A reply to a reader: Service to a Higher Calling
Sorry I missed your email from Feb. 22, 2010. I’ve been in hiding, considering all the “gun-toting” and talk of “watering the tree of liberty” going around these days, but thanks for your reply. I do acknowledge my own personal use of the same teleprompter (writing-in-hand) that Mrs. Palin used at the Tea Party convention in Nashville. I can also use note cards and a real teleprompter, which I will use in front of larger audiences as my voice gets heard. I suppose that since you draw analogy to this form of calligraphyy, you are by extenton stating this equally qualifies me to run for Vice-President or even President. Now you know the true reason I had to leave Diaxxxd….yeah, that’s the ticket…..
(you can click cartoons for better viewing, permission granted of xlcd.com)*
For the sake of clarity, allow me to say that I do not dislike Ms. Palin. I am amused by her. I must admit that I detest her ignorance on issues that should matter to the electorate, as well as her election to use “absurdity and ignorance of politics for convenience” to incite her ill-informed and somewhat perculiar constituency. This is made most evident in your own allusion of a “Birther mentality.” Now I am not calling you ignorant, but there are times when your actions suggest a lack of knowledge use. What good is knowledge if one doesn't use it as a tool for improvement or efficiency?
I suspect you feel you can elicit some form of reaction in my personal countenance; not so. I’m not in the “edutainment” business but the “education information knowledge” business. So, as you can observe, I have capitalized and underlined Birther because it has risen from the level of ignorace, to the higher elevation of premium stupidity; beyond illumination or enlightenment and deserves formal recognition as "Group-think," quoting George Orwell.
I am prone to see this group-think Birther mentality rightly, not as elevation from ignorance, but truly as human devolution from evolution of the specie within the social strata. This thinking was not built upon logic or fact of truth; in fact, truth is the last thing these group-thinkers want to see. The fact is, they will deny even the fact of truth, because it is unnecessary for their thinking. Their purpose is to pervert truth, though they are not conscious of their purposeful intent. Group-think is a bewieldering bitchwitch.
Social psychologist Irving Janis defined groupthink as "a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action." Due to the progressive nature of my perspective, I'll liberally assume that you have the ability to formulate your own thought. I wish Gov. Palin could do the same that I may adequately apportion her position. Beyond that, I defend her right to make her mark, which so far seems justified a "X" , as was afforded others in the past who were unable to write their name or record their thoughts on paper. I defend her right to write in her hand and to make her mark. She can do each whole-heartedly with my blessing.
I do still hope Mrs. Palin will learn to use a technologically-developed teleprompter. That way, I can focus on her message or plan if there is one, and not the messenger. I know a good number of people who are against everything but couldn't come up with a single, well-thought out plan beyond "no, I'm not for that." This way, they don't have to take responsibility for their own thoughts. And can you really imagine discussing “green-technology, the United States’ economy, national healthcare, TARP, unemployment complexity, or education reform” while holding a personal aversion to teleprompters and other conventional communication tools? Isn’t tweeting (Twitter use) the use of a technology tool?
If so, what then is acceptable about using it as a communication tool as opposed to using a technologically-advanced teleprompter as a facilitating communication tool, when one does not desire to speak “from-the-top-of-the-head”; rather instead to speak from the “well of a body of knowledge” acquired over a life-time? This methodology infers a reflective moment taken rather than a reactive “jerk –of-the-knee” approach. Would you not agree? If you argue for your limitations, they become truly yours.
As for President Obama, I believe the people who dislike him do so for good reason - such as his intellect, his education, his ability to articulate coherent positions regarding the complexity of a problem, his approach toward development of long-term solutions to long-term problems with far-reaching consequences; his knowledge that “No” is not a strategy; his willingness to admit to his own mistakes as well as mistakes we’ve made as a nation; his appeal for reason over rage to prevail; as well as his generally regarded good looks, etc.
I somehow seem to have mistaken these as attributes of character; having succumb to the idea that they should become highly-sought gems. I too face many of the same obstacles he faces in the attempt to serve others through educational discourse.☺ I too choose to not go through an exercise of illogical exposition by displaying my own birth certificate; doing so would reveal myself to be the reincarnation of King Tutankhamen or some other seemly apparition, causing a disqualification to run for President.
