@Brian Carlson...Excellent! You were concise and to the point. I hope others examine the six principles and reflect on their own lives and how they impact others.

@Brian,

You might want to distinguish between perception and reality, since it appears that you actually are referring to perception when you discuss reality. Generally speaking, reality is usually discussed in terms of what actually exists, apart from subjective interpretation.

What you seem to be getting at is what Aristotle meant by "hypotheses fashion the facts," meaning that the facts are "that" statements about what is believed about reality. That-statements are about reality, but are not reality themselves because they are propositional statements that have become social conventions, otherwise known as "facts." I recommend a book that Norwood Russell Hanson wrote called Perception and Discovery. Skip the first two chapters.

That said, what you are really getting at are social issues, rather than physical reality, so much. Those are even more muddy waters.

OMG, mumbo jumbo that most people will not get at your high intellectual and spiritual level. OOOOOO<AAAAAAAH, one with each and all and love and take a hit of acid. Your the fool crying why why why"we are brothers" as the musllim cuts your head off.

Brian Buddy: Number one makes me a little queasy. Luke makes a good point. I want to believe there are actual "reality" benchmarks like E=MC2 (squared), or "The world is a couple billion years old, or maybe even "love is the answer," but even fundamental understandings of the universe are being tweaked almost every day. So based on that notion, I'd have to admit that reality is sort of malleable. General relativity is nice, however string theory is even nicer, although no one has figured out how to prove it experimentally. If they could, it might substantiate Luke's point about "perception" and/or give it credence in a larger "reality" (aka: "Theory of Everything"). So I will accept #1 for now. Ultimately it seems clear to me that we have to find ways to cooperate and govern ourselves collectively as a matter of survival. History has brought us to the point where we either do it together or we surely die alone.

Luke has an equally pertinent thought.... I would tie that to the thought that, as the only "reality" we ca access is accessed in our sensory apparatus/mind.... Perception is what we are calling "reality" and what we call "reality" is perception...as Luke states. I have no doubt the REAL THING is vastly different from anything we say or hold about it.

How about some premises... Or mods of these....? Quite a few thoughts on what's wrong with the world, many disagreements about what we should do in response....I would like to know what all of you think are basis operating premises....sort of ground rules of thought in a sense... that will get us to a higher level, a more sustainable planet, a world that doesn not waste such a huge percentage of it time, energy and resources on defending (and offending) agendas based on premises that inevitably lead to conflict and violence. let me hear your thoughts?

I think that one product of the adoption of premises such as these will be effective humility. I think of great men like Thich Nhat Hahn. Periodically, I have thought..."who have I met in my life that I would consider to be a humble person?" Thich Nhat, whom I have not met in person but who's life and writings manifest humility, is one. My grandfathers seemed to me to be in practice.... My ex-father in law another... A gracious Iranian who always looked for even the smallest way he could be of service. A Mayan family I stayed with stuck me as humble, and not because they were poor in material means, but in their interactions with me. Thats about it. I am not on the list but I am a student of humility.

May we steer this toward the application of these or other ideas to growing a healthier world?

You professorial types make me laugh with your navel-gazing. I could have boiled your thesis down to two words:

Reality is!

Now to expand on this we need not look any farther than that old philosopher king himself, our former president himself: Bill Clinton. For it was he who claimed while going down (so to speak) the road to impeachment "it depends on what IS... is.

How true it is... Isn't it? :)

GH... The world is conducted according to powerful ideas. To intentionally remain in the dark as to what those are, is to submit to their mastery. To celebrate the choice of ignorance is something that absolutely baffles me.

Lyle, I understand what you are saying but, at the same time, I think the six premises are very simple. So I am not sure it's an inability to understand here but more an bias against thinking at at all. He repeatedy attacks anyone who takes any issue with the sort of off the shelf life generally presented in the US to to a broad swath of lower and middle class folk as well as to many wealthier people. It's a sort of revived or perpetuated "America, love itor leave it" take that you and I, I am guessing, always found to be a a code for..... "just don't think!" Just don't think, to my mind, neither expresses a love for America, nor any sort of consciousness geared to the welfare of the world.

