THE STATE OF THINGS

Here's the thing:

There's a difference between things as they are, and things as they ought to be. I understand that in our excited states, we usually forget, confuse, ignore or even refuse to acknowledge that there is a fundamental difference between the two things.

Everyone has at some point fallen into this category. I know, I have too. We have mental images of perspectives, worldviews, concepts and physical things in our minds, and sometimes they seem very true, real.

But the truth is that things as they are, are formed from visual stimulus. We observe and see that men usually have mustaches, they are usually masculine, they are usually referred to as "he" . We observe that a lot of people believe in God, that people generally complain of the economy and we tie this to the economic system.

Things as they ought to be are usually informed by visual stimulus, but essentially formed with fillersi - our own ideas of the things we saw. Hence, usually, things as they ought to be are usually less real than things as they are. We observe and think that women can/shoukd also grow mustaches, that they can/should act masculine and be referred to as kwhatever they want. We observe that people can/shouldn't believe in God, and that Capitalism might not be so bad after all. These things can happen, but they usually aren't happening and hence, we shouldn't talk about them as if they are, which I believe shifts our mindsets in the wrong direction.

However, that these things are less real doesn't mean that they might not be better than what we already have. Yes, things as they ought to be can be better than things as they are and we shouldn't be afraid to consider that, and when necessary, accept that. Things as they ought to be, could become things as they are and that is the beautiful thing about our minds, communication and understanding. More importantly, there should be a strong relationship between the two, with an understanding of their differences. Harriet Beecher Stowe said, "Common sense is seeing things as they are; and doing things as they ought to be."