For my 600th post, in honor of the fact that my blog has been active for around two years, I would like to highlight some of the exceptionally unique truths that I have discovered and, in many cases, thoroughly explored in my writings. Original discoveries are not impossible to achieve, though some will pretend like there are not massive philosophical truths or specific aspects of various topics that are not acknowledged by almost any author, philosopher, or theologian. After all, long-time readers can see that many things I elaborate upon in my articles go unspoken or undiscovered by many people. But the criteria for a truth to be highlighted in this series is twofold: 1) almost all people there are records of, living and dead, must not have ever publicly recognized it, and 2) I must have discovered it entirely alone.
Each of these discoveries marked a significant victory in my personal and
intellectual life, for without each piece of knowledge numerous truths
which follow from them would not be knowable. I will publish a second part where I will list more examples of truths I have discovered that are (to my awareness), with only a few exceptions, absolutely unheard of throughout history and literature. For clarity's sake, I want to explain something here before I release the second part of the series--when I underline a statement in bold, this means that I have yet to devote an article to elaborating upon the specific subject in question.
If any readers have discovered separate truths that, like these, are practically neglected in full by most people across time and geography (by philosophers, theologians, scientists, or anyone else), I would love to hear about them in comments! Intellectual originality is something to be celebrated wherever it appears. It is not a nonexistent thing!
1. Logic exists independent of consciousness and matter [1]
Logic is the one thing that exists even if absolutely nothing else does--though space and the uncaused cause also cannot not exist, logic would exist in their hypothetical absence, whereas they could not exist without logic to govern them. No mind or material object is responsible for the existence and nature of logic; it is and it cannot be any other way. This reveals multiple facts about logic: it is immaterial, it does not depend on God, and it is universally necessary (if logic was tied to something that is not perfectly static by necessity, like the material world, there could be no necessary truths).
2. Far more things than just logical axioms and one's own consciousness can be known with absolute certainty [2]
Since articles of knowledge that can be proven in full, which is the criterion for absolute certainty, are extremely precise, it is best to explain what absolute certainty is before providing a few key examples. Absolute certainty means something cannot be false or mistaken. Often, people will either deny absolute certainty is attainable regarding anything at all or will say that only one's own existence is absolutely certain. To even know that I exist, I must grasp other absolute certainties--that truth exists, that a thing is what it is, and that some things follow from others (that perception necessitates a conscious subject). These facts I have just mentioned cannot be illusory. The only way they could be false is if they are true, so it is intrinsically impossible for them to not be infallibly correct. Once logical axioms and my own consciousness are recognized, I can realize that other various absolute certainties exist: that I have senses reporting specific perceptions, that the present moment exists, that men and women can be nonromantic friends, and so on. But there are far more dramatic things that I know with absolute certainty (which almost no one acknowledges), and some of the following items in the list are other examples of things I know with absolute certainty that are far beyond simply knowing logical truths or the existence of my own consciousness.
3. How to prove to yourself that you are not dreaming [3]
If I cannot prove to myself that I am awake at a given moment, then I cannot even know if an external world of matter exists, since an external world would be outside of my mind and thus outside of a dream. All experiences occur to a consciousness, but this does not mean that all experiences occur exclusively within a consciousness--which is the nature of a dream, for in a dream nothing happens in the external world. In a dream events only occur within a mind. Physical experiences, therefore, indicate that my consciousness is perceiving external, material stimuli, meaning that I am not locked within a dream whenever I have them.
The next item in this list is closely related.
4. How to prove that you have a body [4]
Many likely assume they have a body just because they look down and see one or consider whether or not they have a body something that cannot be verified. If I experience even slight physical sensations, then it follows by necessity that my consciousness is housed in some sort of physical body. Perhaps my body has a vastly different appearance than I perceive it to have--but I do have a body. The fact that I have a body is not a self-evident truth; apart from the exact proof I have described here, I cannot know if there is more to my nature than just that of a self-aware, rational consciousness.
