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In a Nutshell
Table of Contents: Simple Wisdoms Overview
The situation
People have different noses, hair, skeletal structure, body
fat, motor and muscular skills, they also have different mental skills. Some
may be more or less adept at spatial relations, mathematics, memory recall,
or deduction.1 2 People judge others on the basis of physical or mechanical skills,
on their ability to test well or poorly, on their popularity or wit. They will
make estimates of their own skill in these areas. But they will never concede
to another better judgment.3
Yet, in schools, churches, families, there is no
curriculum, no catechism, no Dr. Spock book by which to train the next generation,
much less hone the skills of the current one.
Why is this a problem?
Science has put the power to damage in the hands of any who
care to learn the mechanics of its operation–be they zealots, the earnest
but misguided, the demented, or the merely ignorant. Today this is important
now that a good iron strongbox is no longer enough to protect our valuables
and a door with iron bolts can no longer protect our families.4 We are in a race
upon which our personal futures depend.
What can be done?
Survival depends upon inoculating ourselves,
our friends, and our enemies with the consciousness to understand that an individual’s
own self—interest rests upon a handful of simple wisdoms and the processes
those ideas encourage.
Is there hope?
There is no guarantee that civilization will win. Too many
civilizations have been lost before and none of them had the power ours has
to vaporize all life at the touch of a button. Fortunately all that is needed
for civilization to win is a change of mind. Not only is the impetus to change
available in every life, but the words and symbols are better than at any previous
time in history to present the message clearly and concisely in terms immediately
accessible to anyone. Such cataclysmic change of mind is possible–as possible
as it was for the fabled emperor and those around him to see, when one child
cared to admit the naked truth, that what was evident became instantly available
to all.
Mastering logic means it masters you.5 Once the validity of
"two plus two equals four" is brought home to you, no cant, no disavowal,
will change your understanding. No public protestation that "two plus two
equals five" will change your innermost understanding. Once the truth and
usefulness of certain logic becomes evident, it has mastered you. If the truth
and usefulness of the simple wisdoms becomes evident, they will master you.
Mastering you, they join your arsenal of tools to plan your own future and to
defend yourself against dangerous actions by others.
Simple wisdoms apply at any level and apply between different
levels of interpersonal relations: individuals, families, groups, societies
cities, states and nations.
Why should anyone care?
For any individual, the impetus to recognize the value in the
simple wisdoms comes from recollection of pain or pleasure from personal experience.
Since we are all basically interested in negotiating our way through life with
the least amount of pain, anything that proposes to minimize in the future the
kind of pain recollected from the past will have appeal.
What if people don't care?
There is no guarantee of success in teaching--a point well worth taking to heart. We are better
off knowing that. For some people, the inoculation will be of no use. At least
then we can recognize that there are people whose actions one must defend against.
That attitude is far healthier than one where members of our society blithely
apply the rules and conventional wisdoms of their own system to others either
ignorant or disdainful of them. As many currently do.
As long ago as 2,500 years ago, Confucius recognized that some
people intuitively knew the way, some who could learn the way
and a third group that would never learn. For the third group, who never could
decide for themselves how to act, he set up fixed rules to follow. (The fourth
group, who view the way with disdain *)
Why is there hope now?
Confucius never succeeded in teaching the way 2,500
years ago. What is so different that we might succeed today?
- First, more people have the fundamental potential for consciousness.
- Second, we have more experience which we can relate.
- Third, we have a better vocabulary.
- Fourth, we have a better technical understanding.
- Fifth, we have a better set of symbols.
- And sixth, as Ben Franklin said, there is nothing like facing the
gallows to focus one’s attention.
I have so much fun with other writers’ worthwhile books
it would keep me from my own writing were it not frustrating to have others
miss the chance to see the wisdom of the authors I have read and to find similar
enjoyment for themselves. This book is a pointer to them. It says, "Here.
Have them. They are yours for the taking!"
--------------------
1 Julian Jaynes defines consciousness as ++++ and suggests that people may have
varying degrees of consciousness. To me, this leads to varying degrees of civility
and judgment. Jacob Bronowski differentiated man from the remainder of the animals by his ,ability
to plan for his own future. A human can project may different futures and, based
on those projections, select actions to influence the outcome.
Jaynes proposed that consciousness is a trait or skill that humanity has acquired
over recent millennia. A corollary to his thesis is that greater or lesser consciousness
is manifest in each of us -- or that each of us may manifest greater or lesser
consciousness at any given time.
Consciousness--the ability to respond in any given circumstance--is an acquired
trait.
2 Jaynes, Julian. The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1976.
3 Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Letters from a Stoic. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd., 1969.
4 Bronowski, Jacob. Magic, Science and Civilization. New York: Columbia UP, 1978.
5 Heilbroner, Robert. Marxism: For and Against. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1980.
Table of Contents: Simple Wisdoms Overview
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