Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Intelligence and How it Gets That Way (5.14.10)

I'll be blogging under unusually adverse circumstances in the upcoming weeks, so it is possible that my streak will be broken. I had been hoping to catch Cal Ripken -- that would be 2632 consecutive posts, and I'm only at 626 -- but that may prove unrealistic.

This morning, for example, Future Leader and Coondog woke up at the same time at 5:30, before I'd even finished my coffee. Plus, F.L. has some kind virus -- possibly Hoof and Mouth disease, believe it or not -- so I was trying to feed both of them at the same time while simultaneously typing, changing a diaper, and shooting some Advil down the boy's hatch. I feel like a Tongan man, who is so manly he's like the greatest woman alive without being the least bit feminine.

By the way, if I don't respond to email right away, now you know why. And if the posts are shorter -- which will please many of you anyway -- that's the reason. And if they are more shallow, ungrammatical, superficial, silly, or repetitive -- ditto. And if Dupree occasionally takes the wheel of the Cosmic Bus and gets off one of his gratuitously inflammatory "piece o' my mind" posts, well, he's just trying to be helpful. Which is to say, hurtful. But in a good way.

Anyhoo, before the interruptions, I was silently brooding before the blank screen and thinking to myself: before we can determine who's intelligent, we must first define what intelligence is and what it is for. In fact, even the nature of this question provides a hint, for it presupposes the ability of intelligence to "stand outside" or "above" intelligence and view it objectively. Thus, the implication is that intelligence as such implies both verticality and objectivity.

I suppose the Darwinian view would maintain -- would have to maintain, on pain of being fatally inconsistent... which it is, but let's move on -- that the purpose of intelligence is to get food and chicks. Therefore, using one's intelligence for any other purpose would have to be considered very stupid. As such, human beings would have to be considered the least intelligent of all species, since they waste so much mental energy on stupid and pointless things such as music, poetry, painting, and spirituality.

How could natural selection have created such a stupid animal that engages in so many pointless and fanciful activities? It makes no sense. For example, if we were to rate presidential greatness on the Darwinian scale, Clinton would win in a landslide, for no one surpasses him in cashing in the presidency for so much, er, Coon-tang, as Dupree calls it.

Please do not think that I am being ironic or farfetched. In the course of writing the Coonifesto, I went through any number of books by various sociobiologists and evolutionary psychologists who twist themselves into putzels trying to reduce every aspect of the human mind to the plane of reproductive phatness.

A case in point is The Mating Mind, by Geoffrey Miller, who argued that most every human attribute can be explained by sexual selection. I see on the amazon page that even the hopeless boneheads at Publisher's Weekly can recognize this as a circular argument, even if they lack the sophistication to realize that all materialistic explanations of intelligence are circular.

Being that the dustjacket indicates that Miller is married, I guess I don't get the point of his book. I see that he dedicated it to "Rosalind." I'm guessing that flowers and dark chocolate would have been just as effective in achieving his reproductive mission. At any rate, if Miller's thesis is correct, then he wrote his book not because of any devotion to Truth, but to make Rosalind his intern, as our greatest president might say. To the extent that he didn't, then the book fails by its own laughty standard. We'll have to ask Rosalind.

But if the Darwinians are correct about intelligence, then perhaps instead of granting scholars tenure, we should just give them access to lots of attractive young coeds. Oh, wait a minute....

Suddenly the intellectual vacuity of academia makes sense.

Perhaps some folks have difficulty seeing God because God is doing the looking. To a certain extent this is unavoidably true, for only a "naturally supernatural" intelligence can know of God, and the intellect is a divine spark that cannot be accounted for on any purely naturalistic basis. Schuon points out that we have an "uncreated intellect" at the center of our being, which may be thought of as an extension, or prolongation, of the "divine light."

However, we also have a "created intellect," which is a "reflection of this Light at the center of Existence." The two are essentially One but nevertheless distinct, and in fact, this distinction must be maintained if we are to understand these two very different aspects of the intellect. As Schuon puts it, "when we speak of the Heart-Intellect, we mean the universal faculty which has the human heart for its symbolical seat, but which, while being ‘crystallised’ according to different planes of reflection, is none the less ‘divine’ in its single essence."

You might say that the lower intellect -- thrust as it is to the further reaches, or "periphery" of the cosmic center -- allows us to comprehend change, while the higher intellect abides closer to the immutable, which it in turn is able to contemplate or "reflect upon" -- for all intelligence must, in the final analysis, be a sort of reflection of whatever reality it is trying to understand. "Perfect reflection" would represent "perfect understanding" -- which is to say, it would embody totality and objectivity. Which is why the spiritual life may be reduced to "cleaning mirrors."

This is consistent with the Kabbalistic view, which maintains, according to Adin Steinsaltz, that our interior Coon Central should not be thought of as a kind of "point" in space time. Rather, it is "a continuous line of spiritual being, stretching from the general source of all the souls to beyond the specific body of a particular person.... and because the soul is not a single point in space, it should be viewed not as a single existence having one quality or character, but as many existences, on a variety of spiritual levels..."

