I have mentioned a lot in this series of posts about one of the central planks upon which I have constructed this house. That is the idea, which I think is self-evident, that every single person is the centre of their own observable universe. As such, I think that it reasonably follows that as everyone only occupies only one viewpoint of the kosmos ever, then this has a tendency to produce universal selfishness in people.
Political economist Adam Smith started out his "Theory Of Moral Sentiment" in 1759, with selfishness as the base assumption upon which he derived his theory of sentiment and ultimately of commerce/economics, and I think partially incorrectly that people are rational actors who are trying to maximise their happiness and utility of choices. I am just not convinced that people are generally rational and are very subject to a sense of animus; being blown about by the winds of emotion, also dependent on how hungry, lonely, cold, et cetera, they are. Humans are somewhat irrational machines, wrapped in meat.
Nevertheless even as somewhat irrational machines, wrapped in meat, humans have some pretty noble base desires. Apart from the obvious such as air, water, food, and clothing (just like a motor car which needs spark, air, and petrol), humans have a need to know and be known, to be validated, and to be believed.
Plato has a lovely word which he likes to use, which he thinks is necessary for the proper running of society because he not only noticed that people need to be heard but that they need to be believed. The word πιστεύει (pisteuei) is both like a sense that I believe in something, I have faith in something, I trust in something; and I am entrusted with something, I have been given something, or I am persuaded by something. Being believed and being persuaded, are less like transactional elements and more like two people holding ends of a rope and pulling and allowing to be pulled back and forth constantly. People who live in community are bound to each other by invisible cords, that form a network and a web. Just like a spider's web, it is fragile.
I have touched on this previously but the Roman concept of Fidus, or something approaching hope, is the expectation that a thing will do what it says that it will do. In a modern context, money is said to be fiduciary because when we show up at a shop, we expect it to be useful to be able to buy goods and services. If I hand over two dollars, I expect that the idea that I have given you transferrable value, will be good enough such that I can walk out of your shop with a banana and we both think that this was a fair transaction. For instance Money works because we all collectively believe that our money is good and acceptable by someone else. The second that we all stop believing that it is, what we've done is create a loss of confidence in money, possibly a run on the banks.
Pisteuei is more than just a simple sense of Fidus. Believing other people and being persuaded by them, is necessary if we are to accept anything as truth, and especially what other people think and hold to be true.
Here's the problem. As somewhat irrational machines, wrapped in meat, humans are by nature unreliable narrators. Not only are they small and only see the world from one spot, which means that they can not possibly hold all the world's information at once, but as selfish self-interested irrational machines, wrapped in meat, humans also see the world as it applies to them. People's innate selfishness can on occasion, very much cloud how they see the world; which means that it is possible to be both accidentally and perhaps worse, selfishly wrong.
But what happens if you don't believe people? People who are not believed, come to the rational or irrational conclusion that they will not be heard. People who are not heard might very well have information and/or experience which is not only mission critical but may also demand other moral action. Denial of justice, especially when there have been crimes against the person, including of the most intimate nature, are allowed to perperuate because people are not believed. The kosmos is already an unfair place, made up of people who are selfish, stupid, obnoxious and cruel; to have this not only confimed but then shown by action of those same people that the kosmos is unfair, renders people without hope. Take away people's hope, take away their sense of validation, take away justice; and what you produce are people whose lives are inclined towards destruction of both themselves, their immediate families and the world at large.
Even though people can be liars, or unreliable narrators, if it is not immediate that they are not telling the truth, they should be believed. Sometimes their narration must be taken with a grain of salt, however in general people are objectively too simple to be able to construct broad sweeping and complex narratives. Remember, even in criminal cases, most criminals are not masterminds but really dumb and/or desperate; which is not only why they got caught but explains their motives as well. Pulling back the pointing fingers of blame though, people might want to portray themselves in the best possible light and may be economical with the truth.
What do you do with that? Why in principle should you believe people who you know are unreliable narrators? Because you are also an unreliable narrator. Why should any believe you?
I think that we can take it from our own internal experience and apply it to everyone else, that everyone is doing the best that they can with the resources they have. Or if they are not doing the best that they can, then they might be very well trying just to get by. This is going to sound really stupid but in a kosmos that constantly demands from us to do more and to be better, then standing up and yelling "I’m doing the best that I can!" in the face of the kosmos, looks more like frustration in an indifferent place.
Can you be okay with what people have? Can you be okay with people's limits? People live within a tension that their current need for familiarity and security, make it difficult to change things.
What do you do with that? People need to be believed, despite and in spite of their unreliability of nature because they are doing the best that they can with the immediate circumstances and resources available to them. Believing that we are all doing the best that we can do, opens our hearts to the production of kindness and compassion and most importantly, it allows us to see each other, even with all the flaws and faults that we have, as humans, who are valuable.
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