So seriously now, if you elect to gather your faculties about you. I really do care about people and the problems we face as a nation as well as a global citizen of the world. The President does and so should you.
Permit me inquiry: Is a man or a woman happy if they are honorable and good, but miserable if they are vicious and wicked? Do you believe personal decisions lead one into things that are honorable and good as well as things that are vicious and wicked? Do you think it good when a man devoid of wisdom does what seems best to him? Is it important in our discussion notions of doing ‘right’ and ‘good’ which assume as altruism in the doer, divorced from personal advantage? Isn’t the aim to help people get better?
If we know what the real ends of the activities are – the right and the good – why then should we concern ourselves with anything beyond the confined realm of the arena of truth? Outside this realm is the arena of the ignorant. An ignorant person is more convincing than the expert, only before an equally ignorant audience; therefore, seek knowledge.
The aim I elicit is not personal gratification or pleasure, or even to reveal aischune (shame, loss of face). I declare each to be dishonorable “knacks” or “cookery.”** Any conversation such as ours’ should never bypass the all-important elenchus of the soul (scrutiny; examination). Let us always elect to be concerned with moral absolutes such as justice and goodness.
As we emerge from the classroom and into the public arena, our conventional nature should be toward the common good for society at large and Americans in particular. So then, let us concern ourselves with altruism based on hopeful experience (Gk: empeiria) and how it can work best to promote common good. Eristically, the aim would be to win. Heuristically, the aim is to discover the best possible answer; truth. A discursive arrangement enables us to proceed to a conclusion by reason or agreement rather than intuition.
I do remember a certain carpenter who had similar scandalous concerns regarding the well-being of others he called brethren. As he spread the scandalous good news of compassion as given to him by his Father, he similarly evoked much of the same type of rage in some; mostly the religious establishment or said another way, “the status quo.”. Strangely, he was not called a communist, socialist, or the like, but he did so to his own peril. “It would seem, we can’t stand too much of that “Good News.”*** The good news has a way of making one look at himself; or as the Greeks said, “Examine thyself.”
I do so love to debate relevant issues; but I love better to formulate “solutions to relevant problems.” One must understand the nature of a problem before he is to begin a solution for it. As there are many we face, I believe the largest problem is inherently within the people themselves to whom the solutions are presented. I don’t believe they desire to understand that or any problem, because it will reflect their own lack of responsibility for their own “lack of understanding - leaving them in a conundrum, resulting in conniption, and often in some form of despair.
You may recall an edition of POWERHOUSE HILL stating, “The power of your perception is limited to the perspective from which you observe; change your perspective and you will begin a change in your perception.”
I believe education is one tool that helps to improve the ability of a citizen to discern issues beyond his or her own “gut-feelings.” Perhaps that’s why so many parents work hard to send their children to college – to become better educated, which should in turn produce a better life circumstance. More often than not, this educational process produces an intellectual gulf between the child and the parent in the end. This is not to say that respect for the parent is lost; but it is to recognize that there is a difference in perception because there is a difference in perspective and this adds to a lack of things held in common, that can lead to close association and in some cases to dissociation. The educated child’s world is expanded beyond himself and is larger in scope; a larger worldview promotes inclusion of more as a perception discourse, speaking frankly. Would you not agree?
However education alone is not the answer. There is some other requirement. I have met many a man or woman who has received an education, but has been sadly left in a state of peril and personal morass; possibly due to not having exercised courage to utilize the knowledge, risking critique by others, to ultimately formulate a personal philosophy in which to act; having honed it out through Paideia (Education or Instruction), Psyche (Mind), Logos (Reason), Sophia (Wisdom), Theoria (Contemplation), and Ousia (Essence). Paideia begins with an ideal and not with an individual.
It is ultimately the requirement of a filtration process called the morality of value; hence moral value. Moral values advance higher calling for the common good. It is “the conformity to ideals of right human conduct that aids men to rise above his own condition and become concerned with the condition and well-being of mankind.” This is how we advance the Oikumene (Greek: the civilized world).
