The Entrance to the Maze

It has been seven years since I last posted on this blog. I doubt any of my original audience will read this, but I figure it is as good a place as any to pick up the train of thought that has taken me to the center of the labyrinth and back in the time that has passed since my last post.

IASC 1F00 was where my journey began. I found myself sitting in that classroom at Brock University because I had always felt that there was an ocean of knowledge waiting for me just around the riverbend, and I was so excited to venture out and dive into it. I was wide-eyed, innocent, and so excited to sink my teeth into this big beautiful world we are all a part of, to learn all of its secrets and contribute to the Great Work of making it even better.

I was standing at the gates of the maze, unaware of the true scope of the twists and turns contained within.

Sitting in our circle of desks, student and professor alike as equals, we were encouraged to ask "so what?" Whatever question you've asked, whatever answer you think you've arrived at, what does it mean? Why is it important? What difference does it make?

This is the concept that consumed me: the idea that knowing for its own sake is not enough. What is the purpose of knowing? What does knowledge mean for us as human beings?

I began to wonder about the nature of knowledge itself. How do we KNOW anything? Descartes famously said, "I think, therefore I am," but that seemed myopic to me. How do we know that we are what we think we are? Does our perception of consciousness provide proof of concept? If we were simply a brain in a vat being stimulated electrically, or advanced artificial intelligence in a Matrix-type simulation, who had been programmed to be absolutely convinced of our reality, would we ever know the difference?

At worst, I concluded, the captial 'T' truth was inaccessible to us, and at best, it was a very convincing illusion.

After all, as we discussed in class, we are quickly moving towards a world that is post-reality, a simulacra, where it is near impossible to distinguish fact from fiction. Each of us try our best to assemble a model of reality that works, but when our sources of information all conflict, when they are simulations of a simulation, a map based on no real territory, what is there for any of us but a void without meaning or purpose? What orientation is possible?

Wherein lies the exit to the maze?