Robert Anton Wilson talks a lot about something called “model agnosticism“. It’s essentially the philosophy that no model describing reality is ever completely accurate or totally objective. Actually, he explains it a little better.
- The agnostic principle refuses total belief or total denial and regards models as tools to be used only and always where appropriate and replaced (by other models) only and always where not appropriate. It does not regard any models, or any class of models, as more “profound” than any other models, or any class of models but asks only how a model serves, or fails to serve, those who use it.
I can very much relate to that style of thinking. It’s a major factor in what I’m trying to do with all my writing about religion & story-systems. I’m not really interested in seeing people overcome religion, or leave behind stories as a means of understanding their lives. In fact, I don’t really believe that’s even possible, because stories and models are always going to exist on some level. They are not “wrong” or “false,” although they can be used poorly. The best thing to do seems to embrace that with open arms and to figure out how to make it more effective, so that we can benefit by it, instead of being controlled by it.
Some related links…
- A longer thing by Wilson about Creative Agnosticism
- Model Agnosticism vs. A New Idolatry: A Critique of Robert Anton Wilson’s The New Inquisition
- Short thing on Wikipedia about Reality Tunnels
- What the fundamentalist fears
- Light at the end of the Reality Tunnel
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