A Message to Simpletons |
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A Message to Simpletons: Since I have called this essay A Message To Simpletons it behooves me to specify what I mean by the word simpleton. This is really about how we understand knowledge and spirituality. Although we can never separate humans into two distinct groups, we can look at some areas of our human condition as having two extremes. One such set would be those extremes I choose to call the simpleton and the fool. In this definition, a simpleton is one who has begun to examine his life. He has come to realize that he has no significant divine knowledge if such a thing really exists. He further realizes that, barring some kind of divine revelation, he is not likely to achieve any divine knowledge. Notice what is not said here. There is no reference to temporal knowledge or skill at all. Those are unrelated to divine knowledge. To complete this pair definition I can say a fool is somewhat opposite the simpleton in that he lives the unexamined life. He believes there is no difference between divine and temporal knowledge. He thinks he already knows most things of significance. He is also likely to believe that everything is knowable or discoverable. Preachers and engineers come to mind. This definition places each of us somewhere on a continuum from perfect fool to perfect simpleton. For now, I would like to ignore the fool. This message is addressed to simpletons, not just perfect simpletons, but to anyone who is beginning to understand and is on that path. The simpleton I am addressing is a living human in a world where temporal knowledge and skill are useful, even necessary. So, our simpleton is not simpleminded. He still remembers his pin number and how to drive a car. He is a normal, functioning human being who has achieved a certain realization about his type and level of knowledge. This person then sees no reason for pompous pretense and begins to simplify his life. At some point in this simplification process, the person may become a perfect simpleton. That is, he has given up his pretenses and attachments to all things temporal. This does not mean he begins to go naked and sleep in a forest. He still has things, but he is not emotionally attached to them. They are just the tools of living. He becomes like as a child in his outlook and attitude toward the universe. Then he is in a position where achieving God Awareness becomes possible and desirable. He can begin his upward journey on the consciousness continuum. I will get to these ideas of God Awareness and the consciousness continuum in a bit. This simpleton is what we want to become. We can begin our journey of consciousness raising unfettered. We let go of our attachment to everything. This makes life much simpler. We simply do the next task as perfectly as we can, but we don't have to fret about how it comes out. Nor do we have to explain or apologize for imperfect results. Results are just results. We accept responsibility for them, learn from them, and go on to the next task. From personal observation, I believe that everyone of us was born a simpleton. Perhaps we were wiped clean before birth. Who knows? At any rate, we come into the world a pure simpleton, knowing nothing. At least our temporal knowledge is nil. At this point of birth, we are completely helpless. Just for survival, we must acquire knowledge and tools. These will come from the adults around us. This is the first thing which happens after initial awareness. Immediately, people begin teaching us. Not only do they teach us about the world, they also teach us who we are. It should not surprise us to realize the "who" they teach us to be is nothing more than what they want us to be. Normally, they want us to be a reflection of themselves. They give us information about the temporal world, which is sometimes useful, along with their concept of how we fit into the world. With this information will come a cultural view of spirituality and religion. Their view! After being taught these things we become somebody, we know things and we think we understand. Then we are no longer simpletons. A very few of us sometimes begin to recover from that indoctrination. We begin to question and to think. We recoil at becoming a look alike part of the herd. We begin to ask questions and refuse to accept put offs. For sure, the establishment will struggle to put us off. We will be pooh poohed and ridiculed, even beat up, for our non-conventional thoughts and ideas. Some of us will persist in spite of that and we will gradually start to realize a modicum of truth. We will realize that much of what we were taught is irrelevant and a great deal more is simply superstitious nonsense. We will come to the frightening realization that we have no significant divine knowledge. At best we will have some usable temporal knowledge and even much of that is not quite correct. It is just the best we have been taught. After such a frightening realization we will necessarily spend some time floundering. There will at first be a great deal of anger at having been deceived. We will get through that, by realizing that the people who did us in just didn't know any better. In a word they were fools. Yes, your mother and father were most probably fools. Knowing that, we can write off the experience and move on. At that point, we begin to move toward becoming a simpleton. We begin to grow emotionally. Then it is up to us to solve the problems at hand, to heal ourselves, to act with compassion and a strong sense of ethics. It is up to us to do what needs to be done, to take action and to make decisions. We can begin to move upward on the consciousness continuum. We can renew our delayed journey toward God Awareness. As to this consciousness continuum, it is just my way of viewing our level of consciousness. Consider a continuum which extends from inanimate matter at one extreme to something like the all knowing God at the other extreme. It is not necessary to accept the superstitious twaddle that passes for religion to understand this concept. We can think of this high extreme of consciousness as a state of Godlike awareness. This state then becomes the goal of consciousness raising. I chose to call that state God Awareness. It is the point of consciousness development wherein we become godlike in our awareness and understanding. Clearly, most of us have a ways to go. Even without the prefect state of God Awareness however, the simpleton is in the perfect place to start moving toward becoming the superior dominant. I have written about this superior dominant before, but I can review what I said here. The true