August brings a new month; tomorrow is a new moon--time to consider newness of life! Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) is known for several revolutionary philosophical ideas and in particular his analysis of causation. He questioned the inevitable tendency of human beings to see life events in terms of cause and effect, and instead, offered the explanation that causality was a habit of thought, arising from an assumption that connection, or "constant conjunction"or repetition of two events appearing together, must mean one caused the other. Hume saw that one can ever actually verify that one event caused the other. But in essence we have a kind of agreed upon assumption, derived from inductive reasoning, that assumes the future will resemble the past. With inductive reasoning, we generalize causation ("this caused that") and precepts out of repetitive observations, probabilities, comparisons and analogies.
It may seem contradictory to write of newness of life in early August, 2024, with the work of an 18th century philosopher, but today I am writing about the stories we create over time through connecting events and experiences. Hume's ideas on our construction of causes are very much active today. I am actually pointing you to the possibility of creating a new story (or stories) from this day's (or this summer's) moments, that continues to unfold in newness of life.
Notably, back in Hume's final year in August, 1776, the official completed version of America's Declaration of Independence was being signed (August 2, 1776), although the formal public announcement was declared on July 4. How is this relevant? It isn't, unless my mind--or yours--weaves the events of Hume's work, his iconoclastic rejection of causation, around the events of the original 13 colonies in their determination to break free from England. Hume wrote ‘the mind has a great propensity to spread itself on the world', i.e. we project our feelings and ideas onto the world without being aware that it is projection. We assume one event caused another.
Interestingly, Thomas Jefferson, considered to be the main author of the Declaration of Independence, rejected Hume's work for political reasons, not philosophical. He considered Hume's "History of England, dangerously biased toward Tory views of conservative political ideas that could undermine American independence. Yet, he admitted that it was so well-written that without those biases, it would be "the finest piece of history which has even been written by man." Instead, Jefferson opted to promote a plagiarized copy, politically re-worked by another author, which Jefferson deemed, "Hume, republicanised." {J. Jefferson Looney, Daniel P. Jordan Editor, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, https://www.monticello.org/.../the-finest-piece-of.../}
Religious beliefs and spiritual teachings readily give us simplified ideas of cause and effect based on culture and traditions. As Hume described, perception of cause and effect is filtered through the mind that "spreads itself on the world", generating perception, assumptions, interpretation and answers out of the past. You could see this as human illusion, or as a wondrous process of Life encountering Life, with infinite creativity, bringing order through name and meaning, extending the creative process Itself. As U.G. Krishnamurti said, "Every event is an individual and independent event. We link up all these events and try to create a story of our lives." It is difficult if not impossible to see every event as independent of every other event--it is in the linking of events that we sustain identity, relationships, and society. We create the story of the world. But when we catch a glimpse of that other form of time, of unlinked independent events, a door to freedom opens. The stories we, or others, or the culture has fixed for us, are changeable. What story do you choose now? (Susan Nettleton)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/.../tell-all-the-truth...