From 2010-02-25 Understanding why we flounder, help from John Ralston Saul “On Equilibrium”
All that is needed is
a troubled time or
a voice capable of exacerbating our fears, playing upon them, or
a critical mass of insecure minds in a critical place.
Suddenly we discover that our ability to think and argue has been locked up in methodology, truth and dogma. This is the cheapest, the fastest, way to self-confidence.
And in fleeing the dangers of free enquiry, reason is blown immediately into the truly dangerous waters of certainty.
Thought, after all, may be our most unusual quality. Perhaps it is also our most delicate, the one most immediately dependent upon the tension created by our other qualities.
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BEING CONSCIOUS OF OUR QUALITIES, SEEING THEM AT WORK
My interpretation of John Ralston Saul (JRS): if we use our qualities, one-with-the-other in balance, we will not have all the problems created by being one-dimensional, linear-thinking rational.
P. 314 “On Equilibrium” by JRS: “There was – is – no real danger, only the fear. The fear of danger here is the fear of uncertainty. And because of that fear, reason can swing into deformity perhaps faster than any of our other qualities. (INSERT: the qualities are common sense, ethics, imagination, intuition, memory and reason)
All that is needed is a troubled time or a voice capable of exacerbating our fears, playing upon them, or a critical mass of insecure minds in a critical place. Suddenly we discover that our ability to think and argue has been locked up in methodology, truth and dogma. This is the cheapest, the fastest, way to self-confidence. And in fleeing the dangers of free enquiry, reason is blown immediately into the truly dangerous waters of certainty. Thought, after all, may be our most unusual quality. Perhaps it is also our most delicate, the one most immediately dependent upon the tension created by our other qualities.
That is why the worst thing we can do is to overstate the rational case. Of the six qualities it is the least capable of (dealing with a situation that is driven by fear and insecurity) …. Ethics can deal with the choices of life in a much more complex and interesting way.”
From the email sent. . .,
“(4 of X) Propaganda, Democracy: Imagining “the other”, more re Kitty Werthmann”
John Ralston Saul says:
To use our qualities is to be conscious of our actions. .” He speaks of intuition as being a driver behind action.
Yes – I can see where it is intuition that compels me. I don’t know if JRS would say it this way: there are some things that you know you need to do. Common sense, ethics, imagination, memory and reason have a role to play. But it is when you add the 6th quality, intuition, to these other qualities that we move forward to “do something” to address the situation.
Unfortunately, our educational system often denies the legitimacy of intuition. We are trained right out of it. We don’t know what it is, or how it works and yet it is an essential human quality.