“Socrates said the same thing always, having only one thought, idea of universality. Modern philosophy has many ideas, all having limited truth.”
The idea that ‘reality’ results from the conscious gaze was mentioned in the previous post. This notion is supposed to have been put forth by the proponents of quantum mechanic’s so called “string theory.” It comports with a philosophical notion that I find has merit, that only that in which we believe is real. People find themselves in a body in the world mediated by eyes, ears, etc., and come to believe that perceived phenomena are real. This notion has been questioned by many down through the ages with Merleau-Ponty’s statement that we must not wonder whether we really perceive a world, we must instead say, the world is what we perceive being a fair rendering of my personal position. Assuming the world thus perceived is real, it follows that this reality is, because we believe it to be so, because, we can “see”, have given it our “conscious gaze.” However, this leaves most in a quandary as to the “existence” of that which is beyond the phenomenal. I’ve written many times about this but find myself going back to the subject again and again. What about God and other non phenomenal attributes?
Ask not if God exists. Ask if he is Real. There are beautiful things, most would agree; in my scheme the “things” exist but not the “beauty”, at least not until it is realized. Beauty is not perceived in and of itself. Beauty is only seen when there is first a thing. Like the divine beauty is eternal; and truth, and Love, and so forth. And what is Real is found only through faith. Believe not and that reality falls away. God is likewise manifest in things. But God is not a thing except as a potentiality. So he doesn’t have existence, being eternal. Nonetheless he is Real, the primal Real, but only for those who believe. Truth, beauty, and love, etc., potentially manifest, but likewise require a “conscious gaze”. One makes a conscious choice to see or not see the truth, or the beauty of a phenomenal object. A value judgement is made. One makes a conscious choice to Realize the deity. Failing to do so leaves one with an empty cold Universe where only ephemeral objects are real, and that only because we have affirmed them, and when they dissolve into that whence they arose, including the body in which the “conscious gaze” originates, all that can be said is that out of nothing comes nothing. In the end if you have no faith, nothing is your reward.