It is only on this higher level that human beings are all connected. While secularists deny this higher reality, they nevertheless intuit it on some level (as all humans must), which is the actual source and motive of their collectivist schemes. Because of a sort of mistranslation, they attempt to impose in the horizontal what they deny in the vertical. In this regard, they are the mirror image of the Islama-bomba-ding-dongs, who invent a God to grant them in the vertical what they deny themselves in the horizontal -- mainly a lot of sex. Oddly enough, they end up worshiping the same Darwinian god as the sociobiologists -- the only difference being that, in the case of the tenured leftist, his 72 coeds are not likely to be virgins.

And as for these different levels of reality, we must again avoid thinking of them in material terms -- with the exception of the actual physical world. However, even then, the physical world is the "bottom floor" on the vertical scale (although there is also a subterranean basement and parking structure), which corresponds with the bottom floor of that aspect of the intellect that mirrors it (for each level of reality is mirrored by an aspect of the intellect that understands it). In fact, the spiritual view maintains that each level of reality has in interior and exterior aspect, and that the exterior is actually a function of the interior.

As Steinsaltz puts it, "The physical world in which we live, the objectively observed universe around us, is only a part of an inconceivably vast system of worlds. Most of these worlds are spiritual in their essence.... Which does not necessarily mean that they exist somewhere else, but means rather that they exist in different dimensions of being. What is more, the various worlds interpenetrate and interact in such a way that they can be considered counterparts of one another, each reflecting or projecting itself on the one below or above it."

And as one descends in the worlds -- which is simultaneously a motion from the center to the periphery -- materiality and linear causation become increasingly greater. Existence becomes "heavier," or more dense, so to speak. Put another way, nothing could be more ethereal than the mathematical equations that preside over change and continuity while abiding in the Cosmic Intellect -- except perhaps the mind of the mathematician who contemplates and understands them, and is witness to their inexplicable beauty. There is no great mathematician who is not a Platonist.

It is a matter of understanding the difference between Principles and their Manifestation. It is a kind of cosmic irony that scientists have rejected the heliocentric theory, since, as we have mentioned before, science begins at the mysterious center and moves to the periphery, where it ramifies into the multitude of various scientific disciplines. In short, it moves from a unity -- which it simply assumes but can never account for -- to the periphery.

Conversely, religion moves from the cosmic periphery back to the center which is its source and ground -- from the manifestion to the principle, the ultimate Principle being God, whose center we share -- but only on the "higher" or "deeper" plane alluded to above. As Schuon explains,

"Intellectual intuition comprises essentially a contemplativity which in no way enters into the rational capacity, the latter being logical rather than contemplative; it is contemplative power, receptivity in respect of the Uncreated Light, the opening of the Eye of the Heart, which distinguishes transcendent intelligence from reason. The latter perceives the general and proceeds by logical operations, whilst Intellect perceives the principial -- the metaphysical -- and proceeds by intuition. Intellection is concrete in relation to rational abstractions, and abstract in relation to the divine Concreteness."

Therefore, comprehending God is not exactly a kind of knowing; rather, it is more a kind of "seeing." Just as the Tongan doesn't read a book, but simply stares at it in order to extract the information he needs, this is how scripture and revelation must be regarded. In other words, we don't understand them with our lower rational faculty, any more than we would understand a scene of transcendent physical beauty -- say, Yosemite Valley or Jellystone Park -- with our rational faculty. Indeed, to try to do so would represent a kind of madness -- the same madness that afflicts the obligatory atheists such as Hitchens and Harris, who have simply found a way to exchange their metaphysical stupidity for valuable cash and prizes. Just like the suicide bomber.

In fact, if these overeducated beasts do succeed in their satanic mission of destroying the spiritual foundation of the West, then perhaps we will see them for that they are: cluelesside bombers. But then it will be too late, because there will be no one foolish enough to lay down their life to preserve the higher spiritual principles that allow a parasite such as Christopher Hitchens to flourish in a free society.

Dupree, that last crack was uncalled for. Why don't you make yourself useful and go change Coondog's diaper? Some things are beneath a Tongan Man.

44 comments:

Darryl said...

Once again I have to say how glad I am to have googled and happened upon this site. It is rich in the truest sense of the word.

Logical...hmm, I do not like that this term has come (stoolen?)to represent cold, hard, heartless intellect. Logical being synonymous with reason. I find that there is a great deal of 'logic' or reason, or understandable rational in the heart, meaning emotions...ahh, but wait, not all emotions, just like not all intellect. The hinderance is that peoples minds do not often trsanslate well the language of the heart, yet the Holy Spirit is more than willing to teach it. The 'feeling' and i am talking feeling now, of true love. it staggers the mind at first because that'feeling' is speaking a different language than the cold intellect. But upon closer, deeper inspection gvuided by Spirit, what is Love? in feeling? It is an action of embracing, total commitment, outting forth all energies and joy to uplift to the utmost goodness that which is being embraced. Remember, I am speaking about clear Spirit guided Love, of which God had even so graciously made us capable of FEEING. Now, let's pose a question to the intellect. What about the above discription doesn;t make good sense!? Is there not sound logic to the feeling? But feeling is a language of 'energy', passion, action that if not also tran;ated into mental understanding...well, good treasures often go unapprecited, distorted or lost or worse, perverted..as in the case of 'good' liberals...and i fdo choke on using the word good. 72 coeds- I'm still cracking up on theat one. One of the main focusses of www.thefaithwalkerseries.com is this translation of heart language into the surely undersandable, even logical language of the mind so that many souls know how to protect the virtues they were taught by rote but cannot hold on to unless the appreciate their heart language more deeply than the devious assault to destroy them.

