June
14, 2001.
...AND SO:
_________
(Part 2 of a conversation.)
While they were sitting in the
back yard the father said to the son:
”What do you make of the fact
that even though the unique, conscious
part of the brain is made specifically
for thinking there are things that it simply will not think about, for
instance with many people,
what I talked to you about yesterday
concerning the mind/brain using the name, God as its nom de plume;
the world is filled with quite
ordinary, reasonable people who will not entertain such an idea --
even momentarily -- just theoretically.
An atheist would say it is because
religion is such a fraud that its proponents cannot afford to have their
beliefs questioned or attacked;
that the foolish faith it takes
to, ‘believe-in-God’ is too delicate to withstand any sort of objective
inquiry,
but that would entirely miss
the point I present to you.
I could tell an ordinary man
what I told you yesterday,
and preface my remarks by noting
that my comments would in no fashion be an assault on the idea of God,
nor a denial of his existence, and then I could point out that if you take
all of the ideas men have about God, and for the word, God,
substitute the word, Brain,
it still fits:
how all of the characteristics,
powers, and potentials men routinely attribute to a God can be seen as
being also perfectly applicable to man’s brain -- which is
plain and obvious,
and yet my ordinary man would
refuse to admit it,
and immediately proclaim that
God does exist no matter what anyone
says.
And should I assure him again
that I am not saying otherwise,
and say to him: ‘But don’t you
just find it interesting that if you
do
plug in the word, Brain,
for, God,
everything still works, fits & flies?’
and he would say: ‘No!
I do not find it, interesting!
It is not true; it is not
possible, and I do not want to even
think
about it!'
Think about that statement:
'I
don’t want to even think
about it.'
And let me remind you my boy,
that the existence of a God is not
the subject of this;
it is the curious matter of
the supreme thinking machine refusing to do its sole & specific job
under certain circumstances.
Instead of using the example
of, God & Brain being two names for the same reality
I could have proposed another situation.
Picture a man who believes that
airplanes fly because,
once they are going fast enough
on the ground,
the wind begins pushing back
against the tilted wings,
forcing them up into the air,
(like your hand being blown back & up when held out of a moving car’s
window),
and he is given the explanation
that because of a wing’s shape,
at a certain speed the air pressure
above it becomes less than that under it, and the plane is lifted
into the air,
(as compared to being pushed
up, as per our man’s idea of it),
would you not expect a reasonably
literate & sophisticated man
to consider this alternative
explanation, (or more directly put):
would you not expect a literate
& sophisticated brain
to be interested
in a different, though workable
analysis of a subject about which
it already had knowledge?
Would you not be much taken
aside should he dismiss this parallel
explanation of flight --
and in fact stated adamantly that
he would not even, “think
about it.”
The validity & viability
of the second explanation, (lift/brain),
does not invalidate the first
one, (push/God),
so why would a normal, intelligent
person refuse to even
THINK
about the alternative?!
If he did -- what
would you make of such an act?
It would seem unquestionably
counterproductive in light of,
thinking being the specific
purpose of consciousness.
So why do the voices-of-mind
state their refusal to even
THINK
about certain ideas?!
It is of course, a hoax, a facade,
a game of pretend,
for a person’s brain has already
had quite sufficient thought about
any matter that it presently says it will not think about.
The talking part of any ordinary
man’s brain instantly recognizes:
"the useable --
the do-able -- the flyable,“
and only afterwards will
vocally reject them as being
impossible, impractical, and
impossible again,
and present such as grounds
for its refusal to even consider
the matter -- “Why
engage in activity that you know is a
complete waste of time, going
in!?”……………........and yet,
their brain knows better than
that;
the conscious, thinking &
talking part of every man’s brain
is the greatest source of intelligence
known to man,
or even imaginable by him,
(indeed, in his freest flights
of fantasy, man can imagine no powers
of a God that exceed those of
his own brain;
no one knows what a person more
conscious than them would be like - -- it is not possible:
you cannot even dream-of
things beyond what you already know.
[But: back-to-the-hunt, dear boy -- right in the fox’s face]).
