Ep 177 Subjectivism – an idea that undermines truth and freedom
The idea that we create our own reality is very popular, especially among truth seekers, and the thought leaders of the truth/freedom movement. Its an idea that has truth and falsity woven together in a perfect mix so as to potentially mislead and deceive. The idea that we create our own reality is known in philosophical terms as subjectivism. It holds that human consciousness creates reality in the metaphysical sense, that consciousness comes first, that consciousness is the metaphysical primary, observing things into being. Subjectivism comes in two forms, one that reality is created by the individual consciousness, the other that it is a construct of the group consciousness. On the premise of either of these two forms, reality is not regarded as objective, not a fixed, stable, absolute, but rather as fluid, flexible, and changeable by human consciousness. My message is one of caution to those who hold this idea to be true, or who may have heard of it, and be considering it. It’s what I call a high consequence idea. Meaning, that it has a huge knock-on effect in our consciousness because it is so fundamental to our thinking. The very first question in philosophy is whether or not reality is an objective absolute, independent of consciousness, or a construct of human consciousness. In this podcast, I shall first illustrate how we do create our experience of reality, and that we rely exclusively on the pre-supposition of objectivity in doing so, and in all human functionality. Then I shall outline the consequences of holding the idea of subjectivism to be true. The epistemological consequences on our ability to discern truth and acquire knowledge, the psychological consequences, in terms of the subsequent ideas and behaviours it apparently justifies, and the political consequences with respect to our freedom. Lastly, I shall examine the reasons why people hold this idea to be true. How we create our reality It’s true, using our human consciousness, we have an enormous ability to create. We have the capacity to produce material things, and to create circumstances, to create suffering, to create harmony, to create disruption and disorder, or to create peace and cooperation. Most importantly, we have the ability to create the reality of our own life experience, from the smallest detail, such as what we do in any particular moment, to the broadest outcomes over the long term, such as creating our health and longevity, or creating a family dynasty. The truth is that we create our experience of the one reality, the one that we all live in. First of all I’d like to share a famous quote by the American theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971). In the form of a prayer, he wrote… “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” It was Ayn Rand who pointed out that this quote illustrates a profoundly important distinction—that of the man made, versus the metaphysically given—although the author probably didn’t intend it that way. The metaphysically given includes the natural world as we find it, with the identity of things, as we find them: the continents and oceans and volcanoes, along with all the principles of causality that we refer to as the laws of nature, Things like fire, electricity, magnetism, etc. This is objective reality. And our consciousness cannot change it. Its what we must have the serenity to accept. The man-made includes all the material things we can create, such as buildings, towns and cities, environments, cars, computers, etc. We have the ability to reshape matter into the form of our values, but not to create it out of nothing. And notably, it is by regarding reality objectively, by learning the facts, that we are then able to exercise this power. It was Francis Bacon who said, “We can command nature,
