UNDERSTANDING AND WISDOM

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I have dredged up an old journal entry on the subject, from about 3 years ago…It’s a little disjointed, but can start the process of exploring the idea.

UNDERSTANDING AND WISDOM

So there is a combination of time and understanding that leads to wisdom.

I want so much to do the right thing. I want to look at any given situation and see through all the details and confusion to the perfect action. I love to take action. I love to take up my sword and shield and attack the dragon, kill it, and impress the whole village. It feels so GOOD to conquer evil and fight entropy. Sometimes I fight things that don’t even need killing. And sometimes I fight things that can’t be killed.

But I am finding that taking action is best done after I take a look at the situation. I have discovered that I need to gather some data before I run off half-cocked. I need to stop and take stock of the situation. I need to know that I understand the problem.

I also find that while I can sometimes define the problem, I can’t necessarily figure out the solution to the problem.

So I suppose the first step in understanding is understanding what it is that I’m even trying to understand. I have to stop and define the problem.. I have to pin down what it is that is really going on. I see all sorts of symptoms of a problem, but that doesn”t mean that I am aware of the cause of this problem. Often, it takes a lot of digging and contemplation and discussion with friends and writing and despair to find the root.

Sometimes, I think I have found the symptoms, the root and the solution all at once. Then I go to sleep, wake up and discover that I was completely off base. And I have to start again. I’ve begun to tell myself, “Hey, that’s what you ar thinking NOW, but tomorrow you will think something completely different. And next month will be totally changed again.”

So, finding the cause is really hard. And then, it isn’t even always useful, to pursue finding the cause. There are certain things, problems whose symptoms are the problem, and it doesn’t matter in the least what the root of the problem is.

Like when I was 8. I sucked my thumb. I was far too old to suck my thumb. Now, my parents could have had me psycho-analysed to discover the root cause of my thumb-sucking habit. But what happened was, one day, at eight years old, I decided to stop. Just like that. I never sucked my thumb again.

In that case, the cause was more or less unimportant. I just needed to stop.

Sometimes, though, digging deep to find and understand the cause is really important. Sometimes, you aren’t able to ‘just stop.’ Sometimes, the symptoms are complicated and spring out in odd angles that you can’t predict, and you need to have a firm grasp on the source of these outbreaks, so that you can head them off. It is then that serious head work is required, to find and isolate the root.

Defining it is hard sometimes. It takes courage to look at some things we have hidden from ourselves as too painful. Because we hide these painful things because we truly believe that we will be irreparably harmed by letting them out. And just because they’ve been aging like wine doesn’t mean that they will feel LESS scary and painful and life-threatening now than they did when we first repressed them.

We are stronger than we think we are, though. And those things need to be brought out to light, so they don’t crop up at odd angles and screw up our lives.

So then, sometimes, after some time has passed, we get to the root, and find a way of explaining it to ourselves, to put handles on it, so we can grasp it. Then comes the part where we have to do something about it. Just because you know what a problem is doen’st mean you can solve it.

There are some situations and some individuals who “Just say no” works great for. And there are some that aren’t so easy. Then you also have to think and talk and discuss and pray and read and hope and beat your head against walls to find a way to surmount the problem. That’s another level of understanding.

And then comes the part of wisdom. After all that information gathering, you have amassed a certain amount of understanding. You have some measure more of understanding than you had in the beginning.

Wisdom is the part where you take all the understanding you can get, and look at the timing of the thing, and decide what to do.

Sometimes, wisdom is not taking any action at all. That’s very hard. But there are times when you look at the situation, and you realize there is nothing you can do to change it. That the wisest thing to do is conserve your energy.

My meaningful life poem

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It is late. I am fried

I am usually a littel better about keeping on top of things, so that at the end of the semester, I am NOT fried.

But I won all these contest and had DUTIES to perform. Like, going to the award ceremony. Between that and the shock of disbelief that I went through after I found out about these awards, I have not been able to concentrate on my homework.

THEREFORE, since I have 200 pages of Moby Dick to finish reading by tomorrow at 4PM, I must give you one of my assignments to read,

I don’t think I will inflict my 20 page term paper on early american feminism, or my 7 page paper on the modern disillusionment towards Millenial redemption. If these actually piqued your interest, email me and I’ll send them to you.

BUT! I have another class, called “Create a Meaningful Life” for which I had to do a group project. This project was supposed to involve our little group in creating a presentation that would show how WE make our lives meaningful. We had to read Tuesdays With Morrie so that we would know what a meaningful life was.

I could have suggested other novels, but they didn’t ask me.

Please realize that this is a FRESHMAN level, REQUIRED class. My little teenager group members are cute.

