On Truth and Falsity

                             The Usefulness of Reality

The skeptics claim that they suspend judgment as to whether or not any appearance is real or not. But they also propound arguments that no sense objects or thought objects can be real. pb. OP. They seem to believe that both objective appearances and subjective appearances can be but mere illusions. But if that were true, then only nothingness could be real. But nothingness would have no power within it to produce illusions. This fact can only mean that consciousness has to be real even if it only produces illusions. But the skeptics argue that even consciousness cannot be real. Evidently, they believe that nothingness can produce illusions. But if nothingness happens to be all that can really exist, or non-exist, then mind and all of its illusions would be impossible. The skeptics admit that humans have appearances, but something about this connection has to be real. But as Heidegger informs us, every person is a "being in the world." As such, humans can use their thought objects and their sense objects to create useful systems that benefit themselves and others. This means that humans possess the power within themselves to abolish all illusions and cause themselves, and the world they are in, to become real.

Humans also possess the useful idea of nothing which humans can use in its formulation of useful systems. Heidegger expressed the idea of nothing as the constant thought of the imminence of death which acted as as continuous limitation on all of the creative abilities and possibilities that humans can have. This fact can only mean that because humans possess a real idea of nothing, then all that happens to be more than nothing; that is, something, can only be a consciousness of reality. In other words, since humans can be conscious of the useful idea of nothing that indirectly indicates unreality, and humans can also be conscious of their sense objects and thought objects as being useful in creative ways, then humans must be conscious of reality.

A person holds up a hammer to a skeptic and asks him if it is real or not. The skeptic answers that according to his form of logic the hammer cannot be real. The person then asks the skeptic if the hammer is but an illusion. The skeptic replies that the hammer is just an appearance which could be an illusion. The person answers the skeptic that he just admitted that there is a possibility that the hammer could be real. The skeptic replies that he has suspended all judgment as to whether or not the hammer is real. The person then asks the skeptic if he has ever had an illusion; that is, has he ever thought that something would appear, but it did not appear. The skeptic replies that he once thought that a god would appear to him but it did not. The person then explains to the skeptic that his illusion happened to be one example of the fact that whenever humans have illusions, they always prove to be useless. The skeptic agreed that in his case, his illusion proved to be useless. The person then holds up the hammer again and tells the skeptic that he can use that hammer to drive nails which is a creative act, but if the hammer were but an illusion, it would be completely useless and non-creative. Therefore, by his creative usefulness of the hammer, he can make it real. The skeptic answers with a puzzled look on his face.

On Truth and Falsity

                           The Source of Reality

Another example of how the skeptics attack reality is that they adduce in their philosophy that no one can tell the difference between that which is real and that which is not real in appearances if one man is alive, has sight and is breathing, and another man is dead without sight or breath. pb. OP ps. 173-174. All humans are systems and very complex systems indeed. This means that the already existing elements of reality can be added or subtracted from their systems. When a person dies, their bodily consciousness loses all sense objects and thought objects, but that does not mean that sense objects and thought objects become unreal. This simply means that all of the sense objects and thought objects still retained by alive humans, including consciousness, becomes subtracted from the body of the dead person.

Reality happens to be a vast, interconnected system of sense objects and thought objects made possible by consciousness. When a person dies their body loses all contact with reality, but that does not mean that reality itself becomes unreal. As long as consciousness is real, there will be reality. Some consciousness partakes of reality in very limited ways, such as with bugs or germs. But an intelligent consciousness can manipulate a high degree of reality to formulate true or false systems.

When a person dies, their bodily consciousness and their reality becomes subtracted from their system. The only real system they have left is the fact that alive humans can see their dead body. A dead body has no consciousness of time and space. Since a dead body can have no idea of nothing itself, then it enters into a state of absolute non-existence except for the fact that alive humans can see the dead body. Within itself, a dead body enters into a state of absolute nothingness. This condition happens to be the only state of unreality. Conscious humans never experience unreality. Alive humans can use the real idea of nothing to indicate falsity which indirectly indicates unreality.

If a consciousless universe existed before the advent of any consciousness at all, then that universe would be in the same state as a dead human. There could be no time and space. Only absolute nothingness would non-exist. Consciousness could never evolve in such a universe because it would possess no powers of creation whatsoever. But if an Infinite Intelligence exists who possesses an Infinite Reality, then He could create a real universe with time and space, limited consciousness, and humans with intelligence and creative abilities because of their greater contact with His reality. Psalm 147;5 (KJB)

On Truth and Falsity

             The Reality of All False Formulations

Every system that humans can create are either inductive systems, which may be true or false, syllogistic systems, which may be true or false, or speculative systems which need to be investigated to determine if they are true or false. But the basic elements that form any system that humans can create are always true and real. These basic elements have to be true and real because if there were any possibility that they could be unreal, then all useful systems would be impossible to create. Unreality can only be useless, and has proven to be so in human experience.

Reality actually consists of a vast spectrum of interconnected experiences of real sense objects and thought objects produced by that basic element of reality that is human consciousness. Humans always select from that vast spectrum whatever elements they need to create any system whether true, false, or speculative. In fact, humans happen to be incapable of experiencing anything that is not true and real. Falsity itself is a true and real idea because it is useful.

Humans can form false systems, but every false system always comprises true and real elements. A person can correctly declare that a particular false system does not exist. But that person can never declare that the elements of any false system must be unreal because he has already experienced those elements. The falsity of a false system always adheres to the useless combination of true and real elements, never to the true and real elements themselves. Humans possess the ability to recognize false combinations by their use of the real and useful idea of nothing. False formulations always mean nothing because they are always useless. But the recognition of their falsity is useful. False formulations prove to be useful to humans because they can use the idea of nothing to usefully discard them from reality.

For example, a person can rightly state that a unicorn does not exist. But he cannot state that "horns" and "horses" do not exist because he has experienced them. He can use his real idea of nothing to recognize that this false combination does not exist. Yet, he never experiences the non-existence of the unicorn. In fact, humans never experience non-existence at all. Humans can only experience that which is true and real, even within all false formulations. This fact happens to be true of all false combinations

On Truth and Falsity

                       The Reality of Induction

The skeptics invalidate induction logic just as they do all forms of human logic except their own. pb. OP p.164. But they ignore the fact that inductive systems only fail because particular sense objects or thought objects are added or subtracted from an isolated inductive system. If a scientist repeats an experiment again and again and always obtains the same result, but one day gets a different result, he will immediately conduct an investigation to discover whatever happened to be added or subtracted from his experiment that caused it to deliver a different result. That scientist will do that because they all know that as long as the elements of an inductive system remain the same, that inductive system will always yield the same result.

The fact that the sun rises every morning is an inductive system. That inductive system will never fail as long as all of the elements that hold the earth in orbit around the sun remain the same. Only if, for some reason, gravity fails, or the sun explodes, or some other drastic event happens, will that inductive system fail. The skeptics happen to be wrong about inductive systems because they ignore the fact that an inductive system can always be changed by the addition or subtraction of other elements.

On Truth and Falsity

                             Reality Proves Itself

While the skeptics admit that humans have appearances, they deny that there can be any proof that appearances are real. pb. OP ps.143-160. But if appearances were not real, then they could only be illusions, and true reality would have to be something different. But the skeptics assert that proof that anything is real can only be impossible. Even if their supposed true reality were discovered, would it not be subject to all of the impossible tests, such as the infinity test, that the skeptics apply to appearances? The skeptics actually argue that true reality can never be discovered. But if it is impossible to ever discover what true reality could be, would not appearances be the same as true reality, even if they are illusions?

The skeptics argue that appearances are mere sensations, and therefore, might not be real. But if sensations are all that humans can possess, how could anyone recognize true reality even if they found it? For what reason do the skeptics separate sensations from reality? Sensations themselves could be the true reality. Since sensations as appearances can be all that humans can possess, and any other reality is impossible to discover, then appearances can only be the same as reality.