I hope you’ll forgive my use of Greek and/or Latin inference; for as a Western-developed society, it seems fundamentally tantamount to understand Western-developed thought-systems for solutions to Western-developed thought-problems that we are left to overcome. Again, it is my belief that the problem with men or mankind is in each their own ability to think critically for themselves using awareness beyond that which is prevalent within ones group; or as said in Latin Vulgate – common. Look around your next group discussion. Poll your group to its education level. I think you’ll get my drift. Maybe not.
Additionally, I believe the resource of reading for knowledge to be more fundamentally utilitarian toward educational development than visual knowledge, as one seeks to develop their intellect for self-improvement. Scientist today have proven that reading “grows the brain capacity,” utilizing dendrite connectivity for longer-term memory usage. It formulates an efficient pathway for reasoning. I believe that which can be reduced to simplicity, having undergone the critical review of complexity-removal, leads to enlightenment.
Simply stated – when one reads, he is consciously active in the translational process from words to mental images, leading to active awareness of what is being recorded on his “hard drive memory.” Let’s call this process “the rigor of reading.” Though rigor is commonly made analogous to “work”, it is more accurately identified as “a discipline; a condition that makes life more difficult, more challenging, and uncomfortable.” In the uncomfortable situation or rigor, one can find wisdom – much as a person who is gardening and suddenly finds himself contemplating the deeper and broader issues of life. Should he remain open to his temporary state of awareness and put it to work in his life, he can gain wisdom. I use the gardening analogy in the unlikely event that you may think I am saying education comes only from formalized institutions. I am not. Education is a construction process of many disciplines.
The playground for knowledge acquired is in our life experience. This is the only place where results are made visible. You’ve often heard me say in times past, “knowledge alone has no value.” It must be understood by utility in life-experience, where it can be refined, criticized, and reconciled to gain wisdom. So few utilize knowledge in life-experience as fore-thought or forward-thinking, so it is easily understandable that so many resist and may even revile it or more directly - the messenger of it. Again, think of the carpenter and his message previously mentioned. The attack is made to the messenger in the belief that if one silences the messenger, the message is silenced. History dispels this myth. The message of the messenger lives on because “truth is forever on the scaffold as evil is forever on the throne of this world.” This quote alludes that truth is the structured frame-work of reality, which is the true world; but man has made evil or untruth as the ruler on the throne in this world. The carpenter is our example of love expressed as compassion toward one another. It is the only criterion in which living an examined life is made a necessity. “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. – Ecclesiastes 1:18 The sorrow of this passage is the rigorous requirement to continue.
Therefore, if ones mission is to be merely informed rather than educated without ultimately being enlightened as an end result, then it’s easy to see why one turns to the medium that requires the least amount of effort and scholarship (rigor), not giving much if any thought to moving beyond the convenience of the teleport to enlist deeper and more lucid understandings to the discovery process. Then, having equipped oneself with more tools, formulate a personal philosophy through which to live. This step is not only making the information relevant but more importantly, making a relevant experience to a relevant personage. This is when we can best benefit the brotherhood of mankind.
Keep in mind, visual images are formulated consciously by the transmitter of the images (Party, pundit, movie-maker, etc.) and they become the message of the recipient (member, audience, etc.) to replicate vociferously. The more one does so, the more one comes to believe what he or she espouses. In this manner, the previously-developed filters, such as those advocated by the certain carpenter mentioned above, are never utilized as a tool to see and develop as a new and mutually beneficial worldview. As such, one is stuck to “conserve” what he believes he desires and surrounds himself with other similarly-convicted persons. They’ll often “quote” from the same television shows that support their previously transmitted viewpoint that they sent to you. Is this madness or what?
Visual images that are not created as self-developed images, by-pass the scrutiny of independent formulation, long-term development, critical review, and personal refinement; the hard drive memory is not filtering through its previous knowledge base. These images are only available to the short-term memory and are easily recalled for repetitive action. This is why “highly-activated emotion” is very prevalent as one attempt to express their position. It is the methodology of “rage over reason.” When have you seen rage produce positive results?
Of course, you could say, “You don’t have a dog in this hunt” as a means of acknowledgement of accepting the convenience of a prevailing ideology rather than the use of the analytics of reason to formulate a personal ideology. When you formulate a personal ideology with the intent to serve mankind and practice using it, It becomes a “remembering process.” Perhaps that’s why one tends to “not remember” much about a movie or a video program shortly after viewing it; because it by-passes the “reviewing stand.”
