187 lines
10 KiB
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187 lines
10 KiB
HTML
<blockquote>
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Abstractions are created by human beings and have no existence apart
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from the human mind. Thus, especially these days when moral
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relativism has attained the status of dogma, it is essential to
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restore a philosophy that is not centered on a subjective
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abstraction, but on objective reality. What is needed is
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personalism, a way of thinking based on the actuality of the human
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person created by God.<br />
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- <i>Economic Personalism</i> by Michael D. Greany and Dawn K.
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Brohawn, ch. 1
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</blockquote>
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<p>I've started to read the book "Economic Personalism" by Michael D.
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Greany and Dawn K. Brohawn, and will likely do a book review of it once
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I'm finished. But one topic that is brought up at the very beginning of
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the book in its section "Faith and Reason" is how we have come to adopt
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a sort of <em>fideism</em>, which is "the idea that truth is determined
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by what one believes, rather than what can be proved by reason or that
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is consistent with reason and thus conforms to the natural
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law."<sup><a href="#r1" >[1]</a></sup> This may seem somewhat
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counter-intuitive, considering we live in an age of so many
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self-proclaimed skeptics, atheists, and agnostics, as well as so many
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others who claim to be "pro-science". How could it be, then, that such a
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skeptical and self-proclaimed scientific population could fall for the
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evident errors of fideism? The reason is precisely that we are not
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skeptical, but rather we are simply critical (of other people's
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positions).</p>
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<p>To begin, as a Christian, I believe I am obliged to outline the
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difference between (religious) faith and fideism, as these are often
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confused - even by those who are religiously affiliated. For it is often
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the criticism of our modern age that religious faith is nothing more
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than fideism; it's a sort of blind belief in what an authority tells
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you. As I mentioned, there are most definitely religiously affiliated
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persons who fall into this category, but that is not the proper
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understanding of faith. As understood by the Catholic Church, "Faith is
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man's response to God, who reveals himself and gives himself to man, at
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the same time bringing man a superabundant light as he searches for the
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ultimate meaning of his life."<sup><a href="#r2" >[2]</a></sup> In this
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sense, faith is not about rejecting reason, but working together with
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reason as well as God's revelation in order to learn things we could not
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have known otherwise. As an analogy, if a friend tells me an intimate
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truth about his life that only he could know, I first ask myself whether
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what he is saying is something I can reasonably assume to be true or, to
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the contrary, if it is unreasonable; and if it is reasonable then I make
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the second decision as to whether or not I believe him (to have faith)
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or not. In this regard, divine revelation is something that cannot
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contradict with what we know to be objectively true about the world, and
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so reason informs our faith, and faith informs our reason with knowledge
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we could not have otherwise obtained due to our limited capability of
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perception.</p>
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<p>With this out of the way, we can finally move into the bulk of what
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this article is about: abstractions and reality. The real purpose of an
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abstraction is to help us to comprehend reality by generalizing it into
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something more manageable for our limited capacity to process
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information. If we were as God, who is omniscient and therefore has full
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knowledge of all things, then abstractions would be unnecessary, as they
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would simply be imperfect virtualizations of reality. However, seeing
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that we do not have such extensive knowledge, we must generalize the
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world around us into something we can manage. These become our
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abstractions. It is worth noting, therefore, that although an
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abstraction of reality may be very accurate it will never be perfect,
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and therefore will always require fine-tuning and development. There is
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also no correct answer with regards to these abstractions, and to
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believe that one has such a correct answer is naïve. For although one
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may be more correct than another, or one may be true in one area but
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fail to represent reality in another, all will ultimately be imperfect
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and therefore lacking. This does not make all abstractions equal, but
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simply recognizes that beyond that which we know from objective reality
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we can only speculate, and we can only assume to be true insofar as it
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reflects objective reality. Ultimately, this is the basis for the
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scientific method.</p>
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<p>The problem becomes when we project our abstractions unto reality,
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and as such would rather ignore objective truth in favor of our
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abstraction. For any person who comes from the background of an
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Abrahamic religion this is a clear case of idolatry: rather than
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adhering first to God who is the
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truth,<sup><a href="#r3" >[3]</a></sup> we adhere to our own inventions
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(i.e. idols). This is perhaps most evident in our current
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socio-economic debate, where factions are created not with the
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intention of finding truth on how to practically resolve the problems of
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the governed, but to impose an ideological agenda. These ideologies are
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simply abstractions of how humans function as a society. And by
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projecting our abstractions unto reality, we will ultimately end up
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falling into contradiction with reality due to the imperfect nature of
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our abstractions. As a consequence, the more we fight against reality
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and turn towards our abstractions, the further our abstractions will
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stray from reality.</p>
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<p>To all this, there are going to be many reactions, but one in
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particular which I would like to address is the reader who reads this
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and thinks to himself: "Ah, yeah, those [other faction] are so far
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removed from reality, unlike myself." The reason why I find this
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reaction more worrisome is that it is prideful, and pride is perhaps the
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most dangerous of sins. Rather than taking this as an opportunity to
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criticize those who think differently from us, it is an opportunity to
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look at our own beliefs and discern what is a part of reality and what
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is an abstraction. This is not to change our beliefs, for if we didn't
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believe it to be true then we wouldn't believe it in the first place;
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but rather for us to acknowledge that all those beliefs which are
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abstractions will ultimately be lacking, and we must be open to adapting
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them in accordance to objective reality.</p>
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<p>Going further than the sphere of socio-economics, this problem of the
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abstract overriding the tangible is also present in our day-to-day
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lives, for it is not only an issue of ideology, but our entire life's
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philosophy that revolves around making the world around us conform to
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our views on how it should be. I speculate that it is because of this
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that there is such a heavy influence on convenience in our cultures
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which is ever more present. We want to mold the world around us to our
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view of how it should be; a creation made in our image & likeness.
