POP15 - Reason
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In this POP Series,
I have so far discussed
Authority and the Senses.
What else is there?
Reason.
The beloved path of the third type of souls.
The Reasoning Souls.
One can figure out the truth by REASON.
REASON is God's GREATEST gift to man.
It is what most distinguishes man from the animals.
His ability to hold and manipulate abstract thoughts.
But, reason is only logic.
Like found in a computer.
Give a particular set of premises,
it can prove anything that follows from those premises.
However, human reasoning is not even as good as machine reasoning.
It is often faulty.
Given the few rules of a chessboard,
which is limited to 64 squares,
look at how often humans make mistakes,
in playing chess.
Life is MANY, MANY, MANY times
more complicated than a chessboard.
There are a great number MORE parameters,
so when we go to reason about economics,
politics, religion, or any thing else of this world,
we are much more likely to make a mistake.
And we make mistakes all the time.
Look at a computer program.
Very few rules as compared to life.
Yet how often is a computer program
of any length written with out bugs?
Just bugs regarding the computer rules,
so that it will not run at all.
And then there are very often bugs
regarding the purpose of the program itself.
Reasoning is often very inaccurate.
But the real problem is that
even if it is accurate,
it depends upon the premises with which it begins.
So, Reason Alone, is not a sure guide to the Truth.
Indeed, while it is God's greatest gift to man,
it is VERY fallible.
Thus we are left with the
Fourth Path.
And that tomorrow.
Peace and love,
Bruce
DawnSayer@webpal.org