David Ryder – Designer – Blog
Posts tagged philosophy
Disconnect from "nature"
02 years ago
Everybody enjoys their own version of the mountains. There is no limit to the number of attributes which draw an individual to the mountains and everyone can appreciate their own interpretation of the joy they bring. They are so simple yet they have the capability to attract the most complex and diverse pool of perception brought by man. You can derive that this leads to the realization that every human shares one instinctual characteristic – on a spiritual level – that connects us all: a subconscious draw to the natural Earth. The overbearing mounds of rocks that quietly exert their power over us.
This instinct however can be hindered – or inhibited – by a socialization that teaches us that humans and nature are two separate entities. That we go in and out of nature on our own cognizance. This however is disingenuous to our inherent relationship to “nature” as one could argue that we are born of the natural Earth and therefore there is no way to disconnect ourselves from nature, only to misunderstand our meaning to it.
We all have different appreciations. Different lenses that show a different beauty to each individual. So it makes this attraction unique – to all of us. Your level of appreciation may vary and it may very well be determined by the condition of your soul. If you can subscribe to the idea that natural entities have souls, or contain some form of a soul, then it would be easy to believe that your connection to those entities can be clouded or strained if you don’t have a healthy connection to your own soul.
Social Philosophy and Instincts
02 years ago
We are all born with them: fixed action patterns that are involuntarily learned. They are the primordial drive behind the acting forces of every human. They are nearly unavoidable and are the key to survival. Yet in such a civilized and industrialized society we are taught to forgo basic instincts and replace them with logical approaches to nearly everything in life. These instincts that at one time completely ruled humans are being quelled out of us.
At the most basic level instincts drive us to seek shelter, eat, and reproduce. There are however more evolved and complex instincts working behind the scenes. Instincts that encourage fear in particular situations, specifically that subconsciously tell us to fight or take flight in situations that warrant almost immediate response to confrontation. They help us survive when surrounded by a natural and dangerous environment. It’s the underlying force that decides what route to take when scrambling across a stream or up an unsturdy precipice.
Instincts are also believed to have social influences. Through the evolution of man cultural adaptation has given rise to instincts that work to create social relationships and determine on an individual level in what direction to take a relationship or how to approach another human.
The primitive man gathered socially for ceremonies that banished evil spirits, guaranteed bountiful crops, and generally protected themselves from magic. These activities were driven by basic social instinct. One could extrapolate from this that the phenomenon of organized religion is then to some degree instinctual. The desire to socially share a spiritual experience is somewhat based on the dependency humans desire to feel towards the group. So when did this personal and social experience become replaced with redundant and impersonal procedure? The instinct to discover spirit socially and personally has been superseded by the unnatural procedural gathering that is not only unexplantive but unfufilling.
Social mores and moral compass can also be said to derive from primitive instinct. Instincts that have been bestowed upon us by God and inherited from generation to generation. Some social philosophy suggests that instincts have been given to man by God to elicit activities that are later explained by reason. In other words, we are instinctively driven to explain our unexplained actions and motives by reasoning after-the-fact.
A more general explanation of social instincts can be applied to our ability to ascertain the truth from social interaction. I could easily argue that humans are driven to seek the truth and there is an unexplainable yet familiar feeling and/or aura that surrounds the suspicion of a awry situation. We may occasionally feel something is wrong given different cues given from a group or individual. It is a subconsciously driven feeling and I would derive this feeling from primitively inherited instinct. The passing of instinct to the early man from God was passed down ancestrally and remains today. Some people may lack an aspect of this instinct or simply have a weaker understanding of it. Some would call these people naive, blissfully unaware, or simply ignorant.
The point is, instincts that produce feelings or set off alarms, or drive us in a certain direction, in my humble opinion, should at the very least be thoroughly investigated or blindly followed. Instincts are what have kept humans alive and allowed us to adapt and to deny them would be fallacious in the insurance of our continued existence.
More reading:
The Role Of Instinct In Social Philosophy
The Social Philosophy Of Instinct
Back to basics
02 years ago
Sometimes I wonder if I will have the opportunity to go back to basics. To break out of this shell that I had never imagined myself retreating into. I seem to have been roaming nomadically for the past 10 years. Didn’t necessarily have ultimate freedom, but definitely had more than I have now. I am proud of what I have accomplished, and what I am accomplishing, but sometimes I just want to let it all go and live to only think of what I need to do to stay alive and enjoy my time on this earth.
One – among a few – of the reasons I have such a deep connection to the movie Into The Wild is the same longing I have as the main character to leave my organized and structured life for immersion in nature, natural, simple, pure, evangelical. For me there is nothing more spiritual than not knowing which direction civilization is, completely off the grid, and connecting to something that is impossible to connect to in an industrial civilization.
I believe for this purpose that my move to Utah has been more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. I have the mountains in every direction I go and really for anyone that has lived outside of the West, there is little better than watching a setting sun painting a hazy sky all shades of red and blue over the peak of a mountain. To have that in your back yard is very rewarding. It’s inspiring and moving. Something so simple that none of us should lose sight of.