As is often the case, sometimes a good way of figuring out what something “is” is to start by figuring out what it is not. In other words, the best place to start is the assumptions of what something is. Only by first deconstructing the illusions of what something is can we hope to understand it as it really is.
Perhaps the reality of something is what it is not—the absence of illusion.
We have a complex that things need to be “positive,” that a definition cannot be “negative,” but this is a harmful assumption itself. Again, only by chopping down what something is not can we reveal what really is.
In fact, how can we possibly have a positive definition or understanding of things—what do we really have to go on that holds up under scrutiny? What we have to go on is illusions and assumptions. So, any positive definition or understanding of something will necessarily be illusory, for it is based on illusions.
This, I think, helps to explain why it is so hard to come up with sufficient positive definitions of such complex concepts as love, justice, life, reality, morality, existence, etc. Rather than trying to come up with a positive definition, we should spend more time trying to identify what they are not, to deconstruct the illusions that have been constructed and which distract us and lead us down the path of continued ignorance.
Most, if not all, real knowledge comes from this process of recognizing the illusory nature of our beliefs and assumptions.
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From my personal notes, 12/29/99
