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Originally Posted by Perna
I want to apologize to you, Bloom; I realized when I was rereading that I sounded harsh and perhaps critical of you. I didn't mean to word it that way. You can see it as gray, that is how you see it and your choice of perception is not open to criticism or judgement by me, because it's about you. I like your explanation of shades of gray, that is one way I see continuums and I guess I see true to false as a continuum.
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no worries perna
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I believe opinions, situational things, personal preference, and personal belief are all somewhat the same and equally true/false. If you believe you are underwater, for you, you are underwater and since it's about you, that's all that matters.
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there's a psychological term for this...denial.
just because someone believes something doesn't make it true or real.
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However, if you're swimming through life (sorry, had to do that pun :-) in your underwater self and doing fine by you and not hurting me, then who am I to interfere?
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i think this would be a separate issue. just because we decide not to interfere with someone's delusion doesn't mean we have to pretend to also believe their delusion.
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In "truth" the sky is not blue, it is various bends in light, atmosphere, etc. (I learned "why" it looks blue when I took astronomy but have since forgotten :-) that makes it appear blue to most people but it's no different in color than any other part of space (so, "black"), it's just our atmosphere is doing tricks.
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you're right. i was going to change it and say the sky "appears" blue but i figured people would realize i was using a mental & cultural shortcut. the appearance of the color of the sky does change but if i say it looks plaid what will you say then?
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I think that's most of what we perceive, and why there are so many opinions about everything and no "truth" that everyone accepts; human perception, thought, and even what we're trying to perceive isn't "static" but alive and changing all the time. The minute we say, "this is IT" guess what? It isn't anymore.
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to say that there are only shades of gray is actually a rather black and white way of viewing things.
another thing to remember is that truth is not predicated on all peoples' acceptance of it.
**trigger for this part re: the ramifications of relativism concerning physical & sexual abuse**
bringing the discussion back to the topic of psychology this is important because if we're talking about things like some of the especially heinous forms of abuse (that are discussed in this forum daily) then i don't see how we could ever say something like that is ever situational. do you really think there are instances where things like physical & sexual abuse are ever justifiable and therefore not wrong? (a rhetorical question not to be answered in this forum if the answer is yes so as not to trigger anyone) i don't know how anyone could ever say things like that are not
always wrong and your way of thinking, if i am understanding you correctly, would logically lead to this conclusion. to say this would be to heap untold damage on those already traumatized.
**end trigger section**
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I don't believe we can know absolute Truth
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because you don't believe it exists, right? i don't believe we can know all truth but i believe we can know some truth. you can't have all the shades of gray without first having black and white.
we see in part but not completely and just because our
view of truth changes i'm not sure that necessarily means truth always changes. while i fully agree that truth is not always static i'm not convinced it is either always in flux. again, i would tend to think it's probably a both
and. sorry, but i am no modernist but rather a chastened postmodernist.
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we can just know what "works for us" as individuals and various groups we're part of and often, it only works for us for a particular period of time. However, we can believe we can know absolute Truth and guide our lives by that belief and that seems like a good idea to me, as long as we're constantly searching and testing what we believe we believe :-) and don't find "IT" and stop. Can't stop; Life is not controllable in that way.
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i agree that to always keep striving to grow is a worthwhile goal but i see it as being
and becoming rather than just being or just becoming. finding "it" doesn't necessitate stopping growing. we can build on what we have learned. i think it is wise to hold onto the good and release the bad rather than never holding onto anything.
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I have never thought what "color" opinions might be, haven't ever looked at them from that perspective but kind of like Pachy's colors of the rainbow. In that case, I'd like most of my opinions to be colored green please! (My favorite color).
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again, i think it depends what these opinions are about. if they are moral issues then personally i think they would fall on the black, white & shades of gray spectrum. if they are opinions regarding personal preferences then yes all the colors of the rainbow are up for grabs. mine will be blue.