Reality and sense

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A question that emerges to my mind is this: do human realities make sense?

Now, "human reality" isn't a term asking if science makes sense, but rather it is a question of whether the human perspective shows a world a that makes sense, or even an internal reality. Are there tensions in living as a human being? Paradoxes? Contradictions? Or are the things of the world created in the universe for our pleasure, and our senses and intuitions perfectly attested to?

When we think about morality, does morality make sense? Why ought I be moral? How can it be that a person ought to do something? How can an ought exist in the universe like found in morality? How can we live without these oughts though? For if the world is one without oughts, then aren't all moral expressions ultimately reducible to a form of egoism?

How about the meaning of life? "What is the meaning of life?" is a common question that usually is seen as corresponding to something. How can that question correspond to nothing? How come it seems that we intuitively phrase it in that sort of question, or at least that some of us do?

Why do people continually engage in religion? It can push them to extremes in behavior such as monasticism, and self-sacrifice for their religious cause, but these extremes by their nature preclude their genes from being spread forward.

If human beings exist to be happy, then how come the mind readjusts itself to keep us at a baseline level of some level of discontent? If human beings exist to breed, how come there are desires other than breeding and these desires overtake the ones that are more incidental to our existence? If human beings are just pushed by pleasure, then how come the idea of being motivated by pleasure seems odious?

Can the internal reality of human beings be rationalized to make some peace or sense? Or are human beings condemned to their nonsensicalities? What shall we say about the intersection of reality, humanity and sense or reason? I mean, can we condemn our thoughts and beliefs to being nothing without destroying all ability to interact with an external reality, and the meaning of the external reality? Can we fail to condemn these beliefs without being irrational?

Thoughts? Or am I just rambling?

AG, I think your thread just proved I do, in fact, have a problem understanding abstract language.

Ah, reality! That is something I heard a lot about, growing up. I kid you not. I was constantly lectured on the importance of facing reality. So what is reality?

Reality, basically is anything that can be independently verified by one or more people. However, religion, for some reason, is exempt from that rule--as long as it is a socially accepted religion. Of course, socially acceptable varies according to the part of the world you are in. But it is ok to commune with invisible deities, spirits, etc. as long as they fall within this framework.

Reality is also what those in power say it is. Your own experience is invalid because you are not "normal". The way you see things is not how they really are. If you cannot see the Emperor's clothes it is not because the Emperor is naked, it is because you have a problem. Nobody else has a problem seeing the clothes.

So does this clarify anything?

Our construction of reality has enabled the human race to survive and even flourish for over 200,000 years. So our sense of the world matches its actual state sufficiently to enable us to survive.

ruveyn