Yes, ok, we can never truly know anything. But so what? That’s it. That’s where that thought diversion ends. A little bit of intellectual masturbation. Been there, seen that, heard it, explored that possibility. Why linger there? Lets go back to reality.
One has to linger here because there is no going back to that reality blissfully if one sees the real force of this idea - no reality is free of doubt, absolutely nothing, there is nowhere one can hide from this truth. One can accept reality but one has to accept the fundamental assumption first and foremost.
Chuang tzu has a famous story where he wakes up from a dream where he thought he was a butterfly and asks the most important question: am I a butterfly dreaming now or a man dreaming then? What possible answer to life can satisfy one here that doesn't avoid that question? Intellectual masturbation it may well seem like but it is the only place to start if one seeks true knowledge and real understanding, to skip this part and move on is to always have a flawed view of reality.
I’m an artist. I have to take hold of life - watch it unfold, knowing that its there, study it, sense it, reach out and touch it, rely on it, need it, want it, experience it, taste it, be aware of it, consciously. I need to understand it and be able to describe it. I need a measure of control over it. A mastery of it. Know it intimately. But more importantly, I need to be affected by it - love it or hate it, enjoy it, be stirred and inspired. I need my ideas to crystallise, not evaporate into vague phantom possibilities. They need to have form, life, meaning, substance, not float away before they ever had a chance to be something. Its my purpose to weave the tapestry, not pick it apart as I go along. I need patterns, shapes, colours, even if I have to apply my own. I need something to get my teeth into. I need to bite into it and lick the juice that runs down my chin.
It is this very problem of fundamental existence that bestows the universe with unending mystery. The phenomena of reality may or may not be a true reflection of what really is, but everyone creates meaning for the world - all that is asked that it be accepted for the subjective belief that it is.
It is not as simple as creating beautiful works of art. Beauty is a fickle and subjective concept - a man-made, intangible entity. For this reason, there is no such thing as good or bad art - only truth or lies.
I cannot see how you can call beauty subjective and intangible on one hand and on the other hand you say it has something to do with the truth. That which is merely subjective and intangible has no proof of being the truth. Being subjective means that it is your own creation of what reality is, and your creation is not safe from doubt.
I am happy with this awkward truth, however True it might or might not be. It makes sense, and it must be appreciated fully for what it is, be explored, driven forward. I can only be fulfilled by sharing this reality, and I’d be purposeless without it. Even this humble understanding, this human amount of certainty, of this narrow spectrum of reality is enough to fuel my fire.
That is fine, you may continue on your quest of creating art and appreciate the purpose that it gives you, but let's not say that those who are troubled by this doubt have empty worries.
Topic: Atheism is NOT a Belief