This deserves more reads because it touches on such great ideas. I loved this!
I would like to add onto this argument by sharing two things. But first, a slight disagreement: I don’t think reality is an illusion. At least, it is not an illusion in the sense of how the word is usually interpreted. I’d like to think that how we perceive things to be “real” is just a small snapshot of the existence of reality as a whole.
To elaborate, I’ll now add onto your argument:
1. Everyone has a hierarchy of values because paying attention to everything all at once is too much information to cognitively process. The fact that you are reading this sentence word by word, phrase by phrase, means that at this moment you are valuing my comment more than the wall in front of you, the trees outside, the electronics next to you, and so on. Thus, what you perceive is dependent on what you value. You see the world, physically or metaphysically, through the lens of what you value. Thus, you simultaneously include and exclude when processing information in the act of perception itself. Thus, we are only but cameramen and reality will only be but a framed picture of something bigger.
2. Even science is predicated on a faith: seeking what is true is Good. There’s no scientific and epistemically sound reasoning to “prove” seeking what’s true is good, yet the sciences operate under such assumptions anyways. You eloquently point out that world of what is (science) and the world of how to act (metaphysics in a sense) go hand in hand. We will never escape the problem of faith; we will believe our authorities, our documentaries about birds, and so on. Unfortunately for philosophers like us, we will go far and beyond to try to find ways to escape this problem of assumption to but no end. To me, there’s some beauty in that though :)
I actually do think that reality really is an illusion, in exactly the usual sense of that word. As you observed, hierarchies of values are the chisels we use to sculpt our reality. They're tools. But what of the medium? Our brains also use hierarchies to sculpt dreams, after all. We're constantly mistaking our own sculptures for bedrock reality whether we're dreaming or awake.
The only difference is that waking reality seems to be communally mediated, while dreaming seems to be a solo act. And that, of course, reminds me of your excellent essay “Speak, so I can see you" , which can be found here:
A final note on science: any doubt that science is a religion was put to bed for me during the COVID era. Hearing people repeat the mantra "trust the science"—as if trust and science aren't diametrically-opposed concepts—was bone-chilling.
This deserves more reads because it touches on such great ideas. I loved this!
I would like to add onto this argument by sharing two things. But first, a slight disagreement: I don’t think reality is an illusion. At least, it is not an illusion in the sense of how the word is usually interpreted. I’d like to think that how we perceive things to be “real” is just a small snapshot of the existence of reality as a whole.
To elaborate, I’ll now add onto your argument:
1. Everyone has a hierarchy of values because paying attention to everything all at once is too much information to cognitively process. The fact that you are reading this sentence word by word, phrase by phrase, means that at this moment you are valuing my comment more than the wall in front of you, the trees outside, the electronics next to you, and so on. Thus, what you perceive is dependent on what you value. You see the world, physically or metaphysically, through the lens of what you value. Thus, you simultaneously include and exclude when processing information in the act of perception itself. Thus, we are only but cameramen and reality will only be but a framed picture of something bigger.
2. Even science is predicated on a faith: seeking what is true is Good. There’s no scientific and epistemically sound reasoning to “prove” seeking what’s true is good, yet the sciences operate under such assumptions anyways. You eloquently point out that world of what is (science) and the world of how to act (metaphysics in a sense) go hand in hand. We will never escape the problem of faith; we will believe our authorities, our documentaries about birds, and so on. Unfortunately for philosophers like us, we will go far and beyond to try to find ways to escape this problem of assumption to but no end. To me, there’s some beauty in that though :)
I actually do think that reality really is an illusion, in exactly the usual sense of that word. As you observed, hierarchies of values are the chisels we use to sculpt our reality. They're tools. But what of the medium? Our brains also use hierarchies to sculpt dreams, after all. We're constantly mistaking our own sculptures for bedrock reality whether we're dreaming or awake.
The only difference is that waking reality seems to be communally mediated, while dreaming seems to be a solo act. And that, of course, reminds me of your excellent essay “Speak, so I can see you" , which can be found here:
https://synchronicity.substack.com/p/speak-so-i-can-see-you
A final note on science: any doubt that science is a religion was put to bed for me during the COVID era. Hearing people repeat the mantra "trust the science"—as if trust and science aren't diametrically-opposed concepts—was bone-chilling.
Thanks for the comment, Noah!