Tag: omniscience

The Not Invented Here Syndrome

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

I’ll kick this off with a statement

–

People are evangelical about the comprehensive nature of their self-diagnosed omniscience.

–

They are convinced that they know best and seek to promote and otherwise sell their approach(es). After all education is a business and bums on seats keep the pennies flowing into coffers. Religion too is a business and the treasuries must be kept full. Politics too is a business. In all of these cash flow is important. Self-marketing is important for livelihood. One must strive for supremacy and market domination.

I have encountered and been repulsed by the not invented here syndrome many times which can be paraphrased,

“We know best, fuck off with your strange and foreign ideas!! We love Status Quo.”

I once met a young man who tried to persuade me that Vajrayana practice was very difficult, like scaling a cliff. It was very hard but promised high gain yet the risks of falling and getting very badly hurt were high. He was showing off a little. I thought to myself, “try the warrior’s path sunshine and that might change your attitude…”

It is all a bit cock wavy. “My path is harder and more macho than yours!”

–

–

If you read and consider deeply the aphorism from the rule of the three pronged nagal above you can see that it is not facile or shallow. This insight comes from direct experiential contact with The VOID. It is a part of the inner subjective teachings of the Toltec schema. Perhaps akin by extrapolation to inner Kalachakra.

I have joked that I am a quantum yogi, in a geek-yogi superposition state. As such I am suspected by scientists and suspected by yogis because I not one thing or the other. I am not pure. Like the driven snow I am tainted by other thought forms. Yuk!!

I probably am quite well placed to do a balanced compare and contrast for many different ways of thinking.

Sometimes one needs more than verbatim translation to carry across meaning. People can argue when in fact they are in agreement.

They are just not willing to listen with an open mind and a willingness to find common ground…

The call of the soap box can be irresistible…

—

Cockney have name like Treey, Arthur and Del-boy
We have name like Winston, Lloyd and Leroy
We bawl out YOW! While cockneys say OI!
What cockney call a Jack’s we call a Blue Bwoy
Say cockney have mates while we have spar
Cockney live in a drum while we live in a yard
Say we nyam while cockney get capture
Cockney say guv’nor. We say Big Bout ya
In a de Cockney Translation!
In a de Cockney Translation!

Smiley Culture

—-

Is Knowledge Important ?

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

———

“ The knowledge economy, or knowledge-based economy, is an economic system in which the production of goods and services is primarily driven by knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to the advancement of technical and scientific innovation. The key element of value in this paradigm lies in the increased reliance on human capital and intellectual property as primary sources of innovative ideas, information, and practices. Organizations are called upon to leverage this “knowledge” in their production processes to stimulate and consolidate their business development. This approach is characterized by reduced dependence on physical inputs and natural resources. A knowledge-based economy is founded on the crucial role of intangible assets within organisations as an enabler of modern economic growth.”

Excerpted from Wikipedia

————-

—–

There are various schools of thought which suggest that in modern times knowledge is a key factor in economic success. That knowledge must be commercially exploitable and can include skills and artisanal know-how. As recent world events suggest, access to natural resources remains of high geo-political importance. Venezuelan oil being an obvious marker.

In my view this schematic is a tad idealistic, it does not mention socio-political barriers and vested interests. One might say that recent changes in US policy have moved away from the notion of a knowledge economy back towards gun boat aircraft carrier diplomacy.

Just like AI has been shown to hallucinate it is a moot point as to whether the so-called AI investment boom is also a group or herd like hallucination among humans. FOMO investments can have bubble-bursts.

The knowledge which has pecuniary value relates only to profit. There is little attention paid to altruistic knowledge. To live only for profit and gain is unbalanced. In the eyes of some there may be more to life and living than that. Not everyone agrees.

One could argue that I am an example of how the so-called knowledge economy failed to make use of a resource. It failed. I failed. Either way I am now retired and doing gardening and DIY.

“You lose what you do not use.”

Is an axiom which has perhaps wide applicability. Knowledge which is not applied and practised can no longer be recalled. The edge of its blade becomes blunted by rust. Slowly like an untended path in the woods it becomes overgrown, deserted and before long nobody remembers that it is there or ever was there. As an older person I have seen how scientific knowledge from many decades ago has to be reinvented because people cannot find it so easily in online search engines. Because search engines are now biased to the fee paying advertiser, much knowledge is now lost in far flung unvisited corners of the internet, there to gather spiders and webs.

It is reasonable to assume that whatever knowledge I may have will die with me. That may not be a great loss but it is an example, of how people may talk a good game. But when push comes to shove knowledge is rarely as important as self-promotion. There is nobody queuing up to learn from me. And by now I am too hermit-like to converse.