This process is more accurately called an “indoctrination process” and certainly not an educational process. This totalitarian tool is often used by “Communists” and is called “re-education.” In the old days, they used laborious tasks to achieve levels of compliance – though the victims of the indoctrination of communist rhetoric were simply choosing survival over ideology. Today, the ignorance levels used are the result of a personal choice to succumb to the banefully conscripted messages of some video images and sound bites.
Is this a communist plot? Well, it is rooted in fear; it does by-pass reason; it does reach the masses quicker and more efficiently; it does revile the brotherhood of mankind; it does separate rather than unify; it does not have a moral compass; it is not pious; it does cost so much less; it does attack the messenger; and it does seem to be effective. Is this the patriotic tree of liberty in need of watering or is this the work of facetiously-libel fascists of liberty made rotten?
I do hope this helps you with your Birther group and their unified group-thinking. It certainly helped me. And as you have become accustomed of me, to close without quotation is both unthinkable and uncivilized. But I’m sure you knew that and have a few quotes of your own. Let me hear from you and thank you for your candid comments.
Which is better – to think that you know something that you don’t;
or to be ignorant of things, but know that you are ignorant of them?
– Socrates
To be defined by our fears
is to accept as normal
the lowest possible level of emotional intelligence.
- Dr. Peter J. Gomes
Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds.
Humiliation and mental oppression
by ignorant and selfish teachers
wreak havoc in the youthful mind
that can never be undone
and often exert a baleful influence
in later life.
The aim (of education)
must be the training of independently- acting
and thinking individuals who, however,
can see in the service to the community
their highest life achievement.
Teaching should be such that what is offered
is perceived as a valuable gift
and not as a hard duty.
Only a life lived for others
is a life worthwhile.- Einstein
- igman’030210
*Cartoon illustrations courtest of xlcd.com
**Favorite terms of Einstein (knacks, cookery)
***The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus - What's So Good About The Good News, Dr. Peter J. Gomes
Sorry I missed your email from Feb. 22, 2010. I’ve been in hiding, considering all the “gun-toting” and talk of “watering the tree of liberty” going around these days, but thanks for your reply. I do acknowledge my own personal use of the same teleprompter (writing-in-hand) that Mrs. Palin used at the Tea Party convention in Nashville. I can also use note cards and a real teleprompter, which I will use in front of larger audiences as my voice gets heard. I suppose that since you draw analogy to this form of calligraphyy, you are by extenton stating this equally qualifies me to run for Vice-President or even President. Now you know the true reason I had to leave Diaxxxd….yeah, that’s the ticket…..
(you can click cartoons for better viewing, permission granted of xlcd.com)*
For the sake of clarity, allow me to say that I do not dislike Ms. Palin. I am amused by her. I must admit that I detest her ignorance on issues that should matter to the electorate, as well as her election to use “absurdity and ignorance of politics for convenience” to incite her ill-informed and somewhat perculiar constituency. This is made most evident in your own allusion of a “Birther mentality.” Now I am not calling you ignorant, but there are times when your actions suggest a lack of knowledge use. What good is knowledge if one doesn't use it as a tool for improvement or efficiency? I suspect you feel you can elicit some form of reaction in my personal countenance; not so. I’m not in the “edutainment” business but the “education information knowledge” business. So, as you can observe, I have capitalized and underlined Birther because it has risen from the level of ignorace, to the higher elevation of premium stupidity; beyond illumination or enlightenment and deserves formal recognition as "Group-think," quoting George Orwell.
I am prone to see this group-think Birther mentality rightly, not as elevation from ignorance, but truly as human devolution from evolution of the specie within the social strata. This thinking was not built upon logic or fact of truth; in fact, truth is the last thing these group-thinkers want to see. The fact is, they will deny even the fact of truth, because it is unnecessary for their thinking. Their purpose is to pervert truth, though they are not conscious of their purposeful intent. Group-think is a bewieldering bitchwitch.