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The problem is that, unlike God, we are not the world's creators. For
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although God did give us dominion over
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creation,<sup><a href="#r4" >[4]</a></sup> it is a form of custody, and
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therefore stewardship, as it never truly ceases to be God's as is all of
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creation. As such, although we may try to adapt it to our desires -
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whether ordered or disordered - God's will over His creation will
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ultimately prevail.</p>
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<p>It could be said that this stems from a Millenarian notion of the
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creation of the Kingdom of God on Earth. The obvious flaw being that
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only God bring His Kingdom to us. It is impossible for us to create
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paradise or achieve any such goal on Earth, as this is only possible by
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God's power alone in Christ's Second
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Coming.<sup><a href="r5" >[5]</a></sup> Yet we have grown so accustomed
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to adapting the world around us - particularly through technology - in
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order to suite us that we forget that there are aspects of this world
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that we cannot change. And it is precisely when we are confronted with
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these elements of reality that we cannot change that we fall into a
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spiral, continuously trying to turn reality into something it's not and
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frustrating ourselves when we find that, no matter how hard we try, it
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simply will not change to meet our desires.</p>
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<p>From this, my speculation is that we need to reconnect with reality,
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with what is tangible, and with that which we cannot change, and learn
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to accept those things which are beyond our control and manipulation. A
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big part of this, I believe, is to take time to disconnect from
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artificial environments, as these have all been molded by us to adjust
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to us. It is precisely by entering environments which we have not
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adapted to ourselves that we can experience this. And this need not be
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solely leaving the city or taking a walk in the park. Simply doing more
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physical things, working with our hands, cooking, reading physical
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books, lighting a candle, etc. These acts remind us of what is material,
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not simply the virtual reality to which we have been accustomed.</p>
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<p>As a consequence of our reconnection to reality, I believe that this
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may even help us to become more conscious of our environment and the
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problems that we are causing to it. Being so divorced from our
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surrounding environment, the flora & fauna, we do not truly notice
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when it is suffering from damage as a consequence of us trying to adapt
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it to our desires and convenience. Instead we would be directly affected
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by the consequences of our actions, and as such be more prone to react,
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not by force of any legislation or authority, but simply out of respect
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for the very environment by which God sustains us and has given us a
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special stewardship over.</p>
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<p>Ultimately we are facing an issue of divorcing ourselves from reality
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and being sucked into a virtual world of our own abstractions and
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wishful thinking. And the further we descend into this hole, the harder
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it's going to be to get out. We must make a conscious effort to
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reconnect ourselves with reality and recognize our abstractions for what
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they are: generalizations, tools that help us to better understand a
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world that is beyond our total comprehension. Only then can we begin to
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work on moving forward and progress in accordance to our human
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nature.</p>
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<ol class="refs" >
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<li id="r1" >
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<i>Economic Personalism</i> by Michael D. Greany and Dawn K.
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Brohawn, ch. 1
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</li>
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<li id="r2" >
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<i>Catechism of the Catholic Church</i> § 26
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</li>
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<li id="r3" >
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<i>Gospel according to St. John</i>, 14:6
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</li>
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<li id="r4" >
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<i>Genesis</i>, 1:26-28
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</li>
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<li id="r5" >
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<i>Catechism of the Catholic Church</i> § 676
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</li>
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</ol>
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