Unintelligent design (Introduction)

by Abel , Sunday, November 06, 2011, 20:47 (4766 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: "Unfortunately, not many of us are in a position to set the world to rights. Short of entering into politics or the military, or acquiring the divine weaponry you claim to have at your disposal, we can do little to gain even a moderate amount of power. However, since you “have some hopes” for my writing skills (thank you), let me see if I can persuade you to use your influence with the gods in a slightly less misanthropic manner."

I have seen this world changed one word at a time many times, and so have you. Whether it was the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, these great works of words, changed the world forever. A word of wisdom whispered in a prepared mind is much like a seed. If the mind is fertile it will grow into a tree whose branches will bear fruit that all can eat. But, remember, it may take years for that tree to grow, even decades, so a gardener of ideas must learn to be patient and humble. For when that tree grows, it shall be the tree that is admired and its' fruits cherished for all of time, long after the gardener has fertilized the world that he has tended.

As a skilled wordsmith, you are more "divinely" armed than I, dhw. You can change this world with simple words and simple ideas that need only be whispered, not shouted from rooftops. But remember. somethings change very slowly. Some ideas take generations to catch on. "Old dogs don't learn new tricks" as some say. Thus even though we "freed" our slaves, they were not truly "free" for generations.. This is one of the reasons that the Buddists call death "the greatest teacher".

There is one other thing you should understand about planting ideas and lifting them up. Each one, if it is truthful and useful, can be like a "crutch of understanding." You can certainly offer it to a man, but do not expect that it will affect the way that he walks. Our minds guard our survival well with the veils of our delusions. Men will believe what they want to, so they can muster the drive they need to survive. Thus a crutch of understanding that is too heavy to bear is subconsciously cast aside by belief alone, certainly not unblemished logic or science.

In this world, choose the crutches that you carry well, lest the weight of too much understanding burden your stride, darken your pride and make you realize this paradise is really a kind of hell. And since it is a kind of hell, it has a need for gifted gardeners, like yourself: those that can plant the seeds of truth and understanding that will grow into great trees. So that perhaps, just perhaps, one day this world will be a wise man's paradise too.