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Just as I compose these words, combined to convey ideas, we all come to the table with our own ideas about truth and what is real.
Because we as humans are all granted autonomy by default, we are our own agents of thought, action and change. It has been said by many that reality is subjective and that we create our own separate realities by our perceptions and projections. But if reality is genuinely subjective rather than objective, then the physical world would literally be erased and created on a continuous basis, as each individual's rewrite of reality overwrites everyone else's, ironically ignoring each individual's desire to maintain a degree of continuity in their own subjective reality. Regardless of the life one wishes to live, or the personage one wishes to adopt, or the ideology one wishes to embrace, the objective physical reality we all share will continue unabated, same as it did before our subjective assertions, and same as it will after our subjective assertions. Objective physical reality is more than just the foundational bedrock of existence, it is also the epitome of truth in a world that thrives on controversy. Wait a second, what was that? Surely truth is different for everyone?! Sorry Virginia, but no. What is different for everyone are opinions, experiences, thoughts, moods, dreams, actions and plans, to list a few major individualized traits. Unfortunately, sophists who seek to dismantle tradition and civilization-preserving morality are fond of conflating objective reality with these personal quirks. To claim one's personal preferences and perceptions somehow physically transform shared objective reality is nothing more than a possible indication of mental illness. There will always be those contrarians who claim truth is relative, because their end goal is a world in which truth has been obfuscated to such a degree that no one and nothing is worthy of a negative assessment. The result is that if everyone can't agree on an objective truth, then truth itself has been effectively eliminated. Why would anyone be motivated to dismiss objective reality? Because there are aspects of that truth they would prefer not to deal with. Is there an advantage to arriving at a point where objective truth no longer exists? Yes, of course. The advantage is that you can basically do whatever you want, with no objections allowed. Are there down sides to the abandonment of objective reality and truth? Yes, too many to count. Here are three obvious examples for your edification: 1) The bullet someone just fired at you will still breach your flesh and cause potentially deadly damage even if 'your' truth doesn't provide for the possibilities of bullets, guns or being shot. 2) The body you were born with will still be your body no matter what kind of Frankensteinian shenanigans you inflict upon it, and 200 years from now if they find your bones, your biological sex at birth will still be identified as it was the day you were born, no matter what perverse fetishes consumed your imagination while you were still living. 3) The sins you commit against the Lord will still find you guilty on Judgment Day even though you confidently proclaim that you "don't believe in that." |