pensees a la Feb 17 2012

In spite or possibly because the inherent complexity of the human mind, as systems and societies “complexify”,  there seems to be less light than ever on healthy human relating.

By this I specifically mean that we mix up our beliefs with our persons.  The whole person does not melt down, in the end, to the sum total of his/her opinions.  But when we attempt to do such,  this accomplishes only two ends: hostility and depersonalization.  It seems in particular in our media that if a well-known person expresses a single ludicrous (to “the important notes”) statement; it is the end of him or her—as if some kind of unspoken flawlessness is now required to be a significant person, even or especially in a volatile and impersonal and pseudo-ironic milieu of a billion human tides of opinion.  In a world where truth is not honored, or outlawed, one of course is logically only left with opinion, which is an open invitation to tyranny, as Solzhenitsyn pointed out during his brief sojourn in America. For every form of chaos there is a team of lawyers and politicos ready to create laws for their own convenience. No "side" immune.

This most basic of all errors about humanity, which among other logical errors is a “category mistake” of immense dimensions; a false paradigm; contaminates us at every level, even in our strange and increasingly inaccurate self-assessments.  It is a family-killer from top to bottom—we suddenly hold our spouses and other relatives to whatever ill-considered or misinterpreted remarks they may have made long ago—and keep a running tally of who did what to whom, even if it isn’t even about them!  Guilt by association runs rampant. Look at all the sorry assumptions that secular people make if they find out you go to church regularly, or even once! (It runs the opposite way as well) There flies out an instant stream of assumptions and permanent judgements and stereotypes that only seem to gather strength with time.

One of the more obvious reasons that prejudices grow is a kind of accelerating instant xenophobia, which may apply even to those who have spent decades together; it occurs at the drop of a hint of disagreement with a pet theory, organization, or ideology.  The other false assumption is that other people have opinions, but I have the facts; and in fact it is quite likely that I am a living breathing theory of everything that is no longer a theory but an obvious fact—“I think, therefore I am right” and the only people we then allow in that blessed circle are people who are maximally like unto ourselves—or rather our opinions--which also guarantees that we never really know ourselves or our individual allies, much less love a single enemy...

That this is technically illogical, impractical, counterproductive and as unfair as people can be, seems to occur to very few people. As a physician I have observed many, if not most, people so enamored with their church, their party, and their interpretation of “pop science” that thinking and considering other points of view outside of our “best-set-yet” is never considered. Thus it is that individuals make choices to avoid people outside their circle, and worse, never consider asking questions or even trying to be objective; nor of course considering, God forbid, what a True God would think of a person.

I have been not only judged but socially exiled by a certain small number of former friends.(Which hurts because I never had very many at any time--but more now than in the past...) Obviously this was partially my fault—one would really have to work hard at it to be 100% wrong . But I also found that those who set themselves up as judges in superficial matters tend to assume that people are worth far less than cultures, movements, and even fads. This would lead to the tendency to not believe in or practice forgiveness for any but the most pragmatic necessities.

It also seems that the more I write on this subject, the denser the underbrush becomes…is this a function of the times, or am I just not being clear?

The only suggestions I can make, off the cuff: for us to constantly ask ourselves if we are our enemy; if we prejudge, isolate, or attempt to destroy others, is it because we inwardly suspect them of being too much like ourselves, i.e. do we "project" our own secret darknesses and insecurities on others, and hence think the worst of "them" because we are terrified to think of our thoughts becoming naked to the world?  Don't assume anything about a person that is not absolutely bedrock and when there is no viable alternative. (Freud was right about this--but like many of us physicians and other science practitioners, he was a fish out of water when it came to metaphysics.)

Keep asking. Keep exploring. Don't rest, wrestle. Routinely enage ideas, but more importantly, people with whom you stridently disagree.  (Then decide against stridency!)

More later (of course)