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An artist, philosopher, and investor ‐ I am alive and involved.
outside of myself, and outside of words.
My real question now, is not whether
God does or doesn’t exist, it’s whether
The Truth of a he is or isn’t out…there. If you could see
me as I typed that last phrase I kind of
Thing shoved my hand out into the air, looked
at it, and shook it as if to emphasize the
being of a thing. It’s in times like those,
in the times that language is far
exceeded by the truth found beneath
the syllables, that I believe we are
If I was to ask you if God exists, closest to what actually is.
you might have one of two answers.
Rather simply, either “yes” or an honest Do note, that saying God can’t exist (as
“no”. However, what if I changed the we understand the word) isn’t true
question. either. If he can’t than he is not God.
However, my point, is that when we ask
Can God exist? that question what we are saying isn’t
actually what we are meaning, and if we
Let me explain. By using the word exist,
tried to actually communicate what we
we are automatically assuming some
are meaning, we could not do it!
sort of 3‐dimensional universe.
Something with depth, width, and There is a story about Buddha telling a
height. We are imagining something of sermon to his disciples. And, oh, is it a
mass because it’s the only thing we can beautiful story. Buddha, I imagine
really express. wearing the yellow sash, almost a damp
yellow sash, stands in front of his
So now, when we ask the now odd‐
disciples with his hand behind his back
sounding question of whether god does
as they sit attentively waiting to take
or doesn’t exist, we find ourselves
his next hint towards enlightenment.
accidentally attributing a trait to God
And instead of actually saying anything
that we know would not apply, three‐
verbally, he begins speaking in some
dimensional existence – that of depth,
other sort of way, he begins saying
width, and height. So what if the
something beyond words. He slowly
problem is that we are asking the wrong
and silently pulls out a small yellow
questions, and that’s why the answers
flower from behind his back and
seem so far away.
proceeds to hold it there in front of him
I say all of the above to say what comes for his followers for the next hour.
next. Nobody says a word.
For me, when realizing the above I am Nobody says a word.
led to some sort of truth. I’m led to a
And yet, after an hour of his disciples
point where I have to explain something
confusion, one of them begins to smile
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SECOND DRAFT JONATHAN PHILIP‐DAVIS WILSON
PAPER THIN PHILOSOPHY 2
An artist, philosopher, and investor ‐ I am alive and involved.
in a way that most of us only dream of. to communicate it to you. It’s the same
Happiness begins to flow out of him as thing that Christian apologists do when
if he were a reservoir of joy, and Buddha they say you can’t trap God in a box, or
also shares in his laughter. that he is beyond definition. Didn’t they
just put him in a new, bigger, nice box?
See, what Buddha had done was Saying that you can’t define something
communicated something to this guy is in fact defining it, correct?
that he couldn’t have done with words.
In some weird way, Buddha told this However, my goal is not to point out
guy what he meant and the guy got it, the inconsistencies in other’s
without saying a word. I’m sure it was arguments. My goal is to embrace the
some sort of deeper truth that I only inconsistencies that come from our
wish to understand, maybe related to limited and finite nature, in an attempt
infiniteness of being or some conscious to understand where we are all coming
awakening in the depths of the soul. from. Even though these people did just
But you know what I’m talking about, contradict themselves, I know what they
right? mean.
We can back it down a little if you’d like, So when I say that truth can’t be
what about those moments when you communicated, only understood or
are in the car with someone leaving a interpreted, what I’m really saying is
funeral. And it’s silent. Completely that the words and syllables themselves
silent. Yet, before you get out of the are not the truth. They are just the
car, you look over at the other medium, the truth is on the other side,
individual. You stare them straight in it is the interpretation of a thing. See,
the eyes and without saying a word, the way we are interpreting these
somehow you communicate a level of words is based on our past and previous
compassion by simply existing and experiences. But wait, we al have very
being there, that you never could have different previous experiences, don’t
done with a simple “I’m sorry” or “I love we? So, we are all on completely
you”. separate playing fields.
There is something more there. We are Wait, you say, what about Webster. Ah,
so incredibly limited. yes, Webster. So if I asked you for the
definition of an apple, you might say
I’m about to contradict myself, I’m something like the fleshy usually
letting you know ahead of time. rounded red, yellow, or green edible
Truth can not be communicated, it can fruit of a usually cultivated tree of the
only be understood. rose family. Or at least that’s what
Webster would say in 2009, so we will
In saying the above I just contradicted go with it and props to him. But then
myself. I attempted to say that truth what if I asked you what edible means?
can’t be communicated, but I was You might say fit to be eaten, or again,
claiming that as a truth and attempting
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SECOND DRAFT JONATHAN PHILIP‐DAVIS WILSON
PAPER THIN PHILOSOPHY 3
An artist, philosopher, and investor ‐ I am alive and involved.
