Would you rather understand reality, or live a lie?
Why I love what rationalistic thinking does for me: Just as the title suggests, I guess for my part, I would I rather understand reality than live a lie. For some reason, every time the world seems so -- insane to me, I think about this idea:
“At least for me pain is obvious. If I can identify it, I can fight it. But confusion is more subtle, it’s torture in the mind. For me, it’s a concept worse than literal pain.”
-The Sixth
The thing is, it seems that nearly every day that goes by feels like a sinusoidal curve: It’s always something: as long as I let myself be at the mercy of whatever powers greater than I decide to help or screw me over that day. Some circumstances are obvious and some are subtler. At least the ones ultimately influenced by the mechanics of nature itself, I have a fighting chance of maybe doing something about it. If not that, then at least understanding where the leak is coming from in my sinking ship. At least that’s what I used to feel, until I had a better understanding of how reality works.
Maybe people get into STEM careers to get a better paying job or maybe they may really love their work. But it amazes me how many people fail to utilize the benefits that rationalism as a philosophy can bring. I have not found a better philosophy for how to approach human thinking and problem solving that is more grounded. With it, I am convinced that combined with spiritual values, most of us could eradicate confusion in our lives once and for all.
What is rationalism?
ra·tion·al·ism
ˈraSHənlˌizəm,ˈraSHnəˌlizəm/
noun
It is a belief or theory that opinions and actions should be based on reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response. In fact, there are three categories of it:
"scientific rationalism" is the aforementioned definition I just said, but then in philosophy and theology, there are the following modifications of this powerful form of thinking:
PHILOSOPHY
the theory that reason rather than experience is the foundation of certainty in knowledge.
THEOLOGY
the practice of treating reason as the ultimate authority in religion.
So as you perhaps can begin to appreciate, rationalism is essentially the foundation for the motivation for all scientific discovery. Scientific discovery is founded by rationalist beliefs. Rationalists beliefs and practice do not have to be limited to simply trying to understand the nature of objects like planets or how a spleen works for the sake of it. Rationalist beliefs challenge why we culturally may believe something for the sake of it.
Through this powerful philosophy, I’ve come to discover that not everything in our specific culture around us defines physical reality: what it is or could be. Having a good scientific background improves a person’s cognitive ability to reason and ponder reality vs superstitions and cultural mores, that may or may not benefit our human wellness.
Moreover, through rationalism (and a much painstaking search for trying to fully understand reality), I believe we acquire the tools needed to fully identify the variables in our lives that could cause us so many problems.
Sure, we are so technologically advanced… but in terms of metaphysics, we’re not. Hence, I believe technology alone without knowing how to surf for deeper existential truths that promote health and wellness is a futile cause. Ironically, rationalism has taught me this: how to identify problematic variables in my life, hypothesize what to do about them, and finally come up with a series of experiments to try to find a solution.
Recognizing the power of what we know about reality, and then through reasoning, allowing for the metaphysical solutions to lead us to strengthening those values inside of ourselves, is part of the mission of this site. Perhaps these traits we focus on can’t be empirically measured in physical reality, but they brings us a feeling of completion and wellness, that we wished we had every day in our lives – individually, and then collectively.