Gagdad Bob said...

Do any Coons remember seeing this on TV in 1967? It was on past my bed time....

Anonymous said...

>>"The physical world in which we live, the objectively observed universe around us, is only a part of an inconceivably vast system of worlds. Most of these worlds are spiritual in their essence.... Which does not necessarily mean that they exist somewhere else, but means rather that they exist in different dimensions of being . . . " <<

I believe the "universal quickening" might in one sense be thought of as the merging of at least some of these dimensions of being with our material world. To this end, those who are spiritually prepared would be best able to integrate the "higher frequencies" of the merging dimensions, whereas those who are attuned only to the material might very well be stimulated to strongly assert their material perspective, this in order to maintain their sense of equilibrium - hence, the "atheist offensive", the material-drenched, turn-back-the-clock essence of Islamofascism, neo-paganism in its various guises, etc.

Just as with the individual who is undergoing a spiritual metamorphosis, there would be a universally experienced dark night of the soul. The "higher frequencies" encounter the resisting lower frequencies - chaos, imbalance, until that which is lower eventually self-immolates.

Yes, I think the world might succumb to a universal evil and chaos, the "reign of the anti-christ" - in fact, Bible prophecy and that of other sacred sources say this will happen, which I believe is an undercoring of the fact that the dark night is necessary for eventual rebirth.

Anonymous said...

Excellent post. No, I don't remember the debate, just thinking it would be interesting to watch it now. I think RR would handle this present situation rather a bit more forcefully than it is being handled. He didn't take crap from anyone.

Bob, I too tend to criticize Muslims, in the form of Letters-to- the- editor, and was just wondering if you consider the possible consequences of doing so. Let's just say that I have become better armed in the last few years.
They do tend not to take criticism well. My three dogs earn their biscuits in that regard, plus they're lots of fun to have around. I wasn't a Boy Scout, but I like to be prepared. Let's see, prepared by Glock for the horizontal, for the vertical by GB, I feel pretty good.

Gagdad Bob said...

Oh yes, Dupree is well-schooled in the art of home protection. Since he took up residence in the garage, Mrs. G and I jokingly refer to it as "the bunker."

Lisa said...

I meant to comment on this the other day when coons were arguing about astrology. First off, I will say that like usual Will is correct. Just preface every theory with that one and it will work.....Astrology can also be looked at as different aspects of God's personality or being. Each human is created in God's image with a certain amount of archetypes or God's personality that are stronger than others. The stars are like a map to discovering which aspects are more prevalent in each person. The soul enters a person's body when they take their first independent breath otherwise known as birth time. This is not to say that there is no free will. Of course, there is free will. Will would never charge for this kind of advice either. Everyone has the free will to choose how they will manifest these archetypes in their own lives or ditch them and strengthen some of the weaker ones that are not prevalent but desired. Basically you have the choice to believe it or not. End of story or is it?;)

Darryl said...

I was nine years old at the time, raised in an, of course everything democratic is the only way to be right otherwise you're crazy, home. Now, fully able to think for myself, and the emotional manipulations, mostly through fear, jealousy, class envy-no, envy of all kinds, of the democratic party don't work on me, I am not at all surprised that Reagon held his own. He had been his own person for a long, long time. Hmmm, that's what standing on solid moral principles does. Awsome article, though.

Here's one for other realities- Elijah and his frightened assistant who couldn't see the angels waiting to slaughter the enemy until Elijah prayed for his sight to be open

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

It's a touchy subject, Lise, since (like other things) it has been abused by those who were God's enemies and abased by those who misunderstood it.

Speaking of the Dark Night of the Soul, as they call it, I've certainly been experiencing something similar to that lately. I have noticed that both of the 'selves' that Dr. Sanity was referring to are getting a serious beating; one of the problems with being intellectual by nature is that you rely a lot on 'the world' and its accuracy in depicting 'the earth' (to wit, rely a lot on your conception of reality's accuracy) and so a lot of what I am can be shaken by making mistaken assumptions about myself or others.

Things like Sentimentality, Idealization, Passions, etc, can take on a gravity they may not to some others - and create a real risk to myself. I've experienced this problem since my youth, so I've learned how to manage. Having a great intelligence means you rely on it a lot; so your mind - being in nature flawed - its flaws become real stumblingblocks. The only way around it definitely comes from God, the Spirit being the only one who can really put humpty-dumpty back together again, or so to speak.

