October 22, 2006
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identity through belief
It’s difficult for a person to look closely at all the ways they’ve
changed. When I look back, everything looks different. I see a person
so alien to me that I cannot comprehend his thought processes but then
at the same time I feel as if I am still him and some alien has jumped
into my skin and is perverting the way in which I think now and
blocking off my true self.Well whatever. It is in fact far easier to look instead at the ways in
which you have stayed the same: the things you believe that you have
always believed and which you hope you will always believe so long as
you do draw breathe.There are many such things that I still believe but most of those
are trivial obvious things that most anyone would say they believe in
and hope to always believe in. For example a belief in family or a
belief in freedom or the right of peoples to live in peace, etc. etc.But is there anything of that sort that I can cling to as defining? A
belief that is if not unique to me at least rather uncommon and which
distinguishes me from the randomness of the crowd. Is there a belief
that I have forged because of the experiences that are unique to my
life? Is there a belief that more heavily influences my actions and
decisions than it does anyone else who professes to hold it? Is there a
belief that if all else were stripped away from me would still enable
me to say that I am still myself and still uniquely me?Well I have identified two beliefs that could be candidates for such an
essential life’s philosophy. I identified them by simple trial and
error. I look back at all the convictions I’ve held and all of the ones
that I have modified and altered and shifted or forgotten or given or
just haven’t seemed that important to me of late. I take all of those
out and see what of that which remains still drives me and then weigh
how much it matters to me still.One of those two beliefs I am finding difficulty putting into a set of
coherent words. So I’ll just set that aside to write about another day.
It has to do with the importance of narratives and stories, the
relevance of characters and the profound truthfulness of experiencing
that which conveys the kinship between sentient beings. But that’s all
vague and incoherent so I’ll set it aside until I can get to the bottom
of it and see if there really is a simple to state guiding principle in
that mess that I can say that I believe in.The other is much easier to state if only because philosophers have
stated it and argued about it for centuries. It is what I have come to
think of as the principle of rational intentions. i state it as this:Whenever anyone acts they do so because they believe in their actions.
They think that their choices are for the better and they act because
they are trying to the best of their ability to ensure the persistence
of some good or bring about some greater good.I’ve had discussions about this principle with lots of people and I’ve
discovered that virtually no one believes it. Most everyone thinks that
there are “evil” people out there who are not deluded or foolish or
ignorant or unknowing but simply evil. That is, that there are people
who, knowing full well that their actions will lead to harm or could
result in a situation that is vastly worse for everyone will still
choose to engage in those actions in exchange for some small immediate
benefit or some personal gain or simply because they take some pleasure
in seeing the evil consequences of their acts.I don’t believe that. Why don’t I believe that? There are a lot of
reasons but foremost among them is the simple fact that without the
principle of rational intentions I simply do not comprehend how any
living being can hope to come to an understanding with any other. There
can’t be compromises, there can’t be solidarity of purpose, and there
can’t even be coherent argument, if you can’t believe that the parties
involved can work first upon an agreement of what is to be considered
the best outcome and then toward an agreement upon what actions will
best lead to the realization of that outcome.But if the world consists of some subset of irrational incoherent
automoton-like beings who act on pure whim and selfishness and others
who in fact do act in accordance with what they believe is right and
you can’t tell which is which, how can you ever really interact with
anyone? Not only could any interaction be based on a farce because the
other being is not just lying to you but in fact fundamentally
internally contradictory to itself. The words it is saying might as
well be random as you cannot infer from them his motives or desires.
How can you ever hope to understand anything non-trivial about your
people in such a world? It’d be like knowing that half of your test
subjects are returning bad essentially random results but not being
able to determine which ones are which.That’s just too terrifying a possibility for me to believe in. I truly
do believe that we are all in some core ways similar and one of the
most important points of similarity I believe is that we are all
basically the same kinds of creatures in terms of how our reasoning
faculty enables us to make choices. We choose to act because we think
that our actions are what we should in fact do as opposed to some set
of actions that we should not do.So why then is there so much confusion and deceit and lies and cruelty
and suffering in the world? Why don’t we generally come to much the
same reasonable conclusions about what is right and then act to bring
it about? Well that’s something I can’t be entirely sure of, but I
think it has a lot to do with other simple aspects of the human
existence like ego and pride and fear and self doubt. I also think it
has a lot to do with our lack of omniscience, the fact that we often
can’t see all of the consequences of our actions and the fac that it is
so often so easy not to bother to try and look at what the consequences
of our actions are. Wishful thinking is always easier than careful
thinking.But I feel that it is very valuable to keep in mind the idea that we
are all at least to this small degree similar and not just in genetic
code. We all are on a very basic level the same kinds of thinking
machines even when we seem the most alien to one another. I think that
with that attitiude in mind we can reach agreements with one another,
we can teach and learn from one another, and we can ultimately move
toward a better future together. I think that’s a lot better than
assuming that everyone who does not see the things that you perceive
that you “know” to be good and right is an evil being who beyond being
reasoned with and so must simply be discredited, ignored, and or
destroyed. Unfortunately these days this is the more common way of
thinking.
