On Knowledge, Truth and Authority
02:11 Apr 07 2017
Times Read: 503
While it hasn’t always been the case, if I could be a professional student, I would do so in a heartbeat. In my youth, I hated school. Pretty much everything about it bothered me to my very core. It is safe to say that I put in practically no effort at any point in time after about grade 5. My grades were garbage, I’m honestly surprised I graduated. Most of the fact that I did actually graduate was that my parents wouldn’t have let me weasel out of doing so. That wasn’t an option for me, it was never proposed as an option for me. I knew that I needed to finish it out, as I knew I was so close I could taste it.
What I learned in high school was that I was terrible at mathematics, that the world praises mindless drones, and that you can indeed get detention for reading silently when you’re supposed to be completing the homework you’ve already done. It was an exercise in testing my patience. I finished out my high school with rather high marks on the government exams though. I think the lowest mark I pulled in there was an 80 in social studies – my essay? “Communism Would Work If People Weren’t Such Assholes”. Most of the lost points were for using “slang terminology”, such as the word “asshole”. I accepted my diploma, put on my stupid hat and I threw a one finger salute to the institution of stupefication that is high school.
Then I got out into the workforce. I was glad to learn that “slang” was appropriately used in the workforce. Which was fine for the longest time, but it got so tedious and boring. The same days bled together, the same repeat customers, the same conversation over and over and over until I couldn’t tell where one day ended and the next began. By now, the wounds had healed from my experience with “the school”, and I was learning that I really only liked learning things that were interesting. So I saved up, and picked myself a major and I sent away some applications for University.
…Okay, okay, fine. So what actually happened was that I got just hammered drunk, and sent out the applications because I was having a crisis and was very aware my life was out of control. Aaaanyway.
So I never did think that I would actually get into post secondary school with my marks as terrible as they were…but it turned out that there was one school that was not at capacity and just really needed the money. So they accepted me, and I went back. There’s a huge set of time in here, but basically the short version is that I did much better in self-directed learning. I graduated with a Sociology degree, double minors in German and Philosophy (and almost biology), all with honors and distinction. I would probably gloat more about this, but I really do think that my style of writing and the ability to spell got me at least to a B grade automatically.
Over the years, I took a number of courses. Partially owed to the fact that when I drink too much, and I discover the world of credit card payments over the internet, I wind up signing up for more home classes. So I’m about halfway through the intro courses for cytotechnology courses at this point.
Where am I going with this? Well…it took me a long time to realize that what I disliked about learning was that other people exclusively got to decide what was important, what was worth learning, and how that learning was performed. So now, I encourage learning for the sake of learning things. It doesn’t have to be relevant. By all means, memorize a flood of obscure facts. Go read every book that crosses your path. The best way to learn is to direct yourself. Try new methods of things, test stuff out. Push limits and boundaries on everything.
I think as a society, we’re losing our aptitude for learning. Our University had an entire day course on how to direct yourself through library research. On multiple occasions while being a tutor, I had to almost aggressively encourage the students around me to propose new thoughts or ideas that weren’t in the books. Or to go look for those ideas in a different book. It was like they were afraid to step out of the pages and into new, uncharted territory. Learning is not parroting back what you’ve read. It’s like people are outright afraid to express something that is a novel concept, even if they’d thought it out perfectly.
While I don’t think that most here would be afraid to propose new ideas, there are still so few that are willing to push the boundaries that they feel are set for them. Nothing can advance without strong minds on the forefront. So here’s a shout out to the people out there who are learning a little more each day. It’s you who is going to redefine the upcoming world. Don’t sell yourselves short. Get out there and do it for yourself.
Sorry if this comes off as an essay for “why you should go blow ten grand or more on a degree”, it’s not. There is nothing that can be learned in a classroom that you cannot learn by reading, watching videos on the subject, or otherwise talking to people who are trained in whatever you want to learn. Learning something new in the computer age is as simple as diving into the subject matter.
Of course, being me, there’s a few problems that I have concerning knowledge.
It irks me considerably when people treat knowledge as though it is a static thing. Knowledge shifts as we learn more, experience more, and apply different minds to the same problems. If it didn’t, we’d still be assured that the Earth is flat, and that lightning is caused by Zeus himself. This is not plausible. For the love of all things, don’t hold on to a belief just because switching it out will be challenging. Don’t hold on to it because you feel like it’s admitting a defeat. If you’re presented with new information, it’s not a defeat to admit that you are embracing the new information.