An additional problem has always been receptiveness to other's emotional states; pain, joy, sorrow, etc. Combine this with the intellectualizing tendency and you can get some serious over-rumination and mind-boundness.

I hope I'm being clear here, as of late, like I explained yesterday, my writing has been (to myself at the least) quite lacking.

Anyhow, one of the things that I came to grips with was, that things like Family, Community/Friends, Work, State and so forth are indeed important; it would be so easy to just 'extinct' oneself of them permanently and then claim freedom from it; but that's kind of like being free floating in the vacuum of space.

I kept recalling 1 John and 'Love not the World nor the things in the world', trying to figure out how one does the purpose of God in the world; Family, Community, Work, Faith, State, and so on, while not loving the world. I kept seeing the problem being one of sentimentality, by which I mean an unrealistic attachment to the things of the world.

I understand that John is on the one hand using a different word for 'Love' than our vague wishy-washy definition, and sometimes this is a huge problem in comprehension.

So I'm thinking the issue is not of being 'detached' so much as it is of being 'properly attached'. What is going on with my latest dark night o'th' soul is regarding having my bad attachments ripped out because I'm not giving them up at all for the real, correct connections.

I think the Spirit might be a little bit pissed off with me. But, that wouldn't be unusual...

Lisa said...

Look at it this way, Riv, if you never experienced darkness, weakness, ugliness, etc.; how would you know what lightness, beauty, strength, etc. is? In physical therapy, there is always a bit of darkness before the dawn when the body is healing and growing.

Anonymous said...

>>In physical therapy, there is always a bit of darkness before the dawn when the body is healing and growing<<

Meaning your Pilates instructor kicks your *ss from one wall to another.

robinstarfish said...

Oz
one thin shining line
striped between two hemispheres
ties heaven to earth

Lisa said...

Heh, Will, you know better than anybody that in order to heal you must hurt a little first!

See what happens when you retreat into solitude from OC, the newbie coons challenge your all-knowing wisdom...ha ha! Don't worry I'll still back ya up! I'm glad you are back.

julie said...

River,
"I understand that John is on the one hand using a different word for 'Love' than our vague wishy-washy definition, and sometimes this is a huge problem in comprehension."

I know you're not Catholic (well OK, I think you're not), but the Pope's first encyclical that Mizze linked to yesterday actually touched on that issue in some interesting ways. I didn't read the whole thing - I'm also having some lack of writing issues this past week or so, and hand-in-hand with that has been a lack of ability to focus on challenging reading - but the first small part of it was enlightening, at least to me.

I don't know exactly what dark nights/ bad attachments are troubling you, but perhaps this would help?

Also, Whittle's newest post is up on E3, for those who haven't been there since yesterday afternoon, and as usual it's a doozy. Much food for thought, there.

Van Harvey said...

"...so I was trying to feed both of them at the same time while simultaneously typing, changing a diaper, and shooting some Advil down the boy's hatch. I feel like a Tongan man, who is so manly he's like the greatest woman alive without being the least bit feminine. "

I understand and sympathize, When my wife was flying, our first 15 yrs of marriage & three kids, 2 to 4 days a week, I was Mr. Tongan Mom - frying diapers, cleaning bacon and staring down books left and right. You get the hang of it - people still sniff your cooking suspiciously, but just show your inner Tongan, and they'll get over it pretty darn quickly.

Van Harvey said...

"Therefore, using one's intelligence for any other purpose would have to be considered very stupid. As such, human beings would have to be considered the least intelligent of all species, since they waste so much mental energy on stupid and pointless things such as music, poetry, painting, and spirituality."

Therefore I aspire to the peaks of stupidity, while delighting in the spectacle of the Cluelesside bombers twisting themselves into putzels, trying to figure out why.

Van Harvey said...

...It's the little things in life....

NoMo said...

Van - I'm not sure there are any "little things in life".

Mizz E said...

This afternoon I sauntered up to the counter in Starbucks and a Tonganese took my order: "I'd like 1 lb. of French Roast ground for paper cone."

I don't know about the rest of the daughters, but if you're like me, while standing in a line, I'm not listening to the gita on my iPod - no, I like to ogle a place for cute guys. Most are dismissed quickly (I'm picky). The one standing next to me was squeaky clean, dressed casually well, but then I saw the uh oh pruddish look on his face. My eyes kept roving while my ears listened to the Ditting hum away. When it stopped, Tonganese left her multi-tasking, slapped Ditting's handle down, grabbed the grinder, titled it forward 90 degrees and slammed it down. Prud face rolled his eyes. While walking towards me with my bag of brew held up to her sniffing nose, she said: "Have ya ever noticed that freshly ground French Roast smells like tuna?" To which I replied: "No I hadn't noticed that - and do you treat your man like you treat that machine?" Prud face transformed into a grinning face.

Anonymous said...

