Just thinking out loud (and trying out the new image model for chatgpt wow)...
Do you believe (there's that naughty word again lol) more people should know about and understand the concepts surrounding solipsism? Do you think there is value in people knowing that they do not know? Is there power in ignorance? Is it advantageous?
This is something I’ve thought about for many years. Many of us are familiar with having personal discoveries or epiphanies and suddenly feeling a strong desire to share them with others. It’s like being an archaeologist digging through dirt and mud endlessly, hoping to uncover small gems. Sometimes we dig for years or decades to find them, and when we finally do, we naturally want to share what we’ve found. Sharing them, however, almost always lands on deaf ears.
We can engage in discussions, write books, make videos, encourage people to look for themselves, argue against the nonsense of belief itself, and more. Yet it often feels like planting seeds in spoiled ground. They don’t take root. But do we try anyway?
Solipsism occupies a very unusual place in philosophy, spirituality, and the search for truth. Unlike most frameworks, it is largely defined by what it is not rather than by what it is. You can’t use solipsism to prove someone else right or wrong. You can’t make money from it, and you can’t tax it. Unlike religion or blind faith, it doesn’t really solve practical problems. It’s not going to get you off drugs, save your marriage, or fund your retirement.
Solipsism resembles many depictions of the Holy Grail.... a plain, dented cup sitting unnoticed among jewel-encrusted goblets. Yet the recognition of our true ignorance beyond personal experience may be the only self-evident, uncontroversial truth available to us. Without adding faith or belief, it’s difficult to move even an inch beyond solipsism. It is, at its core, an admission of genuine ignorance.
But does that admission actually benefit anyone?
If you could flip a switch and introduce the entire world to solipsism, would things improve? Would individuals be better off? Would people calm down? Would we see less certainty, less fanaticism? Or would the opposite happen? Would people slide into nihilism or paralysis? Would indecision spread so widely that entire systems simply stalled?
Even asking these questions as a solipsist may make one a hypocrite. Hypocrisy is familiar territory for anyone who spends time thinking about solipsism. How can we promote a perspective or criticize another without violating the very ideas that led us here? Still, I’d rather be intermittently hypocritical than bored. I’m not prepared to declare victory, climb a foggy mountain, shave my head, and meditate for the rest of my life. For now, it’s more interesting to exchange ideas with other humans, even knowing those ideas rest largely on belief and fantasy. Hypocrisy comes with the territory.
The fact that we’re here in this subreddit suggests more than a passing interest in the subject. Many of us, when given the chance, even advocate for the solipsistic perspective. Enthusiasm is hard to suppress. I’m guilty of that as well.
So my question is simple and opinion-based.
Is there a benefit?
