Immanual Kant was a philosopher who lived during the 1600's in a place called Konigsburg, Germany. He lived his entire life of eighty years in the same home, only traveling to lecture daily at the university after getting his degrees there. Why do I mention this rather myopic gentleman of old, who lacked anything near what anyone might consider significant enough life experience to discuss how life is lived on this planet? I mention him because often genius transcends normal logic and process. Kant proposed many things about life and remains discussed and considered seriously to this day for almost all of them. The one thing I bring up here is the one about the substantial difference between the phenomenal world and the 'real' world. I taught about his ideas back in anthro, when I was a professor, and well before those brothers got together and used this theory to frame a movie called 'The Matrix.'
The real world is the world that encounters us all the time but is so harsh and ugly that we convert it into a place that is more livable. The ability of human beings to perform this operation is probably the one single thing that distinguishes us from all other animals on the planet. I used to use simple examples, with my students, to illustrate the difference between these two places. For example; the phenomenal world is the one inside of our houses. The wall board, wall paper, paint, rugs, etc. are there to not only provide shelter from the real world outside but to transport us to a more ambient and esthetic place. Right behind the wall board is all the detritus of construction plus mouse droppings and dead insect larva. We don't see it and we make believe these things are not there. Outside it is snowing and blowing hard, but inside it is toasty aqnd warm while we talk on the phone to someone on the other side of the planet. We don't even have a clue as to how our voice gets to that place or how that person's voice gets back to us. A physicist could explain it but we would not even understand his or her explanation. The real world as opposed to our made up one.
The same thing is true of our communication complex. We use 'phenomenal' elements to get through life comfortably, instead of speaking 'real' things. We tell people that we are fine, that we are happy, that we are successful, that they are attractive and not overweight at all. We say we have money and the future looks bright when we are just about broke with no seeming future at all. We use deception and phenomenal elements to stay alive and then live in any comfort with those around us.
While we do these things and say these things we deny that we are doing and saying them. We use deception because it promotes our survival potential and sometimes lessons the survival potential of those around us. We lie. All the time. And we always proclaim that we are telling the truth. That we are not a liar. And we suffer guilt over this. Not because other people believe our lies but because we know, in our heart of hearts, that we are lying all the time. And, because of this, we believe the lies of many others. It would, at first, seem illogical to believe the lies. But, you see, we are taught from birth that people should not lie, no matter what. Quite common today, in verbal expression in this society, is the saying "just tell me the truth. I don't care what you did or might have done." We are forced to project such a front of truth to the world that we buy into the belief system that is impressed upon us. It is a sin and terrible to lie. And in this teaching lies the rub. We believe the teaching, that lying is bad. But we lie. So, we end up believing that we are bad. And we attempt to believe that others we encounter are not lying. We are really the only one lying all the time. There are certain exceptions. This happens when someone around us is found to have lied about something, and the evidence is right there in front of everyone. We jump all over that person with righteous indignation. Our vengeance upon this 'liar' is harsh and our punishment even harsher. But, in truth, we take that attitude and extract that punishment to illustrate the fact, and enlarge upon it, that we are a truth-teller, compared to that wretch. We cover.
We see obvious lies on the television all the time now. The television has changed everything because it has exposed so much as lying and the products of lying. Slowly, ever so slowly, it is changing us by bringing out the fact that almost everything is a lie. Almost all spoken words are spoken to influence activity, to induce action by using verbal deception.
The hair resoration ads are all lies. Only Rogain has ever been known to work and it does not work very well.
The male enhancement ads are all lies. You are as big as you are ever going to be.
The male performance (sex) ads are mostly lies. The ones that do work do not work the way they claim they work and there is no loving, smiling, trusting woman at your side (as you get older) just hoping that you will be able to perform better in bed that night.
The political ads were mostly all lies, on both sides. McCain's were bigger but not better.
And on and on. The televisions producers even got a bill passed years ago that allowed for the lies. They are not responsible for any of the lying. The movie stars and other people in the ads and shows are not responsible either. Nobody is responsible. The phenomenal world is legalized and declared to be the real world.
And so we have our country's leaders. They are lying so badly that the obviousness is hitting us right in the pocketbook daily now. Each day is worse and it is not going to change for awhile. None of this mess was caused by bad investing or bundling or any of that. Hedge funds and Derivatives are lying machines of big money. It has all been about baffling us with the phenomenal while they held off reality. Now reality is creeping toward us. We need to understand that we have been lied to and then act. We must first understand the real world before we can use our phenomenal powers to make it more livable and comfortable. The President, the Congress, and even the Supreme Court all work at the 'pleasure of the American People.'
They can all be impeached and thrown out. And they can all be prosecuted. And all of them, and their 'private' supporters, contractors and executives, can be hounded for the money they have stolen from all of us. If we only understand that the phenomenal world is one which we created and the real one is the one that God gave us the ability to change and control. But first, before we do any of that or understand anything at all, we must look at things and then distinguish what is 'phenomenal' and what is 'real.'
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