Death and Wisdom Part 4

The controversy over my claim that the ever-present specter of death brings added wisdom to the elderly continues on several philosophical forums.

I have been accused of an ad hominem. Here forth my response:

I started off this thread by making an original observation that challenged conventional wisdom - about the relationship between age, death and wisdom. The idea was immediately attacked and I defended it. When no one could produce an observation that directly addressed that general relationship between the elderly and the wisdom thoughts of death brings to them, presenting as their challenge the side-effects of occasional brushes with death by the young as being of equal merit, which, in my opinion is clearly not so, (I had several such brushes myself when younger and that effect on my psyche is not the same as how death is affecting me today) the attack was then turned on me. I defended myself by hitting back - a silly mistake i know, but I am only human. I do not, however, consider my counter-attack as an ad Hominem, since no one has presented a contradiction that seriously challenges my claim, and which I can fairly analyse and comment on.

The whole point of this thread was not meant to provoke controversy. I sincerely believed that I was bringing a piece of interesting information to the social table. The reason I did so was because I was brought up in a social environment that revered the elderly. In fact it was considered rude to even utter an elders name when speaking to or about him or her. One always referred to an elder in the third person. I grew up admiring the genteel politeness of that social etiquette. Since then, over the past half century, I have watched that old-fashioned custom, not only gradually erode, but also reverse itself. The disparaging remarks about the elderly on this forum give clear testimony to the disregard senior citizens are subjected to nowadays. This fact got me wondering - what has happened to social mores on this matter and why did such drastic change happen?

I realized that just a few years back I would never have made the connection between age and death and wisdom how that reality impinges upon and changes the psyche of the elderly. Over the past year or two as I have reached the mid 60's I have come to realize just how much the idea of my impending demise has leavened my thinking and made it that much more profound. This was a revelation to me. Nobody had explained the distinction between a sage and a neophyte to me in terms of death awareness before. So I shared the revelation in general terms, never expecting an adverse backlash.

This concerted backlash by so many got me thinking again - about the whole concept of presenting an original opinion, subjective or otherwise, that challenges conventional wisdom. History shows us that no matter how much merit it may have, it will be immediately challenged by protectors of the status quo who have fixed positions on any given subject and do not like them challenged. If a new idea cannot be routed or refuted by one or more of their number, they then gang up and the initiator is ridiculed and even, in the extreme, persecuted. In general, the closer to the Truth a novel idea is, the greater the reactive backlash.

So far the attack on how death leavens the wisdom of the aged has been unrelenting, so one may take it that the idea may be hitting close to home. I personally think that this observation about sagehood is a valuable contribution that helps to explain the distinction between senior citizens and juniors, and it should receive due consideration.

The Origins & Evolution of Human Consciousness

The First Thought - Awareness of Self

Some one hundred thousand generations ago
enough neurons made enough connections
between the intuitive and analytical hemispheres
of an expanding primate brain
to allow a quantum leap in consciousness
to take place

An evolving ape
had a conscious thought
as an independent self
and became human

An eye
became an I
and an infant ego
took birth in the cosmos

an observer
apart from Nature
had become conscious
of consciousness itself

Who but God would have thought
that such a small step for man
would have such giant consequences
for all life on Earth


The Second Thought - Generosity

The first consciousness of self
as an independent observer
was followed by the realization
that self could only be evaluated
in relationship to another

It is the value placed on self
by another
that determines ones own sense
of self-worth

Thus the one-time ape
who had once grabbed all the bananas
had to struggle with basic animal instincts
and learn the value of sharing
and in that process of evolution
woo the good opinion of another

The Third Thought - Social Ethics

Social Ethics Having awoken to the self
in relation to support from the family
mankind transcended the hunt
and graduated into agriculture

In the paradigm of this new age
of planting, tending chores and harvesting
the cooperation of the extended-family
brought the evocation of the work-ethic

The domestication of Nature
posed problems of pestilence
no challenge was greater than the lions
who preyed on the herds
this initiated the circumcision lodges
and evoked the ethic of courage

Fourth Thought - War

Aware of self and friendship
disciplined by chores
initiated into courage
and conqueror of the lionsman
the farmer prospered
and his herds grew large
they trespassed on his neighbors' pasture
and clan vendetta began

the farmer who had become a lion fighter
was now forced to be a warrior
and wage war on his brother

As vendetta escalated
ruthless warlords arose
They united the clans into national forces
and crowned themselves as kings
and so the Bronze Age came to an end.


