mind

[a mental musing]

Mind cannot know truth. It is not within its capacities.

Mind observes, it discerns, it analyzes, it infers. It connects our perceptions to analysis, and groups, compiles, categorizes our perception into abstract entities, like groups, kingdoms, structures, patterns, and theories of the world. The periodic table of chemistry, the categorization and tracing of genetic evolution of biology, the mechanics, thermodynamics, and fundamental forces of physics; the notes, scales, and chords of music theory; the social patterns of growth, conflict, competition, collaboration, wars, treaties, and other social interactions found by history and sociology; the precise movements of fantastic objects traced in the heavens by astronomy; the theories of the planet's formation, morphing, and composition from geology; the predictions of the weather of meteorology - all of these human accomplishments, powered by the mind, are no more than working hypotheses about the truth of reality. No matter how strongly and harshly tested, how long-lasting, or how useful they have proven to humanity, these all do not pierce the veil of Truth.

For they are all dependent upon perception, which is necessarily inaccurate in this fluid world, and is colored by the perceiver, who differs from every other.

These types of knowledge produce their results via observation, compilation, and inference of patterns. These are the results of statistical analyses in essence, whether that is cognized by the inferrer or not. And as with all statistical results, a margin of error always remains, and the resulting hypotheses remain thus, always at some distance away from truth.

This separation does not render them worthless, however, and common knowledge *ordains/retains* that the results of the mind are some of the greatest triumphs of humanity at large, particularly in the last few centuries. Believing them to be absolute truth, however, is false and dangerous. Doing so can take us upon the path of arrogance and complacency, and stop progress in its tracks.

We as humanity are creating working hypotheses collectively with the help of our minds, and as we build more and more of them, one upon the other, we are creating great progress for our race. Let us know that these are all approximations of truth, and none of them truth itself, which is the attractor, whether realized or not, that drives our efforts and striving to know. And may we keep the hope that the results of mind, building ever higher and deeper, will someday lift humanity enough for us to know Truth.