Social psychologist Irving Janis defined groupthink as "a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action." Due to the progressive nature of my perspective, I'll liberally assume that you have the ability to formulate your own thought. I wish Gov. Palin could do the same that I may adequately apportion her position. Beyond that, I defend her right to make her mark, which so far seems justified a "X" , as was afforded others in the past who were unable to write their name or record their thoughts on paper. I defend her right to write in her hand and to make her mark. She can do each whole-heartedly with my blessing.
I do still hope Mrs. Palin will learn to use a technologically-developed teleprompter. That way, I can focus on her message or plan if there is one, and not the messenger. I know a good number of people who are against everything but couldn't come up with a single, well-thought out plan beyond "no, I'm not for that." This way, they don't have to take responsibility for their own thoughts. And can you really imagine discussing “green-technology, the United States’ economy, national healthcare, TARP, unemployment complexity, or education reform” while holding a personal aversion to teleprompters and other conventional communication tools? Isn’t tweeting (Twitter use) the use of a technology tool?If so, what then is acceptable about using it as a communication tool as opposed to using a technologically-advanced teleprompter as a facilitating communication tool, when one does not desire to speak “from-the-top-of-the-head”; rather instead to speak from the “well of a body of knowledge” acquired over a life-time? This methodology infers a reflective moment taken rather than a reactive “jerk –of-the-knee” approach. Would you not agree? If you argue for your limitations, they become truly yours.
As for President Obama, I believe the people who dislike him do so for good reason - such as his intellect, his education, his ability to articulate coherent positions regarding the complexity of a problem, his approach toward development of long-term solutions to long-term problems with far-reaching consequences; his knowledge that “No” is not a strategy; his willingness to admit to his own mistakes as well as mistakes we’ve made as a nation; his appeal for reason over rage to prevail; as well as his generally regarded good looks, etc.
I somehow seem to have mistaken these as attributes of character; having succumb to the idea that they should become highly-sought gems. I too face many of the same obstacles he faces in the attempt to serve others through educational discourse.☺ I too choose to not go through an exercise of illogical exposition by displaying my own birth certificate; doing so would reveal myself to be the reincarnation of King Tutankhamen or some other seemly apparition, causing a disqualification to run for President.
So seriously now, if you elect to gather your faculties about you. I really do care about people and the problems we face as a nation as well as a global citizen of the world. The President does and so should you.Permit me inquiry: Is a man or a woman happy if they are honorable and good, but miserable if they are vicious and wicked? Do you believe personal decisions lead one into things that are honorable and good as well as things that are vicious and wicked? Do you think it good when a man devoid of wisdom does what seems best to him? Is it important in our discussion notions of doing ‘right’ and ‘good’ which assume as altruism in the doer, divorced from personal advantage? Isn’t the aim to help people get better?
If we know what the real ends of the activities are – the right and the good – why then should we concern ourselves with anything beyond the confined realm of the arena of truth? Outside this realm is the arena of the ignorant. An ignorant person is more convincing than the expert, only before an equally ignorant audience; therefore, seek knowledge.
The aim I elicit is not personal gratification or pleasure, or even to reveal aischune (shame, loss of face). I declare each to be dishonorable “knacks” or “cookery.”** Any conversation such as ours’ should never bypass the all-important elenchus of the soul (scrutiny; examination). Let us always elect to be concerned with moral absolutes such as justice and goodness.
As we emerge from the classroom and into the public arena, our conventional nature should be toward the common good for society at large and Americans in particular. So then, let us concern ourselves with altruism based on hopeful experience (Gk: empeiria) and how it can work best to promote common good. Eristically, the aim would be to win. Heuristically, the aim is to discover the best possible answer; truth. A discursive arrangement enables us to proceed to a conclusion by reason or agreement rather than intuition.
I do remember a certain carpenter who had similar scandalous concerns regarding the well-being of others he called brethren. As he spread the scandalous good news of compassion as given to him by his Father, he similarly evoked much of the same type of rage in some; mostly the religious establishment or said another way, “the status quo.”. Strangely, he was not called a communist, socialist, or the like, but he did so to his own peril. “It would seem, we can’t stand too much of that “Good News.”*** The good news has a way of making one look at himself; or as the Greeks said, “Examine thyself.”
