Failing to See the Trees for the Forest

November 24, 2008 by
Filed under: Anarchy in Your Head, Personal Freedom 

There is no forest. There are only trees. The “forest” is a human fabrication, an abstraction that exists only in our minds. Abstractions serve a purpose in human communication, certainly. Let’s not try to deny that. However, we must never forget what they really are and that they only exist in our minds.

If you take a particular cluster of trees and establish boundaries in your mind and decide to name it Fangorn Forest, then until you tell others about it and they agree with you, Fangorn Forest exists only in your mind. Even when you do tell people about it and perhaps draw some boundary lines on a map, some may agree, some may disagree about what the boundaries are, or may want to call it something else, or may not want to acknowledge it at all. Even then, Fangorn Forest exists in some minds but not others. At no point has reality ever actually been altered. The “forest” does not exist. The forest has only abstract existence and even then it exists only to the extent that various people consent to it and to the extent that they agree on its properties.

(Read on…)

Comments

One Comment on Failing to See the Trees for the Forest

    2. elkheart on Thu, 4th Dec 2008 11:17 pm

    Wow. Thanks, Jesse. Sorry it took me a week and a half to read fully and carefully your “Forest/Trees” essay. Beautiful and most excellent piece of writing. Fully formed and explicated thoughts, well supported and exampled. 99 44/100ths% *TRUE*! Ah, c’mon, you didn’t think that I couldn’t find an ort to gnaw, didja’???…I think that I understand mostly why you describe America’s govern – MENTAL system as being a “Democratic Republic”. You’re wrong. Try: “Republican/(democracy)”. Note the careful use on yours & my parts of capitalization, punctuation, and the signifigance of word order. And this time, please don’t just flame me back if you reply, OK? ANARCHO-JESSE RIDES AGAIN, & EDDIE “Jack-off” BURKAH just peed his pants again. *grin*…~e~…

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