Been mulling over Johan's comments from yesterday & River's one's from today. Gets me thinking this post could also be named "Intelligence and How It Gets In The Way"

I, too, find the 'park your brain at the church door' a non-starter. But it's also possible to 'look' too hard, & in doing so, somehow miss or lose the kernel.

These thoughts have not congealed yet, but seem to involve some of the following:

"that our interior Coon Central should not be thought of as a kind of "point" in space time"

"the various worlds interpenetrate and interact in such a way that they can be considered counterparts of one another"

"a matter of understanding the difference between Principles and their Manifestation"

"religion moves from the cosmic periphery back to the center which is its source and ground -- from the manifestion to the principle"

"Intellectual intuition comprises essentially a contemplativity which in no way enters into the rational capacity, the latter being logical rather than contemplative; it is contemplative power, receptivity in respect of the Uncreated Light, the OPENING of the Eye of the Heart, which distinguishes transcendent intelligence from reason. The latter perceives the general and proceeds by logical operations, whilst Intellect perceives the principial -- the metaphysical -- and proceeds by intuition. Intellection is concrete in relation to rational abstractions, and abstract in relation to the divine Concreteness."

"Which is why the spiritual life may be reduced to "cleaning mirrors."

Yup, get a sqweegee & go to town on that mirror.

NoMo said...

MizzE - There's way more there than I would dare respond to, but

1) Great audiovisual
2) There's nuthin' like funnin' with strangers
3) You need your own grinder

Stephen Macdonald said...

Extreme intelligence is not always a blessing. A former friend with a measured IQ in the 185 range (spoke 9 or 10 languages fluently, taught higher mathematics at McGill U., etc.) once told me that he considered his "gift" to be an intolerable burden. A few years later he hanged himself.

I'm content to be bright enough to differentiate between someone like Bob, and someone like Hitchens (to learn from the former; pity and disdain the latter). Many aren't so lucky.

Mizz E said...

NoMo said I need my own grinder.

There's way more there than I would dare respond to.

Say NoMo, I invite you to stop by MizzE's watering hole sometime. There's a new fountain and today I'm hosting a gala photo op for all coons AND there's a link to Sal's fabulous production
of Les Miz (not me) the Victor Hugo musical she co-created.

Stephen Macdonald said...

On another topic, Mikey Moore's latest crockumentary was sold as his "mature" product. From what I gather he savages the US health care system and fraudulently represents the Canadian socialist system as practically flawless.

Moore Receives Cheers at Cannes, Boos From Canadian Crtics

As a Canadian green-card holder I've used both systems extensively. Lord, may the day never come whereby I am reduced to having to suffer the sheer cruelty of the disastrous Canadian system for anything more than a sprained ankle.

I am quite serious when I tell you I maintain an (corporate) aircraft in order to make it back to the US expeditiously should a medical emergency arise (well, that is part of the reason).

Later this year we're opening our new office in Florida. Most of our Canadian employees have already signed up for the transfer (which is optional). Most of those who did sign up have families to raise. Canadians are gadually awakening from the nightmare of partial communism. (In fact, only North Korea, Cuba and Canada formally outlaw all private medicine for medical necessities).

Moore is about as horizontal as they come. My favorite take on that filthy manatee whore comes from the estimable Lileks:

If you ask me, Michael Moore is a gasbag who, if stuck with a pin, would fly around the room until he ended up on the floor as three pounds of wrinkled hot-dog skin and a sweat-stained ballcap. And if he is a balloon, that would mean that his penis is twisted in a tight little knot.

Which would certainly explain a lot.


Worthy of Dupree himself, no?

Anonymous said...

Juliec - I was struck by Whittle's use of the word "frequency" as the medium which characterizes the Remnant. Either one is attuned to that frequency or one is not, and for those who are not, the meaning is, well, meaningless.

I often use the word "frequency" when I speak of the quickening - if one is attuned to it (the frequency of a higher dimension), then one finds the quickening to be a relatively natural change into a higher consciousness. If one is not so attuned to the frequency, then one is overwhelmed with confusion and meaninglessness.

As BH points out, one doesn't really know what frequency one is attuned to until a situation arises that "activates" one's attunement. Again, I believe this is the very reason why there must be a universal dark night of the soul - we all must be pushed to the wall so that we find our frequency.

Anonymous said...

Extreme intelligence is not always a blessing.

I'm an ex-kid genius, IQ 160 (estimate), and I can second that.

With me, it means having a mind that's always running at redline and never slowing down -- not even when I sleep. It means having a dozen lines of thought constantly going through my head, so many so fast I cannot hold onto any one long enough to do anything with it. Thrashing in place, with a thrash rate somewhere around 90%.

It means having the rest of my personality lag behind my age while my IQ raced ahead of it; at 50 I find myself finally figuring out how to be an adult -- a 20-year-old psyche with 50 years of scar tissue built up.

It means years of "What do you mean, 'I Don't Know'? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE A *GENIUS*!!!!!" And a *GENIUS* is never allowed to be wrong; a *GENIUS* is never allowed to make a mistake, a *GENIUS* IS expected to know everything about everything without ever having to learn or be taught. A *GENIUS* is never anything more than an IQ score.

