We're Here; How and to Where

This is my best effort to give justice to these ideas.  Pondering those who have gone before us, what they wrote, what they did, I wondered how they were able to do so, given the extant knowledge of their times.  A clue came to me when a suggestion appeared on my YouTube screen today, The Twelve Most Difficult Books ever written.

At one point in my lifetime, I visited Cambridge University in England.  There, I often heard the phrase; it was here that so and so read whatever.  As if education came solely from reading.  Then there was reference to how Abraham Lincoln acquired his knowledge by reading in sun, fire, and candle light.  The signers of the Declaration of Independence, of the colonies from England, all came from diverse places and backgrounds but shared one thing.  They were well-read in the books of that time. 

There is a similar thread that passes through our history, our brains are trained to think in a certain way.  It seems that this happens through being exposed to formative thinking via books and teachers.

Our schooling system, from infanthood through PhD is built on the same structure.  We are exposed to successful thinking through reading and the influence of others who are steeped in the knowledge we seek.  In the university system, the gradation of degrees prepares the student for participation. Those who have the desire, and demonstrate the ability, are brought along to the summit by those who have already achieved it.

Our mind, however, is different from our brain. It chooses that about which we think.  Analogous to hardware and software in our computers.  It is that choice that decides what we accomplish, both individually and as a group.

This is the structure of our Western civilization.  It is different from that of other civilizations such as Islam, Hindu, Buddhism, Judaism et al.  While these seem to be religions, they go deeper in that they prescribe a way of thinking, another way of saying a civilization. This is the struggle we are facing now. Which will dominate?

The human population of the world is expanding, and some civilizations are not capable of meeting the perceived needs of the people.  The people, therefore, look for other civilizations that appear able to do so.  Then they move towards them.  Unfortunately, when they don't change their way of thinking, and attempt to impose it on the locations and existing population to where they move, major problems can occur.

This, in a nutshell, is where we are today.  The philosophies of some extant civilizations have morphed to allow material and spiritual needs to be satisfied, others have not.  One in particular is Islam, who has adhered to beliefs that are not compatible with the current human experience. Thus, we have the situation that exists in the middle east, unrest.  Some move and don't assimilate, which is problematic.

In the future, as we continue to run out of habitable space, the situation will only get worse, unless and until the philosophies merge, reconstructing into a workable situation.  If the past is prolog, there is hardly a chance of that happening. Another alternative is annihilation of the weaker until there is only one. A third is continued co-existence which will only last as long as there is enough room, so this is not a long-term possibility.

Ponderable

Life happens all day long.  Some days are peaceful, almost boring.  Others are hectic, almost frenetic, and anywhere in between.  Then we go to sleep.  While we sleep, we put it all away.  Then we awaken and start all over again, only it isn't quite from the same place, is it? No, not quite.  Then add up all the days and you have a lifetime.  How far from where it started depends on all that has happened as it incrementally transformed us.  This is ponderable.

It happens.  It just happens.  It seems like we should be able to manage it, but we can't.  It happens, regardless.  Some of it is shaped by our dreams, some of it is shaped by habits, by impressions, by influences past, by our appetites, some of it is like a game played in competition with another, over whom we have no control.  All of it happens, all of it gets processed, reconciled, put into perspective, and put away for reference, or not.  The cumulative effect is who we are, what we do, how we respond.

That all of it disappears when the body dies seems like such a waste.  On the other hand, if all of what happened has value to a core-being that continues to exist, then it would be of, more or less, permanent value.

From Shakespeare: 

Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.’”** Open Source Shakespeare+1

A Professional Appearance

It is the day of the performance.  It began as would any other of my days, forty minutes in the Fitness Center. Today doing tumbling and the loaded carry, one of three rotating routines, which would be on my schedule for today.  I returned to the apartment with our lunch.

Afterwards, I donned my costume, black pants and coat with tails, white shirt, a black string tie, and chin whiskers, finished with a top hat.  Sheridan was found, with my mic, which we tested.  Faye, the accompanist, appeared and sat at the piano in front of the stage in the theater.  She softly played The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

People came in and filled the theater seats. Sheridan took the stage and did her American history presentation to the point of the Civil War.  When Lincoln's picture appeared on the screen, I turned on my mic and stepped to the middle of the space between the audience and the stage, at floor level.

There, I delivered a preamble, which I had prepared, to historically set the stage.  When I said, "I think they are ready to announce me." Sheridan said, "The President of the United States."

I mounted the steps to the stage, put my top hat on the podium, and gave the Gettysburg Address, from center stage.  It was well received by all. In my humble opinion it was a professional performance, celebrating the 250th Birthday of our great nation.

Emotional Control and Winning

 The Traveler's Championship, 18th hole today, final round.  Hovland and Scheffler are tied, both on in two, each putting for birdie.  Scheffler putts, it goes by-- no birdie.  Hovland scopes out the green, takes a long, long, look.  He putts, no birdie, then taps it in for par.  Scheffler has a longer comeback putt.  He takes a long, long look.  Putts, and it goes in!  They are tied after 18 and will play a tiebreaker at 9AM tomorrow, June 29, 2026.

The real story here is emotional control, one of the pillars of my generic game plan.  It is seen here in action in a high-stakes golf game.

A word about Scottie Scheffler.  He showed his mettle in Louisville KY, some time ago when he was arrested, by an overly zealous cop, for a parking violation.  It was on the morning of a match.  His reaction, after release and not quite an apology, was magnanimous.  In the interview he was unphased by the incident. He went on to win the tournament later that day.  In what way he got to this point in his emotional control is unknown, but it showed, not only in Louisville but in the match today, and probably every day.