Webster would tell you to say that. But bullshit. We all know that we are
what if I asked you what fit meant? dealing with a limited language due to
limited knowledge and limited
Do you see where I am going? experiences. So back to the apologist,
Everything is defined by something when he says you can’t put God in a
else. There is no end. box. Instead of crucifying him based on
Truth can’t be communicated, only his own standards, my goal is to
understood. And everything I’ve said to understand rather than to be right..
this point is just me trying to help you Our goal in any debate or argument
come to the same realization that I should not be to win, it should be to
have. And I may be wrong, however we understand and find truth. To bridge
all may be wrong. the gap, to find unity in diversity.
It’s what Solomon meant when he said And again, I say all of that to say this.
“who knows the definition of a thing?”
There are times in our lives when we
So what if I said that the words in the can’t express the reality of the
Bible aren’t true, would most understanding we’ve obtained. Even
evangelicals freak out? Yes. Or if I said now, I am experiencing it. It is not that
that they can communicate truth, but truth is changing, it is that we are
so can the end of an incredible movie limited. In admitting that limitation, we
like Babel, or possible a song lyric from embrace the need for completion that
Dave Matthews, or a line from On The can’t come from within ourselves or
Road by Jack Kerouac. other limited things, like the words of
All truth, is God’s truth. And truth can’t the Bible.
be words on a page or syllables in your See what we do is we tie titles to the big
mouth. It is the understanding behind ideas of things and attempt to house
those words or syllables. them in our limited language. But it is
Let’s take a look at absolute truth now. when we reach a reality that is beyond
All of these propositions I am stating our ability to define, that we are coming
are in fact logical. If this happens and the closest to truth. Because if it is
this happens then that means this truth, it must be beyond us. In the times
because of that. I’m relying on some that paradox is found, I propose that we
sort of consistency. We all presuppose are the closest to the ultimate answer,
order, ultimate order maybe not, but an answer large enough to come down
temporary finite order of course. and embrace both sides of our limited
views, our limited cognition. It is in
So what if I said there is no logic. How those times that we, well, we are (I just
did I get to that conclusion? Logically, did the hand thing again).
exactly. So in denying logic I actually
affirm it. This is what is known as the So truth, to me, even though I am
law on non‐contradiction and think it is knowingly constantly contradicting
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SECOND DRAFT JONATHAN PHILIP‐DAVIS WILSON
PAPER THIN PHILOSOPHY 4
An artist, philosopher, and investor ‐ I am alive and involved.
myself due to the limited language I am So to finish all of this off, I’d just like you
bound too, is kind of malleable, organic, to imagine something.
holistic, infinitely vast, almost Zen‐like.
Imagine me looking at you in the eyes,
Remember when Christ had to resort to with a bit of confusion and admitted
telling us what the kingdom of heaven limited ability in my eyes, and saying,
is like? very, very slowly “See, I love you.” All
the while I’m holding my hand out and
Instead of saying this is the kingdom of shaking it as if to remind you of the
heaven and giving us a Webster’s truth of the thing in my head, hoping to
definition full of seemingly airtight God that on the other end you get what
syllables, he resorts to telling us what I was meaning.
it’s similar too.
I hope you understand?
It’s like he is saying it’s not this guys, it’s
something incredibly different and
something so much more than I can
actually explain to you, but if I had to
say what it was like – it is like this…
It’s like treasure, in a field. This guy, he
found the treasure, but instead of just
taking it – he hid it again. Then in all of
his joy, he leaves and sells everything he
owns before returning. But when he
does finally return, he buys that field
with all of his money.
See, that’s not the kingdom of heaven –
but that’s almost what it’s like.
You get it? I can imagine Jesus when he
was saying this, he kind of holds his
hand out at the end of it and shakes it in
a bit of irritated effort to try to show us
that it’s what I mean by this that’s true.
Maybe that’s why he spoke in so many
parables, he knew that truth couldn’t be
actually communicated. But it is in the
wrestling that we find understanding,
and in the understanding that we find
truth.
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SECOND DRAFT JONATHAN PHILIP‐DAVIS WILSON