The Answer

I told him what I know, but he didn't believe me. At least he didn't want to believe me.

I could tell that he didn't like what I wanted to say.

There is no objective reality. There is only perception, a subjective interpretation of an objective entity, which, unfortunately can only understood by those so void of humanity that they lack the necessary empathy to properly articulate their message. So we languish in our cave. Some are content with the fire; some are happy with their elementary understanding of philosophy. Others want more.

But only through clouds can anyone observe the sun.

Everyone seeks to sweep away any semblance of subjectivity. They want to destroy the delusion. Some operate under the guise of revealing truth. They open the curtains and majestically let the light flow in. They are lovable in their gullibility.

Some exploit the delusion and replace it with their own. They talk of revolution and the proletariat, but they only bring more sweet, painful delusion.

Others, the Occupiers, the Nihilists, the Fighters, they flail and panic in the delusion until it is torn apart. Then they are left only to float, only with the awareness of the darkness around them. They think they can handle the darkness.

I thought I could handle the darkness.

Of course it's all a delusion.

We think we have rights; we think we have truths; we think we have things like "economic principles" or moral principles or ethical principles. We think we have democracy or money or happiness or meaning or worth.

But all we have is delusion.

It isn’t all bad though. Sure, we think we are out conquering the universe when in reality we are stuck playing by the arbitrary rules of a dumb Monopoly game, but at least we are playing together. We can, being the deluded and delusional beings that we are, convince ourselves of nearly anything. And most of those things of which we convince ourselves are quite good and enjoyable and helpful to living life. Love, elitism, intelligence, religion are all delusions necessary to the existence of mankind. Without them, some of them at least, we would have nothing to live for, nothing to evaluate ourselves by, nothing to comfort ourselves in the face of our own mortality.

So if you’re asleep, stay asleep. If you’re just waking up, hit the snooze button. If you’re awake, try to take a nap and forget what you have seen. And if you’re anything like me, start mixing booze and Ambien until you pass out. Indulge in the delusion. At least I keep telling myself.

Most important of all, remember that we hold very dear to us the delusion that our delusions are not delusions. Certainty, shared, collective certainty, is the greatest delusion of humanity. And it is the most helpful and it is the most necessary. And we need more of it.

If everyone was certain, the stock market, the world’s greatest gambling pit of sin, would never crash. Employers, never fearing a red bottom line, or a pull of the rug from beneath them, would always be hiring. Religious fundamentalists, never again insecure in their belief of what is inherently unbelievable, would never again be driven to prove their faith by flying planes into buildings or by firebombing abortion clinics. Hell, with a little certainty, maybe I'd just shut up and leave everyone alone.

So stop spreading truth. Stop spreading happiness and joy and love. Continue instead to spread the delusion of certainty. Continue to inflate the bubble until it brings us all a little higher off the ground, a little higher into the air. We need more of it.

Certainty.

It's one thing that's never too big to fail.

But at the end of the day, regardless of the fight, regardless of its outcome, we all slink back to our previously constructed, supremely comfortable and reassuring version of reality.