Anyway.
We decided to do a “recipe for a meaningful life” and then bribe the teacher with cookies. My contribution was to write a poem that tied all the ingredients (in the form of a presentation by each individual group member about their “ingredient”) together into some sort of meta-fiction.

I’m literary. I use the word meta-fiction.

Anyway, here is my extremely NON-literary, but potentially amusing poem.

—————-

I had been standing on top of the world, riding high
Life was moving and I was moving with it
Places to go, people to see, no time to stop and ask why
Like a horse in a race, I had taken the bit

But times change, chances get lost, things don’t go as planned
What I had wanted, what seemed in my grip
Completely erased out of the horizon I scanned
It seemed like my life had done a flip

Needless to say, this did not make me happy
I whined and pined to my friends on the phone
‘til they’d had enough, “Get a grip, Make it snappy!
Your bitching will leave you out on your own.

Oh man, this was bad, I needed answers now
I felt like I had lost my way
Someone, surely, must be able to show me how
This game of life should play.

Sitting on my steps, head in my hands, out of hope
I watched the neighbors as they were passing
Everyone else seemed like they knew how to cope
One elderly lady was softly laughing.

Maybe she had learned how to find life’s joy!
She had always seemed happy and nice.
I’d take my chances, no time to be coy.
“Miz Smith,” I said, “I’d like your advice”

I explained my problem in some crazy way
My life was a mess, my dreams crashing.
She smiles and said, “I think I know what you’re trying to say
I bet I can answer the question you’re asking.

I have an idea, why don’t you come home with me?
I’ve got all the ingredients for cookies
Using my time-honored, handed-down family recipe
Simple enough to be made by rookies.

I folled her down to her kitchen, found a bowl
Each part is more than itself, she said
These are pieces of a structure, making up a whole
You have to keep that in your head.

Bring me the sugar, it’s a good place to start
You’ll see the whole, wait til were done
This one thing is not the whole, it’s just one part
Perhaps you could think of the sugar as fun

(here follows Sergio’s presentations on how FUN makes his life meaningful)

Miz Smith smiled, as if I were a child that’s slow
“Don’t get excited, fun is not the only thing
Get the butter out of the fridge, that’s the next to go
Think now, what quality does butter bring?”

(Here follows Jill’s presentation on how love is essential for a meaningful life)

Mixing and stirring with her spoon in the goo,
Miz Smith was working it good.
”Those two are nice,” she said, “add in the eggs, too.
Please get them for me if you would.”

(Stretching the ingredient metaphor, Darryl gives his presentation on eggs as Creatvie arts)

It’s not cookies yet, this goop lacks power
The foundation is needed on which to build
What these cookies need is a whole bunch of flour
It’s these things by which our life is filled.

(Ashley then tells us how she builds her life on the foundation of her family)

After the flour, she added more things, baking soda and salt
I think you’re getting it, you’re not such a goon
One more thing, if I didn’t make you do I’d be at fault
I want you to stir with the spoon.

(I now have to do double duty and talk about getting down into life, as the spoon in the dough, and DOING creative things)

We’ve talked about cookies as a recipe to make life sweet
You’ll have to do the rest
But to thank you for your kind attention, we’ve brought you a treat
And we wish you all the best.

(Here is where we bribe the class and hand out real cookies)

This odd hybrid of Tuesdays with Morrie and Dr. Suess has it’s first and only showing tomorrow at 10:30. Wish me luck!

CHRIST IS RISEN

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CHRIST IS RISEN!

Using the Eastern calendar, the one my church uses, today is easter! I love easter, and I had to share the easter sermon with you all.

This was written by John Crysostom, an early early christian, and it’s so good that we kept it. Thanks goes to M C Steenburg, who put it on the web for me to grab.

I just want to say, celebrating Christ’s triumph over death, and his forgiveness and acceptance of every human that will have it is more amazing than I can say.

Let us all live fully the gift of life and love God has granted.

——————————

If any man be devout and loveth God,
Let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast!
If any man be a wise servant,
Let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord.

If any have laboured long in fasting,
Let him how receive his recompense.
If any have wrought from the first hour,
Let him today receive his just reward.
If any have come at the third hour,
Let him with thankfulness keep the feast.
If any have arrived at the sixth hour,
Let him have no misgivings;
Because he shall in nowise be deprived therefore.
If any have delayed until the ninth hour,
Let him draw near, fearing nothing.
And if any have tarried even until the eleventh hour,
Let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness.

For the Lord, who is jealous of his honour,
Will accept the last even as the first.
He giveth rest unto him who cometh at the eleventh hour,
Even as unto him who hath wrought from the first hour.
And He showeth mercy upon the last,
And careth for the first;
And to the one He giveth,
And upon the other He bestoweth gifts.
And He both accepteth the deeds,
And welcometh the intention,
And honoureth the acts and praises the offering.

