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Naive Realism

 ‘All perception is a gamble.’

     ~  Edmond Husserl,  principal founder of phenomenology. (1859-1938).

I came across an archaic article by Robert Anton Wilson, who referenced the above quote by Husserl;  I thought both the quote and the article were as relevant today as they were when advocated by Husserl over a century ago.  Wilson went on to write:    

Every …kind of ignorance in the world are all results from not realizing that our perceptions are gambles.

“We believe what we see and then we believe our interpretation of it and we don’t even know we’re making an interpretation most of the time. We think this is reality.

“In philosophy, that’s called ‘naive realism’: ‘what I perceive is reality.’

“Philosophers have refuted naive realism every century for the last 2500 years, starting with Buddha and Plato. And yet most people still act on the basis of naive realism.”

— Robert Anton Wilson  (1932-2007)

As I continue to focus on my NDZ {see last post}, I am accepting and embracing the challenges to redefine my evaluation(s) of situations both around and within me.

In simpler words, I challenge myself to “cut the crap, Lin.”  Crap thinking. Crap behaving. Crap, crap, crap. I’ve got enough crap-thinking, judging and behaving to fertilize a large garden!  Cucumbers anyone??

This post is a simple double-dog-dare-ya. (Whoa! Them’s fightin’ words!) The challenge is placed.  New year.  Newer you.  Stop allowing old-thinking to gamble with the life you [want to] live.

In the meantime, you can borrow my wheelbarrow.  😘

Namaste’