Fifth Thought - Conscientious Craftsmanship

Aware of self
reliant on neighbor
disciplined by chores
initiated in courage
blooded in War
men conscientiously polished their crafts
and built might nations of industry
and towering cathedrals to God

The Sixth Thought - Physical Determinism

His character established
on the foundations of the first five disciplines
his intellect sharpened by an analysis of Scripture
man protested against religious dogma
and began to measure the universe


Seventh Thought - Metaphysical Realization

His growth complete
And adulthood attained
Limited by the finite
Men explode the atom
And uncovered the origins of Consciousness
And became aware
That the Cosmos was aware
And was given charge of the World

And so the Nuclear Age began

The Dichotomy between Phsyics and Metaphsyics

Half a century ago I graduated out of high school, fully indoctrinated, into a scientific environment that is firmly set on an empirical course, proposing a dioctrine which argues that everything in existence has a physiological explanation - that if some of the more subtle mysteries of the cosmos are not yet fully understood, given time, science will come up with a definitive answer. In short, my mindset at the time of graduation was more or less identical to most the people who have commented on all the philosophical forums I am registered on. IE if humans can not see it, taste, smell it, touch it or hear it, it does not exist. My education trained me to scoff at the supernatural claims of religion and sent me into spiritless life without its moral guidance.

Around my middle age, after a successful career as television producer. I became interested in trying to plumb the deeper mysteries of the invisible metaphysical forces that surround all of us. IE; love, hate, anger, guilt, stupidly, genius, courage, cowardice and a host of other very real emotional effects have direct impact on our state of mind, and on our conduct - towards ourself and those around us. These were real life mysteries which my scientific teaching in school had failed to address - and which my largely agnostic and atheistic community could not provide the reassuring and comforting answers that I needed at male menopause. The "Jesus only son of God" tirade coming from church pulpits offended me. The Christian message of love for neighbot, accompanied by bombing all and sundry was hypocritical. so I sought no help from that direction.

At forty years of age I did not know if I had ever really experienced genuine love for anybody, including myself and my society - our how to evoke it. I knew that I had experienced anger, joy, envy, admiration, jealousy etc. etc. but had no way of measuring the depth of those experiences. I wondered why some people wrote profound poetry and psalms. I did not know why I could not sing in tune, or paint elegant pictures like my brother or dance with the rhythm of an aborigine. The promise of answers from science that I received in school, had yet to explain why any of these life forces and natural abilities existed. My society as a whole seemed intent, via its lock on empiricism, on continuing to avoid any attempt to look inward itself.

So I decided to set out and do my own personal research on the meaning of my life. I went into the desert and lived with the Kalahari Bushmen.

The San are our original ancestors who still lived (at that time) an uncontaminated Stone Age existence. I found that the central social interest in their life, was not the physical science of survival via hunting and gathering, but in personal, social and spiritual integrity. By puberty they were all masters at basic survival. The ingenuity and craftsmanship of their traps, snares, weapons, tools; and their extensive knowledge of edible and medicinal plants, and the behavior of the animals they hunted was extra-ordinary. But the central interest in their lives was Animism - the superstitious belief that Nature was a soul - a conscious entity that rewarded the hunt and punished trespass. This uncontested belief guided their social behavior and was taught to children as soon as they were weaned. Instead of the skull-bashing ignorant louts we generally assign to our Stone Age ancestors, I found a highly intelligent, sharing caring people that were filled with the simple joys of life. loved singing and dancing and Rock art, smoked cannabis on occasion and went into altered states of spiritual consciousness.