Wherefore, enter ye all into the joy of your Lord;
Receive your reward,
Both the first, and likewise the second.
You rich and poor together, hold high festival!
You sober and you heedless, honour the day!
Rejoice today, both you who have fasted
And you who have disregarded the fast.
The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously.
The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.
Enjoy ye all the feast of faith:
Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness.

Let no one bewail his poverty,
For the universal Kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one weep for his iniquities,
For pardon has shown forth from the grave.
Let no one fear death,
For the Saviour’s death has set us free.
He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it.

By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive.
He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh.
And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry:
Hell, said he, was embittered
When it encountered Thee in the lower regions.

It was embittered, for it was abolished.
It was embittered, for it was mocked.
It was embittered, for it was slain.
It was embittered, for it was overthrown.
It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains.
It took a body, and met God face to face.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

O Death, where is thy sting?
O Hell, where is thy victory?

Christ is risen, and thou art overthrown!
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen, and life reigns!
Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave.
For Christ, being risen from the dead,
Is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

To Him be glory and dominion
Unto ages of ages.

Amen.

MORE ON MASCULINE AND FEMININE THINKING

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MORE ON MASCULINE AND FEMININE THINKING

I am doing research on an Margaret Fuller, an early american Femininst. She is supposed to have knocked the socks of Emerson and Thoreau for being smart. Here’s how they describe her:

It was what in woman is generally called a masculine mind; that is, its action was determined by ideas rather than by sentiments. And yet, with this masculine trait, she combined a woman’s appreciation of the beautiful in sentiment and the beautiful in action.

That’s pretty clear description of the dichotomy. Granted, it’s from the 1880’s. But the idea didn’t go away, it was just rephrased.

MEN think with ideas and reason.

WOMEN think with feelings or sentiment.

There are underlying assumptions here that bear re-examination.

During my class in literary

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During my class in literary criticism, we were discussing Feminist criticism of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

Feminist criticism is so hard to listen to, because it is so painfully true. I find that I cannot pay attention to what’s being said for very long, because my mind instantly leaps to examples in my own life that uphold the argument made by the feminist.

My girl Kisa and I started writing notes to one another about the situation:

The thing they never seem to understand, is that we know MORE than them–about the world, us, AND them!

Yes, but the WAY we know things doesn’t fit easily in the logical, “reasonable” man-thinking that has become the only acceptable voice of authority. Emotion, compassion, or intuition are excluded.

Word! It’s strange, though. Sometimes I think there’s a sort of (oppressed) power in our secret knowledge. Kind of like the whole of womankind is collectively thinking, ‘OK, we’ll let them think they in charge/know what’s up/understand our “feeble” minds,’ while we know what’s REALLY going on. We can’t come out and SAY it, which is why I say ‘oppressed,’ but still, there’s a strange sense of power in it.

I think women are more concerned about relationships than power. It’s like, we love these men, and they want the power, so we indulge them. It’s more important to us to have love than power. It’s not worth the relationship to destroy their illusion of grandeur. But it comes back on women; we need to own our own power and flex it in ways that will help.

————————–

I fear that this transcription might alienate male readers, but I still feel that the truth deserves to be told. Female ways of talking are often excluded from having the Right to be Right because they come from an unexpected place. A soft voice, a high-pitched voice is heard as less imperative than a forceful. deep MANLY voice.

Or words that are “emotional” are dismissed as irrational. I say, emotionality and rationality are not mutually exclusive.

I know that the world turns on what is already in place. As a teacher and as a Supervisor in the IT field, I have learned to Bark out forcefully what I need to be taken seriously. It’s like a tool in my toolbelt, I can use it when I need to.

Yet, I think it would be better if I did not have to. If women could wield authority based on the merit of what they have to say, the world would be that much better.

I personally resent having to become “masculine” to be taken seriously in this man’s world.
I know that I, and many of my women friends, have a way of seeing ideas holistically that leaves a lot of my male friends going “huh?”

And yet, we feel merciful towards these poor saps. We don’t want them to feel embarrassed. We’ll slow up and talk in little words so that they can respect themselves.

Okay, I might be overstating the case. But not every case.

I DO know that I, and other women, have purposely held back from attaining their full potential or expressing themselves fully because it would create a rift in their primary relationship. Like, “I could go to work, and be a blazing success. But what would my man do? What would my children do? I should make them a priority.”

Ambition is often quenched by a sense of duty. Thank god, things have changed. A woman’s duty has been redefined so that responsibility for children and the home is becoming shared between the man and the woman.

But the “work” of maintaining an intimate relationship is still often solely the responsibility of the woman, since men are so ill-equipped by the culture to assess the health a relationship.

