Subject/Objective Reality/Illusion

[Terrance]

And now what is the result of all these considerations and quotations?
It is negative
in one sense, but positive in another. It absolutely forbids us to be
forward in
pronouncing on the meaninglessness of forms of existence **other than
our own;** and
it commands us to tolerate, respect, and indulge those whom we see
harmlessly
interested and happy in their own ways, however unintelligible these may
be to us.
Hands off: neither the whole of truth nor the whole of good is revealed
to any single
observer, although **each observer** gains a partial superiority of
insight from the
**peculiar position in which he stands.** Even prisons and sick-rooms
have their special
revelations. It is enough to ask of **each** of us that he should be
**faithful to his own** opportunities and make the most of his own
blessings, without presuming to regulate  the rest of the vast field.

This is an example of the Subjective or Sophistic ("[Each] Man is the
measure of all things.") Perspective. 

On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings
By William James

The claim that each observer has a limited, personal, and peculiar view
or position and is blinded to the subjective views of others does not
tell us that William James was a man of his age. In fact, I am not
surpized that William James is quite popular today. 


http://www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/jcertain.html


David Morris wrote:
> 
> http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/04dec/0412james.htm
> 
> This Banquet was given in Boston on the closing day of the World's Peace
> Congress, October 7, 1904
> 
> by William James
> 
> "This is the constitution of human nature which we have to work against. The
> plain truth is that people want war. They want it anyhow; for itself; and
> apart from each and every possible consequence. It is the final bouquet of
> life's fireworks. The born soldiers want it hot and actual. The
> non-combatants want it in the background, and always as an open possibility,
> to feed imagination on and keep excitement going. Its clerical and
> historical defenders fool themselves when they talk as they do about it.
> What moves them is not the blessings it has won for us, but a vague
> religious exaltation. War, they feel, is human nature at its uttermost. We
> are here to do our uttermost. It is a sacrament. Society would rot, they
> think, without the mystical blood-payment."
> 
> >From: Terrance <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>
> >Judy Panetta wrote:
> > > Subjective is me me me Like [...] William James
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp