[Most of] Society is not enlightened ; What is life?
ENLIGHTENMENT
Current society tells us that we should dig deep to discover who we truly are and express ourselves, but what society is really saying is, "Think like this! Accept this mindset because it is right". While it embraces things like LGBT, anti-racism, and related issues, it simultaneously sets aside the ideas of Christianity, conservatism, and true diversity.
When we follow this version of society's "enlightenment" of learning who we are and what we think, we are accepting society's version of what is right. Could you not say this is almost like being part of the "machine" as Kant mentioned in the last sentence of his paper?
"Have the courage to use your own understanding" is not what people are doing in society today. People are accepting the social norms and not digging to find truth!
MEDITATION
I admire Descartes so much in this writing. He does something that most people in their right mind would never fathom doing. Then again, what is a "right mind", and who are we to say we, whoever "we" are, have it? Descartes goes back and forth as such all throughout his paper testing what he knows, or rather, what he THINKS he knows.
He completely trashes everything he has ever known to have a fresh mind. At this point, I see a black abyss of nothingness with a tiny spark of knowledge forming in the incredibly far distance. But what is knowledge? Is it of the body or spirit? He does not seem to answer this question from what I can see. Anyhow, he questions anything and everything he has ever seemed to know, and I genuinely admire this. Is this not in a sense what we are taught to do here at this school? To learn from our peers and professors and then nitpick, analyze and question the "facts" and beliefs we have learned? I could chase rabbit trails on this paper for days as Descartes himself honestly seemed to do, so I will stop here.
Who am I kidding? I dare not stop there. This partially relates to our free will. We are taught from God in the Bible who we are, what we are, and briefly of the world. It is up to us to interpret this, analyze it, and then determine for ourselves if we find it true or not. This is, dare I say, both our enlightenment and and meditation.
I commented on Brock's and Natalie's posts.
Current society tells us that we should dig deep to discover who we truly are and express ourselves, but what society is really saying is, "Think like this! Accept this mindset because it is right". While it embraces things like LGBT, anti-racism, and related issues, it simultaneously sets aside the ideas of Christianity, conservatism, and true diversity.
When we follow this version of society's "enlightenment" of learning who we are and what we think, we are accepting society's version of what is right. Could you not say this is almost like being part of the "machine" as Kant mentioned in the last sentence of his paper?
"Have the courage to use your own understanding" is not what people are doing in society today. People are accepting the social norms and not digging to find truth!
MEDITATION
I admire Descartes so much in this writing. He does something that most people in their right mind would never fathom doing. Then again, what is a "right mind", and who are we to say we, whoever "we" are, have it? Descartes goes back and forth as such all throughout his paper testing what he knows, or rather, what he THINKS he knows.
He completely trashes everything he has ever known to have a fresh mind. At this point, I see a black abyss of nothingness with a tiny spark of knowledge forming in the incredibly far distance. But what is knowledge? Is it of the body or spirit? He does not seem to answer this question from what I can see. Anyhow, he questions anything and everything he has ever seemed to know, and I genuinely admire this. Is this not in a sense what we are taught to do here at this school? To learn from our peers and professors and then nitpick, analyze and question the "facts" and beliefs we have learned? I could chase rabbit trails on this paper for days as Descartes himself honestly seemed to do, so I will stop here.
Who am I kidding? I dare not stop there. This partially relates to our free will. We are taught from God in the Bible who we are, what we are, and briefly of the world. It is up to us to interpret this, analyze it, and then determine for ourselves if we find it true or not. This is, dare I say, both our enlightenment and and meditation.
I commented on Brock's and Natalie's posts.
You're first paragraph is everything!!! Society and social media keep telling us to be "different" and then proceed to give us ways to be said, "different" until no one is different because we're all doing the SAME THING to be "different". (sorry, I sounded like Descartes for minute there *gags*) Something that always rakes my nerves in particular is when people or society says we need to "find ourselves" and then we'll be happy and complete. Phillipians 3:9, "I am found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith." There is no finding yourself, we are found in Christ.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though Kant's writing is the perfect one-two punch when coupled with Descartes, being that as you said in your first paragraph, society wants us to think a certain way while giving us the perception that we are the one's formulating our belief and opinion. Descartes then takes it even further to almost say, " Don't go to far with it, consider what is actually real through reason." Freedom is a dangerous thing, and using the word of God as well as rationality and reason should be the basis of our thoughts and beliefs.
ReplyDeleteSome might consider topics and issues such as LGBT and anti-racism as "enlightened" ideas. What do you say to this? How do we distinguish the true enlightenment and merely reverting to nonage. Some might say Descartes accomplished this in his doubting all he knew to find what was truth. Is this the only way we can ever arrive at enlightenment? Where do we draw the line in nonage and actually using your own understanding, and how do we know when this has been accomplished?
ReplyDelete