Path to the Objective

Our lives are limited. Our time here will end at some point. It is inevitable for us and inevitable practically everything else in the universe. Time is a cruel mom. How do we cope with this? Everything we see is with our senses. Outside of that we can’t really affirm anything. It all could be an illusion, magnificent or terrible, that shrouds us from the truth. How can we live with that?
There must be something outside ourselves and that is what we search for. Something that will affirm our own existence and last beyond our existence; that is objectivity. That is the reality we hope for. Some of our strides towards it have changed throughout history and some haven’t. Either this is what we search for. We look for friendships not only to enjoy another’s company but also so that through someone else we can see how we exist and affect the world.

Yet on a grander scale we all strive for something objective. Love is an example. We know that we need each other to affirm on another but not only that but we want to belief in something that is forever. We want to believe that person will always be there. Believing in something forever or enduring puts faith in something that is outside ourselves, something beyond our control or perception, something objective. Beyond that as humans we will strive for that.

Another reason is so we can leave our mark. So we can all of them know we exist. If we can change on thing, fulfill one purpose, whether on accident or on purpose, then something outside ourselves has already been established and it sets off a chain of reactions that combined with that of others will shape history. Then we want to pass on our dreams and hopes. And no doubted that there will be others in the future with our same dreams. They can know we exist with their dreams, and as a result their purpose and dreams will be reaffirmed and so will ours as the torch is carried on.

Humankind will always search to understand its place in the universe. It will always be looking for the final answer. Religion was probably the first known method that civilization went about this. It became a way for man to define himself through nature and nature to define itself through man. God is eternal. Heaven is eternal. We strive to be eternal. Objectivity is eternal. God represents something objective. And as we look further to an answer we wonder the biggest questions of all. Why? What? How? and philosophy was born. To observe and question all there is in the universe. To define existence in its fullness, what does it mean? That was the goal. We want an answer, an objective and everlasting answer. So that we will know that there is truth in the universe, that this is something concrete and real. In the end our faith will push us to believe and hope for something that is forever.

Awesomely we have made great progress in this venture. As new minds throughout the century we have pieced together what makes our world around us through science. We know how old the universe is, what creates weather patterns and seasons, that the earth revolves around the sun, and what builds not only life but also matter. As get closer to an answer we find ourselves amidst the strife of our own subjectivity. War, Justice, Good, Evil, Religion, Morals they are all matters of subjective views, different for every group. In the end we just try and do what is best. Yet if we destroy ourselves in our own subjective wants and value that what would be the point? In the end, no matter what anyone of us believes in, we all bear witness to the same world.

The battle of subjectivity and objectivity comes from the dispute of whether the universe is in the mind or in a physical existence outside of it. There is the idea called Neutral Supervenience and it states that the universe in somewhere in between. It is not fully in our mind but it is not fully outside of it either. I think that is where we exist as well. Perhaps on day there will be an equilibrium drawn between subjectivity and objectivity, where both are fully understood. There is an answer out there and that is why I believe philosophy exists, so we can understand everything else in a rational way that will allow us to look for an answer. If you believe in anything you believe in philosophy. If you believe in philosophy you believe in an answer. If you believe in an answer you believe in objectivity. If you believe in objectivity you believe in something outside yourself that can endure. If you believe in something outside yourself you believe in faith. If you believe in faith you believe in peace. Believe in peace. Have faith. Have hope. Step into a better world.