The fantasy of "the kid genius" is Wesley Crusher and/or Jimmy Neutron.

The reality is Dallas Egbert III.

Anonymous said...

When I wrote last night about the difficulty I have with 'loving' God I tossed out a couple of images to try to get a hold on what I experience: being drawn to Christian Faith by a sort of gravity, or magnetism, and being linked into a web of coincidence(Synchronicity).
Oddly enough, one that I wrote down but edited out was a sense of seeing scripture, words, people or events illuminated by a kind of invisible light. It's hard to put the words on it. And the Quickening. I like Will's term for it. But I'd bet we all have sensed it. Ever since 9/11. I called it The Alignment of Sides. Prager speaks about the future of the World as having three options: The path of the Judaeo Christian West, The Euro-socialist model, or islam. That comes darn close to it. But it is happening. We all sense it or we wouldn't be here at OC. I frequently sit and talk with people who are utterly, and totally clueless. They think all this "trouble in the Middle East" is because of America in general, and Bush in particular. I have alluded to the fact that we are fighting against a global jihad. It ain't just Iraq. It doesn't register. Holy War does not compute in their minds. I've said on a few occasions, "It doesn't matter if you believe in an apocalyptic holy war for the future of the human race, or not. They do. And they are very busy waging that war against you right now. You can get to feel like Kevin McCarthy in the next to the last scene of the old "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" pretty fast. Now I never engage any of them. They can't see it they can't hear it. Therefore, it isn't there.
:/

JWM

Anonymous said...

jwm - >> I called it The Alignment of Sides<<

That's it exactly, I think. A Quickening polarizes, goats from sheep.

It brings out your inner Tongan, for better or worse.

Anonymous said...

160 IQ anonymous -

IQ is a physical attribute, just like phystical strength, good looks, etc. Such things can be assets in life, obviously - I mean, c'mon, who really wouldn't want to be physically stronger, better looking, have a loftier IQ?

Physical attributes are not problems in and of themselves. But - all these attributes can become serious liabilities if not subordinated to one's Higher Intelligence. The problems of the world can be boiled down to the simple fact that these physical attributes are dominant, not Higher Intelligence.

Stephen Macdonald said...

will:

That's one of the key insights I've gained hanging around here and reading the Coonifesto. It took a while for the distinction to sink in, but I now understand perfectly what Bob means when he talks about an activated gnosis--about how intellect is a means to apprehend that which is superior to it. It is one of the ways we come to know Spirit, but Spirit is much greater than--and contains--rationality.

I think pretty much anyone can "get" this, regardless of IQ. Other factors besides intelligence obstruct the gap through which Light shines, and they are legion on the Left.

Anonymous said...

Don't touch that dial, my fellow Raccoons!

Good thing we're on a secure circuit, eh?

I've been tryin' to write all day, but too many distractions and, um, honey do lists. Not that they are distractions (Dear, trust me, this is important stuff we're workin' on here).

The Coonhatten project? Naw, sounds to...I dunno, maybe contrived (told ya Skully!).

The CoonCosmic Juxtaposition of Slack?
I kinda like that one. It sounds cool anyway.
Thoroughly Useless, if you know what I mean.

Hmmm...I'm gonna have to change my routine up.

But I had so much to say...sigh.

Anonymous said...

Here is but one example of the esteemed Canadian "health" system:

"David Malleau awoke in hospital with a gaping hole in his skull.

The 44-year-old Hamilton truck driver had suffered a devastating car accident in 2004 that forced doctors at Hamilton General Hospital to remove a fist-sized piece of bone from his skull to relieve pressure on his brain.

Once the swelling subsided and he was ready for surgery in March 2005, Malleau was sent home and placed on a waiting list.

Three months passed. Then six. He waited at home, a prisoner unable to leave the house for fear something would hit the exposed side of his brain – for him a potentially fatal incident. In the end, it took nearly a year before he could get skull replacement surgery..."

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/216280

Stephen Macdonald said...

terrence:

The worst thing of all is that the Canadian system is extremely expensive. Canada spends the second highest amount per capita in the world on health care, after the US. Due to the socialist (i.e., inherently irrational and inefficient) nature of the system, the WHO ranks Canada 30th in the world in terms of quality of care.

So what are the chances that millions of Americans will understand any of this once Moore's latest lie-laden masterpiece has circulated through every Blockbuster, high-school auditorium and cable channel in the nation? Zilch.

At least some people are calling Moore on his seriously evil penchant for producing Darkness.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Not that the US system is anywhere close to perfect.

I go along with Arnold Kling, who suggests (I'm paraphrasing from memory here):

1. Health insurance should be just that: insurance. It should cover catastrophic illness or accident, not every visit to the doctor for a sniffle. This would make the premiums vastly cheaper.

2. Programs for the truly poor and indigent would be run by local governments and charities.

3. Excluding things covered by insurance (#1) people would pay for their health care out of their own pockets. This would finally bring market forces into play, with all the good that automatically thereby obtains.

