Radical Friendship 5: Mystery vs Certainty
It would be tragic indeed if we extinguish ourselves soon and each member of every competing tribe of faux certainty to die absolutely certain they were right
In discussing my vision for Radical Friendship (RF) I spend a lot of time discussing mystery and certainty for these are the core concepts.
Mystery is the defining characteristic of the human condition, those that can truly embrace it tread lightly and with humility. The pursuit and defence of certainty is the defining characteristic of human defences against mystery and within the bastions of these defences we create dystopias.
A quick reprise for those who haven’t read my other articles on this topic. I construct my thoughts about RF on the basis of human truths as I see them - not on assertions of fundamental truth. I do this not only because assertions about fundamental truth are galactically meddlesome impediments to friendship, but also because humans have almost no access to fundamental truth.
A reminder of how I define certain term:
Fundamental Reality is that which transcends human notions about reality - it is what is, quite regardless of what we think about it or whether we can even see it. I proceed on the basis that fundamental reality and thus transcendent truth exist.
Consequential Reality is that which has consequences for humanity regardless of our beliefs about what is fundamentally real. Perhaps we all exist inside a simulation a la The Matrix but when extreme weather events driven by climate change ruin harvests and destroy homes, they are (like cancer or hunger) real enough for us. Material reality in all its manifestations may not be fundamentally real at all, maybe thought is all that exists, but it is a human truth that we are unable to flout the consequences of the what we process as material.
Human truths mark the sharp limits on our power as both individual humans and for our species - these are observations about the human condition that are true regardless of the thoughts and decisions we make, examples include the demands and restrictions of consequential reality (I must eat and drink in order to live and I cannot fly unaided by technology) and our lack of access to fundamental truth.
Societal Reality is the sum of the technological, economic, institutional and ideological constructs that humans create as a response to consequential reality and often as a psychological defence against mystery. These constructs are not real in the sense that no one is obliged to believe in their assertions - but since they intersect with the material and thus with consequential reality they are real enough for us.
RF posits that it is the unhappy combination of these two human truths that is responsible for the radically unfriendly nature of societal reality right now.
Truth 1: Humans have almost no access to fundamental truth, we cannot at present even confirm this as true (at least that would be something!). We process our lives through our consciousness and yet we cannot verify what consciousness even is, much less whether it is any guide to fundamental reality. We do think, so we can confirm that something is going on, but that’s about it.
Truth 2: Humans do not as a collective deal with uncertainty at all well and the more fundamental the uncertainty the more trouble we have with it.
The only way to reduce the discomfort (terror?) of the radical mystery that pervades the human condition is to create faux certainties and believe in them. Almost all human constructs be they religious, economic or scientific are in the mystery killing business - “This is the way it is!” they say and they broke no compromise to their fundamental assertions (a) because to permit uncertainty militates against their raison d'etre and (b) because that might cede ground to competing faux certainties.
Remember that societal reality is what is created in the intersection between consequential reality and constructs of psychological defences against mystery that humanity creates. To serve as psychological defences these constructs must remain out our awareness and be inherently reductionist - if we were aware of them they wouldn’t work and if they didn’t peddle a fantasy to drive away mystery we wouldn’t need / use them.
It is the prevailing modus operandi of modernity to peddle a false consciousness about the awesome nature of the human condition so as to brainwash us into accepting a reduced story about it. This is not a conspiracy for profit nearly as much as it an infantile flight from our collective and very powerful fear of uncertainty.
[which is just SO perverse as the profoundly mysterious nature of being human is one of the very few things we can posit with any confidence]
To be human is an endlessly fascinating mystery, lived inside a kaleidoscope of forms and consequences so vast as to be beyond our ability to frame much less comprehend.
One way to deny that mystery is to treat ourselves, others and the rest of nature as just a collection resources to be exploited within capitalism, just units of production and consumption to be organised to serve the smooth running of the machinery. That the outputs of the machinery are to serve up novelties, entertainments and comforts that serve only to temporarily distract us, is no accident and neither are the epidemics of depression and addiction that afflict such a society. Separated from the wonder and mystery of life, the human soul withers and we become more dependent on the machinery.
Another way to reduce the mystery is to frame life and humans within a construct of claims about fundamental reality. Any cult or religion works in this way, its product is an alleviation of mystery and its methodology (sincere or otherwise) is is the strident assertion of certainty.
Think of any of the many shibboleths of modern society - rolling news, the pleasure principle, shopping, celebrity worship, careerism, money, status, sex, consumerism, They all afford a refuge from mystery, a pivot for action, a way of defining ourselves and measuring our success.
Each of these activities has an impact on consequential reality that intersects to form aspects of societal reality. A cherished ideal of modern societal reality is that we must facilitate as many of these activities as possible and that the function of a democratic and evolved civilisation is to defend and expand our licence to choose whichever of these defences against mystery that we wish.
The trouble with our global human society attempting to provide unrestrained licence for people to choose from a selection box of false certainties is (a) that we create tsunamis within consequential reality and societal reality (b) that one person’s licence swiftly becomes another’s tyranny and (c) that people get very cross when either their certainties are questioned or their capacity to indulge them is restricted.
A great many human beings walk around believing that the mish-mash of competing faux certainties and the societal dystopias they inevitably unleash are somehow a good summary of all that life can be and (even more implausibly) indicative of a fundamental truth about life and human beings. None of these notions are necessarily true for they do not flow from any fundamental truth, but pivot around the human truths that we are scared species that cannot as yet cope with the mystery and limitations of its own condition.
I think things could be different, if we as a species could learn to collectively embrace mystery (at the deepest level possible) then the need to create and run ever faster on our hamster wheels of distraction might fall away. I submit that such an embrace is now a mandatory requirement for the survival of our species.
We have reached and passed the limit that consequential reality and societal reality can stretch to accommodate our restless need for competing faux certainties and distractions. Rival factions are armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons, the industrialisation required for our distractions is laying waste to the planet and the atomisation of humanity into competing bubbles of economic and ideological competition is chilling our collective soul.
Perhaps the root cause of this malaise might yet be its silver bullet and that is the optimistic premise on which I proceed. The thing that divides us is the flight from mystery, the one thing we can sure that unites us is that we have no real idea what life is all about or why we even exist.
The choice seems clear to me - embrace the terror of the human condition and unite in humility and compassion for each other, all thrown together as we are within consequential reality… or continue as we are, hubristically deluded, divided, at war and endlessly distracted within competing clans of faux certainty and the consequences that flow from that.
It would be tragic indeed if we manage to extinguish ourselves soon and for each member of every competing tribe of faux certainty to die absolutely certain they were right - when the only thing we can be certain of is that we don’t know anything much at all about anything of any fundamental import.
I absolutely love this.
I would like to share it on my own blog - fully credited, of course, Do I have your permission?