I do so love to debate relevant issues; but I love better to formulate “solutions to relevant problems.” One must understand the nature of a problem before he is to begin a solution for it. As there are many we face, I believe the largest problem is inherently within the people themselves to whom the solutions are presented. I don’t believe they desire to understand that or any problem, because it will reflect their own lack of responsibility for their own “lack of understanding - leaving them in a conundrum, resulting in conniption, and often in some form of despair.
You may recall an edition of POWERHOUSE HILL stating, “The power of your perception is limited to the perspective from which you observe; change your perspective and you will begin a change in your perception.”
I believe education is one tool that helps to improve the ability of a citizen to discern issues beyond his or her own “gut-feelings.” Perhaps that’s why so many parents work hard to send their children to college – to become better educated, which should in turn produce a better life circumstance. More often than not, this educational process produces an intellectual gulf between the child and the parent in the end. This is not to say that respect for the parent is lost; but it is to recognize that there is a difference in perception because there is a difference in perspective and this adds to a lack of things held in common, that can lead to close association and in some cases to dissociation. The educated child’s world is expanded beyond himself and is larger in scope; a larger worldview promotes inclusion of more as a perception discourse, speaking frankly. Would you not agree?However education alone is not the answer. There is some other requirement. I have met many a man or woman who has received an education, but has been sadly left in a state of peril and personal morass; possibly due to not having exercised courage to utilize the knowledge, risking critique by others, to ultimately formulate a personal philosophy in which to act; having honed it out through Paideia (Education or Instruction), Psyche (Mind), Logos (Reason), Sophia (Wisdom), Theoria (Contemplation), and Ousia (Essence). Paideia begins with an ideal and not with an individual.
It is ultimately the requirement of a filtration process called the morality of value; hence moral value. Moral values advance higher calling for the common good. It is “the conformity to ideals of right human conduct that aids men to rise above his own condition and become concerned with the condition and well-being of mankind.” This is how we advance the Oikumene (Greek: the civilized world).
I hope you’ll forgive my use of Greek and/or Latin inference; for as a Western-developed society, it seems fundamentally tantamount to understand Western-developed thought-systems for solutions to Western-developed thought-problems that we are left to overcome. Again, it is my belief that the problem with men or mankind is in each their own ability to think critically for themselves using awareness beyond that which is prevalent within ones group; or as said in Latin Vulgate – common. Look around your next group discussion. Poll your group to its education level. I think you’ll get my drift. Maybe not.
Additionally, I believe the resource of reading for knowledge to be more fundamentally utilitarian toward educational development than visual knowledge, as one seeks to develop their intellect for self-improvement. Scientist today have proven that reading “grows the brain capacity,” utilizing dendrite connectivity for longer-term memory usage. It formulates an efficient pathway for reasoning. I believe that which can be reduced to simplicity, having undergone the critical review of complexity-removal, leads to enlightenment.
Simply stated – when one reads, he is consciously active in the translational process from words to mental images, leading to active awareness of what is being recorded on his “hard drive memory.” Let’s call this process “the rigor of reading.” Though rigor is commonly made analogous to “work”, it is more accurately identified as “a discipline; a condition that makes life more difficult, more challenging, and uncomfortable.” In the uncomfortable situation or rigor, one can find wisdom – much as a person who is gardening and suddenly finds himself contemplating the deeper and broader issues of life. Should he remain open to his temporary state of awareness and put it to work in his life, he can gain wisdom. I use the gardening analogy in the unlikely event that you may think I am saying education comes only from formalized institutions. I am not. Education is a construction process of many disciplines.The playground for knowledge acquired is in our life experience. This is the only place where results are made visible. You’ve often heard me say in times past, “knowledge alone has no value.” It must be understood by utility in life-experience, where it can be refined, criticized, and reconciled to gain wisdom. So few utilize knowledge in life-experience as fore-thought or forward-thinking, so it is easily understandable that so many resist and may even revile it or more directly - the messenger of it. Again, think of the carpenter and his message previously mentioned. The attack is made to the messenger in the belief that if one silences the messenger, the message is silenced. History dispels this myth. The message of the messenger lives on because “truth is forever on the scaffold as evil is forever on the throne of this world.” This quote alludes that truth is the structured frame-work of reality, which is the true world; but man has made evil or untruth as the ruler on the throne in this world. The carpenter is our example of love expressed as compassion toward one another. It is the only criterion in which living an examined life is made a necessity. “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. – Ecclesiastes 1:18 The sorrow of this passage is the rigorous requirement to continue.
