There is a certain type of mind, usually labelling itself a “realist,” that is disturbed by differences of perception wrought by alterations in consciousness. Noticing that in states of joy or love the world appears more fair, more beautiful and profound than in states of apathy or depression, such a mind recoils and declares that only the most dispassionate gaze, the most hardened eye, can see things as they truly are. Such people often attempt to reduce feelings of love or awe by insisting that they are reducible to otherwise indifferent or illusory changes within the world they perceive through their “objective” lens. The appearance of beauty, they might say, arises from the evolutionary advantage of certain landscapes; love, they might intone, is merely the effect of quite loveless chemicals upon the nervous system. For them, the sublime means nothing, the most transcendent and important of experiences reveal only one’s own blindness, and truth is realized in the sobriety of complete indifference. Such people disbelieve many of the most basic realities of human experience, trusting rather in the cold rationality of abstract, impersonal principles and cynicism in an effort to determine what is real.
Love and the Real
Love and the Real
Love and the Real
There is a certain type of mind, usually labelling itself a “realist,” that is disturbed by differences of perception wrought by alterations in consciousness. Noticing that in states of joy or love the world appears more fair, more beautiful and profound than in states of apathy or depression, such a mind recoils and declares that only the most dispassionate gaze, the most hardened eye, can see things as they truly are. Such people often attempt to reduce feelings of love or awe by insisting that they are reducible to otherwise indifferent or illusory changes within the world they perceive through their “objective” lens. The appearance of beauty, they might say, arises from the evolutionary advantage of certain landscapes; love, they might intone, is merely the effect of quite loveless chemicals upon the nervous system. For them, the sublime means nothing, the most transcendent and important of experiences reveal only one’s own blindness, and truth is realized in the sobriety of complete indifference. Such people disbelieve many of the most basic realities of human experience, trusting rather in the cold rationality of abstract, impersonal principles and cynicism in an effort to determine what is real.