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Truth, Beauty, and Such
Nov. 16th, 2006 08:25 amThis idea comes out of a discussion B and I were having the other day, wherein we were arguing (as we often do) whether or not rational thought is more important than emotion. I think I've come up with an answer I'm happy with.
Post-modernists often say that we can only experience subjective reality-- that if there is an objective reality out there, we're far too limited by our own experiences and beliefs to see it. I don't think I buy this entirely, as it doesn't really give a satisfactory explanation for why all of our subjective realities so often match up so well. Almost everyone agrees that the sky is up, that people eat food, that cats are furry. The differences seem to be mostly in matters of interpretation. (I may be oversimplifying the argument).
In fact, I think we all live in both objective and subjective reality. The objective one, we know about mostly by discussing it with other people-- "You see fur, too? This must be fur, then." Objective reality, then, is what can be described with language, what can be experimented on and quantified. Objective reality is rational thought.
Subjective reality is what is harder to express, what is not shared. And I think that the way we see our own, personal, subjective reality is through our emotions. What we feel is what is true to us. It may not be true to anyone else-- it may not even make sense to anyone else, and when we try to put it into the words of objective reality, it stops making sense and we might start to deny it. But it is the clearest reflection of our truth. If you get a promotion, and everyone agrees this is a wonderful thing (more money, more status, more responsibility), and you find yourself terrified and sad, then it is your truth that you loved your old job dearly, more than you wanted "success."
Which is why emotions are important. I do believe that both subjective and objective realities are "real," and both are worth considering. But the world's truth is not always your truth, and your emotions are a powerful tool to let you know what your truth is. Which is worth listening to, because it's your head you're going to be living in for the rest of your life, not everyone else's, so you might want to know what's really going on there.
--R
Post-modernists often say that we can only experience subjective reality-- that if there is an objective reality out there, we're far too limited by our own experiences and beliefs to see it. I don't think I buy this entirely, as it doesn't really give a satisfactory explanation for why all of our subjective realities so often match up so well. Almost everyone agrees that the sky is up, that people eat food, that cats are furry. The differences seem to be mostly in matters of interpretation. (I may be oversimplifying the argument).
In fact, I think we all live in both objective and subjective reality. The objective one, we know about mostly by discussing it with other people-- "You see fur, too? This must be fur, then." Objective reality, then, is what can be described with language, what can be experimented on and quantified. Objective reality is rational thought.
Subjective reality is what is harder to express, what is not shared. And I think that the way we see our own, personal, subjective reality is through our emotions. What we feel is what is true to us. It may not be true to anyone else-- it may not even make sense to anyone else, and when we try to put it into the words of objective reality, it stops making sense and we might start to deny it. But it is the clearest reflection of our truth. If you get a promotion, and everyone agrees this is a wonderful thing (more money, more status, more responsibility), and you find yourself terrified and sad, then it is your truth that you loved your old job dearly, more than you wanted "success."
Which is why emotions are important. I do believe that both subjective and objective realities are "real," and both are worth considering. But the world's truth is not always your truth, and your emotions are a powerful tool to let you know what your truth is. Which is worth listening to, because it's your head you're going to be living in for the rest of your life, not everyone else's, so you might want to know what's really going on there.
--R
