Lot's of people think they have it all figured out. They believe they know how the world works and what their place is in it. They do not think from a perspective that what they perceive to be true, might not be. You stop looking for new information in that state.
Confirmation (and other) biases can take over if you are not careful.
We had a nice chat about these things yesterday, during a #meshtadel call.
I have always been searching for answers. How + why do things happen and work the way they do?
I've pondered existence and nothingness.
Besides coming up with interesting speculations about the nature of such concepts, I am happy to content with eternal uncertainty. I would rather be forever doubtful and questioning, than find myself absolutely convinced of some "truth."
I believe people, would in general, be a lot happier if they were to accept the fact that there are things we cannot know.
Uncertainty at first looks like anxiety come concrete, but in my experience it is sooner a guardian angel than a curse.
To me it seems that knowing with aboslute certainty what it (existence, life, the universe and everything) is exactly all about, might be the perfect description of hell.
I think it likely you are able to turn your personal reality into some ossilating experience of limbo, heaven and hell.
It does not seem odd to me that one must experience all of these states, in varieing degrees, to differentiate between what is good, what is not good, and where incremental improvements can be made, no matter your position in life. What for one seems frivolous, for someone else might be very serious.
When it comes to thoughts about what reality really is about, the conclusion I reach is I cannot know for sure. And I honestly hope no One may ever "get it."
Maybe this life is a dream. Perhaps you are just a Boltzmann brain, sprung into existence just a fraction of a second ago, with all memories of a life that never was.
People with a split brain (left side disconnected from right side (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFJPtVRlI64&t=1s (yes, this is contested, but we are talking probabilities, not certainties)), can show very different responses when the same question is asked to the other hemisphere.
(Therefore you may consider telling your right hemisphere, that you love it:
https://x.com;)
https://primal.b-cdn.net/media-cache?s=o&a=1&u=https%3A%2F%2Fm.primal.net%2FHNDT.png
No matter how high your degree of probability is about a certain subject, beware the infinities hidden within the infinitesimal.
Further more, let us not forget that, there is the realization that by naming things in an attempt to describe and make sense of the world around us, we create the illusion that we are separate from it.
I think Alan Watts said it nicely when he mentioned the human body, and the well of consiousness it holds, is more akin to a whirlpool/vortex in a river, than a disconnected thing from the stream of existence.
These thoughts may result in a feeling of unity with the world around you, or, on the flipside, feel very solpsistic (which is a very lonely idea).
Convincing yourself of one or the other, or any other "truth" people hold with certainty about reality, IMHO is a foolish endeavor.
Don't get me wrong. I understand people long for some solid footing. A certainty to build their lives upon. My argument is, that counterintuitively, the paradoxical position of building upon uncertainty leads to a stronger, less foolish, foundation to build your reasoning upon.
As reality blends more with the digital, beware you do not convinced things do not matter because we may live in some simulation (or whatever the new idea will be).
I think it is a blessing instead of a curse that we are doomed to search for answers to unanswerable questions. For a man convinced he holds the absolute truth, might -without blinking an eye- do the most horrific things in name of what he perceives to be that truth.
Harden your soul against words.
For when a word offends thee, lest you confuse it with physical damage, and repay in kind.
Beware the banality of evil. It lurks in all of us.
End of rant.