The Problem With The Way We Think
The world is a complex place. Even when we ignore the recent increases in technology, access to knowledge and responsibilities of daily life, the amount of information stored in one human’s brain by their early teens in phenomenal. There are layers upon layers of very particularized and contextual understanding, each carrying varying levels of situational nuance and being added to each second by sensory organs so efficient the memory doesn’t even feel the need to store what is processed.
Humans are indeed incredibly efficient at processing information. Not only do we need to absorb and understand it within ourselves, but human society depends on the exchange of information between different bodies. Almost like the neurons of the brain, we are constantly exchanging information on such a minuite level that more often than not, the very fact that we are communicating escapes us completely.
The tone of voice we would best use in the current situation, the thoughts and anxieties of our fellow people, even the correct speed at which we should walk are all being subcommunicated to us on a second my second basis, all of which swim briefly beneath our radar before being completely forgotten seconds later.
As the daily intake of information becomes so dense and multi-faceted, as the need to communicate more and more complex ideas becomes more and moreso an ever-present reality, as speech develops into a medium to convey the majority of our more difficult thoughts, we have created ways to lump groups of shared ideas together for easy conversation. These groups of shared ideas are known as concepts. And as time is spent discussing concepts, we often mistake them for reality.
A Forest is Many Trees
Some concepts are reasonable insofar as they describe an object which can not reasonably be broken down further without introducing new objects. For example, one can understand trees in terms of leaves, bark, roots, various chemical structures, or basic elements. However, none of these objects are required in order to understand the concept of “Tree”, in a loose way, we can understand the idea of “Tree” to be somewhat fundamental in its accessibility to understand.
A “Forest” however, is an idea which can be broken down into a more fundamental set of concepts, a Forest is simply Many Trees.
To this end, the phrase “The is no Forest, there are just many trees” is far more accessible for understanding than “There are no trees, only various elements”, whilst both are true, the Forest can be understood as a grouping concept for many trees, whilst the tree can not easily be understood in this way.
All of this so far is extremely basic information, however, a major problem occurs when this is not properly reflected on, (and indeed, it is something that many live entire lifetimes without once reflecting upon).
Our Most Fundamental Mistakes About Reality
Most people, without even a hint of realization, mistake our useful concepts for reality.
Try telling someone that forests don’t exist. Forests fail even the most basic tests of falsifiability. You cannot touch them, you can not distinguish them with absolute certainty when compared to similar landmasses of different sizes. A bird or wasp does not see the Forest, they only see the many trees and the mud. And yet they will still urge you that the Forest exists as it’s own entity outside of these other objects.
Of course, the forest doesn’t really exist on the same level as the tree. It’s simply an organizing concept to discern the difference between various sizes of tree clusters. Regardless, mistaking a Forest for being a real thing isn’t going to impact your life much at all, the danger comes when you substitute more broad concepts in place of the real-life phenomena driving them.
This often happens for concepts used to organize the actions of a large group of people, such as interest groups, political movements, systems which span across entire countries, In fact, countries themselves are often mistaken for actual entities, when without humans to continuously believe in their existence, they would cease to be as such.
Avoiding Conflict At A Grave Cost
People often seek to be neutral in their accusations. Far more is left at stake when you point the finger at this man or that woman as the causes of various problems which lay on your mind. The possibility of backfire is immense, you open yourself up to as much attack as you are dishing out. Demanding the personal investment of others is inherently dangerous, and so avoided by many, even during the discussion of personally impassioned subjects.
Where does that leave us then? It leaves us in an incoherent and blameless society. The “Taxman” is blamed in lieu of corrupt officials, whatever their names or statuses may be. The “Police” are blames in place of poor management, the “Government” is blamed in place of a few select individuals who, if properly identified, could be held responsible for their actions.
Sometimes the need for an enemy can be felt far stronger than the need for retribution. Justice is scary, and it is far easier to point the finger at some barely existant social framework than it is to end this problem or that problem. Instead of ending the abstract concept of racism, why do we not take a stance against those few who are racist? Better yet, why don’t we learn to establish positive frames towards how we treat one another, bypassing the issue all together.
It is because we have made a fundamental misjudgement in reasoning. We have mistaken the concept for reality.
You see, much happens within the scope of human life. To take an everyday example, money is exchanged between people for various reasons. Stepping back and observing this phenomenon on a mass scale we can understand this as “Capitalism”. However, whilst most of us end here, it seems to take an extra step of introspection to bring ourselves back into the present moment and realise that if anything were the “fault of Capitalism”, it is really the fault of specific people exchanging currencies for specific things.
As the world becomes more connected, more complex, it is easy to sit back and take a zoomed out view of human engagements. However, zooming out, whilst useful for many things, never allows us to zoom into the root of an issue, and effectively motion a start or an end to it.
Truly, ideas are dependant on their human masters, and as we know, every idea reinforces its opposite. So to protest against “this” or “that”, does nothing but reinforce its imagined existance in the minds of those who you converse with. Indeed, the only method of conquest against a prevalent idea is apathy.
How To Use This Information To Re-Centre Your Life
Now you know the truth, nothing exists but what the eye can see, the ears can hear, the nose can smell, the tongue can taste and the skin can touch. How are you going to use it?
The cognitive mistakes we make every day can cause us a great deal of pain. It is true that many of us allow energy to be spent harbouring thoughts that allow nothing other than to send us into spirals of anger, tensing our muscles and causing us to dedicate endless hours to what is essentially our own personal suffering.
You can now identify what exists and what does not. You have the power to realise the difference between one stream of thought which beckons upon a solution, which narrows down to reality, the roots of a conceptual musing, that which can be acted upon and changed; and the self-destructive musings of the imagination, which only exist to propagate a conversation which ultimately perpetuates the suffering of those involved.
This is why social movements break down after they reach a certain point in their lifespan, they become nothing more than self-propagating machines, using humans as information-slaves to spread to as many minds as possible. Arguments break out between self-proclaimed academics about meaningless ethical dilemmas, to which no solution can ever be offered. Indeed the emergence of a solution is problematic to both sides of the arguing parties, as that would put an end to he argument, effectively killing the parasitic ideas taking root in the minds of unwilling people.
It is fortunate that there is a solution to the unending strife caused by mismatched thinking, and that is to ensure a firm grasp on reality. To be able to discern what is real and what is not. Sure you may humour the existance of the forest for conversational ease, but do not be fooled into thinking that someone the forest is responsible for the intake of sunlight – that would be down to the trees.
In the same way, be sure you never blame “the system” for mistakes you could be ammending yourself, or “culture” for missteps in communication which drive you further from your loved ones. Don’t let the concepts control you. Use your eyes, your ears, your nose, your hands, and discern what is really there, what is really worth your time and energy. Put these things to good use and you will see the impact they have on your life.
