I have been lucky enough to encounter a fair number of deep philosophers who consider the way the world is, and I have also developed my notions. Beyond the contents of the notions or myths or theories about which I guarantee you we can never know, there is the problem of epistemology: i.e., how do we know what we know?<\/p>\n
We need to add to the problem of knowledge what we\u2019ve been learning about depth psychology and subjectivity: It\u2019s all so unbelievably complex that there\u2019s no way that anyone ever believes what someone else believes, no matter how compelling, fully articulated that first teacher or philosopher may be. The true disciple may believe that what he believes is pretty much the same as what the teacher says and thinks, but a careful examination of the semantic associations, the nuances, the resonances, the implications of many of the concepts begin to show cracks, subtle differences.<\/p>\n
The mind is no less complicated than a grain of sand, and when you get several trillion atoms mixed up, it doesn\u2019t take a genius to say that the exact precise arrangement of those atoms will be absolutely different in a trillion trillion ways and more, because in that one atom out of trillions that have these three contaminating other types of atom will\u2014you can bet your bippy\u2014have them placed in different locations!<\/p>\n
In that same sense, any philosopher, guru, teacher, sage, parent, prophet, whatever, will never, ever be able to communicate the full depth of intuitions, because mind is one of those fields where complexities mount even more than in the seemingly material world. Nuances, word-meanings, associations\u2014these are only the surface ripples of depths in the subconscious that can barely be discerned. A careful venture into the mind reveals halls of mirrors, dissolving illusions, layers of clarity that are again transcended, and all this is amplified with every microgram of psychedelic sensitivity. <\/p>\n
A corollary of this is that there are many things this is true about\u2014patriotism, love, death, and so forth, but above all, ultimate reality. There folks are speculating on the legends others tell\u2014sometimes believing them quite literally\u2014though that strong belief doesn\u2019t make them true for others not so compelled from with. But mix this with the art of interpretation\u2014\u201chermeneutics\u201d\u2014 and the actual individuality of minds: I\u2019ve become quite convinced that there\u2019s no way in heaven that human minds can ever fully grasp the greatness of reality. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not that we shouldn\u2019t speculate if we can\u2019t know for sure. I have another myth-theory that God loves philosophy! In this myth God doesn\u2019t even appreciate the half of what \u201cShe\u201d is about; It\u2019s not about applauding an ultimately \u201cright answer\u201d so much as enjoying yet another interesting variation, like hearing yet another good piece of music.<\/p>\n
Indeed, one of the functions of human consciousness is the growing recognition of the capacity to reflect on the glory of it all. (99.99999% of existence doesn\u2019t have a glimmer that it exists, and 99.9% of those who do don\u2019t have a glimmer of the idea that it exists within a whole universe that might care that it knows that we all exist!)<\/p>\n
Thus we serve the Manifesting Everything (one of my innumerable names for God) by making up stories. No harm done, unless we start burning one another to death for not believing as we all do in our club \/ community.<\/p>\n