The fact that spirituality not physical survival was the inspirational drive of our prehistoric ancestors, and that trespass on the divinity of Nature was entirely taboo and considerate family relationships a fundamental teaching of their children, is a basic human behavioral reality that science continues to remain largely unaware of. And so would I if I had not gone to find out for myself.

From that family base of human behavior, I moved on investigating each succeeding complex social contract that followed after the Stone Age, visiting and living with 3rd World Bronze Age agricultural clans and Iron Age national industrialists groups that still practiced ancient cultural traditions - finding out as I went that as mankind mastered the physical sciences of each succeeding Age paradigm, that mastery was accompanied by a corresponding focus on the type of spiritual practice that provided ethical guidance to individual and and group relationships.

Where animism and awe of Nature cemented Stone Age family group behavior, Shamanism guided Bronze Age societies, allowing for psychically gifted individuals to act as spiritual mediums between the clans and their dead ancestors who in turn importuned the weather gods on behalf of the descendants to keep the harvests flourishing. followed. Shamans themselves were universally regarded with both fear and awe, Their psychic powers were demonstrated by their uncanny ability to diagnose and cure ailments without asking for symptoms, practice surgery, interpret dreams, comfort the dying and predict future events.

Among deeply devout Iron Age cultures who believed implicitly in their religious scriptures. I found that their belief in an omniscient, ever-observant God, brought a personal sense of conscientiousness to their craftsmanship and evoked a collective sense of pride in their national power. In school, scripture was learned religiously, side by side with science. State and Church were intrinsically intertwined. No politician was elected to office unless he was also a devout coreligionist. The kings and their families were naturally accepted as divine appointments. Religious ministers, mystics and dead saints were deeply revered for the spiritual services and miracles they performed.

From this personal experience among the three foundation Ages of human development, a clear trend emerged. As we enter a new age paradigm, we look outwards while we master its physical disciplines - then we turn increasingly inwards and try to master ourselves in relation to the increased state of awareness the new paradigm imposes on our individual and collective psyche.


I have since returned resume my life our western culture that is still trying to master a science-based paradigm. It is a culture that, via denigration of the past, remains largely unaware of how our ancestors really evolved. thought and worshipped, - characterizing our prehisitoric Ages as primitively superstitious and barbaric. It is also scornful of scriptures and the zealous religious practices of Iron Age cultures - an unkind process that dangerously divides the world community and which directly debases our own ancestral history, which believed in the claims of all our saints who proclaimed the existence of supernatural forces that lie beyond the realm of science, and who demonstrated their inspirations by uncounted acts of human kindness and service to our society.

This dichotomy, between our past history of reliance on metaphysics for sound social development and our current reliance, primarily on the physical sciences, and our subsequent impoverishment of inner understanding, has led me to look at the so called hippie movement and drug culture of the 1960's in a more holistic light. Since that time, some two hundred million Westerners, all with a basic science background, have taken initiation into a wide variety of esoteric spiritual practices, much of it from the Far East.

I have been part of that New Age movement for thirty years now. Spiritual ( or right brain) practices have immeasurably increased my understanding of myself and my motivations. I revere our ancestors. I have found that I can love and honor my family deeply. I can sing in tune, draw elegantly and dance up a storm. My IQ has jumped up a few notches and I can now master mathematical and physical equations that stumped me formerly.

So I ask you these questions:
Is our evolutionary cycle of increasing self consciousness on-going?
Does the new Nuclear Age herald the beginning of a new era of inward searching?
Will the 21st century bring on a new type of spirituality - both individually and collectively?
Are we at the start of a new spiritual paradigm that is directly related to the science of atomic theory?

The Enigma of Consciousness

There is no logical explanation for the existence and evolution of consciousness.

Organic life, according to physics is the net result of the random activity of a variety of chemicals eroded from solid rock and mixed with water in a primeval soup. If one follows that line of logic, then why would an essentially mechanical process need to progress beyond the basic survival needs of feeding and procreating? What motive would it have for evolving into a complex self-conscious being who would rise above the rest of Nature and become interested in the workings of the entire Cosmos?

