The title of this entry, which is a play on the famous dictum posited by French philosopher René Descartes, highlights the modern predilection that we have for over identifying with our subjective selves and the feelings that arise as we interact with the world. Believing in the primacy of this individualistic construct, we find ourselves being quick to react to forces that challenge how we want to be seen by the world, even if they point towards an objective and immutable reality that is grounded in truth. Not wanting to face this truth and what it will reveal about the deficiencies in our perceptual framework, we give our emotions free reign to overcome us and use them as a defensive shield against those who we are ideologically opposed to, or to deflect attention away from legitimate criticisms by those who have no qualms about calling us out on the delusional aspects of our worldview. ‘How dare you make me angry, scared, vulnerable…violate my safe space…or dishonour my lived experience’ these people decry, with a disproportionality that is indicative of the tenuous reality that they have constructed for themselves. Were they grounded in a solid reality, they wouldn’t need to act so offended or fragile in response to mere words that don’t amount to violence as they like to claim.
Another popular tactic that is often deployed is smearing the opposed other with labels that carry a social stigma. Accusations of racism, sexism, and transphobia, for example, are too easily thrown out by proponents of the woke left in response to valid criticism of the ideology that underpins their extreme positions. Cancel culture, especially as it is expressed on social media, thrives on this prioritisation of feelings above facts, where online mobs will turn against those who state scientific or moral truths which diverge from the reality that they are ideologically aligned with. Platforms such as Twitter have algorithms that are fine tuned to inflame the emotional centres of the brain because this is how engagement is driven on the site. Larger followings also accrue to those who stimulate these strong emotions through hot takes and biting commentary which rewards those who indulge their emotionality over the nuanced rationality that has greater explanatory power in deciphering complex issues.
Our broader victimhood culture also doesn’t provide the incentive to heal and transcend the negative emotions that are associated with trauma. Many an influencer has made their name on an origin story that revolves around real or imagined harm that was perpetrated against them, but rather than doing the inspiring work of reconciling this trauma to show others a prosperous path of moving through it, what is too often settled for is the indulgence of pain and grievance to demonise entire groups of people for the personal harm suffered. Having an inflammatory and divisive effect on the world, this vision of vengefulness also doesn’t provide an accurate picture of how human beings are naturally inclined to act in furtherance of the good.
If we care to look, unobscured by our subjective feelings, we will see the fundamental role that the embodiment of virtue plays in advancing the human condition. This is one of the objective truths that can be observed across time. Regardless of the more subjective elements of our personhood, we have the innate propensity to demonstrate love, caring, evenhandedness, courage and service. In the most fundamental sense, this is who we are, beyond even the capacity to think that Descartes placed prime value in. These virtues that I am bringing your attention to here emerge from the consciousness of life itself, and as they are demonstrated so do they perpetuate life through the mutual thriving that is created in the world. While thought is no doubt important and one of the key functions that distinguishes humans from the more instinctually driven wiring of our animal cousins, it is secondary to consciousness itself. Without the animating force of consciousness, thought is impossible for there will be no spark of life in the brain to allow it to serve this function. The feelings that flow from thought, and that also serve to shape the substance of our thoughts, are similarly secondary to this animating consciousness.
Dr. L. Christian Duperouzel 