RE: Trendy Skepticism : The Badge of The Emotionally Unfit & Intellectually Bankrupt
The universal pattern goes something like this:
If we suppose we have a soul, then when the soul enters this world it is initially quite "resonant" with the pre-material truths. It understands that there is a "higher power" but it is also naive enough to think that ...religion would accurately depict this higher power. In a 2-dimensional sense, this is the 12 o'clock phase of the circle.
Once the soul gets some experience in the material world, it discovers its trust has been misplaced in a lot of things (religious or otherwise). What it thought was the truth, was falsely represented by material institutions. It throws the baby ("god") along with the water (religion) and becomes a skeptic. Not wanting to experience the exploitation of their prior naivety they have to. This is the stage of 6 o'clock. The polar opposite.
It takes courage to move the clock forward and start opening up again to ideas. The person has moved from full and naive acceptance to full and closed-minded rejection and then they have to abandon both these models in favor of picking up and discerning the truth without naivety or closed-minded filters. So the last phase is when the individual reaches back to 12 o'clock, re-establishes their initial belief, but this time it is free of the "external mis-representation". The truth has been built internally through a lot of discernment (in the field of rational thought) and intuition (in the field of "metaphysical" thought).
From a two dimensional perspective the person has done a full circle, yet from a three dimensional perspective, the person has elevated one spiral in his own personal evolution: From being a naive believer (accept all) to a closed-minded skeptic (reject all) to finding the truth themselves.
The 6 o'clock (skeptic) cannot understand the second 12 o'clock. Both first and second 12 o'clockers seem naive to him. He can't understand the +1 spiral 12 o'clock because it's the stage that is in his own future and beyond his experience. But he can understand full well his fellow 6 o'clockers and the first 12 o'clockers (because he has adequate experience).
I believe the differing religions is a reflection of trying to explain the unexplainable - inner experience really can only be explained via allegory. It's like trying to explain the color red to someone who is color blind. How can one even begin with that?
To say that "spiritual experience and God can never be grasped with the mind since it is so vast", to me, is not a statement of arrogance and righteousness or a hall pass for the "intellectually lazy".
"The person has moved from full and naive acceptance to full and closed-minded rejection and then they have to abandon both these models in favor of picking up and discerning the truth without naivety or closed-minded filters. So the last phase is when the individual reaches back to 12 o'clock, re-establishes their initial belief, but this time it is free of the "external mis-representation". The truth has been built internally through a lot of discernment (in the field of rational thought) and intuition (in the field of "metaphysical" thought)."
Holy shit, and there in that paragraph you succinctly depicted my exact intellectual journey.
I couldn't agree more with all you said here, actually. It's not very often I can say that about commentary of others on these topics.
I should also add that typically there is something that will shake up the 6 o'clocker to move the clock forward and complete the +0.5 spiral to the next 12 o'clock. Something that will be so catalytic that any closed mindedness cannot "discard".
I know that you'd resonate because I can see 12 o'clockers (+1 spiral) from miles away. Those that have moved to synthesize the two prior models are the torch-bearers of the future of humanity. The concept is only hard to grab for others who are not yet in the end of the spiral.
You are able to understand the manipulation that goes through with "packages" of information. Every social and economic system, every political platform, every religion are all "wrong" by universal design. These systems have part truths-part falsehood in order to disappoint the individual, move him +0.5 spiral and eventually catalyze the individual to stop thinking like a customer that buys consumer-grade truths. He/she will be forced to develop their own truth instead.
Individuals will have to synthesize all the truth from wherever that is, and to reject all falsehood in whatever "package" it is served. It is only in this process that one can find the truth. You already know that, as you already understand why skeptics fail. You also understand why seemingly extremely intelligent individuals are stuck in the +0.5 spiral and the mental trap that they are locked in, which despite their brilliance, they are unable to perceive (due to lack of experience with the next step - which is transparent to you). As I said you are +1 spiral. We are few, but we do exist.