***Possibility Thinking: Reason Is The Answer To Virtually Every Human Problem

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We naturally fear what an honest, open-minded investigation of our ‘sure’ beliefs will reveal. It might mean admitting error or ignorance (a most dreaded thing to have to do), or changing how we behave (even more dreaded). It might mean leaving behind a sense of certainty that made us feel safe and then starting over at the beginning. We would be faced with the vulnerability and powerlessness that attends a new journey of unknown destination.

But such hesitations and fears are of no matter since we all must eventually face truth. The universe is truth, and that truth, not our beliefs, is what we are intrinsically a part of and must eventually be reconciled to. Why not sooner than later? Besides, the old uncritically accepted beliefs that pervade our society have not served us well. They lead to only one terminus, a continuing future of error and ignorance.

We have the technological tools to create utopia. The last two centuries of ratiocination in some fields of human thought and industry prove our capabilities. But why does it seem that reason must wear a veil when it ventures out into the arena of public policy? To endure our lot of human misery in favor of a raft of beliefs, makes no sense.

A new approach is obviously needed. To begin, we could stop just reacting to crises. We could also set aside ego, selfish desire, greed, immediate pleasure, fear, nescience, and the flawed and confusing speculative philosophies used to justify them. Leaning on obscurantic institutions (commercial, academic, scientific, religious) as crutches and substitutes for our own minds hasn’t worked either. Such convenient and shortsighted approaches to life mire us individually and as a society in the same old human woes—war, poverty, environmental degradation, disease, and meaninglessness.

But it is hard work to gather and ponder facts, deliberate, reason, and be patient for long-term results. So we kick the can along the street of life like this: Hungry? Grab a candy bar. Want more money? Log a virgin forest. Unhappy? Take a drug. Too fat? Look for a pill. Need votes? Lie to voters. Disagree? Blow something up.

We go to school and learn A, B, C, and arithmetic. Parents teach us manners, the church instructs us about sin, college prepares us for a career, and a job creates money. If we mismanage our lives we expect government to step in and save us. Instead of addressing whys, we learn a lot about whats, subscribe to dogma imposed upon us by others, and are swallowed up by the programmed and numbing motion of life. We hear but don’t listen; look but don’t see; smell but don’t sense; speak without saying; and think without realizing. With no fundamental understanding we are adrift, simply following the lazy current of society… and current always runs downhill.

The mindless knee-jerk reaction to life is fine for an animal in the woods where instinct rules and the laws of nature create balance. Although we remain in the woods (from a biological perspective), different rules must apply in our complex society. We are packed together with machines capable of destroying our environmental support, and weaponry that can vaporize all life on the planet. Intelligence got us into this precarious, machine-driven predicament; intelligence can get us out. It’s such a simple thought: thought is the answer.

A remedy can’t come soon enough. This generation has seen World Wars, the Cold War, environmental and population crises, more wars, terrorism, starvation, and genocide. There is terrible disease, cruelty, untimely death, and social injustice. Even the best-planned life invariably includes great difficulties and tragedies we seem not psychologically equipped to deal with. So much of the misery we visit upon ourselves is because the tendrils of unreason creep into every nook and cranny of the world and our lives.
To start anew will require breaking from a deeply ingrained mold formed over thousands of years. Not only do we continually look for surrogate moms and dads to lean on, but institutions have always been on the ready to fill the bill. They give us subjugation; we give them obeisance. Like Orwellian glassy-eyed believers, we march to a cadence set by power mongers who have only their self-interests at heart. It serves neither the institutions’ needs, nor our desire to be dependent, for us to break from the line, think independently, and take responsibility for ourselves. So most of us don’t.

Think of what would be possible if the world would put thought first and gain certainty and agreement on how to behave, just like we do about the sum of two plus two. We would not need to spend trillions of dollars in response to terrorism, on medical care that is not improving health, and on weaponry to kill and maim one another. If we rationally spent our resources on improving the human condition, there would be no pollution or famine, clean energy would be unlimited, we could manage resources sustainably, rescue the helpless and victimized, and exonerate innocent prisoners. No child would be without a loving caretaker, everyone could have decent opportunities for food, shelter, and self-improvement, we would eliminate unfair discrimination, and could improve the health of all rather than just masking symptoms. It’s enough to make one weep when the lost opportunities and waste are contemplated.

I hope you will notice that the best of all worlds is not a dream, it is within our grasp. Only our fear of breaking from the ranks and thinking as if it matters stands in the way.