5. How to prove that your memory is reliable [5]
Memory, being necessary for the storing of all knowledge that is not immediately grasped in the present moment, is a crucial epistemological tool. It is significant that many people assume things about memory that either can or cannot be proven, when proof is superior to mere belief and when it is inherently irrational to believe in something that has not been proven. If my memory was not reliable, I would be adrift in constant confusion and would likely die within 24 hours. The very fact that I am not confused and disoriented by almost everything I perceive or think is infallible proof that my memory is feeding me reliable information about myself, my perceptions, and my recalled experiences. This does not mean that my memories of past events actually correspond to past events, but it does mean that my memory feeds me true information about the placement of locations, how various objects function, and miscellaneous information about other things.
6. Moral skepticism [6]
Left to himself or herself, a human is utterly incapable of knowing moral truths, since conscience proves nothing about morality itself beyond one's feelings. Moral obligations do not have to exist; nothing about moral ideas makes them true by necessity as the laws of logic are. Many people survey the subjectivity of conscience and the enormous moral disagreements people have and either conclude that morality is relative or that moral obligations do not exist. Neither follows, and the former is logically impossible. Moral skepticism, that morality requires a deity to serve as its metaphysical anchor, and that moral obligations would have to be revealed to humans by this deity are all that logic alone reveals about morality. Now, there is vast amount of evidence for Christianity, and for Christian ethics by extension. That evidence justifies commitment to abiding by Christian ethics. If Christianity is true then we should behave as the Bible instructs us, however subjectively uncomfortable its commands might make us. In an ultimate sense, though, no being with my limitations can prove the existence of any particular moral values or obligations.
7. Moral superiority is metaphysical superiority [7]
If morality exists, then some actions and mindsets are objectively good and others are objectively inferior. It follows by necessity that people who actively choose to live in a manner that reflects any moral truths are superior to those who do not, since the way they have chosen to live is intrinsically superior to that of the morally inferior. A person who does the right thing with correct motives is metaphysically superior to a person who consistently refuses to act in a righteous manner. Moral superiority, therefore, is metaphysical superiority. In a world where moral obligations exist, righteous people literally have more value than people who actively are bent towards evil. This metaphysical superiority inescapably accompanies any set of moral ideas, though it is almost never pointed out.
8. Sexualization, no matter how explicit, is not objectification [8]
Engaging in or taking pleasure in a sexualized display
of the human body (the human body is objectively nonsexual on its own, of course) inescapably involves some degree of sexuality; however, many people
mistake sexualization, whether subtle or overt, for objectification. This is a destructive confusion of concepts and terminology. Thinking of someone in a sexual way does not reduce them to only their sexuality or treat them as if they are nothing more than their sexuality, which is the depraved, irrational nature of sexual objectification. This holds enormous ramifications for sexual ethics, since a great many activities or mental states have been condemned by religious and secular people alike because they are falsely claimed to involve or result in objectification, and since it is often extremely controversial to refute these misconceptions. For instance, erotic pictures and videos in themselves have nothing whatsoever to do with sexual objectification, and neither does deeply enjoying them in an explicitly sexual way.
[1]. See here:
A. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-immateriality-of-logic.html
B. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-impossibility-of-absolutely-nothing.html
[2]. Though I address many things that can be known with absolute certainty elsewhere, in this post I talk specifically about what things can be known to exist with absolute certainty, and not just what concepts are true: https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/12/metaphysics-and-absolute-certainty.html
[3]. See here:
A. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/07/dreams-and-consciousness.html
B. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/06/distinguishing-dreams-from-waking.html
[4]. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/07/dreams-and-consciousness.html
[5]. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-reliability-of-memory.html
[6]. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-myths-about-moral-agreement.html
[7]. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/03/people-are-not-morally-equal.html
[8]. See here:
A. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/05/sexualization-is-not-objectification.html
B. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-truth-about-erotic-media-part-1.html
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