On Thursday of last week my new Constellation grope we tasked with doing an experiment where we smelled two different containers and saying what they made us feel and think of. With the first one I surmised correctly that it had spices in it and wrote accordingly.
The second container was where things got interesting. I took a sniff and the first thing that came to my mind was swimming pools. Specifically the chlorine smell they have. Now I felt certain that what I was smelling wasn’t some form of dried chlorine. In fact the thing I was holding didn’t even smell much like chlorine. It’s just that it reminded me of the chlorine smell.
I felt sure deep down it was probably something plant based, and I was right, it turned out to be mint and cucumber tea. But I decided rather than record my reaction to what I thought it was, I would be honest and write my reaction to what it made me think about.
Smell of chlorine can make me feel a little nervous. It reminds me of the moment of anticipation before I would get into the pool. Normally it makes me happy. I like the smell of chlorine. It brings back a lot of happy memories of swimming. But if it was making me feel anxious this time I would be honest about it.
There is a long running debate as to whether things can be objectively known or not. People on both sides fill fight to the death. I suspect it usually has less to do with reasoned arguments and more to do with wanting unshakeable ground on which to stand.
If all truth is subjective then one does not need to change one’s mind on anything. If all opinions are equally valid then the opinions YOU hold are 100% true.
If the world is objectively knowable it means as long as you are right you can treat anyone who disagrees with you as a moron. It would mean if you are wrong other people would have the right to do the same to you. But all you have to do to avoid that is never be wrong about anything, which many people believe they are.
I am closer to the latter camp. I am with Descartes. I know that I exist. This cannot be disproven. Therefore there is objective truth. The laws of mathematics also seem immutable. No impairment of the senses can stop 5 X 5 from equalling 25. How much else is objectively knowable I can’t say. But the truth IS about there. And we should search for it rather than ignore it.
So then. Why did I choose to record a series of thoughts that don’t adhere to reality?
Well, being human is strange. Our feeling are strong and it’s worth trying to understand them. I recently read ‘A Grief Observed’ by C S Lewis. In this book Lewis is angry with God for the death of his wife. In a moment of passion he accuses God of being a cosmic sadist, or of having a morality totally backwards to our own. These feeling cannot change God, or if you prefer, could not make God more real. But these feelings were real even if the conclusions they came to were wrong. And Lewis felt acknowledging these thoughts and feelings important enough to publish them in a book. The point wasn’t to prove or disprove the existence or goodness of God. But the make an honest recording of deep grief and what it does to a man of faith.
I stand by belief that the world can be known. But one has to be honest about who one is. Even if it means your tutor laughs at you now and again. The alternative is to not be truthful. And I don’t like to lie just because it’s convenient to myself.
So. Did I learn anything from being honest about the tea and what it made me think of?
Not really. But that’s life. Sometimes your ideals give you zero sum game. You just gotto roll with it.
John's Learning Journal 