for Reason

What do we
believe in?

Above all else, we must believe in the truth. 

No matter our politics, no matter our philosophy, no matter who we are or where we come from, above all else we must believe in what we know to be true. 

Truth is fundamentally important. It’s mission critical - the foundation upon which all meaningful knowledge is based, and from which all lasting progress is achieved. 

Quite simply, without truth, we have nothing. 

But truth isn’t always easy to uncover. It is often elusive, hidden, concealed in a thick forest of speculation, assumptions, errors and lies. The search for truth is a constant process of success and failure, of discovery and setback, of questions and answers, of confirmation and rejection. 

That process only really begins when we first admit that we know nothing. And it only really acquires any meaning when we recognize that “the truth” is never set in stone, but rather constantly changing - that what is understood as truth one day can easily be overruled by what we learn the next. All true knowledge is subject to challenge, to revision, to change, as our understanding of that knowledge deepens and strengthens. 

Fortunately, we are endowed with marvellous gifts to help us in our quest for the truth: the ability to think, to deduce, to question, to research, to investigate, to debate, to doubt, to test… and to repeat these over and over, for as long as it takes, until true knowledge finally emerges. 

In short, we’re able to reason. And that’s an incredibly powerful gift, because without it - without reason - there can be no true knowledge.

And yet, we have abandoned reason. We have turned our backs on everything we’ve learned about finding the very truth we so desperately need right now. 

Simply put, we’re lost.

Instead of being governed in these troubled times by reason, by true knowledge, real logic and actual science, we are being governed by narrative. A false and superficial narrative where no contrary viewpoint is tolerated. Or even permitted to exist at all. 

Instead of displaying even the slightest amount of intellectual honesty or curiosity, instead of attempting to provide even a shred of evidence to support their decisions and policies, our current leaders (with the help of mainstream media) flatly refuse to debate the wisdom of the policies they enact and report on. They refuse to even accept that a contrary position even exists. And so the official narrative is never challenged.

Instead of maintaining rigorous scientific, philosophical, political, legal and moral inquiries, instead of earnestly following where those inquiries lead us, we have allowed ourselves to be carried away by unfounded speculation, inaccurate modelling and false logic. 

We have become intellectually hobbled by our steadfast refusal to acknowledge that we could be mistaken, that our recent policies may be unwarranted, that there could be other, better solutions to the problems we currently face.

This cannot continue any longer.

If we are to climb out of the hole in which we currently find ourselves, we must regain our senses. We must recommit to our search for truth, wherever it may lead us. We must rededicate ourselves to using all of our abilities in that search, to their fullest potential. 

We must return to reason. If we don’t, we will never again discover the truth about anything. 

And everything we’ve spent so long building will be torn down right before our eyes.

Is this really what we want?