Posting more holiday themed photographs will have to wait.

I feel compelled to say something about our philosophy discussion of a few hours ago.  There were eight of us joining a Zoom video chat based upon a New Yorker article entitled Why Facts Do Not Change Our Minds.  That title speaks for itself.  The “facts” were determinative generally speaking to “make up one’s mind,” in the time of Edward R. Murrow, (April 25, 1908 –April 27, 1965) my fathers generation.  That era of three major networks, of the vacuum tube television, when a majority of Americans viewed the same newscasts — now seems so far in the rear view mirror, we can barely remember.  At present,  “news” sources abound on a variety of media.  What qualifies as “fact” is in dispute.  Not only are we unable to agree upon a description of the outcome of our national election a little more than a month ago, — different understandings of “what happened” are held with deeply felt passion.  Indeed, I live in a time when facts do not change our minds.

What did I take away from the discussion about ideas found in the article by Elizabeth Kolbert?

I reflected upon my own personal experience of discovery that I have been wrong about some fundamental principles, those rules-of-thumb upon which one relies for all of one’s behavior and evaluations of everything else.  How difficult that process has been for me, something that has taken place over the passage of months, or even years.  To “change one’s mind” is not a simple thing, everything else must realign with the change.  By realign, I mean shifting of many other elements of life.

To cite one example, I remember when I recognized that “free will” was no longer persuasive for me.  There was just too much evidence that the overwhelming majority of events were one link in a complicated chain of prior events.  My feeling of having freely chosen this, that or the other, that feeling of certainty was no guarantee of the truth of the matter.  The incidence of such a doubt enabled me to interpret differently the course of my entire life.

I can take no credit at all for such a shift in the axis of my thinking.  The privilege of participating in a philosophy discussion group over many years, of listening to the insights of others, who became trusted friends certainly was instrumental.  As a member of this community I was granted permission to “change my mind.”  This was never said in so many words, as it was understood.

There is a well known diagram of a stick figure human inside of a cage, — behind him/her is an open door.  Freedom is a simple matter of turning just enough to glimpse the open door.  Participation in a community that allows the testing of ideas is crucial to discovery of one’s cage and the open door.

We also discussed “confirmation bias” last night.  The principle is well known to many, our proclivity to see things in the light of what we already believe.  Granted confirmation bias does lead us into error.  If everyone around me is seated watching the dance of shadows on the wall, — while it certainly is comfortable to remain seated there, my felt comfort deceives me to believe what I am seeing is real.  (My rendition of Plato’s allegory of the cave found in The Republic) Feeling simpatico with everyone else is to court error.  To simply believe what everyone else believes is not advised.  We could all be wrong.

On the other hand, how critical that we surround ourselves with others that we can trust.  Only within the protective boundary of friendship can we risk being wrong.  Who is going to catch me when I fall?

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Confused?  I am confused most of the time, just not as severely as an earlier time in my life.  Confusion is a “weather” of the mind.  Oh, it’s cloudy today, but partly cloudy, as the sun appears often.

As is my habit I offer this song as a lifeline, or maybe a productive security blanket to get us through this pandemic time.  “West End Girls” is a 1984 song by the English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys.  The message of the song, a story of the friction and difference between class, and between male and female genders.  The content of the lyric is perfect as class differences prompt deep emotion, and real questions for us now.  Male and female difference due to how we are conditioned to be a man, to be a woman in this society, is also an issue to be reckoned with.  The West End of London is high-rent, upper class, prime location for businesses. The East End is working-class, the home of cockney and most of London’s most famous gangsters.

The dark lyric of the song is contrast to the radiant synthesizer chords orchestrating the melody.  No matter the difficulty, the conflict — when I listen I must conclude:  Life Is Good.