What do the skeptics mean when they assert that appearances could be unreal? If the skeptics mean that appearances could be unreal because some non-evident true reality exists behind those appearances, which, by their own admission, can never be discovered, then, by a logical elimination, only appearances can be real. If the skeptics mean that unreality equals non-existence, and therefore, appearances mean nothing, they contradict their own admission that humans actually have appearances which are the same as sensations.

In addition, when one closely examines the appearances which humans possess, one finds that unreality never directly appears to humans. One finds that unreality always consists of a false combination of two or more appearances. For example, when one closely examines any false system such as a lie, one finds that they always, without exception, comprise true appearances. When a child lies to his mother and tells her, "I did not eat the candy," the "I" is a true appearance, the "did" is a true appearance, the "not" is a true appearance as an idea in the mind, the "eat" is a true appearance, the "the" is a true appearance, and the "candy" is a true appearance. The same happens to be true of all false systems. When the mother discovers that her child has lied to her because of the smear of candy on his face, she realizes that his false system means nothing. She uses her real idea of nothing to equate his false system with unreality, but she never directly observes the unreality. Since humans never directly observe the unreality in false systems, then that can only mean that all appearances must be real.

In addition, humans can use both sense objects and thought objects to create true systems that prove to be useful for the benefit of their fellow humans. This means all objects must be real since all unreal objects could only be useless. The skeptics, even to this day, believe that thought objects have less meaning than do sense objects. But since both prove to be useful in the creation of useful systems, they have to be equally real. Thought objects can be abstracted from sense objects, but in cases where they could not have been so abstracted, they had to have been given to the mind. But thought objects happen to be just as real as are sense objects in the same sense that a photograph of a person is just as real as is the person. Sense objects and thought objects are equally real in the vast spectrum called reality because both happen to be useful in the creations of beneficial systems. Sense objects and thought objects both have to be real appearances because unreality never directly appears in this spectrum of reality. Human consciousness can use the useful and real thought object called "the idea of nothing" to indicate the falsity within all false systems which always comprises true and real appearances. "Falsity" is a true and useful idea. "Nothing" is a true and useful idea. All of the appearances in all false systems are true and real. But unreality itself never directly appears to human consciousness.

When God created humans, He calibrated all of the sensations and appearances that humans can possess with reality itself. Genesis 1:31; Genesis 2:7-9; Genesis 2:19-20. (KJB).

On Truth and Falsity

                     The False Logic of the Skeptics

The skeptics contend that the form of logic used by the dogmatists is always invalid, whereas their own form of logic is valid. At times. the skeptics make the dogmatic conclusion that the logical arguments of the dogmatists cannot be real, but that contradicts their own conclusions that no one can ever tell the difference between truth and falsity. In other words, they dogmatically conclude that the arguments of the dogmatists can never be real even though they also maintain a philosophy that states that no one can tell if anything is real or not. pb. OP ps. 130-140

The skeptics admit that humans have appearances. They also admit that according to their logic, judgments can be made about appearances. But all of their judgments about appearances are the same; that is, that no one can tell the difference between the real and the unreal. But if that happens to be the only valid judgment that humans can make, then all speculative logic and investigations into that which is real or not real, according to the skeptics, can only be useless and a waste of time. But if humans can make only one valid judgment, then all other judgments about appearances can only be invalid. The skeptics dogmatically assert that their one judgment can be the only valid judgment, but if that is true, then human intelligence itself would be impossible. If human intelligence were impossible, then all judgments would be impossible including the skeptics one judgment. In effect, the skeptics argue that humans have no intelligence, and that humans must be equal to the animals and should conduct their lives accordingly.

