Transformation Machines

6The Relationship Paradigm

Saturday September₁₂ 2009 · ‹Personal› · ‹Philosophy› · 16842 Views
 

The world can be seen in two ways. In one view God exists, in the other not. My following argumentation explains how I attained the former view from the latter.

Relationships, Not Objects

In the western world, we are used to perceive the world through objects. Objects are discrete, separate, self-existing, and as such objective. While this is a valid, useful and to most of us obvious view, there is an alternative, more fundamental view, which improves our understanding of the world.

It is the view of relations. Instead of seeing objects as separate entities, we can see them as relationships between the objects and ourselves.

In everyday life we assume that other people see the world with the same eyes as we do. This assumption holds only true for the view of objects. People are different: they look different, they think different, they have different experiences, different emotions, and different genes.

If one person looks at a chair and another person looks at the “same” chair, they see something different. As they cannot be at the same place at the same time, they must have a different perspective. In this case, the word perspective can be taken literally, but it applies in general.

The view of relationships is in the realm of the feelings. A chair may look small to a tall person, while it may look huge to a child. Tastes are different: person A may like the design of the chair, while person B is indifferent or may it find uncomfortable or ugly.

Indeed, relationships are not objective; they are subjective. They depend on the entities involved in the relationship, in this case the chair and the observer. Objects in a view of relationships are nothing but identifiers allowing them to be distinguished from other objects. The separation is individual. Ants may see a habitat with channels, rooms, and food, where we only see a pile of dirt.

The consequence of a view of relationships is that objects do not exist by themselves. The relations are the ones which exist, and it is the relations which create the objects as we perceive them. Constrained by our body, our conscious mind cannot interact with the world directly. It only happens through our body serving as a proxy.

Responsibility

Once we understand that things do not exist in isolation, the concept of responsibility shifts. As we recognize that everything is connected, we can take responsibility for what happens in our world. What we like we appreciate. What we dislike, we can change. We start caring about the effects of a single event or artifact in the environment. Since the world exists in our mind, it is our world we are responsible for. So, whether we limit ourselves to the view of objects is in our own responsibility as well.

Respect

Understanding the view of relationships is fundamental if we want to understand and empathize with other people. We need to see the world from their point of view. To do this, we need to understand their relationship to the world. If we only had the view of objects, we would wrongfully assume that other people are the same like us.

As we recognize that other people have different views, we must acknowledge that it is impossible to classify them. There is no right or wrong view, only the individual view.

A person who believes that his view is the objective reality lives in isolation. He assumes that his view is more relevant and more accurate than other people’s views. It is an egocentric view. Respecting people is about considering their views of the world as valid alternatives. Disrespecting them is a disagreement with their view of the reality. Religious wars are the result of mistaking such isolated views with “the” reality. They are the most prominent example of competition between different world views.

Consistency: Resolving the Reality Paradox

Everybody has a concept of “the” reality. However, according to the view of relationships, it is only one of many views on the reality. Yet, this is not what we feel. What we feel is that reality is unique and exists separate from us.

Why do we feel this way? The answer lies in consistency. Consistency, as I define it, is the state when expectations are met. It is a similarity of relationships.

The individual view on reality is not a simple picture. It is the individual’s understanding of how the world works and behaves. By interacting with the world, we continuously update our understanding. In most cases, the world behaves according to our current understanding. And so do people: the people we know and trust like friends or family members share a similar view of the world. They behave similar to ourselves and interact with the world in similar or plausible ways. It is this consistency, which makes us feel and believe that an objective reality outside of our mind and body exists.

Occasionally, we are surprised and learn that our view of the world was wrong. In fact, it happens all the time: just by roaming around, we update our memories with the most current findings of our surroundings.

Existence of God

Recognizing the view of objects as a product of view of relationships is an acknowledgment to the belief in a consistent world. The belief is that a consistent world exists “out there”, which is projected through our body as the view of objects.

It is the fundamental belief in every one of us: the belief in a consistent world.

The belief in a consistent world is the belief in God.

God is the truth which we seek behind the imperfect view of objects.

God is the faith we have that the world will not cease to exist tomorrow.

Ergo, the belief in God is a consequence of the view of relationships. In the view of objects, God is absent; there is nothing which connects, there are only objects in isolation. In the view of relationships, God is the maintainer of the relationships which connect everything, in particular, God is the maintainer of consistency in our universe.

The view of objects is cold and calculative; the view of relationships is warm and connecting. One view is the view of everyday life; the other is the view of appreciation and contemplation.

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