The Problems of Idealism
- Jan 12
- 4 min read
I have been working on my philosophy and ideology for a while and a core function for most of it is an active inhibition of idealism. Idealism is inevitable to a degree so it is ironically a bit idealist to claim we can get rid of idealism.
Idealism, can be viewed accurately in multiple ways, as all concepts can be. I tend to view it with two definitions that work parallel to each other.
Idealism is the opposite of materialism and the view that reality exists and is manifested completely within our minds.
Idealism is also a philosophy for living which pushes pursuing and perceiving reality in the ways we want to see it.
Impossibility for Truth
The first and main problem with idealism is that it creates voids. Under my meta theory, philosophy, and ideology, idealism is unethical, if avoidable. We all view everything ever so slightly differently. We all have a life time of experiences effecting the continuation of our experience. Trends and parallels exist but no two people will ever view all of life the same way. This means that idealism will inevitably and always lead to voids or impossibilities of truth between what is being communicated. Idealism also fills voids by a means of manifestation which is also problematic for truth.
If our reality is a mental construct, it will never line up consistently and precisely with someone else's, leading to inevitable inconsistencies. If our reality is a mental construct, it creates cyclical paths of thinking which push us to lie to ourselves to keep the constructs from falling apart.
Essentially, logic inevitably and always falls apart with idealism because of the lack of causation. This creates voids which can never get resolved.
Idealism is a Drug
Idealism is a hard drug. It is addictive. Idealism makes us feel great. We don't like our drugs taken away from us. Here is an obscure example of idealism being unethical in the way I often think of.
In the classical masterpiece of cinematography that is Footloose, dancing and certain music is banned by the idealist parents. They live within their minds. Being idealist, they need their physical reality to match up with their mental manifestations, rather than seeing things for how they are.
A conservative mindset is common in idealism as idealism lets one live in the reality they want to see. So even if things are changing around a conservative, they can hold on to an idealist mindset that they don't have to view things that way.
Comfortability is addicting. Having our ideals broken is highly uncomfortable. It is a double whammy for creating cognitive dissonance.
The parents in Footloose feel good when the material world lines up with their mental manifestations and would prefer things stay particular ways in order for that to happen.
It required the enlightened mind of Kevin Bacon to come in and show the town that music and dance is awesome.
If you see my point, idealism is no different than an addictive drug. We feel good when our material reality lines up with our mental idealizations of it. With idealism, we hold on to that high by manipulating reality around us to be the way we want it to be or are used to seeing it.
We can escape the material reality with idealism in a not so dissimilar way that we can with drugs. The high we can get with it is also not dissimilar to drugs. If something happens within our material reality that disrupts our idealized reality, we reach out to more idealism to make up for it.
Luxury, vanity, and social status are examples of this extended idealism. Unfortunately, we build tolerances to these ideals being met and the expectations raise higher and higher.
Idealism is a drug.
Pedestals
A connecting topic that frequently comes to mind as it relates to idealism is the concept of pedestals. I like public speaking and pedestals have a material purpose. Metaphorically, pedestals are a way of raising someone or something up and putting a spotlight on them.
Pedestals are a natural result of idealism. When we view reality as something we want it to be, we naturally put things on pedestals. This can happen in both positive and negative ways. Hitler gets put on a pedestal in a similar way that any significant, historical figure would.
An interesting thing happens when we start putting people on pedestals. It is similar to why we have the saying "never meet your heroes". People never live up to whatever the idealized, pedestal we create for them is. No one is ever who we want them to be. We can only ever be who we are.
When we put things on pedestals, it is impossible for authenticity to occur because we raise that thing higher than it otherwise would be. What is worse is when those pedestals are artificially supported as is often seen in politics. The only support for an artificial pedestal is artificial.
Platforms are much sturdier and can be shared. Platforms are what we want. Things can be built off of platforms. Things can be connected with platforms.
Pedestals are just a way to stand out.
Good Things
I do have good things to write and say about idealism.
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