On Truth and Falsity

                            The Reality of Truth and Falsity

The skeptics contend that no one can discern the difference between truth and falsity, and therefore, truth cannot really exist because it would always be nullified by falsity. pb. OP ps. 122-127. They actually maintain that neither truth nor falsity can exist. When they make this argument, they misuse both their intelligence and true logic. According to their logic, one wonders how they could have ever obtained the ideas of truth and falsity. If no difference really exists between truth and falsity, no one could ever become aware of truth and falsity. If it were true that no human can really tell the difference between truth and falsity, then humans would possess no intelligence, and human consciousness would be equal to that of the animals. The animals simply accept their stream of consciousness as it comes without any consciousness of it or any judgments about it.

But humans are aware of their stream of consciousness, and therefore that gives humans the intelligence needed to manipulate their sense objects and thought objects to form systems that can increase knowledge and benefit their fellow humans, or that can be discovered to be false and usefully discarded, or speculative systems that need investigation to determine if they are true or false. This fact can only mean that the ideas of truth and falsity can only be innate to the human mind. The ideas of truth and falsity could not have been derived from an evolutionary process because, as the animals consciousness demonstrates, truth and falsity do not appear in experience except as independent needs such as food and water. Intelligence is required to obtain the ideas of truth and falsity. But the ideas of truth and falsity had to exist prior to human intelligence because they could not have just inexplicably appeared out of nowhere.

Humans can be conscious of their stream of consciousness which gives them intelligence, but in order to be conscious of their stream of consciousness, humans need another consciousness, and still another which proceeds toward infinity. Human consciousness has a connection to the infinite, connected to it by the infinite, since human consciousness proves to be far to weak to carry itself to infinity. This means that humans derived their intelligence, and such ideas as truth and falsity, from the infinite. But since ideas cannot exist without consciousness, then the infinite would have to possess both an Infinite Consciousness and an Infinite Intelligence. Psalm 147:5 (KJB).

On Truth and Falsity

                               God's Gift of Reality

The skeptics maintain that what they call the "regent part," which they equate with the soul, cannot be apprehended, and therefore, its objects cannot be apprehended as they really are. pb. OP ps.118-122. But what they mean by the phrase "regent part" can only be consciousness. The skeptics admit that humans have appearances, but then they deny that both consciousness and its appearances can be known to be real. In other words, they equate both consciousness and its appearances with nothing. But nothing cannot produce appearances. Their conclusions clearly cannot be the case since consciousness really does have appearances whether those appearances are real or not. This means the skeptics have tacitly admitted that at least one true fact exists; that is, that consciousness really does have appearances whether or not they are true and real. If consciousness were in a state somewhere between reality and unreality, it could not produce appearances, or if it did, those appearances could only exist in chaotic state. This fact establishes another undeniable fact; that is, that consciousness has to be real because it really has appearances whether or not those appearances are real or not.

Consciousness has to be real because it effectively produces appearances whether those appearances are real or unreal. If consciousness were unreal, it could produce no appearances whatsoever. Since it does produce appearances then it must really produce them. Consciousness has to be real in order to do that. Experience has taught humans that unreal systems always only produce the real idea of nothing which humans can use to identify the falsity and the nothingness which adheres to false systems. Falsity and nothingness always equals unreality, but humans never directly experience unreality. Humans only experience the real idea of nothing that indirectly indicates unreality. True and real systems always work. False and unreal systems never work.

The skeptics further assert that the only way to determine if consciousness and its appearances can be true and real is to put both to an infinite test. Only if an infinite consciousness exists can consciousness be known to be real, and only if an infinite set of the objects of consciousness exists can those objects be known to be real. But if consciousness really has appearances, whether real or not, then that means that consciousness itself has to be real and can be proven to be real by an infinite test. Finite consciousness really does have appearances, whether real or not, and those appearances constitutes the stream of consciousness to finite consciousness. But intelligent, finite consciousness can be conscious of its stream of consciousness which requires another consciousness. But since finite consciousness possesses this additional consciousness, it can only be conscious of it by means of still another, and of that still another, which proceeds toward infinity. Although finite consciousness happens to be far to weak and limited to carry itself to infinity, the very fact that finite consciousness can proceed toward infinity provides evidence that an infinite test of its reality can be possible. That part of human consciousness that proceeds toward infinity could be called the spirit of humans that connects to an Infinite Consciousness. This Infinite Consciousness would complete the connection of human consciousness to infinity and prove that limited human consciousness can only be true and real. Proverbs 20:27 (KJB).   

