Men of many worlds

How many realities do we live, just one? When it comes to proof of existence, all we have is our own experience as an indicator that there is anything going on at all. I think therefore I am, but I do not know if you think, or I am just thinking that you are. You might be a figment of my imagination, it is possible that it is all illusory.

Someone mentioned asked today, what school of economic philosophy do I follow, a strange question if you think about it. Which philosophy, the one of academic study or the one that directs behaviour? For me, the action is much more important than the definition of potential action and behavior.

When it comes to something like the economy, which do people follow, the one from the book or the reality of a system? I have mentioned before that all markets are by nature free and that includes all of the manipulation, restriction and subsidy. It depends on what you define as free though.

I was thinking a little about my life after though and when it comes to my worlds, I rarely worry about the book view as by nature, it is always going to be skewed, history is largely written by the scholars of the victors after all. For me, experience plays a much larger role in my theories than exploring the theories of others.

Yes, they might have a much better view of it all than me but, I find value in exploring my thought process, not in the repetition of other's thoughts and ideas about the world. It actually has to largely be this way as my memory is so poor that I can't hold the words and worlds of others in my mind, all I have are my thoughts in the moment. And, my thoughts on a subject will change as the moment changes, as experience shifts.

It is funny when people look for consistency in others, as if they themselves are consistent and unchanging. In my opinion, it is a pretty poor position to adhere to a school of thought that by definition is going to be limited in information and insensitive to the changing needs of the moment. For me, my experience in the worlds I have lived are the points that carry through to my immediate behavior and to date, I have never met a person who has learned to surf from a book.

When it comes to all skills owned, it is a process of movement, learning, investment and as I see it, thought is no different, it is a skill that must be earned. Parroting thoughts from a book might make one feel clever but when the reality calls for action, the lessons of those books rarely come to mind let alone hand, they are not lived. I am lucky in many ways, I have had a chance to live many worlds, in many ways.

For me, there is value in the exploration of the worlds my mind inhabits. Each one is a world that connects to others in what is somewhat like a universe of thought, all interconnected but, all separated by their own processes and behaviors, a decentralized mind. People are encouraged to focus their mind, find references to tie themselves to, points to hold, to follow, adhere to, make an authority of, revere, to center. Controlled?

I like creating theories and while all are wrong in some way to various degrees, each steps me along the paths toward new worlds of discovery, homes I never realized I would inhabit. Some, are just in passing, a bed for the night, others might draw me in deeply but, all become part of the framework that guides behavior. Some people like details but while they focus, they miss the importance of all the other interconnected and largely unknowable factors that impress upon their narrow view of the world.

What is interesting when it comes to knowledge is the sheer amount of knowledgeable people who are suffering in various ways in their life. What good is knowing anything if it doesn't lead to a reduction of suffering? Collectors of information, not surfers of worlds. And in a world where information is cheap to obtain, there is very little reason to learn through experience, any wiki is good enough.

How different is this world of thought to the world of reality? It is hard to tell because they intertwine so heavily, they are impossible to tease apart. But, living vicariously through other's descriptions of their own experience is not living, watching a movie of a war does not make a soldier, a book of giving birth does not make a mother.

Essentially, we are all living a life of theory and philosophy developed through our experiences collected on the assumption that our evaluation of our worlds is correct. We assume correct because to knowingly act on incorrect is not the way we behave so, all those who we might consider wrong in action, for some reason or another, they feel justified in their behavior, otherwise they would not have behaved in such a way.

Personal philosophy, whether suitable for the conditions or not, affect decisions. We are all rational actors, it is just that what seems rational in my world, may not be in accordance to the rationale of others. We all live across many worlds, in thought at least.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]