There is a danger that human evolution, despite all the advances in technology, is taking a backward step towards a new dark age. An age where image and sound-byte becomes a new Goebbels-reality. An age where short snappy mind numbing mantra replace thought and consideration. An age in which metrics and graphs bury substance and worth in cold clammy tombs. Bullet point thinking is not knowledge and not wisdom.

I think popularity and fame have removed knowledge and wisdom from the mantelpiece above our hearths. Shiny, flashy and chav dominate; viral despite COVID remains a term indicative of success.

It may seem strange but I think that the pool of available knowledge is actually shrinking, it is becoming more standardised and subject to peer approval. Loss of diversity is generally bad for ecosystem; it is an indicator of environmental decline.

I think that genuine knowledge is becoming much less important than claimed or asserted knowledge. The tendency is away from the unfathomable and profound towards the safety of the shallows and the common. I suspect that reputation has become more important than knowledge.

Once diversity has been lost it is very hard to replace. Same is not often best. Clone-think tends to be counter-evolutionary.

Once knowledge has been lost it is not easily restored. Value for money seems to be the main arbiter of which knowledge survives and is nurtured. There is a very short term outlook.

Sometimes we are so stubborn, adamant and omniscient that we can only learn through loss.

—–

—

“Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish been caught, and the last stream poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.”

Native American Proverb

—

Are Prophecies Powerful?

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

Insofar as they have a huge hold on the wish-life of human consciousness, yes. They also add spice to the narratives in fiction and cinema. Who has not heard of the four horsemen of the apocalypse? The prophet Higgs foretold a boson which now bears his name, billions of dollars later. The newspaper red tops like to quote the utterings of a blind eastern European woman. We may need to excise and inspect the entrails of an ox. The tea leaves foretold a dark handsome stranger though they did not mention his HIV status.

–

–

People can look to prophetic fulfilment and imagine that they are acting in accord with a pre-ordained destiny if they strive to manifest what they think a prophecy means. How they try to manifest  prophecy may suit their preferences and biases. They may refer to their holy books and say, “God ordained that this was our land”. This as if a human authored text is binding in a court of international law. Proof of authorship my Lord? We can get into arguments as to whose God is bigger, harder, more omniscient and more important. Whose God has shares in Lockheed Martin. Many people have died according to human interpretation as to what God is alleged to have said, wished and desired. One could say that it comes down to whose imaginary friend is the more potent. One may seek to precipitate Armageddon because it was written. One has no idea as to which prophecies people are trying to enact or are perhaps beholden to.

The notion of prophecy and things foretold runs through human history, human imagination and human religion. Were it not for the dreams of the pharaoh and Joseph, the Egyptians would have starved. Foretelling is an attractive notion. People hold prophecies in their religious texts as gospel, literally. There is something otherworldly about prophecy and even the ardent sceptic senses something, a hint of it, wafting on the breeze. Prophecy around the campfire and by candlelight enraptures more, a sophisticated ritual oracle becomes near definitive. The shaman says and so it will be. People may resist the prophecy only for it to manifest verbatim in a totally unlikely and perhaps infeasible way. To doubt prophecy is to spit arrogantly in the eyes of the Fates, to defy the will of Olympus.

Humans may not be as scientific and rational as they profess. Some things run primordial in our veins.

Of course the most powerful prophecies are the secret ones, hidden, far from the eyes of the profane. These secret prophecies are only for the adepts, the in-crowd and the big cheeses. They are written in arcane runic script by the Bards for eyes of their Kings. They are etched in stone and jewel. And these prophecies are often about power and things of global import. They speak to the fate of the planet, of kingdoms and of mankind. The prophecies of climate change are discounted because they lack the shaman’s hocus pocus. They have spectacles and beards, simulations and error bars. They are cold and graphical. Time will tell on the incoming disasters wrought by human folly, the belief that there is always tomorrow. If true the foretold will come around no matter what the nay-sayers wish. It was written and prophesised thus and in peer reviewed journals.

A flavour of the enticing nature of prophecy can be found in The Secret Doctrine.

——————————-

Yet this secrecy and this profound mystery are indeed disheartening, since they alone – the Initiates of India and Tibet – could thoroughly dissipate the thick mists hanging over the history of Occultism, and force its claims to be recognized. The Delphic injunction “Know Thyself”, seems for few in this age. But the fault ought not be laid at the door of the Adepts, who have done all that could be done, and have gone as far as Their rules permitted, to open the eyes of the world. Only while the European shrinks from public obloquy and the ridicule unsparingly thrown on Occultsists, the Asiatic is being discouraged by his own Pandits. These profess to labour under the gloomy impression that no Bija Vidyǎ, no Arhatship (Adeptship), is possible during the Kali Yuga ( the “Black Age”) we are now passing through. Even the Buddhists are taught that the Lord Buddha is alleged to have prophesised that the power would die out in “one millennium after His death”.  But this is an entire mistake. In the Digha Nikǎya the Buddha says:

Hear, Subhadra; The world will never be without Rahats, if the ascetics in my congregations well and truly keep my precepts.