The skeptics contend that consciousness can only know its sensations that it receives from its appearances and not the real objects themselves. But these skeptics can never know if their supposed real objects exist if there can never be any way of apprehending them. They dogmatically assert the non-evident. But if God created a real human consciousness then He must have also calibrated that consciousness to be apprehensive of real sense objects and thought objects. The very sensations of its objects of consciousness happens to be the same as the reality of its objects. But the skeptics confuse the issue by their assertion that different sensations occur to different persons under different circumstances, and that fact proves that no one can tell if the objects of consciousness are true and real or not. But they ignore the fact that when different sensations occur to different persons under different circumstances, that only means that different systems occur within different streams of consciousness. All of the elements of all of those systems can still be true and real.

God has calibrated humans to be conscious of real sense objects and thought objects displayed as sensations or impressions on consciousness. The problem with weak humans is that they often combine true and real sense objects and thought objects into false systems that mean nothing. For example, 2+3=6 is a false system even though every number and sign are real and true. "Bitter" is a real and true sensation even though it can appear in a false system when an unhealthy person tastes honey. "Round" is a true and real appearance even though it can occur in a false system when a person observes a square tower from a distance. God has given true and real sense objects and thought objects and all of their spectrums to humans which constitutes reality. But humans can by accident, by mistake, by weakness, or by deliberate action formulate any of these real objects into false systems which happens to be the only unreality that humans ever encounter. Even so, humans never directly observe unreality. Humans only observe that by the use of the real idea of nothing, they can determine that false systems mean nothing and can be usefully discarded from reality.

On Truth and Falsity

                           The Reality of the Intellect

The skeptics use the word "judgment" in an illogical way. They claim that true judgments need to be made to discover if anything observed by the intellect can be true and real, and then they maintain that all such judgments can only be impossible. One wonders how they ever obtained the idea of "judgment" in the first place. pb. OP ps.114-118. The skeptics certainly do not refrain from using their judgment to declare that no one can tell if anything is real or unreal. In other words, the skeptics maintain that the only true and real judgment that humans can make is that no one can tell if anything is true and real or false and unreal. But how can anyone make that judgment without a real mind to make it? Apparently, the skeptics believe that an intellect that could be real or unreal can not know if any of its appearances are real or unreal. But how could such an intellect make any judgments at all? The skeptics simply ignore the fact that all unreal appearances are useless unless humans apply other ideas to those useless systems in order to make them useful.

The skeptics do admit that humans have appearances. Since humans certainly have appearances, then those appearances must appear to something. In humans, the intellect happens to be a product of consciousness. Humans can use their intellect in creative ways. Therefore, the skeptics must be tacitly admitting that appearances can only appear to human consciousness. But the skeptics require an impossible test that humans must somehow get outside of their appearances, and their consciousness as well, in order to be able to judge whether or not both are real or unreal. But in this impossible test, the skeptics ignore the true logic that when all possible answers to a question or a problem have been logically eliminated except one, then that one solution has to be the true one. Sherlock Holmes knew that. This fact can only mean that when all impossible tests are eliminated because they can produce no results, then the one true and certain fact has to be that only consciousness can have appearances.

