| The Philosophers Page | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thinking is a learned art | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Life in these United States Life simply is. It is, as silly to ask why we exist, as it is to ask why the universe is full of celestial debris. It is simply there. Less intellectually endowed animals simply go thru the routine of living, procreating, and dying. Only man, on planet Earth, creates and contemplates purpose. Only man is aware of the passage of time and only man meters its passage. Life is not a unique phenomenon. It is the result of certain combinations of elements and temperature. Just as salt crystals will grow on the edge of a glass of a saturated solution, life will emerge from the proper primordial soup. How often this may occur in an infinite universe is beyond our ability to calculate with any confidence. We are carbon based life. A Silicon base is also theoretically possible and perhaps also exists in some form out there, or has, or will. These are interesting things to think about, and occasionally to mount an experiment to search for another incremental answer. But we are very distant from comprehension of the concept of infinity except in a mathematical sense. It is folly to expect that, in his very short time on Earth, man has developed sufficient intellectual capacity to comprehend all things, or will within the lifespan of any who are presently alive. And so we must often be content with conjecture. One cannot however, build a viable philosophy of life on conjecture. For example, one might conjecture as some have, that the universe will end on a magic end of this millenium. If such is to be the case, why then should we labor to produce, or to build things expected to last for centuries into the non-future? Why not simply abandon ourselves to the hedonistic enjoyments of living? But most of us know better. Man has thru millenia past, attempted to explain the inexplicable. Eventually as curiosity drove investigation he discovered that the world is not flat, nor is the sky a canopy with lights shining thru, nor does the sun move across the sky. Myths fall as truth is revealed. When he discovers that images may be magnified by the proper shape of glass, he discovers the true shape of planets, and the existence of microbes. It is a long jump and knowledge builds slowly. At some point in this evolution of knowledge, some men realize that there exists much that is not yet known. Others assume that what they do not know simply does not exist. It is wise to understand the limits of our knowledge so that we do not blunder upon unwarranted assumptions. The wise fighting-man does not assume that an enemy does not reside where he cannot see. One does not swallow a dose of poison in unfounded hope that it will effect a cure. Why would one pray to a non-existent deity for rescue from an unpleasant fate? Taking positive steps, based upon real knowledge, is apt to be more successful. Mysteriously acting deities are the creation of ignorant men who are trying to explain phenomenon that they cannot otherwise intelligently explain. They cannot simply admit that the answer lies beyond their ken. One of the problems with educators is that they do not admit to a limit of knowledge. Thus the yawning gaps are seldom revealed to the student. Worse. Imagine! At least one whole school of thought is based upon knowledge that does not exist. This arcane art is called theology. No engineer would be trusted to build a bridge upon such an unfounded datum. Yet, the theologian would presume to tell us that, this deity governs our existence. A great many people, well steeped in the real knowledge of their day, have come to question the ideas of the theologians and to put their stories in the class of fiction. Unfortunately this discard of religious ideas, so firmly embedded in many cultures, has serious consequences. Unless such ideas are gradually replaced by truth, so that the whole of the fiction is revealed without trauma, there are many who cannot accept such a revolution in their thinking. It is as if the ship in a stormy sea has suddenly lost its rudder. In a measure, this is what has happened to much of our nation's youth. They are without the rudder we call conscience. That conscience has long been anchored in the notion that an omnipotent and omniscient god watches, and importantly, judges their every action. In truth, there is a perfectly logical reason for conducting ourselves in a civilized manner. That reason has nothing to do with religion. In fact that reason is expressed in a simple phrase which predates all the established religions. It is today called the Golden Rule. "Do unto others as you would have then do unto you." Civilization is in fact, an unwritten contract, to the effect that if you will refrain from doing harm to me, I will reciprocate. Thus a civilized people can live in relative harmony, and people who cannot are by definition, uncivilized. How do we become civilized? It is a process of teaching, that is part osmosis and part deliberate presentation to the newborn individual. The child imitates the parents and others as he interprets the behavior that he observes. He emulates that perceived behavior. There is here, an important distinction between what is thought to be taught, and what is actually taught. For example, the infant playing on the floor observes the mother cooking food on the stove. Give to the child a pot and spoon, and it will commence banging the one upon the other. The noise that is created is a satisfactory imitation of what the mother is doing. It will be years before that impression is corrected by actual association with the complex act of food preparation! Education is a much more complicated process than we generally realize. Few parents have been properly educated themselves in the art of teaching. In fact, one of the political realities of our time, is the tendency of governments to insist that they should assume the responsibility for educating our children. The reality is that governments are mindless collections of people concerned mainly with advancing their own agendas. They like to mold children's minds to serve their own objectives. Sometimes this is good, often it is evil. Thus an entire people are set to attacking those of another nation or ethos. The only defense against being used or having one's children used by government, is education by parents who are broadly knowledgeable and conscientious about educating their children in the same fashion. It is worth mentioning that the unique collection of people who were the founders of the United States of America created a Constitution which was primarily designed to allow the people to assiduously limit the power of the federal government. As the people forget that, that is its purpose, they permit the erosion of the Constitution. We have forgotten often. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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