Chromatique

The Internet is all about information, from baking cookies to how one would go about becoming a light being. It seems as if the human condition - in its consummate reality - is largely dependant on the flow, and malleability of information. In terms of the discussions on this blog, the concept of information has a rather expansive meaning and includes, not only knowledge, facts and data, but also beliefs and intellectual constructs - those ideas and thoughts on which we pin so much of our reality-experience.

Sites such as WIKI along with a multitude of others, provide a sense of security to the inquiring mind in the guise of instant 'answers' - however tenuous its contents may seem to be. WIKI and other similar virtual venues, are obvious examples of a direct method of dissemination of 'knowledge' and data and there are a multitude of providers (humans - since there is almost always one or more human beings lurking in the background) who are eager to provide their points of reference on anything from religion to strict scientific debate and arguments. By investing in their beliefs, you bolster their reality as well.

Obviously, there is much contradictory information to be found and this is important to keep in mind as it is an indication of how people entertain different points of view. By itself, that is fine as it provides a range of spices and flavours to human interaction. However, as most of us know all too well, this state leads to some intense debate, arguments, fighting, and ultimately sometimes death and destruction.

And that is partly the point of this blog: however far-fetched some ideas, concepts and bits of knowledge may seem, there is probably at least one person on the planet who believes just those ideas, and whose grip on reality depends on those 'peculiar' thoughts - even if their thought-condition is only temporary and mercurial. After a good sixty years of learning, reading,  and asking questions about life in its grandest complexities, I have also entertained and invested my being in a great variety of 'answers' and 'truths' I have often defended my point of view vehemently because my life, my reality, my grip on sanity at that time depended on it, only to change my insight a while later, replacing the old with a new and 'final truth.'

So, where do I find myself now? Looking back, paging through the various pages beliefs I've held, I notice that I have merely progressed to the point where I feel rather comfortable with only questions. All the answers that life has imparted me through the years have actually shown what it is not about, but that in the quest for reasons and truths the actual searching and questions are perhaps the most intriguing elements of the whole process.

I've also come to believe that, for the purpose of this article, humans come in three different flavours. One important group are the believers, limboists or manipulated. These people adopt the agenda of others and may in turn become members of the next group in the process: the producers, providers or manipulators; they set and establish the agenda. Lastly, there are the questioners, enquirers and less-manipulated.

Firstly, I should clarify that by the term 'manipulation', I do not intend a specifically negative connotation - although this is not excluded - but also to the sincere efforts of molding of facts, ideas and concepts to suit a specific train of thought which may be perceived as a beneficial solution to one of life's conundrums.

Secondly, these groups are not mutually exclusive but constitute a fluid field of degrees and interactions. For example, a person may be a total sceptic (questioner) in terms of certain religious ideas but totally committed to a science such as medicine. On the other hand, some of our fellow humans are totally and unconditionally committed to what the 'authorities' (providers or manipulators) provide them with. There are also those who take a few steps back and wonder about everything, not easily convinced members of this group are often found to be most irritating and out of place by many, especially when they have made scepticism a kind of forceful religious pursuit, in which case they are not really questioners but actually manipulators with their own agenda.

Since it seems that human existence hinges on this kind of interplay between ideas and agendas, I personally do not feel negative about the human condition, or in any way intend to propose that it is wrong in any way. However, in the context of the above, the question I ask myself is "can I assume and demand that any of my personal beliefs and ideas be widely acknowledged and incorporated into general reality if I do not have answers (real or conceptual) to any questions that may be asked about it?" In other words, can I expect others to suspend themselves in the tenuous web of my perceptions, merely on the basis that it supports and maintains my reality somewhere in the universe. Perhaps it is a cosy feeling to have many other souls supported and suspended in the same web;warmth, brotherhood, belonging-to, and all that... But what happens if one of the tenuous strings that provide the support get broken or merely dissolve  - poof!... then we all fall down and have to find another web.

Perhaps the answer lies in the question: is it perhaps the art of not being suspended in a web at all? That is the theme of this blog: bondage and the terrifying implications of weblessness.

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