Qualia on the surface of things (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures) creates what we commonly think of as reality. But the qualia within things, around which matter is formed, is another reality altogether – a reality of ideals, or the “play” of thought.
Very few people pay full and lasting attention to the qualia within things – to the play of thought – but those who do eventually realize that qualia reveals two distinct landscapes: the “real” landscapes of our senses, and the “ideal” landscapes of the mind.
This inner reality of things, mostly hidden from us, has been imagined throughout human history, mythically, religiously, artistically, poetically, and most recently, scientifically.
The qualia within things is always imperfect (because in its own landscape – like a water molecule in a snowflake or a person at their job – it is still surface), while our conception of it is ideal.
An ideal is a fleeting and miraculous thought which suggests a perfect possibility. For instance throughout the ages we have idealized a creator as a perfect possibility; so too for the “laws” that help us (and all matter) endure in some degree of harmony. All are, or we imagine them to be, ideal.
But – ideals rarely stay in the mind for long. Take, for instance, the hexagon formed by frozen water molecules within a snowflake. Imagine it, and it won’t stay the same for long. It is difficult to hold anything perfectly in the mind, even a color or a sound. It is also hard to stay focused on our thoughts and dreams. What did you want to be when you grew up? What did you imagine your true love would look like? How can we live in utopian harmony?
These qualia within things inevitably move us toward ideals – but holding to that ideal is as hard as breaking an addiction. In fact, the two skills are complimentary; to do one at all gives us the confidence to do the other.
Addiction does keep us focused – no doubt about it – but the ideal fix we are forever focused upon (the best dope, a royal flush, unbelievable sex and even love, etc.) is narrow, unhealthy, and ultimately very difficult to relinquish.
Yes, as hard as it is to let go of narrow ideals like addiction, it is just as hard to cling to expansive ideals like freedom. This is just the quixotic reality of being human.
Ah reality…so is it in the surface qualia our senses sense or the mind’s ideal conceptions of it all?
Perhaps reality is just what we make of it.
We have a relationship with the surface qualia; by virtue of the fact that we evolved with it we belong to it just as water belongs to a snowflake. You might say that water, frozen in a snowflake, has some sense of belonging to a hexagonal ideal. Likewise, our landscape and all its qualia make up our community.
In totality, our human equivalent to the hexagon is not, as you might at first suppose, our cultures, laws, nations and what not. That is old school thinking. No, Homo sapiens belong to…ecosystems!
Ecosystems are a concept we have yet to understand clearly. We are as worse than a frozen water molecule in this respect. There is a great deal of evidence that the rest of the beings on the planet have not lost their innate “sense” of belonging to this ecosystemic reality, and nor have we.
It seems to me that pursuing this ideal – treating the ideal of ecosystems as a calling – will create a homeostasis between the surface qualia and the qualia within to guide us towards the best reality of both.
At this point in our destructive history, it is a moral imperative to do so.