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Related Discussions
Richard
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Peter
Vineeto
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Related Links
Belief
Imagination
Relativism
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Truth
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Related Question/Objections
What is the
Difference between Reality and Actuality?
Actualism is
materialistic Reductionism
Truth cannot be
Spoken
Authoritative and
have
to be right
Twisting Words
Empty Promises
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Fact
Fact: What has really happened or is
the case; truth; reality: in fact rather than theory, the fact of the matter is; something known to have happened; a truth known by actual
experience or observation: scientists work with facts. Oxford Dictionary
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Richard: A
discerning eye and ear is needed in order to ascertain what is fact and what is merely theory, postulation, concept, commonly agreed,
belief, assumption, speculation, imagination, myth, wisdom, real or true. It is easy to see when one knows how to look. Without having to
interpret through one’s own belief system – an otherwise intelligent person is thus blind to the obvious – all facts are
self-evidently clear. Start with a fact – a verifiable, objective actuality – as the base. Use it as a touch-stone to test the actuality
of whatever ‘truth’ one suspects to be a belief. Separate out facts from fiction; find out which part is demonstrably a fact. Anything
else is fiction, an illusion.
Any belief is nonsensical. By its very nature a
belief is not factually true ... otherwise it would not need to be believed to be true. A fact is obvious; it is out in the open, freely
available for all to see as being true. To believe something to be true is to accept on trust that it is so. A fact does not have to be
accepted on trust – a fact is candidly so. A fact is patently true, manifestly clear. A fact is what is ascertained sensately and thus
demonstrably true. A fact has actual verity, whereas a belief requires synthetic credence. It is a fact that I, as this body, am mortal. I
will die in due course ... this heart will stop beating, these lungs will cease breathing, this brain will quit thinking.
Herein lies the clue to ascertain why this
fancy has persisted: a feeling is not a fact.
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Feelings have led humankind astray
for millennia, without ever being questioned as to whether they are the correct tool for determining the truth of a matter.
Feelings are held to be sacrosanct; they are given a credibility
they do not deserve. They are seen to be the final arbiter in a contentious issue: ‘It’s a gut-feeling’, or ‘My intuition is never
wrong’, or ‘It feels right’, and so on. Thought, shackled by emotion and passion, can not operate with the clarity it is capable of.
Surely, to experience what is factual is of far greater import than any conclusion arrived at by thought or feeling – no matter how highly
refined the thought or fanatically felt the feeling.
To experience the factuality of the ending of ‘being’ whilst
this body is still breathing is of the utmost importance, if one is to penetrate into the ‘Mystery of Life’ and discover the ultimate
fulfilment ... here on earth. To come upon a fact, all that is fiction must be stripped away. All Sacred Cows must be mercilessly exposed to
the most extreme scrutiny, nothing or no-one being exempt from critical examination. Common usage has blurred the distinction betwixt fact and
belief so much so that anyone using sufficient sophistry can get away with anything at all and still be considered wise these days.
Religious teaching brainwashes people into believing nonsense instead of observing
facts and actuality. For most people seeing a fact means betraying their belief ... thus they are rendered incapable of seeing it. One of the
ways of ascertaining whether a ‘truth’ is a belief or a fact is that a belief demands loyalty; you give allegiance to it and to the group
that espouses it. If you have more than one belief it causes difficulty, as your loyalties can be torn apart. You can feel chaotic, not knowing
which belief is ‘true’. It makes you very insecure ... at moments like that you wish that there were one person who could tell you what to
do and what not to do ... what to believe and what not to believe. You desire some Big Daddy or Big Mummy to tell you what is ‘Right’ and
what is ‘Wrong’.
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Most people try to
resolve their different beliefs through compromise. Two people, holding on to their own beliefs, will get into an argument, a fight. They are
separate. One is always trying to get the other to believe in their own belief through manipulation and persuasion ... and by giving or
withholding love. The one who is stronger, the most adept in this, wins the other over. As neither can stand separation, they will grab any means
to come together – even if this means mutual concessions, or the swapping of one’s belief for the other’s. Seeing that both beliefs are
irrelevant, by virtue of the fact that they are beliefs anyway, they can dissolve completely. Then there is nothing to resolve, the problem itself
is eliminated. Hence a permanent lack of conflict. With the absence of belief there is no more power battles over whose belief is ‘Right’.
Separation is no more ... equity prevails. The result is actual intimacy between autonomous individuals.
Just because something is an experience in common,
it is not necessarily factual. If something is communally experienced it is said to be objective and it is automatically implied to be true. If
one is said to be objective it is taken as an accolade; whereas by being subjective, one is said to be prone to bias, to error. If no-one was bold
enough to say that the accepted ‘truth’ is a mistake, then the sun would still be revolving around the earth! In the face of public opinion,
one needs to be bold to question the collective wisdom and find out for oneself the fact of the matter. One of the best ways of doing this is to
see that something held to be true is not working. Instead of vainly trying to make it work through intellectual dishonesty, one takes stock and
applies lateral thinking. One needs to be audacious to proceed where no-one has gone before – and trail-blazers are often castigated for their
effrontery. Fancy being ridiculed or ostracized for ascertaining the facticity of something ... for establishing a fact.
The criterion of a fact is that it works, it
produces results. An insight is seeing the fact. When one sees the fact there is action ... and this action is the actualizing of the insight so
that one’s personality is changed, irrevocably.
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Please note that the text below was written by the feeling-being ‘Peter’ while ‘he’ lived in a pragmatic
(methodological), still-in-control/same-way-of-being Virtual Freedom before becoming actually free. |
Peter: It
may be useful to look at how it is possible to ascertain what is fact and what is theory, postulation, concept, commonly agreed, belief,
assumption, psittacism, speculation, feeling, intuition, imagination, myth, wisdom, real or true.
The first step would be to at least entertain the
idea that the notion you have about something may not be factually correct. It would be good to put one’s real-world and spiritual-world
cynicism aside and crank up a bit of naïve curiosity at this stage, even if you have to pretend an innocence, a not knowing when you ‘really do
know’... To do so would be a blow to one’s pride and the way I dealt with that was to turn it on its head and say that I would be really silly
to continue believing something that was not factual. The next obstacle is the moral and ethical stance I have – if I think it is ‘right’ or
‘good’ to believe this particular issue then I will not even bother to investigate it. Again, I refused to let arbitrary moral or ethical
judgements stand in the way of wanting to know the facts for that would be silly and beneath my dignity as a supposedly intelligent, supposedly
autonomous, supposedly free human being.
I do see a few elements common to any investigation
–
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What are my personal observations and experiences as opposed to my feelings,
intuition, wishes, instinctual reaction ...
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What is the nature of the idea or concept being presented?
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What other information is available and how much ‘airplay’ does it get?
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Who is proposing and promulgating the idea or concept?
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What are the motives of the people proposing and promulgating the idea or concept?
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What is the core notion that this idea or concept is founded upon?
So, one cranks up a bit of naïve curiosity, clears the decks of
pride, morals and ethics and one is ready to take a clear-eyed look at the particular issue.
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Freedom from the Human Condition – Happy and Harmless
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