dominant leader is the combined product of native intelligence and will. This is not necessarily intelligence as measured by a static test. It is a more dynamic thing. It is the ability to see a gestalt in a changing situation and respond appropriately. We sometimes assign the labels clever or shrewd to these people. In fact, I believe it is more like genius. When you combine this kind of insightful intelligence with a strong will, you have a true dominant leader. Horatio Alger notwithstanding, our best example of that kind of person remains Benjamin Franklin. With him, we try to create the image of a very nice, frugal, kindly person who succeeded through effort. For sure, he was all of these things. However, much of his success came from his ability to outsmart other people. If playing the bumpkin would help, he would manage it. I want to be clear on this idea of dynamic intelligence combined with will. Intelligence by itself has very little value. Without will it produces scientists, engineers, and bookkeepers, but not leaders, not dominants. Until now I have been talking about the dominant leader. This is what I call the power dominant. He is a powerful person, not necessarily a good person. I believe it is also possible for a person to be a latent dominant. This is the person who steps up and takes charge in a crisis. If they are successful we sometimes call them heros. They will be featured on local TV as the good person of the week or some such nonsense. Quite often, when we look at these people, we find not just a latent dominant, but a superior person. We find, in fact, someone with increased consciousness who cares about people and issues. Herein is the difference between the power dominant and the superior person. The power dominant thinks of himself and his power. He is basically selfish. The superior person is outward directed. He is basically selfless. Unfortunately this person is almost always some kind of thoughtful introvert. This kind of person can remain latent for his entire life, unless a crisis forces him to act. I believe we get the best of both when we infrequently find a combination of the power dominant and the superior person in the same person. Let us call this a superior dominant. The superior dominant is one who is better able to cope with an ever changing universe. His goal is to continue improving that coping ability. He ultimate goal is to guide all humans toward becoming superior people. He is good in that he cares about the higher values. These are what Maslow calls the Meta-Values, universal peace for example. There are many different names for this individual. In Jung's work, he is called the individuated man. L. L. Whyte defines his unitary man. Maslow discusses the self actualizing person. I have come to prefer identifying this type as the superior dominant. She or he is, if you will, a super conscious person. This is the person we desperately need. It is one of this type who can step up and lead us. This is the person who will set the example and demand our very best behavior. It is possible that this person does not yet exist in pure form. Perhaps she never will because I am defining a perfect superior dominant leader, a completely superior person. We can think of this behavior pattern as a goal to approach. I believe there are some people somewhere who are close to this ideal. If so, I hope they come forward. Approaching this behavior pattern is what I see as the goal of consciousness raising. It is, if you wish, a byproduct of the state of God Awareness. It is a goal worthy of our most dedicated effort. This is the person we must all eventually become. This is the godlike human of the future. We want to become what we were when we were a child, but with all of the knowledge and wisdom we have accumulated since then. We do not want to regress to childhood. We want to become childlike in our outlook, so the world becomes new and wonderful again. Superior dominant is a good name for this person. That is the name I will use. In some sense, that's what our founders tried to be. That is what we need now. That is what mankind has always needed. Without them we end up with Bush and Gore. Tweedledum and Tweedledee. I believe JFK was the last true American dominant. If he was truly superior will never be known because he was murdered. Before him, we must go all the way back to Truman and the forties for a real dominant. We must differentiate between bureaucrats such as we now have and dominants. Bureaucrats acquire power by playing a game. Dominants are not granted power they take power. They take charge when conditions are ripe or have degenerated somehow. Most bureaucrats will have enough sense to step aside in that situation. Dominants take charge and get things done. Not everyone will like a dominant, but they will usually do what the dominant tells them to. I believe that most healthy people will like superior dominants. The very, very small people will hate them. We now have a desperate need for superior dominants. That is why the simpleton needs to step up. I am writing this because I want something from you. I know you are out there. I know there are simpletons out there. There may not be any perfect simpletons, but we cannot wait for that. We must step up now. We have a responsibility. We must quit pretending that our own growth is all there is to do. We not only need to work toward becoming superior dominants, we must begin acting as though we were already there. Someone must step up and lead. No one else is qualified and we cannot stand many more years of politics as usual. I am already doing what I can. I am acting through my pen and through my website. When I see other areas where I can act, I will. When I find more developing simpletons I will try to work with them for change. I want to see action groups that can be effective in this degenerate world. I am not interested in discussion groups. I am only interested in action groups. We know the difference. It's time to come out of the closet. It is time to stand up. The big problem with simpletons and philosophers is they are usually wimps. Their main strategy is evasion. They pretend it is not their fight, but it really is if they are going to be who they claim to be. It is everyone's fight. These are the people I expect to step up and create Groundswell. You cannot wait to act until you are a perfect simpleton. There is not enough time left. Simpletons have to unite and do something. We can't be on the sidelines now. We can no longer be closet intellects. If we don't act, we will go down with the fools and we will deserve it.
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