Hegel

Rivers.  They’re kind of interesting, right?  Always flowing, rushing to get to somewhere bigger.  Hegel thought they were pretty interesting, because he saw history as a flowing river.  His whole theory was that thoughts are always changing, evolving just as society changes and evolves. 

This means that something that’s right one day might not be the next day, or vice versa.  This idea seems pretty supported to me.  Slavery was once considered okay, but it isn’t acceptable anymore.  Gay marriage used to absolutely out of the question, and now opinions are changing.  The way I feel could be totally different.  I could cry myself to sleep but wake up with a smile.

 That’s because as humans, we live in a temporary world.  The world restarts every time we wake up for a new day, and each day is different than the last.

 I think Hegel had it right. Each of our minds is a river, flowing and gaining more water along the way.  The rocks and soil move as we do, and we change.  But, just as rivers flow into the sea…will all our thoughts someday flow into one big philosophy?  It seems impossible, but just entertain the thought for me.  What if someday we all came to the same conclusion?  What if we all came to a point where we saw things exactly the same?  Honestly, if that day ever comes, it may be the end of humanity, because I’ve never met two people who agree on everything, and I don’t think I ever will.  But it’s interesting to think about.  If this is the case, I probably don’t agree with all of Hegel’s theories, but I do agree with this one.

Why Do We Need Pain?

Pain.  What is the root of all pain?  Sometimes pain comes from something that was supposed to be good.  Sometimes pain evolves from our caring for others.  Sometimes pain comes from trying and failing.

 Why is pain so easy to find?   Is it because of the many different sources it can come from?  It seems so frequent, and unifying in a way.  We all go through it.  We all feel it, for one reason or another.  Is that the point of it all?  Is pain meant to bring us together?  We feel so connected to those who can identify with our struggles, and we are inspired by those who have made it out.  We look to eachother in times of need and mark a good friend as one who is there for us when we are in pain.

 In a way, pain is important to us, and life would definitely be different without it.  Really, I think us humans actually NEED pain.  When things are too good for too long, we get worried.  We wonder why something bad hasn’t happened yet.  Is that simply from experience or something deeper?  Is there some part of us that knows pain is necessary to the lives we live?

 Though some say they don’t want to, we often let pain define us.  Don’t get confused though.  It isn’t the pain that defines us, but the way we handle it, and that isn’t an original thought.  Is that why pain is important?  Do we need it in order to grow closer to understanding ourselves?  Does it help shape us?  I believe so.

 I really believe that we need pain, crave it almost.  Okay, maybe crave is a little far, but we do rely on pain in ways we may not even realize.  We rely on it to help determine who is there for us and worth sticking around.  We use it to draw closer to each other, and learn more about ourselves.  Most of all, we use pain to make us realize how great the good days are.

 I don’t know what the root of pain is.  It seems to come from many places.  But what I do know is that, despite the way it hurts us, breaks us, and tears us apart, pain can be a GOOD thing, and most importantly a thing we need.

Why KANT We Know Who We Are?

Soul surfing is everywhere.  People are always searching for themselves, trying to learn who they are, what they want, where they belong.  But Kant claims we can’t.  We can’t comprehend what we are. 

It’s one of those questions without an answer.  How can we hope to live not knowing what we are?  The stereotypical teenager walks around believing that nobody understands them.  Nobody gets them.  Well, here’s the fact.  No one does.  Nobody can understand you because YOU don’t understand you.

Reading that was kind of like a light bulb going off.  There are so many things about me that are a mystery.  There are things about each of us that are mysteries, even to ourselves.  We cannot hope to know ourselves fully, and that may scare some. 

Personally, it’s just enlightening.  Realizing that there are things about me I’ll never know is almost exciting.  In a way, my life will always be a mystery… there will always be things out there I don’t understand.  That may seem like a very limiting idea, but it’s really not.  Not knowing things almost gives you more power than knowing them.  I realize I’m not making sense, so let me try to draw this out.

