To: Robin Plunder who wrote (93374 ) 8/12/2012 9:59:54 PM From: Joseph Silent 1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 219563 Robin, you ask deep questions. Far deeper minds than mine will have to answer them. I'll tell you what I think.>>> Perhaps this gets to the heart of the matter....are we really victims of some charming unscrupulous folks, who somehow dupe us into destroying ourselves... No. We have met the enemy and he is us. >>> or are these folks just cashing in on the fact that 1) we really dont know how to discover the truth and 2) we are often guided by our own short term interests into making choices that are destructive of our long term interests? (and the psychopaths use these short term interests to aid them in accomplishing their goals?) We tend to function in a kind of unawareness, much like a dream. Even when fully awake, it takes attentiveness to know awakened perception, let alone truth. What chance of this in a dream? Different individuals function with different capacities, different degrees of honesty, different degrees of service, different greed, different fear. What is the net result? >>> Does objectivity arise from intuition of a supernatural world, and do 'truths' derived from observation of this world lead to relativism? Can any of us describe how truth is achieved, based on facts observed from this world? Every subject perceives an object separate from himself/herself. The perception takes place in the subject. What can objectivity possibly mean? >>> We take food stamps, social security disability payments, medicaid programs...because they help us achieve our short term goals....even tho in the long run they create a tyrannical government which destroys our rights to life, liberty, and property, rather than protect them. Consciousness entertains itself. We are just byproducts of the process. :)