There's more to it, but suffice it to say that the current bloated US system needs radical change. It needs to be changed by moving as far away from the Canadian model as humanly possible, rather than changed into the Canadian model as the Left would have it.

(I would add that there should be far more preventitive medicine practiced in general. Most US insurers won't cover this, and socialist systems can't even conceive of it.)

wv: olpsgxs - drop one in your Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster (with one of those plastic sword toothpicks, natch)

Anonymous said...

You are right, smoov. Lots of people will buy into MM's lies and propaganda.

However, the only thing the Canadian "health" system is good at is creating long waiting lists, while consuming vast amounts of tax money.

Unfortunately, far too many of my fellow Canadians think they have a "good" health care system, and are quite proud it is not an "American style" system (even if that would be much cheaper and more efficient).

It is very much an emotional thing for these poor sods - they really do try to define themselves as "not American". These folks are really vertically challenged; their socialistic lives are "safe and secure" as long as they are not "American style". They ignore the health care waiting lines, and the incrediblely high taxes; and expect the government to look after them.

Anonymous said...

I agree, again, smoov. I also think health care should be insurance. It should be more like how pet health insurance is handled: you pay for what you think you need, and probably not everything.

Again, here in the great frozen north, it can take up to six months to get an MRI (unless you are a politician or professional sports player). You can get an MRI on your dog in two or three days. Guess which system is run by the government and which is left to the suppliers and users.

Gagdad Bob said...

Great piece by VDH today.

Van Harvey said...

Ximeze said "I, too, find the 'park your brain at the church door' a non-starter. But it's also possible to 'look' too hard, & in doing so, somehow miss or lose the kernel."

Definitly. It's so easy to allow something that you know about already, or that you excell at - blind you from looking more carefully. That's what I meant yesterday by "Sure made it easy for me to "come by this attitude". Got to watch out for those things that you come by easily." I've mentioned before, that my Dad used to embarrass me, and annoy everyone else by asking the dumbest questions - and ask them of just anybody - but what really bugged us all, was as soon as we all realized that we didn't know as much as we thought we did - it was my Dad was the one everyone knew they'd have to go to for the answers.

JWM said "Oddly enough, one that I wrote down but edited out was a sense of seeing scripture, words, people or events illuminated by a kind of invisible light." I find that I have an alarming familiarity with that statement.

Will said "...the very reason why there must be a universal dark night of the soul - we all must be pushed to the wall so that we find our frequency. "
and
"The problems of the world can be boiled down to the simple fact that these physical attributes are dominant, not Higher Intelligence."

Yep.

Mizz E said...

Speaking of phyical attributes:

From the closing lines in the VDH post GB
linked to:

"..But like John’s Edward’s haircuts and paid $50,000 dollar sermons on poverty to gullible middle-class university students....

Taranto adds more flesh to Edwards profile today (emphasis mine):

Edwards is more than just a pretty face. He's also loaded. The San Francisco Chronicle alone reports that he raked in $55,000 in taxpayer dollars for a single speech at the University of California's Davis campus. Topic of the speech: "Poverty, the great moral issue facing America."

(Confidential to other institutions of higher learning: If you want a speaker on poverty but John Edwards is out of your price range, we're willing to do it for just $49,500--a full 10% off.)
[...]
One area in which Edwards is getting a bum rap, though, is that $400 haircut. The Politico has video in which Edwards explains what happened: "Other people arrange these things, and I wasn't personally involved in it."
It's not that he's a foppish elitist who spends $400 on a haircut.

He's a foppish elitist who has servants to make appointments at the beauty salon for him.


I hope Fred Thompson gets to debate that pretty boy on national TV.

I'd buy a TV to watch that.

Anonymous said...

I just got back from reading part one of Whittle's new piece. (juliec has the link) Look at todays posts here. They could almost all be responses to "You Are Not Alone".

Coincidence?
BWAHAHA I think not!

JWM

Darryl said...

Any one read C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves? It seems very pertinent to a lot of the discussions here. Lewis also has a paralel to gagdad's caution about when lacking prudence the other virtues turn dark. Lewis says without grounding in the greater Love of God, our human virtues easily turn evil. But because they are in the image of i'e' Love, that places our human vitues up high and conseuently, when they are perverted, come to be very low, a bigger demon.

