These 10 ideas are less a complete list and more a way to see how many lies surround us on a daily basis. The universe and things around us are constantly hiding what they really mean, and it is the job of the philosopher to uncover these truths and to find the hard evidence in reality. There are many more truths that couldn’t be listed here, but I believe that these 10 are powerful enough to cause you to think, and to try to discover what lies are pulled over your eyes on a daily basis.
1. The only constant is change.
An interesting paradox when you think about it, but truth nonetheless. The march of time for the next however many trillions of years will be the catalyst for change until the universe comes to an end. A fundamental principle that we must remember during our everyday lives. The human value of wanting to keep everything constant is one of the reasons why dealing with reality can be so difficult. It is this change that we must embrace, and see it as an ever changing list of possibilities and opportunity. Stagnation is not the way of life.
2. There is no such thing as "right," "wrong," "good," or "bad."
The ideas of “right”, “wrong”, “good” and “bad” are more trivial ideas that have been created in the human mind. All of these states try to define, in a black and white sense, something or someone in an incredibly grey world. They are boundaries that try to lock people and objects into a realm in which there is no place to grow and develop. Those that are considered “bad” or “wrong” can very easily change and go into the categories of “right” and “good”, and vice versa. These four states are just the categorical approach the human mind takes to try to understand the world around ourselves.
3. There is no such thing as "freedom."
Freedom is another idea that occupies the human mind, and something that many people admire and look to achieving. However, we will never truly be free in this world. We are bound by the laws of not only physical presences, like government and people, but also abstract concepts, such as the human condition or that we are going to die. Even after we die, we are still locked into place by the physical, people’s opinions of ourselves and others help to define who a person is, even long after they have been dead
4. World peace is impossible to achieve.
World peace is a very loving and seems like it can be achieved, but it never will be. As human beings, there is an intrinsic value to our beings to be self-centered and selfish. With this kind of blueprint, world peace will not be achieved. Conflict will always be present in the world, and is a natural part of the human condition. It also plays a great role in defining our characters. Without this struggle, how can we learn the skills needed to have peace?
5. Total equality is a paradox that will never fulfill itself.
This truth goes hand in hand with the paradox of world peace, and the answer is the exact same. Human beings have an intrinsic value to be self-centered and to focus on ourselves; it’s a dog-eat-dog world. We will never truly understand one another, and we will always look out for ourselves more than others. We always want to be on top and do the best that we can, and if that means treating others as means to an end, then so be it.
6. We live in an indifferent universe.
The universe doesn’t care for such trivial matters that occupy the human mind. It doesn’t matter if we try to find meaning, or if we pursue through difficult times. It is just obeying the laws that were created during its birth. There is nothing more to it than that.
7. Humans will always try to find meanings in their lives.
Humans have an intrinsic, and quite self-centered quality, to try to find meaning in everything there do. There must always be a reason to why we do the things we do, why we are the way we are, why we react the way we do, and why we have the tendencies we have. Using philosophy, we can come to the conclusion that there is fundamentally no meaning to life. This dark conclusion sparks different ways for how humans try to find meaning in their lives, by contributing to a global problem to feel fulfilled, to do what they’re passionate about and, normally, turn to a form of God.
8. There is only so far that we can go.
Many people view science in a positive way to help us define and understand the reality around us. Scientific figures such as Neil Degrasse Tyson and Stephen Hawking believe that one day, science will be able to answer all the questions that we have on the universe. As much as I respect these figures, this is a very naïve view of the universe. There is an infinite source of unknowable knowledge in this reality alone, and we will never be able to know all of it. There will always be more for us to know, we will never be complete in this endeavor. There gets to a point, especially when you get down to the fundamentals of reality, that concepts and definitions starts to break down. You can see this in science, where near the beginning of the Big Bang, all of our formulas describing the laws of the universe now don’t work anymore. Also, with words, the simplest levels of ideas and concepts start to escape that realm, and it is purely a concept that cannot be defined easily, if at all. We are limited in what we can know, and we cannot escape that fact.
9. There are no absolutes, there is only the relative.
There is nothing on this list that can be considered an absolute truth. In fact, nothing ever said can be considered an absolute. Because what we perceive in this reality does not carry over to another, and vice versa. There is no possible way, thus far anyway, to prove that there are other realities besides our own out there in the fabrics of space and time. However, there is no way to disprove that either. There are no laws in the universe, no actions or concepts, that we can confidently say are an absolute truth and consistent regardless of what reality, dimension or time we are in.
10. There is no such thing as a truth.
As I said in the relative vs. absolute truths section, there is no way what we know and see is actually the truth. Everything that you just read can be completely false, either from your own opinion or in the realm of another reality. However, it is in the process of trying to define the world around us that we make progress and we feel good about ourselves. So tell me, dear reader, what truths occupy your mind?