In that intangible realm, which
is of ever expanding importance to man,
there appear things --
springing from his own brain, (where else!?),
which later he will deem unworthy
of being, taken-seriously,
and will say that he will not
even think-about,
(failing to add the word, “again”).
What is going on here?
What useful purpose is being served?
I hint to you me laddie, (whilst
poking you good naturedly in yon ribs),
that men’s brains will not direct
them to, not-think-about
&
consider new ideas they hear regarding matters in the physical world,
(which can always bear on one’s
comfort, or even survival)
even though they may conflict
with presently held ones;
no, the brain limits its refusal
to even, "THINK about that”
to matters wherein the, “that”
is something that
the brain concocted in the first
place.
(If the brain,
and, God-the-creator-&-sustainer-of-the-physical-universe
were the same thing,
they would both, (perforce the
prerequisite,
tangible circumstances involved),
have a continuing interest in the condition of
their material creations,
but would either have any real
concern over how men might re-tell some joke they once told?
(Does Aesop sit up in his grave at night,
upset that someone substituted
a lion for a tiger in one of his tales?!)
The answer is obvious, but does
this address my original question?
Yes it does -- indirectly.
Fact: Everything that man has
ever known/thought,
came through his brain.
Fact: Now the brain says there
are certain thoughts that it will not
think about.
Fact: These certain thoughts
are always about matters that exist
exclusively in man’s secondary reality;
thoughts about things that no one can touch;
thoughts about things that are perhaps pleasurable & wanted,
but not about things that are essential for survival.
Fact: Thoughts about the things
you cannot touch,
but which are thoroughly intertwined-with, and necessary-to
the fullness of human existence,
must be shielded, coddled & protected at almost any cost.
(Peeking under Santa’s beard once, and feeling disillusion,
is one thing -- but,
you could be mistaken in what you thought you saw --
SO,
don’t run a risk by going back and pulling on it again.)
To you, my little, sawed-off-version-of-myself,
I say:
The brains of every cow is its
friend;
the brains of all cows is the
herd's friend -- BUT,
the brain routinely found in
a cow is not its friend -- IF
its goal is to leave the herd.
At the first sign of such a potential
rebellion in some unsettled part of
a brain’s domain, the voice
of the sitting king will clearly denounce
all such ideas, and will in
fact decree that they are not even to be discussed -- nor even --
thought-about.
Any thoughts, curious about
the voice’s nature, authority & plans
are rebellious and dangerous
-- plain and simple!
“The voice/king/God/brain/me
--- I know what’s going on;
I, (the
brain), know what is in your, (my),
best interest;
and I say there are certain
thoughts that are SOOO out of line,
and ridiculous, (like: you-being-nothing-but-the-voice-in-the-brain),
that I have decided we,
(me-&-me
passing as: you-&-YOUR-thoughts),
will not even THINK
about them.
Better: safe-than-sorry;
better: conservative-than-conscious;
better: resistant, (thus
restrained), than -- open-and-free.”
So says the herd’s, all-knowing,
all-powerful & all-compassionate voice,
I mean, king….I
mean brain --
no, no, I mean of course -- God.
Yes, little dew-drop-from-my-dingle,
to live the contented life of
a right-thinking cow,
there are simply some
things you should never even think about.
Now –
-- what d’ya think about THAT?!”
The son looked down, and moved
around a bit of dirt with his toe;
then looked up at the sun briefly;
squinted -- spat
-- and said:
”In case you don’t remember:
I pointed out to you yesterday
that I am now aware that
you are the voice inside my
own brain telling me all of this,
so you can drop the pretending
to be another person talking to
me.”
”Really?!
I can?!
Are you SURE of what you’re saying?!
Are you positive that I can
stopping talking to you like this?!” --
and
the lad suddenly got an even wider glimpse of the terrain
that
had initially led him to the identification of
the voice.
(See what can come from sitting in your own back yard
with your own faux father.)
J
There is no thinking-about
being-as-conscious-as-you-can-be,
(no matter how entertaining),
that bears any comparison with
-- BEING it
---- BUT,
(for the few):
thinking-about-doing-it
is far superior to any other kind of thinking.
A mind that would
achieve the independence possible
has but one role
model available --
and by everything
sacred to logic -- it shouldn't be.
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