War and Common Sense, good bedfellows
November 4, 2008 by gbrown · Leave a Comment
It is easier to lead men to combat, stirring up their passion, than to restrain them and direct them toward the patient labour of peace - Andre Gide
I’ve riffed already about Common Sense and truth.
Common Sense can dominate truth through hero worship by elevating the values of our heros to exemplifying the moral code we should all be following.
Soldiers who die in combat are heroes. That’s what our leaders keep telling us.
At school we learn of the “heroic” conquests of Custer, Wellington, Montgomery and Napoleon. All soldiers whose claim to fame lay on the battlefield.
The irony is that Common Sense needs us to believe ib these heroes. If there is no higher heroic sacrifice than giving your life for the political ambitons of our leaders then there will be plenty willing to do so both from the Madrassars of the East and the forces of the West.
Military heroism is no more than Common Sense coercing us to the bidding of our political leaders. Soldiers who die in combat are not heroes but the unfortunate victims of a political game beyond the average person’s comprehension.
Of course there are many instances where soldiers engage in heroic acts of self sacrifice and altruism but these ultimately were in the interests of their buddies, civilians or innocents and were not achieved through staring down the barrel of the gun.
There is nothing heroic about taking another person’s life. Ironically as our leaders make us fearful of the unpredictable and insane threat from suicide bombers - individuals so devout they are to give up their life for the cause, we with the other hand sign up countless youth to do the very same.
Real heroism is the bravery demonstrated by those unfettered by the shouters and the cultural demands of Common Sense in refusing to be silenced about the truth.
Sean Penn is attacked by Fox News and denounced by the wider media for being critical of the US foreign policy - drawing a line between it and the Islamic world’s wider loathing for Bush’s ambitions in the Middle East. The heroism lies in his desire to let it be known regardless of the apparent negative impact on his career.
It’s the same heroism demonstrated by John Lennon in his solo works highlighting the fallacies of Common Sense that underpinned countless politically charged conflicts in the 20th Century. As a musician, Lennon was never mainstream in comparison to McCartney because of his refusal to compromise his principles for public opinion.
The legacy of a PR game well played by avoiding offense may have made McCartney’s estate significantly richer than Lennon’s but compare for example “Mull of Kintyre” with “Imagine” or any of Wings’ offerings with “Working Class Hero”.
The irony is that as much as it’s needed, being truthful isn’t a great shot in the arm for your career. Politcians, actors and musicians all know that saying what you really think will alienate the wrong people. It’s a tough call - many would compromise in order to protect their careers. Yet, this is the nature of true heroism that lies at the heart of Uncommon Sense - endeavours that reduce suffering in the world without violent means which themselves put your own life and career at risk. That is real sacrifice.
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” Einstein
Currently reading: A Path With Heart by Jack Kornfield
Technorati Tags: andre gide, john lennon, einstein, jack kornfield, a path with heart, common sense, graham brown, grahamdbrown, sean penn, fox news
Quantum Future
March 25, 2008 by gbrown · Leave a Comment
I’ve just finished reading “Parallel Worlds” by Michio Kaku and here’s the man himself sharing with us his views on our quantum future
Entropy and Gravity
March 18, 2008 by gbrown · Leave a Comment
Newton’s aporcaphyl tale of the apple is widely known yet rarely understood. The apple never fell from the tree rather Newton sat from afar and compared the size of the apple to thar of the moon in the sky. What he concluded laid the foundations for what we now understand to be gravity.
And that’s about as much as we know. That it exists but in what form it operates we have advanced little beyond Newton’s initial observations.
Perhaps the best cosmological conjectures compare the machinations of gravity to the curvature of space. Space, it appears, is not linear but curved. Place a heavy object such as a bowling ball on a mattress and try rolling a marble across. What you find is the marble follows the contours and eventually moves in towards the bowling ball just as a meteorite would approaching the Earth under the influence of gravity.
There’s plenty more on that subject but before we discuss 10 dimensional multiverses let’s adjourn to terra firma. What we do know about gravity in our more mortal existences is that it provides resistance. Without gravity, we could not fly, because as Newton would concur forces exert equal reactions. Similalry without resistance we would experience a world like walking on ice, only far more slippy.
To fly birds need to beat their wings. As human beings we also face the choice of a life grounded or a life of opportunity. Unfortunately for many the latter requires too much resistance and too much flapping.
In his book simply titled “Goals” Zig Ziglar says that daily renewal whether it be through reading or exercise is essential not just for growth but for not regressing. We often dismiss the value of such activities because their impact is felt only when we do them every day. Yet as a society we don’t dismiss the need for washing, bathing or eating every day even though their effects are short lived.
In his excellent book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” Stephen Covey relates the final 7th habit - Sharpening the Saw - to the little understood discipline of thermodynamics. We all understand the concept that energy creates heat. Any matter, however, over time will lose heat due to the impact of entropy. I.e. Left to itself matter will simply decompose to its consituent parts.
And so do we. Without regular training or “sharpening of the saw” we lose our edge. If we aren’t spending at least an hour a day in renewing activities such as reading, writing a diary or blog, excercise, listening to audio CDs etc we are prone to entropy.
Yes it’s so much easier to watch the TV after a hard day’s work but then it’s successful people who someone manage to dig deep and find the time, motivation and discipline to turn up at the gym, read that book or write that blog when you were on the couch at home. Whilst you were down the pub they were preparing for the future.
And these small investments are often overlooked when people put the success of others down to “getting lucky”.
So without launching into a universal theory of everything (we already have String Theory for what it’s worth), we can see parallels between the vast expanses that is the Universe and our more humbled individual existence.
Both it seems if lest to their own devices will end in entropy. In his book “Parallel Worlds” Michio Kaku describes the “end of the Universe” as a scenario in which energy finally runs out and we reach absolute zero (or -273c). Fortunately for us we have another 30 billion years before that’ll happen. On a more pressing level however, it happens to our own personal universes every day.
Gravity, it appears, is often other people and getting ahead requires exerting a force greater than the immediate pull of peer group need.
Freedom at Midnight
February 26, 2008 by gbrown · Leave a Comment
Currently reading “Freedom at Midnight” by Collins and Lapierre - the account of India’s struggle for independence through the eyes of its main actors - Mountbatten, Gandhi and Nehru amongst others.
The main interest is that of Gandhi’s part in the transition, his beliefs and his legacy. Through his doctrine of non-violence we still have today a viable model for change without bloodshed so uncommonly practised. More remarkably is his connection as kindred spirits with likeminded philosophers - Martin Luther King (to whom he was an acquaintance and friend), Henry David Thoreau, Einstein and Leo Tolstoy (both of whom he conversed avidly before his death).
Gandhi’s strict adherence to a principled life can only be admired. How else could such a man without office, power or title bring about change on such a scale without money or violence? As Gandhi himself said “My life is my message”.
“Generations to come will scarce believe such a one of flesh and blood walked on this earth” (Albert Einstein on Gandhi’s passing)
His legacy can only be reflected in the works of students such as Martin Luther King whose faith in the doctrine of non-violence itself created massive change for the better in people’s lives.
“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal” MLK