Those questions can only be addressed in metaphysical terms and are, of course, the ancient origins of a wide variety of contentious theological belief systems.

If the arise of a conscious being that would one day become devoted to scientific determination has any intuitive purpose beyond physics, can it be that it's dual brain capacity was designed to eventually answer the Enigma of Consciousness in universal terms - and thereby put an end to seemingly ceaseless theological arguments?

If it seems ridiculous to state that consciousness arose of its own out of solid rock, would it not be more universally understood and logical to propose that the seed of conscious has been, all along, a charismatic attribute of the atomic nucleus?

Is the Universe not primarily a vast radiation of atomic consciousness?

Has human consciousness not especially evolved as an observing ego, which allows Cosmic Consciousness the illusion of seeing and experiencing itself via the drama of life in an illusory Creation?

WHY MEN SHOULD DEVELOP THEIR FEMININE SIDE

Split brain experiments by Prof Roger Perry have shown distinct differences of perception between the two hemispheres of the brain. Surgical separations of the cortex have shown that the left brain controls the motor reflexes of the right side of the body and is mentally attracted to analytical perceptions and evaluations of realty. The right brain controls the left side motor reflexes and is more attracted to intuitive perceptions of reality.

Broadly speaking we can say that the left brain deals with the physical or visible aspects of reality, while the right brain is concerned with the metaphysical or emotive aspects of reality. In practice one half of our psyche demands hard evidence in order to determine action and the other half tends to rely more on intuitive “hunches” and feelings to guide action..

Obviously we are all a mix of both halves of the psyche, but generally speaking, males are predominantly left brain/analytically oriented and attracted to mechanics. Females are more right brain/intuitively oriented and attracted to the arts.

This is not s to say that males cannot be more intuitive than they generally are or females become more analytically orientated. With conscious effort and plenty of practice both male and female can evoke the less actives side of their brain and end up more holistically balanced in their approach to life.

For instance, men who practice right brain drills and exercises have found to their surprise that they can evoke stronger nurturing feelings for their children and deeper insights into their wives psyches than previously. (Of course many men have discovered their female/artistic side naturally, without the need to take extra exercises)

Women are generally more conscious than men of the dual nature of the psyche, for they have endless opportunities in dealing with the practical aspects of everyday life, not including their schooling years, exercising their analytical half. But they too, with more practice can become more mechanically orientated and more balanced than they already are.

I personally have been practicing right brain drills and exercises for the past thirty years, and have developed a dual brain educational course for children. In future blogs I will describe some of the surprising results and explain some of the more effective exercises that can help in furthering dual brain development.

War and Peace - Nietzsche vs. Jesus

Here follows another argument taken from the philosophical forums. Again, the italics are mine.

Jakob wrote:
Nietzsche didn't think world peace makes man happy, or that it justifies life. He might have had a point -

There was a time when mankind was at peace with his neighbor. That was during the Stone Age, when, like all other predatory animals, we instinctively did not trespass on our neighbors hunting territory. Our sparse numbers helped to make the maintenance of peace possible. When our success during the Stone Age increased our numbers, crowded hunting territories forced us to invent agriculture and domesticate Natural plants and animals. Towards the end of the Bronze Age our success at agriculture increased our numbers again and when our expanding herds started eating neighboring clan's pasture, the aggression began - first via clan vendetta. When crowding got worse during the Iron Age of national industrial development, the level of violence escalate into total war. Thus war was part of the price we paid for human development. Nature Herself reacts to over-crowding via violence. Take lemmings for example. All our wars have been over territorial needs. We could not have avoided it if we had wanted to.

Quote:
if peace was so important to us, we'd probably have attained it already - we're self indulgent enough.