Maybe I can cook it down.
1. The "TRUTH" is unknowable. All human truths are subjective.
2. There is much that all humans have in common...among them the desire to be happy, to be loved and to live in peace.
3. We are not independent, much as we may like to imagine we are. We need others to live anything more than lives of subsistence.
4. On the larger scale, all people need each other in order to guarantee survival of humanity. This requires mutually supportive lifestyles, attitudes, behavior, etc.
5. Recognizing that our perception of reality is not REALITY ITSELF, we can cease with trying to convince everyone that we hold THE TRUTH.
6. Best, then, to appreciate diversity, to look for ways we can be compatible with others, to learn from each other....and to look to win win scenarios in all efforts and goals.

How simple is that?
4.

Terry, I will bear what you say in mind. Glad that my cooking helped....I admit I don't write rough drafts of anything.... including blogs. I should I guess. I don't propose that my six premises are the best... But I feel that something in this vein is fundamental to mutually beneficial change. I am hoping to hear some refinements, additions, and thoughts about how these may apply in real life social interactions.

Relative to adopting.... I guess we adopt what we believe will be effective or seems as though it will be. So the premises need to be broadly disseminated... Social media is a new possibility for broad circulation. The goal is education... To educate children in the skills of collaboration, perhaps arbitration, and to the interdependent nature of our global community. It's about raising consciousness and, obviously, these ideas are not original.... They come from various religions and philosophies, from psychology, etc. Adaptation can't be forced.... My take is that the attractive power of effective truths (human truths mind you), should sell them. In practice however, they can be applied to the structure of public education, used in religious education, promoted in family therapy and self help type books, etc. I imagine that business could use these ideas as well... They apply to any situation that requires more than one human working towards a goal.

Hey Brian, at first I thought this may be too deep for my thinking. I tend to believe that everyone has an agenda, so I was cautious about commenting here.
For someone with mental illness who hears voices, that is their reality- but we know it is not real...Our perception of reality tells us that dogs do not talk to us, but for some people the voices are reality?
I think I can understand your points, but I can't agree with number 2.
Not everyone wants to be happy. Some people want to be angry and lash out at anyone. They want anything but peace because in their reality they only feel good when fighting or watching others suffer.
I dig the notion that accepting reality is different for each of us may lead to a higher understanding and evolution of the human brain.

Craig, to your point about the second premise.... What you say seems to be true. As a formed person, many people do seems to like nothing more than criticizing others, putting people down and even abusing them phyysically. But the argument is similar to this who object to my ideas about peace only coming through peaceful means. They say, thinking about a present day situation, if someone comes at me with a gun and might kill me.... I will shoot him first. Therefore...violence is necessary because there are violent people in the world. I am taking a longer range attitude and am saying....those angry people you mentioned were probably raised by angry people, abusive, distant, etc. This is largely learned...it is a disorder that occurred when trying to adapt to some sort of traumatic situation(s). So, if we wre educated....we will learn these premises, live by them and teach them. No overnight success here...it takes several generations for new paradigms to be broadly accepted and applied. This however does not make it pointless nor is the time between now and then wasted. It improves, it is a time of increasing collaboration, of large social movements for peace, for universal education, for collaborative and sustainable solutions. I may be largely talking to the wind here...cynics will say so.... But I saw a peace movement end an unjust and unnecessary war when I was young. we have seen the draw down of nuclear weapons. I know minds can change with education.

With the exception of two masked men who characterized this blog as navel gazing and jumbo jumbo, I have not yet heard from my normal respondents who bring in the perspective of conservatives and the right. I would like to know what your premises are for a healthier world and how they align with your social ideas, policy preferences, etc. Do not consider myself to represent the left here nor liberals....as I seriously do not understand the consensus definition of those terms. I imagine, however that many consider me to be a liberal...judging by comments in past blogs. So...what about it? What foundational thoughts do you see as imperative to a healthier world in the future?