Therefore, if ones mission is to be merely informed rather than educated without ultimately being enlightened as an end result, then it’s easy to see why one turns to the medium that requires the least amount of effort and scholarship (rigor), not giving much if any thought to moving beyond the convenience of the teleport to enlist deeper and more lucid understandings to the discovery process. Then, having equipped oneself with more tools, formulate a personal philosophy through which to live. This step is not only making the information relevant but more importantly, making a relevant experience to a relevant personage. This is when we can best benefit the brotherhood of mankind.
Keep in mind, visual images are formulated consciously by the transmitter of the images (Party, pundit, movie-maker, etc.) and they become the message of the recipient (member, audience, etc.) to replicate vociferously. The more one does so, the more one comes to believe what he or she espouses. In this manner, the previously-developed filters, such as those advocated by the certain carpenter mentioned above, are never utilized as a tool to see and develop as a new and mutually beneficial worldview. As such, one is stuck to “conserve” what he believes he desires and surrounds himself with other similarly-convicted persons. They’ll often “quote” from the same television shows that support their previously transmitted viewpoint that they sent to you. Is this madness or what?
Visual images that are not created as self-developed images, by-pass the scrutiny of independent formulation, long-term development, critical review, and personal refinement; the hard drive memory is not filtering through its previous knowledge base. These images are only available to the short-term memory and are easily recalled for repetitive action. This is why “highly-activated emotion” is very prevalent as one attempt to express their position. It is the methodology of “rage over reason.” When have you seen rage produce positive results?
Of course, you could say, “You don’t have a dog in this hunt” as a means of acknowledgement of accepting the convenience of a prevailing ideology rather than the use of the analytics of reason to formulate a personal ideology. When you formulate a personal ideology with the intent to serve mankind and practice using it, It becomes a “remembering process.” Perhaps that’s why one tends to “not remember” much about a movie or a video program shortly after viewing it; because it by-passes the “reviewing stand.”
This process is more accurately called an “indoctrination process” and certainly not an educational process. This totalitarian tool is often used by “Communists” and is called “re-education.” In the old days, they used laborious tasks to achieve levels of compliance – though the victims of the indoctrination of communist rhetoric were simply choosing survival over ideology. Today, the ignorance levels used are the result of a personal choice to succumb to the banefully conscripted messages of some video images and sound bites.
Is this a communist plot? Well, it is rooted in fear; it does by-pass reason; it does reach the masses quicker and more efficiently; it does revile the brotherhood of mankind; it does separate rather than unify; it does not have a moral compass; it is not pious; it does cost so much less; it does attack the messenger; and it does seem to be effective. Is this the patriotic tree of liberty in need of watering or is this the work of facetiously-libel fascists of liberty made rotten?
I do hope this helps you with your Birther group and their unified group-thinking. It certainly helped me. And as you have become accustomed of me, to close without quotation is both unthinkable and uncivilized. But I’m sure you knew that and have a few quotes of your own. Let me hear from you and thank you for your candid comments.
Which is better – to think that you know something that you don’t;
or to be ignorant of things, but know that you are ignorant of them?
– Socrates
To be defined by our fears
is to accept as normal
the lowest possible level of emotional intelligence.
- Dr. Peter J. Gomes
Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds.
Humiliation and mental oppression
by ignorant and selfish teachers
wreak havoc in the youthful mind
that can never be undone
and often exert a baleful influence
in later life.
The aim (of education)
must be the training of independently- acting
and thinking individuals who, however,
can see in the service to the community
their highest life achievement.
Teaching should be such that what is offered
is perceived as a valuable gift
and not as a hard duty.
Only a life lived for others
is a life worthwhile.- Einstein
- igman’030210
*Cartoon illustrations courtest of xlcd.com
**Favorite terms of Einstein (knacks, cookery)
***The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus - What's So Good About The Good News, Dr. Peter J. Gomes