But women know. We ought to share. But then, others would need to listen.

MORE ON BARRIERS TO ENTRY

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More on Barriers To Entry:

Jay, who is an Economist, introduced his little bit about “signal to noise” with this comment:

Economists tend to look at puzzling phenomena and
Ask themselves, “what problem does this phenomenon solve?”

Perhaps I should be an economist. I ask that question too! But I usually don’t stop there. I believe it is important to understand the uses of personal and societal structures or habits before altering them. It’s similar to finding out the uses of your house’s walls (are they weight-bearing) before knocking one of them down.

Common sense and personal responsibility require you to know something about what you are doing.

But if you stop after understanding the problem, you have wasted your time. Understanding should lead to action. Find a way to work within the structure usefully, or come up with a better structure.

Now, if, after understanding the structure, you see that it is flawed (it does not solve the problem it was originally intended to fix, or solves it at too high a cost), you must work on it to “fix” it.

This is very difficult, and a very worthy task.

Not everyone can do it. Oh wait; did I just put another barrier up?

Let me put it this way:
Not everyone can work towards the solution for every problem.
BUT
Every individual has at least one, and probably more, area of expertise.

If those who had expertise in an area were given access to more information (the kind usually reserved for those with THE RIGHT TO BE RIGHT) and were listened to, their expertise could be captured and made useful.

Jay’s right to be right

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THE RIGHT TO BE RIGHT

I’ve already talked about barriers to entry in this blog. I got a response from a reader, my friend Jay.

Yes, I do have a reader! Wow!

He made a good point about the barriers to entry as useful devices, screening out the “noise” from the “Signal.” That is to say, the signal is the useful information and the noise is the garbage created by external circumstances. As a person who has been (may still be, soon) professionally engaged with computer networks, I understand this concept. However, the only difference between the “Noise” and the “signal” is in whether the receiving end can process it in a useful way.

Bear with me.

Paolo Freire, a Brazilian law professor, did some very interesting work about the process and theory of education. He articulated the idea of the “banking” concept of Education. In this model, the teachers act as retainers and distributors of knowledge and the students are empty vessels for the teachers to fill. The teacher’s “task is to fill the student with the contents of his narration.” Students are perceived as unable to contribute, and are without knowledge until it has been given to them by the teacher. The students do not contribute to or interact with the knowledge to change or add to it; they merely receive it.

What students are supposed to do is take the static commodity that is knowledge information and shape it into the required forms—in the case of classes, it would be homework assignments, test, or papers. But they should not significantly add to the knowledge or change it. The authority to modify the knowledge information is restricted.

Okay.

In the business world, the persons who have the authority to make policies are restricted. The executives hand down decisions and policies, a static commodity, for the employees to shape into the required form—a product, an organization scheme, a metric to meet.

In the military, Officers give orders that the enlisted people are not allowed to question. They must execute the order.

But even the military, the example that seems most suited to a strongly hierarchical system of authority benefits from allowing knowledge to come in from “below”.

In his popular book Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman, the physicist Richard Feynman talks about his experiences with the military. He was stationed at Los Alamos to do research and testing of the atom bomb. When he discovered where the military was procuring the radioactive material from, he freaked out. The men who were handling this volatile matter were doing it such a way as to endanger the entire base and blow it to smithereens. He immediately went to the military authority and told them about the danger they were in. Feynman wanted to tell the men working with the radioactive materials how to do is safely.

The general told him that the information was classified, and the men could not be informed about their danger. (it was the military’s knowledge, they owned it, they would do with it what they willed)
But the laws of physics supported Feynman’s plan and the general decided to let Feynman inform the men of what they were handling and how to handle it properly.

When he recounts the story, Feynman says that once the men were told what they were doing and given the information, they themselves came up with more efficient and better ways of handling the material than HE could have devised.

Here is the crux of the matter. When knowledge is retained and acted upon only by a few people, expertise is wasted. But if more people are empowered to act and interact with the knowledge then greater efficiency, greater results will be achieved.

But when knowledge and authority (the right to be right) is out of reach for most, most are powerless.

How many of us, in the company we work for, or the school we are in, found that we have to go against company policy to get our jobs done? As in, do the task first, and sidestep the proper procedure? Ignore or violate security measures to get something done?

Or who has had a truly beneficial idea that will have significant results for the company, but which will never go anywhere because the ones in POWER will not listen?

Then again, there are the majority of workers and students who have ceased to have ideas, since they have no way of implementing them in a system where action and power are reserved for the few.

In the realm of government, we used to have a system that put barriers of entry between the common person and power. It was called a monarchy. But the American democratic system was designed with faith in the individual to be able to operate meaningfully on information to take action and create policies. The framers of the constitution had faith in the people to create more “signal” than “noise”.