I have at some length discuss the fact that we humans are
problem solving creatures… if you look at history, you see that
we have created our institutions like monarchy and armies and
ideologies in response to some problem or another…
everything you see is a response to a problem, be it medicine to
philosophy to radio to computers to roads and schools and books
and glasses to clothes to democracy to communism to swimming pools…
everything is a response to a problem…so we have problems and we seek solutions
to those problems…but, but what about those people who I described in my last
post… those who by faith believe they have the answers to the questions of life…
we know those people are only interested in facts and experiences and knowledge
by how it confirms their biases and ism’s and ideologies… they don’t see solutions
to problems because they believe the object of their faith already gives them a solution…
an example is when faced with a problem, people will often say, Trust in god…
as an solution to a problem…these people of faith don’t want to react or create
solutions to problems because they believe, have faith, in a god that will solve
the problem for them… why search for solutions for a problem when god
will take care of it? that is having faith… there are no problems that can’t be
solved by faith… that is according to those with faith…but a problem like
global warming cannot be solve by prayer or faith in the divine…
and that is the problem with those with faith…they believe any problem can be
solved by faith and prayer…if you want to solve the problem of
overpopulation, faith and prayer are not solutions… they in fact, create
even more problems…at some point, we must act to curtail our growing
population or we face extinction… faith or prayer isn’t going to solve that…
you must act, we must act…
if you believe that you already have the solution to a problem,
if you have faith, then you won’t be able to hear a real solution
to the problem… because you are so tied into your bias and your ism…
that you think the bias will somehow solve the problem… it won’t…
if we have complete faith in such ism and ideologies like capitalism
and democracy and communism that you might miss the problems
that each system creates… you will fail to see the massive problems
that is caused by capitalism, problems that threaten the human species…
but you can’t see that in your devotion to this particular ism…
and this is where we stand… there are those that are so committed
to their biases and ism’s and ideologies, that they can’t see the damage
that the ism is causing the earth and the human species…they
aren’t open to the problems and any possible solutions to that problem…
those people are too engaged, to invested in their ism’s to notice
the problems of that ism, of those ideologies…they don’t even see
a problem and won’t be looking for facts, evidence or experiences that
might present a solution to those problems… because they use facts
and experience and knowledge to justify or to confirm their biases instead
of searching for truth… and in that truth, we see evidence of problems,
if we are honest searchers for the truth
the beginning of wisdom is to begin to doubt and doubt ism’s and ideologies
and paradigms… to discover solutions to our problems, we must begin
without any bias that undermines the truth… we can only find the truth if
we don’t believe we already have the truth in faith in ism’s and ideologies…
there is a public danger by those who insist that they hold the truth
ever certain because they are in possession of wisdom that exists
beyond the need for doubt or uncertainty… those who have faith in god
regardless of facts, evidence or experience and those who have faith in
an ideology regardless of facts, evidence or experience… like those who
have faith in the ideology of America… America, love it or leave it…
America, the greatest country on earth… they proclaim this because they
have faith…
“that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator
with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness”
and yet, those with faith in the American ideology don’t have
faith to challenge their beliefs as proscribed by Nietzsche…
it is not enough to have the courage of your beliefs…
you must have courage enough to challenge your beliefs…
so this problem and solution issue that we face is render in doubt
by those who are believers and cannot see that a problem exist
because to admit that problems exist might challenge their certainty
in their ism or their ideology… and here we stand today…
the faithful in their determination to keep the faith, threaten
not only America but they threaten the human species because they
won’t even face the fact that there are problems and we must find solutions
to those problems…we must have doubt and uncertainty if we are to
find solutions to our many problems…it is doubt and uncertainty
that allows us to explore the possibilities that exist in finding solutions
to the many problems we have… not faith and certainty…
Kropotkin