Luke, I will see if I can find these writers at the library. Good example of the power of ideas....they had you thinking for thirty years!

Gear head..your posts haven't included a lot of thought. The one I was responding to contained a dismissal, you say you are laughing at me and then say I am navel gazing. Do you expect to be taken seriously after insulting someone? Anyone? The blog is about ideas for the betterment of the planet.... Do you have any? If so...please freely add them. Beyond that I see no content relative to the blog. Now you have added your theory that the biggest guns rule the show. yes...this is the current paradigm. I am talking about changing it to something like, the wisest lead...respect is due in accordance to how much one does to help others...or one's country does....to how collaborative you are. I don't own these ideas but I like them. Do you like your big gun world? Are you happy to pass it on to your children and grandchildren...a world barely discernible from the most primitive of cultures except in degree of killing technology and scale of lethal power? If so you MUST be damn glad you were born in what is currently the largest empire the world has ever seen, but remember....empires always fall.

GH....What did you think of the British Empire? I would guess many of them thought the same as it waned.

As to barbarism....how do you see the phosphorus bombing of Fallujah, the routine use of torture by our forces and the CIA, assassinations a method of foreign policy...support of ruthless dictators, etc?

What is carpet bombing if not barbarism and large scale terrorism?

But now new information has surfaced, including hideous photographs and videos and interviews with American soldiers who took part in the Fallujah attack, which provides graphic proof that phosphorus shells were widely deployed in the city as a weapon.

In a documentary to be broadcast by RAI, the Italian state broadcaster, this morning, a former American soldier who fought at Fallujah says: "I heard the order to pay attention because they were going to use white phosphorus on Fallujah. In military jargon it's known as Willy Pete.

"Phosphorus burns bodies, in fact it melts the flesh all the way down to the bone ... I saw the burned bodies of women and children. Phosphorus explodes and forms a cloud. Anyone within a radius of 150 metres is done for."

Photographs on the website of RaiTG24, the broadcaster's 24-hours news channel, www.rainews24.it, show exactly what the former soldier means. Provided by the Studies Centre of Human Rights in Fallujah, dozens of high-quality, colour close-ups show bodies of Fallujah residents, some still in their beds, whose clothes remain largely intact but whose skin has been dissolved or caramelised or turned the consistency of leather by the shells.

A biologist in Fallujah, Mohamad Tareq, interviewed for the film, says: "A rain of fire fell on the city, the people struck by this multi-coloured substance started to burn, we found people dead with strange wounds, the bodies burned but the clothes intact."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/us-forces-used-chemical-weapons-during-assault-on-city-of-fallujah-514433.html

Are we not barbaric? And yet I would guess a tiny percentage of Americans even know the name Fallujah much less what we did there.

@Brian Carlson...I wouldn't waste my time with GearHead if I were you. He only wants to flame people who he doesn't agree with.

I haven't flamed anyone, Lyle. Sheesh, you lefties have thin skin! I thought we were discussing the merits of Brian's apologetic moral relativism. "the TRUTH is unknowable." and your "perception is reality." Where do we even start with this? But thanks for making me feel unwelcome again, Lyle. Carry on within your own echo chamber. I'm losing interest.

GH it's reassuring that you don't like the big gun world. I fil to see why I m ignoring reality by trying to change the world... I see what we have, I don't like much of it, do not want to support what I see as decreative...and am doing something about it...however small my part. Why do you see this as ignoring reality. This is the same thing JB says to me.. And I say...I AM DOING SOMETHING...

Luke...no I wasn't saying you said Hanson was the first...just quoting somethingI found that was interesting. inthough Einstein had said something similar. Anyway...it should be an interesting read. So Feyerabend is not worth a look? I kicked a title having to do with NO METHOD.... sounded like Bankei Zen.

Luke, massive IPad write overs..... I thought Einstein..... I liked a title having to do....

Michael M... I have to agree that the discrepancy between the extremely wealthy and billions of poor is a blight, a travesty and one of the great problems that face us.

GH, you are on.