One interesting theory I am learning about is Relativism, the concept there are no absolute truths, or that truth is always relative to some particular frame of reference, such as a language or a culture. If nothing is absolute or universal, the Individual and individual unique situations and points of view are central. It is easier to understand this as a left/right, binary dichotomy. The opposite of Relativism is Moral Absolutism, the belief in absolute standards against which moral questions can always be judged, regardless of context. This is a mainstay of traditional religions but also modern human rights.
I believe there is such a thing as an objective reality. I am sitting at the Osho Ashram with a friend who has never been to India, or Osho before and we would definitely agree we are in the city of Pune and a number of other basic variables. She doesn’t perceive it here as being an Ashram though. She’s never been to an Ashram before so has a very loose sense for the word. Everything from the hot sun and climate, the looks of people wearing maroon ropes and holding an intense glare are having an effect on her that have not on me.
My friend’s subjective reality, filtered through her sensory organs and translated into a lower definition, simpler version by the nervous system is in many ways similar but not equal to mine. Her genetics, subconscious and many other unique variables make up what she perceives reality to be. Two people could be doing exactly the same thing in exactly the same place and one would love it and the other hate it. Isn’t this what often people say of India? It reminds me of the HSBC bank marketing posters at major airports.
The computer metaphor: our genetics and the various degrees of sharpness of our brains is a first random contributing element, like the hardware of a computer. Much of the interpretation of reality is continuously fed to the individual by society and the media. Years and decades of nurturing form the operating system, a software like framework we rely on to manage information, judge situations and make sense of what’s going on. Shared norms and values, what is good and bad, models of rights and wrongs are the produce of culture. What is amoral or even illegal and dangerous in Saudi Arabia, could be harmless fun in London or Koh Phangan.
Should we buy into this theory? I have already done it, to a great extent. Will Relativism make your life better or worse though? When you remove solid but old-fashioned pillars of belief, commonly shared but repressive norms and morals, you could be freer, more conscious and reach an higher level of well-being. If you go too far with this, you could also become loose, scattered and marginalised, leading to extreme hedonism or destructive nihilism.
Unchallengeable, sacred truths have been used historically to coerce and dominate and have been causing avoidable suffering. Think of the tight control of free speech in totalitarian regimes to protect an ideology or the brutal repression of the Holy Inquisition in the Middle Ages.
Discarding centuries of traditions and models of behaviour can’t be done so easily, it requires a lot of interest in personal development and learning and an ability to fill the empty space with something else, something functionally superior. Society in 2018, in its imperfect, fallible ways, is a huge and rather sophisticated human construct that serves many people well and most people OK.
Like most things in life, I feel the optimum is a functional in-between. Some absolute values, rules, rights and responsibilities need to be in place for us to coexist and thrive as a society. A common narrative coming from cultural traditions which includes the language we speak, many social norms of politeness, respect and conformity give people the tools, coordinates and anchors they need to understand each-other, cooperate and thrive.
The conversation over what represents common values need to continue and be strengthened. Gradually, more enlightened, modern people of the future will refine and improve the framework in which we live and the perspectives and tools we use for finding truth. Despite that, because of the way we are made, it seems logical to think a scaled down, low definition, subjective, relative interpretation of reality will always be the only one available to us.
A better ending for this post is provided by the Vedanta philosophy: the absolute reality is within us and to experience it we need to leave the body, mind and thought behind and enter a deep state of meditation. Or, as the Buddha says: “Be a lamp to yourself. Be your own confidence. Hold on to the truth within yourself as to the only truth”
My version of reality, a letter to my grandchildren:
Maybe one day, in 30, 50 or 100 years, you will study history and read of the 2010s. As I am an optimist, I think you people of the future will be living in high tech, clean and beautiful cities, healthy and content. You’ll learn how society now was much better than society in 1940, 1980 and maybe, in some ways, a little worse than 2006.
People still sacrificed so much of the present for the future, to comply with the demands of work and life, they had very little time and energy left at the end of the day. Instant gratification with affordable luxury or anything trivial and easily bought and consumed was rampant in 2018 and the majority of the population took fleeting pleasure in popular entertainment, alcohol, ready meals, low quality food and was physically unfit as a result.
The banks led Great Recession, which began a decade earlier, helped corporations and wealthy individuals through quantitative easing. They were able to finance themselves at very low rates on public money, while also benefiting from huge corporate tax reductions by moving headquarters to new tax havens like Ireland and Holland.
Personal debt, as well as public debt, were huge. The former helped to keep people trapped and further away from meaningful personal lifestyle change, the latter brought in austerity measures and cuts to public services, stopping governments from providing more redistribution to the masses.
The healthcare revolution was yet to happen, in 2018. The majority of western people was on pharmaceutical medication and what was known as “holistic” or “alternative medicine”, while becoming more prominent in the West, was still far from having the significant impact and mainstream recognition it will have in a decade or two.
Even very complex and sophisticated medical systems like TCM and Ayurveda were discounted as unscientific and for that reason, irrelevant and useless.
Pay increase and corporate perks for lower, mid and even senior executives became harder to achieve thanks to increased unemployment and a play on technology and globalisation, two other major factors that suddenly became very important. 69% of American adults had less than $1,000 in saving accounts while top executives and billionaires saw their riches increase.
As life conditions for much of the Western middle class worsened, on the plus side more than one billion people were lifted from poverty elsewhere as emerging market economies boomed.
The Internet provided free information and a plurality of voices making knowledge available to anyone who wanted to learn. A skill and money arbitrage game allowed me to live in an emerging market on a beautiful, clean and fun tropical island. Low cost transportation opened the world to anyone wanting to experience it.