Imagine you hear an unfamiliar sound in the middle of the night.  Maybe you hear a bang.  Your mind is instantly alert and filled with ideas of what is happening outside your room.  You run through scenario after scenario.  Is it a robber?  Is someone in the house?  Are they going to hurt me?  Did a family member fall down somewhere?  Our minds are capable of coming up with absurd answers that may be far from the truth.  Because we don’t know what is happening, we are given the power to try to figure it out.

It’s human nature to question things… if we knew everything, what would we do with ourselves?  We would be bored out of our minds. 

That’s why I believe that not understanding myself isn’t a weakness. It’s an opportunity.  It’s a chance for me to get to think about it. 

Who we are is a question we ponder our entire lives.  We learn more and more about ourselves every day. The fact that we will never fully understand only means that there is much more to be learned.  We may not ever know it all, but that doesn’t mean we can’t figure out the basic concepts and keep pursuing an answer.  

Maybe it’s just me but knowing there are things out there to be learned is exciting. 

Who cares if Kant thinks I can’t understand myself?  I mean, he’s probably right but that won’t stop me from trying, and from being excited every time I get one step closer.

Why Isn't Equality Innate?

Why were women ever seen as inferior?   This is a serious question, and one I don’t have an answer for.  For the longest time in history, it was all about men.  Women had to fight for ages to earn the same rights as men.  Honestly, what is the reason behind that?

 Even in philosophy, the theme appears again and again that man is superior.  WHO SAYS?  Where did this idea come from?  Was it just decided one day that women weren’t as good?  Is it because men are often (not always) stronger and more helpful in building a civilization?  But are they really?  Women can do just as much in society as men can.  Women often play a different role, but different does not mean inferior.

 Maybe that’s the problem.  People have this crazy idea rooted in their heads that different is inferior.  Now where does THAT idea come from?  African Americans were seen as inferior in the past.   Why?  Because they were DIFFERENT.  Women have been seen as inferior.  Why?  Because they’re DIFFERENT.  Several religious groups have been persecuted.  Why?  Because they believe something DIFFERENT. 

Throughout history, anyone who differed from the typical white man was considered inferior.  BUT WHY?  Who decided on that standard?  Why weren’t African American men superior to white?  Why man, and not woman?  Or better yet, why haven’t we all been considered equal ALWAYS?  So many conflicts could have been avoided if we were all seen as EQUAL.  No slavery, no Civil War, no Holocaust.  In a lot of ways, the world would have been/be a more peaceful place if it weren’t for the strange divisions drawn between races, gender, and religions.  If we were all seen as EQUAL, we wouldn’t have near as much reason to fight.  Doesn’t peace seem like a better option? 

Which brings me back to my question: Why was the typical white man made the standard?  Why is different seen as inferior?  I’m stumped here.  This is one of those big questions whose answer is just out of reach… I really don’t know.

 

 

Do We Exist?

 

One of the weirdest ideas that I’ve come across in philosophy is the idea that we really don’t exist.  We are simply a physical manifestation of someone’s imagination, our lives just a dream of God’s.

 WHAT?! I’ve never thought that way, because I don’t like the idea.  Straight up… the idea that my life is virtually nothing, and I am completely unimportant in the scheme of things is that worst scenario I could come up with.  Because without existence, there is no purpose, and without purpose, there is no fulfillment.  And if that’s the case, I may as well give up everything I ever thought to be important. 

If I don’t exist, then I lose all hope of making something of my life.  Maybe it makes me a bad or incomplete philosopher, but I refuse to accept that possibility.

 Okay, it’s definitely possible, but it’s also not the idea I choose to believe.  My Christian background leads me to believe that our lives are a reflection of God and His vision, but we are not simply in his mind.  Our lives are real, and they mean something.  It may be selfish and egotistic, but I want to believe that I am real and worth something to the world. 

But I did as Aristotle said an educated mind would, and entertained the thought.  I just won’t accept it.

If my passion is clouding my reason, let that be my downfall, because I refuse to believe that I am nonexistent.

Why Do The Worst People Change Us The Most?

Why do the worst people change us the most?  I was talking about this question with my mentor the other day and it really stuck with me.  The whole idea came about because of Descartes.  He was a brilliant guy and changed the face of philosophy…yet, in reality, he wasn’t a great person.  All the experimenting he did on animals and everything else were absolutely horrible.  So why is he such an important part of the way we think?  Why is he one of the most quoted philosophers?