Another undeniable fact happens to be that humans can use their appearances; that is, their sense objects and thought objects, to formulate systems that prove to be creative. One wonders how creative systems could ever be unreal since they all prove to be beneficial to humanity whereas unreal systems prove themselves to always be useless. The skeptics argue that because each individual can form their own systems of speculation or opinion about the nature of reality, then that proves that no one can tell the difference between truth and falsity. But the skeptics ignore the fact that while humans know some truths and realities, they are also on a quest to discover whatever truths and realities that lie hidden within the unknown. The skeptics also ignore the fact that each person has individual freedom and their own individual stream of consciousness which they can use to formulate their own systems that attempt to describe the nature of reality. In other words, each individual has their own creative systems within themselves. Sadly, some humans misuse their freedom. Even so, humans often get most of their conclusions about the nature of reality wrong, but each individual has the right to speculate in their own creative ways, even the skeptics. The very fact that humans can use their sense objects and thought objects in creative ways, even if only in speculation and opinion they get most of their conclusions wrong, proves that all of their sense objects and thought objects must be true and real because systems that are not true and real always prove, in themselves, to be useless. All systems of speculation and opinion can only be creative, even if they prove to be wrong, because when they are discovered to be wrong, they can all be usefully discarded from reality. In this way, wrong conclusions increase human knowledge just as much as does true conclusions.  

Systems of speculation and opinion must be investigated to determine if any conclusions reached are true and real or false and unreal. Since about the sixteenth century, the scientific method has been used as a tried and true means to discover the truth or the falsity in many speculative systems. But modern scientists have become arrogant in that, for political reasons, they have embraced certain speculative systems that possess no evidence to support their conclusions, such as the theory of evolution.

On Truth and Falsity

                              Only Reality Appears

The skeptics contend that no one can know if their sense objects and thought objects are true and real or false and unreal. The skeptics maintain that the dogmatists do not know because some of them are idealists, some realists, and some a mixture of the two. pb. OP p. 112. But if humans can use their sense objects and thought objects to formulate systems that benefit their fellow humans, then whether they appear only to the mind, or their sense objects all exist exterior to the mind in the world, makes no difference whatsoever. All sense objects and thought objects can only be true and real in either case.

The skeptics do not know if honey is really sweet or bitter because it tastes different to a healthy person and to an unhealthy person. But they ignore the fact that these are two entirely different systems. The system where honey tastes sweet to a healthy person adds to the general knowledge of all humans and is therefore a useful system. When honey tastes bitter, for whatever reason, then that is a useless system. As a universal rule, all systems fit into one of these two categories. Humans can formulate true and useful systems that improve the general knowledge and/or the well being of their fellow humans. But when humans formulate false systems, they use the very same sense objects and thought objects that they use when they formulate true and useful systems. This fact can only mean that all of the sense objects and thought objects that form useful systems or false systems must be true and real. They prove to be useful in either case. "Bitter" is a true taste whether it occurs in a true system such as unsweetened chocolate or in a false system such as the taste of honey. Falsity always occurs in the false combinations themselves, never in the elements of those combinations.

When a person discovers that a system he thought was a true one turns out to be a false one, he never discovers anything that is not real. A person observes a tower from a distance and sees it as "round," but when he walks closer to the tower he sees that it is really square. His false system that includes the true sense object "distance" and the true thought object "round" happens to be false simply because it mistakenly combines two real objects that prove to be useful in any other useful system that requires the inclusion of the real sense object "distance" and the real thought object "round." This fact can only mean that humans never observe and experience anything that is not real, but humans can use its sense objects and thought objects to form true and useful systems, or false systems, which proves that they all must be true and real. For example, a person can imagine that a unicorn exists. He uses two thought objects derived from experience called a "horn" and a "horse" to form his false system. He knows that his system is false because it is useless and means nothing. He has made use of his real idea of nothing to determine that his imagined unicorn is really false and useless and means nothing although it comprises two real thought objects. But he never directly observes the unreality of the unicorn. The fact that humanity can use its real idea of nothing to indicate the reality of false systems, and humanity can also use its sense objects and thought objects to form useful systems that increase knowledge and benefit their fellow humans, and humans never directly observe or experience unreality, only goes to prove that all of its sense objects and thought objects can only be true and real. God has calibrated human consciousness to be able to observe and experience only reality, and unreality can only be a vast emptiness that humans can never directly experience.