Incredibly, Jordan’s newsletter came through outlining the difference between a legitimate belief system and idealism. So strange I ran across this idea and posted on it today, a synchronistic happening! Here are Jordan’s words. The link to his whole newsletter is below.
A belief system is merely trying to simplify, while retaining pragmatic utility. A belief system can therefore be partial, but still be honest. It has a purpose, which it is trying to fulfill, and the simplifications it produces are directed honestly toward that fulfillment. A belief system might therefore be considered something akin to an unbiased compression algorithm: it is trying to represent a more complex reality by sampling equally across the entire domain of that reality.
An ideology, on the other hand, is trying to simplify for reasons other than tool-like accuracy in relationship to stated goals. An ideology therefore throws away certain information, invisibly, for unstated but motivated reasons.
The emergence of error—the emergence of anomaly—further tests the distinction between a belief system and an ideology. The ideologue, who is not interested in solving the problem, is motivated to destroy the anomalous.
Here is Jordan’s complete post:
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Published by lynnfay73
I love words so I write them. I’ve been doing that since I was old enough to read. I am a published literary writer and I was an adjunct English professor at Northern Michigan University for many years. I write and live and love off the grid on 35 acres and a trout stream in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with my son, Joshua, who has Down Syndrome, and with an English Shepherd dog named Maggie, and with my husband when he can make it here which isn’t often. This blog started out being about my work, and it will continue to be. ( I’m working on a novel about premonitions and dreams.) But this blog is also about living off the grid and about my experimentation with diet—most recently the Carnivore Diet. I started on the Ketogenic diet, but have moved into Carnivore. How long, I don’t know. But I’ve become interest in the effects of diet on not just my health, but on creativity. And I’m interested in the effects of the diet on my dreams.
Ah, dreams... The day before my son was born, my mother “dreamed” or was told my son would have Down Syndrome, something she told my brother ahead of time. I’ve never known what to make of that. So I’m interested in prophetic dreams, lucid dreaming, creativity and dreams, night terrors. Who isn't interested in that? I’m interested in Freud (more Jung) and Einstein’s theories of time and how their ideas inform my dreams. I’m interested in mining a deeper relationship with a dream world not confined to daytime experiences, and how the night might inform a more fully imagined daytime “reality.” And vice-versa. Which is the dream?? I’m exploring dreams of all sorts. Come explore with me…
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