Is it simply a coincidence that some of the greatest minds of the world have also been the worst? Take Hitler… one of the worst people ever to live, and possibly the most hated.  Yet, at one point, he was worshipped.  And although his tactics were terrible, the ways he went about accomplishing his goals were genius.  And he completely changed the face of war.  He’s just another example of a horrible person who has shaped the world we live in. 

It happens on a personal scale as well.  Sometimes the person we would most love to see hit by a bus is also the person that teaches us the most.  Even if their lessons are on what NOT to do, you can’t deny that bad people teach good lessons. 

And it seems like a lot of times, we remember those bad people more easily than we do the good ones.  Why are we so skewed towards negativity in life?  We receive three compliments in a day and one insult and what remains with us?  What do we worry over and contemplate for hours later?  The insult. 

When you think of World War II, who do you think of?  Most people’s first response is Hitler.  Not Roosevelt, Churchill or all those other good guys.  No, it’s usually Hitler that comes to mind.

WHY IS THAT?  What is it about our brain that is wired towards focusing on the dark side of things?  It’s as if there is an ever present shadow over our minds, and light has to battle to get through.  We have a way of assuming the worst, and remembering the bad. 

Those who live by the bible might say it’s because of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace, and maybe it is. 

Whatever the reason, humanity as a whole is more perceptive to bad news than it is to good, and I really don’t have an answer why. 

"I think, therefore I am." -Descartes

Descartes was a very smart man.  He decided to start at zero, and to forget everything he’d been told, to just start thinking for himself and forming his own philosophy, which must’ve been difficult. 

I know from my perspective it would be hard.  I used to be very, very easily influenced.  It wasn’t until recently that I found the confidence in myself to realize I could think for myself and make my own decisions.  I don’t always have to listen to others.  But Descartes, he completely disregarded everything he’d been told, and doubted it. 

He wanted to know what he knew…confusing right?  He wanted to understand what he could figure out with his reason without relying on anything else.  

Anyway, that’s not actually what I wanted to talk about.  I just think it’s crazy and impressive that he found a way to do that.  But one of the other things that Descartes tried to figure out was how the mind and body were connected.  It seems pretty obvious that they are, because humans have both…but how?

It was pretty well accepted at the time that the body is like a machine.  Like a computer, it doesn’t do anything it isn’t programmed to do.  So, because of that idea, some people believed the mind was a machine too.  They believed that everything we did and thought was predetermined. 

Well, I find that a little hard to swallow.  I don’t like thinking that I’m just some sort of puppet with no control over my own decisions, and maybe that’s a pride issue.  But what’s the point of spending our time trying to take control of our own lives just to be told we aren’t in control at all? 

I’m not denying the existence of God in this statement, just to clarify.  Some say that God controls us but I don’t feel that’s the case.  My personal belief is that we do have free will, and our minds are capable of making decisions.  God may know what we are going to choose but he doesn’t do it for us.  And that is why I have such a hard time believing that our mind is just a mechanical thing.

Descartes didn’t believe that either.  In a way, he completely separated mind from body because they are different…but here’s the catch.  How can they be separate but connected?  Because a lot of what our body does is programmed by our mind, but they are obviously different.  Descartes said that the mind was stronger than the body, which I think is true.  In many ways, an army of powerful thinkers is more dangerous than one made up of body builders.  Both are effective, but the army of thinkers will probably leave an even more powerful impression, because they have the capability to make you question things.

 In history, violence never seems to get us anywhere, and violent revolts are usually crushed by the government anyways.  But people who think, who speak about their thoughts, and make others think…those are the people that are seen as the most dangerous.

So if the mind is stronger, does that just make our bodies the puppets?  Do we only have a body to house our minds?  But in that case, what is the point of having a body at all? Why not just have minds floating around?  But if we didn’t have things of substance in the world, then what would our minds have to question?  What would we think about if there was nothing solid around us? 

The way I see it, a mind without a body is lost.  And a body without a mind is lost.  They need each other, and maybe that necessity is what connects them and keeps them together.