Serious Philosophical Problems and Interesting Existential Tensions

Last week I thought of two new categories with which to gauge a worldview or a philosophy’s validity. I am not some things because either some of their major tenets, or the belief itself, or perhaps one of their major positions, consist of a serious philosophical problem. In this way such problems are like the very approach of psychological egoism, or perhaps some of the more medieval credos of Catholicism. These are completely unsolvable and as dissonant as 2 + 2 = 5.

But there is something that I like to call interesting existential tension, and quite frankly, this is the best state of being a human being can live in when living a philosophy or religion. We know that a certain amount of critical thinking is essential in forging people of strong but tempered and gentle faith, and it is inevitable that from time to time, or perhaps quite often, the practitioner experiences certain doubts, certain falterings, things that he or she might choose to try and hide from those he or she teaches, but someone can always notice if they pay attention closely. Imagine, then, a young student’s shock when she witnesses her teacher confess that he can also feel confused and troubled! But why is this tension good? At its most basic level, ‘tension’ implies a certain mild struggle between two things. When I throw in the word ‘ existential’, this becomes obviously not a physical tension but an emotional and intellectual tension. Tension means you are engaging with external people, experiences, and even inner thoughts to critically analyze or examine how your beliefs measure up to ‘reality’. Or perhaps your beliefs are a raft to the true Reality? There’s another ‘tension’ – the need to discover or read about what might be a Reality beyond this common/mundane/profane/samsaric one.

Critical rationalists will probably agree with my existential tension, because they are the middle way between the fideists and strong rationalists. The tension or critical rationalism often makes people uncertain or forces them to struggle with their own assumptions, but I believe this leads to the greatest potential for a spiritually mature and compassionate person. Interestingly, this kind of person is more well-suited to deal with those wavering in their practice than someone who’s never felt doubt, because the former are equipped with compassion, empathy and the scars of spiritual warfare to be able to heal the confused, frustrated and lonely.

Buddhists actually have different categories and degrees of doubts, but some doubts are actually positive towards generating trust in a teacher or doctrine, such as ‘Shit, so I really constitute a definite self?’

How to distinguish between serious philosophical problems and interesting existential tensions? Well, you’ll have to approach them through experience. This is not to say that if you experience something while expecting something else, you should give up the latter, but to pay attention to your belief-system or worldview amidst certain things that are happening. Observe, with mindfulness, how your thought processes click as your respond religiously to problems or anxieties that are beyond your control. Chances are, most things lead to existential tension, which is a good thing. But if you asked me right now what are my own philosophical problems, I can give you a short list immediately:

1. An omnipotent God

2. A single God of the Multiverse (although a God of Earth might exist)

3. Egoism

4. Dogmatic determinism

5. Time travel (when something new comes out in metaphysics, I might change my mind)

So there you have it. Two new ideas from me, which I’ve thought of hopefully to help myself gauge the wisdom of my own thoughts and actions.