Yet, we do have the substance of goodness within each and every one of us. God had to make us out of something and none of which could be evil. True, evil enters from another direction, but the point is, when people are truly seeking deeply that perfect Goodness which is the Spirit of God, they need to know not to take NO for an answer. Why? because of the true knowledge just mentioned. There is goodness in each soul crying for its home in the greater Goodness of God. This is not blind faith (hate that conception) but real faith based on a sure knowledge of the Godness of God by virtue of same likeness within, that Good nature. So, when faced with darkness that seems insurmpountable, first off you DO NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER in seeking the goodness that destroys the evil. But evil is not passive. Hmmm, might even make one think they'll die trying to break its hold...but isn't that exactly the point? Sometimes, to break the hardest holds you have to be willing to die...but not as those idiots who blow themselves up crap...but death as Jesus spoke, who so shall save his life shall lose it, but whoso loses it for my sake shall gain it. Meaning, in one's last breath, if they think it to be so, they cry out with all their heart, soul, mind and strength to acquire that Holy Spirit that is pure goodness. This is an internal event geared toward true salvation and is soley betwen an individual and Christ. One might be surprised then, by the fact that in that intant of true commitment, that one has truly let go of self and all of the sudden, so easily, the blockation of evil is moved. Then you sit back and wonder at this. Allow the Holy Spirit to teach, to explain what was just done and how. One's mind has to often be brought up to speed with what is done in the heart. For those top heavy intellects, know that your heart is crucial and has a sharp intelligence all of its own good nature, otherwise there could never be true heartfelt repentance. (Besides the heart is deceitful verse-this verse is not meant to deny the goodness that is also there) Scares the mind to be so IGNORANT of the heart. So admit it, admit the NEED and learn. The problem many have with understanding spirit is that it is not meant to be understood with mind alone, nor heart alone. The eye does not see solely by a lense but all parts work together. The language of the Holy Spirit, to truly understand and not merely sense a presence, one must have integrateed heat and mind together in a common language! Yes, there a one language that unifies them both together. Come on, how else can the greatest commandment be fullfilled? But blockations in the heart cannot easily be moved by the mind. One must sometimes fight feelings with feelings, but the Holy Spirit is able to teach how it is done.

In reference to earlier discussion of the lackingness in churches, it is this very personal, individual, irreplacable personal responsibility that only the individual may do between them and God. To truly forsake all, deny oneself, the Holy Spirit teaches an individual about themselves. Yes. No one can take the place of this but pastors and leaders etc. often try to. Our role is mainly, merely to inspire, inspire one to fulfill their sacred responsibilty deep within their own soles, even as every individual is thought to enter Judgment Day alone.

Good night al

Anonymous said...

Darn! I forgot what I was goin' to say.
Or, more accurately, I forgot how I was goin' to say it.

Feh! No worries. I think everyone here pretty much said it in their own unique ways.
It was deep though. I know, because I almost fell in tryin' to remember.

Juxtaposition. What a cool word.

Magnus Itland said...

It is easily forgotten that no matter how good your logical skills, if you don't know the things you are thinking about, your thinking will be faulty.

Or as our IT teacher used to say: "Garbage in - garbage out."

Anonymous said...

Smoov:

True, true, Lileks was good, very good. But for my money 'FILTHY MANATEE WHORE' takes the prize.

Ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha .......

Van Harvey said...

Today's post has had a difficult time sinking in - happens sometimes (in many ways most times), takes a few days of mulling over for it to click. About Intelligence, particularly the 'quickness' of high IQ's & memory recall... I've long had the notion that it was the result of either happening across mental algorithms & fileing habits - or less likely, some extra chemical juice - either way, when it comes to worthwhile thought - it doesn't really seem to be that big of a help.

It takes considered reflection - holding up the horizontal particulars to the vertical principles - and not in a deductive, rationalistic sort of way, but considering, infering, re-examining over and again...The real problem of intelligence, is how easy it is to be duped into thinking that it is the same as quickness, IQ, the ability to problem solve or having facts & memory recall - useful things, but misleading, and downright dangerous when operating on their own.

Intelligence of the sort that wise answers come from - wisdom - seems to me comes from a process. From patient inspection and reflection upon the interaction of the vertical principles and the horizontal particulars; and not only reflecting upon solving the particular problem at hand, but upon whether or not that problem is in fact the actual problem? What is Right? Why? And those 'answers' only come from outside and above the problem solving arena. Problem solvers who don't have their roots in the above, end up like poor Oedipus. Told by an oracle that he was going to kill his father and marry his mother, instead of reflecting upon what flaws he might have that would make that possible, and other deeper issues, he said "Don't think so! I'm moving to Thebes! Problem solved!" and promptly (unknowingly sure, but that's the issue) killed his father and married his mother.

With Intelligence, if you fall under it's impressed-with-itself'ness, you can wind up like an example I recall from the Coonifesto... I don't recall the guy's name, but a Westerner that was lost in Moscow, trying to find his way from a map - he was standing by a huge cathedral & trying to find that landmark on the map - but it wasn't there. That particular 'landmark' didn't fit the Map's 'principles' - there was no common ground between the two, and he would remain lost trying to find his way by them. Those too quick to follow maps can search endlessly for landmarks that aren't there, or standing at landmarks, look endlessly within their mental maps trying to locate where it 'fits'. Each should naturally express the other, and finding otherwise should cause us to think not only on what's wrong, but more broadly upon what the issue might clue us in on about why our principles and our particulars don't seem to agree.

But that's not a quick answer, it's a sometimes very slow process. There are no McWisdom's out there. Lots and lots of drive thru McTaxHikes, McTaxCuts, McAmnesties & McDeportations though. Lots of ValueMeals... pretty tough to get a good side of Virtues though - they just don't seem to come like that.

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