All the eras of territorial warfare are now over. They have to be. Peace has become absolutely essential for the first time in our developmental history. Nietzsche was not around to realize that we would arrive at a total extinction capability. If he had known about the A Bomb, I am sure he would not have repudiated the message of Jesus. The stark reality we all face today is that if we continue to react instinctively to over-crowding on a global scale, then thermo-nuclear war is inevitable. Zero population growth is not going save us from the exponential effects of the population explosion, in fact that policy is already reaping grotesque results in India and China. The reason for the evolution of this this huge brain has not been to invent WMDs that can wipe out all life on the planet, but to turn our world into a cultivated Garden of Eden. We can use our amazing technological abilities in a peaceful manner to accommodate more and more people in less and less space. It can be done if we stop wasting most of our time, energy resources on wars and policing ourselves.

Quote:
It's a lot harder to make an atomic bomb than not to make one.

Making an A Bomb is one thing, dropping it on two cities filled with women and children and incinerating tens of thousands of them alive is quite another. I appreciate the fact that the invention of ever increasing;y efficient military weapons has always been at the forefront of mankind's technological development - which is the very tool we need for efficient planet management and the large scale engineering projects that will be needed to make it work - but as said, with great power comes great responsibility.

Quote:
Violence is part of existence - and a fundament of Christianity, let's not forget that. Christ's message wouldn't have come across if he hadn't been crucified.

Violence was part of our development after we graduated out of the infancy of our Stone Age, into the childhood of our Bronze Age and the rebellious teens of the Iron and Steel Ages. But we are now in the Nuclear Age and we need to grow up and act like responsible adults. We need to get busy steward this planet as a single family estate and stop fooling around playing soldiers in the childish playground

Quote:
Anyway, my reference was to your idea that Jesus was wise. That sort of contradicts your idea that wisdom comes only with age. Jesus was a young wippersnapper, is all I'm trying to say.

He was, and unmarried to boot with no kids of his own to be responsible for. His wisdom was focused on the one aspect of life that was predominant in his time - war and Rome's military might and Roman occupation of Israel. All of us can have clear insight into serious dysfunctional family issues when we are young. At 12 years old Jesus saw that love for the neighbor was the only ultimate defence against endless divisiveness and war. He was brilliantly wise in that arena for sure, but not wise enough to preach the message in a way that would avoid ending up in his Crucifixion. But as fate would have it, by sticking to his message even while he was being tortured by his neighbors, his message survived the Ages. The great problem with the Christian ministry is that it has invested to much of its energy in trying deify the messenger by killing off other claimants to the Divine ear, while forgetting the message of peace itself.

Death and Wisdom - part 3

The battle rages on international philosophical forums, over my claim that only age can bring wisdom. I have included another one of the less contentious forum posts here. It concerns a few general remarks from one of the philosophers. The responses in italics are mine.

Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:15 pm Post subject: Death and Wisdom

[onlyhuman wrote:]
I've always been told that good judgment comes from experience, but experience comes from bad judgement. essentially wisdom is learned from mistakes and from experience.]

Amen

[Quote:]
usually the older you are the more experience you have and thus the more wisdom. However it is still possible for someone younger than you to be more wise because of the experiences they have had in their life.

Wisdom by definition has to be holistic. The more factors that are taken into consideration the wiser the judgement will be. Thus, no matter what single extra-ordinary experience or even multiple experiences a young person may have, it is difficult if not impossible for them to evaluate its significance in the larger scheme of things - especially if one believes that everything happens for a reason. Agreed many aged may go though life and never have a significant experience, but that in itself is cause for considerable reflection. (This is why the immensely complex theology of karma is so significant, and needs sincere study by serious philosophers.) To meet a youthful old soul is rare, but it does happen.

[Quote:]
I find it disheartening when the older generation underestimate the young by saying you don't know what your talking about.

The way to avoid such underestimation is to make a conscious effort to reflect and remember what and how you thought and acted yourself at that age and make allowances for the generation gap or gaps that separate you. The young generally forget that you have been there, done that, and unfortunately have no way themselves of duplicating your effort and jumping ahead to see why you see what you see.

[Quote:]
on the other hand I also find it rude how the younger generations consider those before them fools saying they are past their time.

Lack of wisdom.