Reality, Subjectivity & Hubris

Regular readers (all three of you) may have noticed that I briefly included the spreading meme "proud member of the reality-based community" in my blog title. I heartily agree that the Bush cabal is delusional to the point of being a global menace. Likewise, I have no doubt that a thoughtful, nuanced approach based on facts and evidence is desperately needed in the White House and other halls of power. I was happy to join the "Reality-Based Community" so casually disparaged in Ron Suskind's now-famous article detailing the administration's staggering hubris.

And yet...and yet...

All my life, I have felt that my relationship with reality was casual at best and antagonistic at worst. I'm the kind of guy who wears buttons that say "reality is for people who lack imagination" and "subvert the dominant paradigm." Between my (layman's) interest in quantum mechanics and continuing quest along the mystical path, I too believe that reality is a matter of perception and can be altered by force of will.

To a point.

Herein lies the rub. In the cause-and-effect world of Newtonian reality, some things just are, and getting around them (when possible at all) takes cleverness, hard work, and actual study of the facts. Further, even in the more "fungible" world of sociology, imposing one's will only goes so far when the subject says "no you won't either," even in the face of propaganda, threats, guns and bombs.

In other words, altering reality, whether through science or mysticism, is something to be done mindfully, with respect and deference to the vast powers around us. Simply put, I have a nuanced view of reality.

This is one of the many reasons I consider John Kerry to be endlessly superior to the madmen pulling Bush's strings. From all the evidence, their reality is a black and white world, and the world is an Othello board -- when they take enemy forces or territory, black flips to white. Our troops are greeted with flowers and candy, the "liberated" willingly allow their nations to be turned into market-based utopias, and "average" Americans can stop thinking about "them furriners" and go back to NASCAR.

Um, no.

Still, the point is, I have never been a member of the "reality-based community," particularly as many of its current defenders describe it. Hearing talk about the evils of faith, "occultism," "magical thinking" et. al. depresses me, even in the context of Bush delusionism.

I could go on at length on this topic, but I have other places to write about esoterica. So, in short, count me as a proud supporter of the reality-based community -- but not a member.

(/) Roland X
"We need a renaissance of wonder. We need to renew, in our hearts and in our
souls, the deathless dream, the eternal poetry, the perennial sense that
life is miracle and magic." --E. Merrill Root