A Leap of Faith

I’ve long assumed that everyone has struggled with the the metaphysical predicament of existence and come out the other side with an operational assumption of a shared external reality independent of our perceptions and interpretations.  We can’t on the basis of our own perceptions prove an external existence unless we presuppose that external existence.  It is a leap of faith to avoid descent into a solipsist black hole. I remember the juvenile epiphany hit me when I was on the playground in elementary school.  I tried to share it with some kids on the swing and even the playground monitor but they were all dismissive.  “There is no way to prove that anything exists” was how I remember positing it.  Unless one begins with an a priori assumption of both reality and some conformance of our perceptions thereof, we are nowhere.  It took me about a week to consciously decide that retreating into an abyss of reality as a construction of my own perception was unlikely to yield anything but narcissism and that the best way to ride out this life whatever it truly consists of is to assume on faith that what I perceive through my five senses is a fair approximation of an external reality I inhabit.  Of course one can’t prove existence is real but if we wish to continue experiencing anything, than it does us no good to behave as if it isn’t.

Once we’ve established an objective reality then the only logical thing is to conform our own internal constructions to it as much as is possible that we may most effectively meet our needs and desires.  This process of iterative refinement is called learning.