This is one of the great advice Aldous Huxley has given to the humankind. It urges us to be vigilant about the facts, not ignorant. There are two Suttle different ways to look at the above quote, although not obvious at first. However, Like the quote claims facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. So, even if you ignore, or do not care, that doesn't mean there are no things to understand, no truths to revealed on above.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored- Aldous Huxley.
Arguments for,
Let's look at things, which are promising in proving the above is correct. Remember today, you woke up in the morning and went to work, or school or whatever you are doing, to spend time. And one thing led to another and now you are reading. What facts have you ignored so far?
I would say many, think about following facts.
There was sunrise today, there were clouds when you walked out of your home.
There were black cars, and white ones you passed on your way to work.
There were birds singing outside your window when you had breakfast.
There were cells in your body which died today, and thousands more were built
Your weight fluctuated throughout the day.
The population of earth rose, from thousands, while our earth aged one more day, just like you.
You forgot, some memories which will never come back again into your consciousness.
Well, not all of them are true for you, but you get the idea right? Facts do exist even if you are not aware of them. Infact, as you can see, the facts which exist outside your consciousness are far more than facts that you know. If you look at the arguments about time in the article understanding time, you will see that, in a simple observation that we make there is infinite amount of information, that we can never comprehend. One way to understand this is by becoming Quicksilver in your mind. So, it is this unseen world that Aldous Huxley is describing. He is letting us know about the facts that we do not think about exist. So, even the truths about life will continue to exist even if it doesn't come to your consciousness. Even if you ignored it. Even if you disliked it or liked it.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored- Aldous Huxley.
Arguments against,
But there is another school of thoughts backed by science, that above is a relative truth. We can argue in your own relative world, the facts do not exist, outside your consciousness.
There was sunrise today only when you were aware of it, there were clouds when you walked out of your home only existed when you looked at it.
There were no black cars, but only one red one looked like your Neighbour's, and white one which nearly hit you.
There were birds singing outside your window when you had your tea which made you think about nightingales.
There were cells in your body which died today, and thousands more were built, these existed only when you read this article.
Your weight fluctuated throughout the day only you were aware of this when you looked at your mirror.
The population of earth rose, from thousands, while our earth aged one more day, just like you, - maybe it did not, but you do not know by how much. Who are you to age? Your age existed only when you think about it.
You forgot, some memories which will never come back again into your consciousness, and these did never exist as they never even became thoughts.
Can you see now, we can argue both ways. Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored, is a relative truth. It is true in some circumstances, and it is not in others. Really speaking this is the cat in the box argument in quantum physics. So, even if you ignored, that everything you believe is a relative truth, that fact that it is, will exist.
If you would like to read more about philosophical thoughts, for your grey matter, following articles would help.
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