophies that proclaim to be reality itself; for example, a religion that proclaims that its supreme being is, in fact, a reality. There are many diverse religions that proclaim their supreme being is the real deal over and above any other supreme beings of other religions.
This stated understanding of the nature of philosophy as it pertains to true reality is not to diminish any religion or any other offered philosophical presentation. Each and every one is, hopefully, the honest attempt to come to terms with reality. (I chose this phrase consciously.) It is vitally important for the individual to come to terms regarding reality. I believe this pursuit to be ultimately the defining nature of human beings, our mark of distinction. Each individual is to choose for him or herself the degree to which they will engage in this pursuit. Coming to terms with reality is the meaning encompassed in my pronouncement that we, humans, are collectively Nature reflecting upon itself. These pages are filled with words. They are not filled with reality.
These pages are the sharing of my experience of coming to terms with reality. These pages are therefore a philosophical treatise. As such, it is important to reveal a guiding rule that I have regarding any philosophical treatise and personal or institutionally professed value system. Value systems and philosophies must be internally consistent without imposing supernatural forces. Let us put my life’s mantra to the test. “See a thing for what it is: nothing more, nothing less,” is an aspiration, something to be developed, maintained, and practiced with the hope that at some point along the way mastery might be achieved. This first half is about staying focused upon what is real in my life and not what is imagined or fantasized. The second half, “But remember Wonder and Mystery are forever and always present,” is about being always mindful that I will never know all there is to know about a given reality that I must see for what it is, nothing more, nothing less. I must come to terms with reality even when I have only limited knowledge of that reality. The very nature, blessing, and huge benefit of this half of my mantra is the impetus in the previous statement that I made in Does Agápē Significantly Affect the Survival of Humans?
“I was suspended for a moment or two in the totality of my reality. Words fail me here. A poem is needed.” The totality of my reality was the active, material sharing of her reality and mine but not as a past tense, nor as a present tense, nor as a future tense, but as a condition of being. My reality and her reality were not separate but I was crystal clear that I was separate from her as she was certainly separate from me. The reality that I felt was not fragmented nor disjointed. It was wholly integrated and uniquely distinctive regarding our individual identities.
I believe it is absolutely correct and insightful that a poem is needed when Wonder and Mystery present themselves. A poetic experience can become an intense motivation to come to terms (hence a philosophical treatise) to improve one’s understanding. Poetry is a distinctive, valuable, and critically important form of communication equally significant as a philosophical treatise. A philosophical treatise speaks to the intellect. Poetry speaks to emotion and intuitive reality. This distinction between logic and intellect over intuition and emotion is important when making decisions. Wonder, mystery and nonlinear elements combined with the sensitive dependence on initial conditions of chaos theory are all significant components of reality that requires the individual to developed one’s intellect and logic along with a developed intuition and a diverse, robust, and emotional array. These issues will be considered more when decision-making issues become the focus of this reflection. For now it is enough to note that the passions of poetry and the logical consistency of the intellect are both equally important and distinctly different serving unique functions that balance each other.
To come to terms regarding the role of agápē existence in human survival requires a conscious anchoring of all asserted statements pertaining to agápē including its inherent property of reciprocity to all structural elements. Maintaining the focus of such a philosophical treatise in this fashion efficiently assures that internal consistency permeates the treatise. To my mind, such a structural framework necessitates building the treatise from scratch rather than applying the defining attributes of agápē to all of the particulars that compose our contemporary local and global cultures. Once the hypothetical culture, built upon agápē existence, is constructed then a simple compare and contrast between the hypothetical and the actual should be able to demonstrate the positive or negative affects of agápē existence upon human survival or the possibility that agápē existence has no affect at all upon the survival of our species.
Having come thus far, I am of the belief that the core reality of The Universe is the condition of being in agápē existence. If such is the case, then The Standard of Correctness by which to evaluate all other standards of correctness (private and/or cultural) is the true, core nature of The Universe. Unfortunately, we modern humans are still engaged in our attempt to discern and understand that true, core nature in spite of being neither omniscient nor immortal. Hence the evolution of intelligent life is, in my opinion: Nature reflecting upon itself. The operative word being ‘evolution’, the noun form of the verb, ‘to evolve.’ Hence, the edict to evolve to a more enlightened state of being bequeathed by The Uncaused Cause of the First Cause via the first act of creation.