We strive for this, work for this, and find it on some level.  Not at the level of these professional golfers.  Performers in general, have good emotional control, but professional golfers take it to the next level.  Four days, 72 holes, and on each hole, there are three, four or five opportunities to make a little mistake.  How that mistake is handled is one of the keys to success. 

Ps: Hovland won the match with a tie breaker win early Monday morning.  In the end, the one who makes the shot wins.

Strategy for Success

 

When alone, reflecting, working, studying, practicing, it's all about me, and what I want.

When with others, associating, forget about me, it's all about them, and what they want.

This is profoundly succinct and has been found to be totally successful when relating to others.  You can be productive by staying mentally engaged with your dreams when alone.  If you become mentally engaged in relationships when alone, you are wasting valuable time and psychic energy.  You are in the distractions of imagination and inner considering.

When with others, if you only focus on them, magically, they tend to regard you as someone with whom to associate.  Then good things happen.  If you talk primarily about yourself during encounters, others quickly lose interest. 

Collective Thinking

On a road trip, during the summer of 2019, my wife and I were driving along I95 through the countryside.  As we went along, we approached a slow-down of traffic, our GPS instructed us to exit and follow a route around the stoppage and back to I95.  When I recounted my amazement to my daughter, wondering how in the world?  She enlightened me.  She said it was the cell phone location signals that, when analyzed, identified the slow down and sent advice to our GPS!  This technical application leads me to the subject of this post.

The compilation and analysis of cell phone signals is an example of data collection and analyzation, and it may just be an example of a phenomenon of nature, Collective Thinking.  Herds of herbivores, such as cattle, or bison, or those on the plains of Africa, panic and stampede.  It is the result of a similar circumstance, where a reaction to a threat is passed along from one animal to another in a sort of chain reaction and, voila! we have a stampede.

This same phenomenon occurs in crowds of humans in a confined area when all of a sudden, they fear for their safety and run. The panic spreads very quickly and people have been known to be trampled to death in the melee.

Then there are financial panics where panic selling drives down the cost of stocks for, often, no more than rumors that circulate among investors.  The resulting reaction is often unfounded, and smart investors take advantage of such a dip in the market price of good securities.

Organizations attempt to guide our thinking in ways that are favorable to their programs and policies to so that they will be supported by those who are in their sphere of influence.  In times of prosperity, it is easy to accept the propaganda and go along with the program.  Then when it is seen to be fraudulent and/or detrimental to the population, the house of cards comes tumbling down.  We use elections to "right the boat." When the scale of the fraud is national, revolutions occur and whole governments are displaced.  Populations that are oppressed, rise up and take down the establishment.  Some great examples are the American, French, and Bolshevik revolutions.  Totalitarian governments find ways to suppress rebellion before it gets traction.

That to which all of this leads is Collective Thinking where, at first, the ideas, and the activity  they engender, are innocuous, but as more and more get involved, and the reactions are amplified, the results can be either constructive to an extent not thought possible or destructive to a similar degree.  Each individual feeds off of the emotional reactions of the others and the fire can burn out of control.  It is a good analogy of this phenomenon, that of the wildfire, because that's what it is, an emotional wildfire.

Other strange examples of Collective Thinking are what we know as prayer, and "Positive Thinking."  It defies reason, at times, the way the desired results occur for no apparent reason, or for some out-of-the-blue reason, it happens, just the way the participants wanted.  Could it be that Collective Thinking instigates forces in the immaterial, or spiritual, world to produce desired results?

Philosophy

There is a Haiku blog post, in By John Lina, entitled Do or Die, that asserts philosophy to be (a) subjective and (b) opinion.  All of our rules are subjective and based on opinion; religion, law, and even the boundary lines.  There have been a great many people, and animals for that matter, put to death as a result.  

The two basic extant philosophies (opinions) are atheistic and religious, that there is, or isn't, an immaterial world.  Many members of the scientific community are of the opinion that there is not. All of those in the religious community are of the opinion that there is.  Who is right?  And if one is right, is the other wrong?  This schism is a good example of my assertion that opinion rules. 

In the above example both sides use their opinions as a basis for action. On both sides there are nuances. On the scientific, or atheistic side, mathematics and experimental research support assertions.  As reliable as these are, there are instances where experience has proven them wrong, or inadequate. Conclusions based on the scientific method are eroded by experience. It is, however, to their credit that when proven wrong, it is admitted and a new understanding is reached.

The other side, the religious, is less inclined to ever admit to later, better conclusions.  The nuances on that side are numerous, with the major religions leading the way, followed by sub-sects within them ranging in size from very many to a few adherents.  It is in these sub-sects that, what are thought to be, refinements are made.

The opinions of all are born in imagination, which is highly developed in humans.  It was sparked somewhere in history, and Sumerians are the oldest identified humans who demonstrated highly developed imaginations. That would have been about 3000 BC.  And there may be other, older examples.  The quest for the origins of our enhanced capabilities goes on, and it is to our credit that it does.  There seems to be a need to satisfy our curiosity about origins.

In any event, we are governed by opinions.  We uphold, protect, and defend them, sometimes to the detriment of others, who may have conflicting opinions. We should not lose sight of the fact that it is all opinion.  And, perhaps, because there are so many, we can conclude that not one of them is totally correct.  We are reminded of the three blind men describing the elephant.