Advancement cannot occur without a shift in ideology. Technology can’t advance if we stick to the status quo. Honestly, I like advancement. For the life of me, I’m hitting that age where I can’t make heads or tails of some of it…but I’m not about to start denying things outright. Similarly with advancements in knowledge of the sciences, or social movements. At least give new things some air to breathe before clinging onto the way things were. Let me tell you, the way things were aren’t roses and wine, and green, green grass. Failing to move forward and accept new ideas, in my opinion, is an affront to all we are capable of. It limits us instead of expanding our minds.
I will be one of the first to stand up and say that I hold beliefs that other people definitely do not. Particularly in the realm of religious and spiritual views. If I am in a conversation or debate on something, I try my best to expose my biases right from the start. I am well aware I have them, and if they aren’t immediately evident…just ask. I’m not about to shelter and hide them. To me, there is a difference between holding onto a belief because you don’t want to consider change and holding on a belief because it is practical or important to your worldview. There is no one size fits all here. As long as you’re not crippling yourself or others around you, you believe whatever you’d like. But at least register that you cannot push that belief on others.
That last sentence might need some unwrapping. To be sure I am understood in my opinions here: I do not, even a little bit, care if you do believe the Earth is flat. However, holding someone back from believing it is spherical is not correct. Trying to bar someone from taking a cruise overseas because they might fall off the end, also probably not a grand idea. Go ahead and believe that lightning is Zeus up in the heavens, striking down at the world. Do not try to convince me or push that I need to believe this as well. You can believe that little Fae-folk live in the tips of your shoes, and I will not bat an eye; just don’t try and tell me I must walk differently to avoid stepping on them. If I am going to embrace your ideas and treat them acceptably, I expect the same in return.
Anything less than this is pushing your own personal truth on to everyone around you, and declaring it the one Truth. Which, honestly, I don’t believe in. It doesn’t matter if I live thousands of years, through countless generations, I don’t actually believe we can see the world as it Truly Is. We’re limited, at the very least, by being human. We’re limited by our range of vision, range of hearing, everything runs through a biochemical process to make the world outside ourselves understandable to us. If you are claiming your personal views as the one sole Truth, chances are high I’m not going to get along with you when discussing those topics. Truth, in my eyes, cannot be known to us. I deal with that by assuming we all have a personal sort of truth that we operate based on.
Of course, this doesn’t mean I’m not going to get in on an argument or debate, because honestly, I really…really…really like mental exercises. If not other reason – just so that I can say that the views I hold still make sense to me. Challenges cause flaws in my thinking to light up like a Christmas tree. I love it.
Authority and I have never gotten along well either, as I mentioned above. I have no idea why I am so stubborn and strong-willed. A few people have pointed at the insane combination of stubborn zodiac signs I possess. Perhaps it is that my family is of German heritage, and blindly following authority has been frowned upon since about 1945, for damn good reason. The fact is, I’ve had many chances to tone myself down and follow blind. I outright refuse. If your “authority” requires I don’t question anything, and no checks, balances, or controls, you can expect I will not be keeping quiet and falling in line.
The curious part of this is that one might take this to mean that I am incapable of following the leader. As long as I am sure they are reasonable, logical, and sane, I’m entirely okay with following. It’s when I doubt the legitimacy of your authority that things are likely to break down. Let’s use a simple example. I am all for forced inductions here on VR. I am all in for Coven Masters, and societies, and the hierarchy that is created by it. While I think some might abuse the system, all in all, I believe it works. Most of these people worked for their authority. It breeds an environment where you learn some humility and respect. All noble goals. We start in slavery, bottom of the pack. Some rise, some don’t. Vampires were traditionally portrayed as hunters, predators…the survival of the fittest. So fine, I accept this entirely. I accept the work that has been put in as your payment. Your will writ in electronic format.
Another of the curiosities, I am a submissive. Loyalty, trust, respect and obedience all hang together in such a delicate manner at times. They all must be present simultaneously though. In no instance has someone walked into a room, focused me out of the crowd, and proceeded to bark orders with authority. That would not end amicably for either of us. No, I build up rapport with people, and they with me until we reach a point where there is a mutual trust. That feeds into a legitimate form of authority to me. For a person to have power and authority, it is to be earned.
Now I’m at that point where I realize I’ve written way more than I expected to from the start on this topic. So I will wrap it up to say: I’m going to go read a book now.
Any comments are appreciated, clarifications might be needed, feel free to message or comment. Critiques and criticisms welcome, including any spelling errors you’ve come across. I appreciate it.
Have a wicked night~
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