A similar contradiction of the view brought forward by the Brahmans is made my Krishna in the Bhagavd Gita, and there is further actual appearance of many Saddhus and miracle-workers in the past, and even in the present age. The same holds good for China and Tibet. Among the commandments of Tsong-Kha-pa there is one that enjoins the Rahats (Arhats) to make an attempt to enlighten the world, including the “white barbarians”, every century, at a certain specified period of the cycle. Up to the present day none of these attempts have been very successful. Failure has followed failure. Have we to explain the fact by the light of a certain prophecy? It is said that up to the time when Pban-chhen-rin-po-chhe (The Great Jewel of Wisdom) condescends to be reborn in the land of the P’helings (Westerners) and appearing as Spiritual Conqueror (Chom-den-da), destroys the errors and ignorance of the ages, it will be of little use to try to uproot the misconceptions of P’heling Pa (Europe): her sons will listen to no one. Another prophecy declares that the Secret Doctrine shall remain in all its purity in Bhod-yul (Tibet), only to the day that is kept free from foreign invasion. The very visits of Western natives, however friendly, would be baneful to the Tibetan populations. This is the true key to Tibetan exclusiveness.

Page 396, The Secret Doctrine, Volume V, Adyar Edition, (1950), H.P.Blavatsky,

The Theosophical Publishing House, London UK.

 ——————————————————————

Written long ago she writes of Tsongkhapa and the Panchen Lama. The succession in Tibet now of political import after the invasion decades after her writing. Now there are “two” Panchen Lamas and an ageing Dalai Lama.

The problem with prophecy is that political narrative can be adapted to fit and thereby claim provenance. Human resourcefulness remains. The desire to spin and use propaganda is strong and a prophetic belief in supremacy can fuel war and destruction. The crusader set sail to the {un} Holy Land to claim some turf in the name of his God. Imagined Divine right fertilises the soil with blood, bone and sinew. The cleavage of body by sword and munition seems justified in the minds and perhaps hearts of the brutal, punitive and primitive.

Not a lot changes. Humans do the same thing over and over. They may even cite the supposed glory of victorious precedent. It is not very evolved.

The impact of prophecy on human doings and history is profound. So yes, prophecy is powerful. It is also very weird in the magical sense of the word weird. Prophecy is a harbinger of portent. It is a messenger of sorts. Of course all good prophecies need to be vague and to an extent open to interpretation.

These ones always comes true.

Granny Was a Gwrach…

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

–

————————————-

Gwrach y Rhibyn

The legend of the cyhyraeth is sometimes conflated with tales of the Gwrach-y-Rhibyn or Hag of the Mist, a monstrous Welsh spirit in the shape of a hideously ugly woman – a Welsh saying, to describe a woman without good looks, goes, “Y mae mor salw â Gwrach y Rhibyn” (she is as ugly as the Gwrach y Rhibyn) – with a harpy-like appearance: unkempt hair and wizened, withered arms with leathery wings, long black teeth and pale corpse-like features. She approaches the window of the person about to die by night and calls their name, or travels invisibly beside them and utters her cry when they approach a stream or crossroads, and is sometimes depicted as washing her hands there. Most often the Gwrach y Rhibyn will wail and shriek “Fy ngŵr, fy ngŵr!” (My husband! My husband!) or “Fy mhlentyn, fy mhlentyn bach!” (My child! My little child!), though sometimes she will assume a male’s voice and cry “Fy ngwraig! Fy ngwraig!” (My wife! My wife!).

If it is death that is coming, the name of the one doomed to die is supposed to be heard in her “shrill tenor”. Often invisible, she can sometimes be seen at a crossroad or a stream when the mist rises.

Some speculation has been asserted that this apparition may have once been a water deity, or an aspect of the Welsh goddess Dôn. She is the wife of Afagddu, the despised son of Ceridwen and Tegid Foel, in some retellings of the Taliesin myth.

From Wikipedia

—————————————-

If I were to show you the autocorrelation traces of two femtosecond laser pulses on an expensive oscilloscope in a dark laser lab it us unlikely that you would be thinking of the witch, the hag of the mist, Gwrach-y-Rhibyn. The two things do not correlate for most.

A part of my maternal family hails from Snowdonia, the foot of Snowdon,  in North Wales and the family legend has it that at least one of my maternal relatives, a granny of sorts, was a Gwrach, a witch, perhaps a seeress. In that context then there is a chance that I inherited the bloodline and hence the “gift” so to speak. As such it was entirely natural {and perhaps inevitable} that I would be interested in shamanism and shamanic ritual.

Of course in terms of someone able to write Fortan programs to calculate Franck Condon factors for anharmonic oscillator molecular vibronic photon excitations that seems far-fetched.

Contextually the vice versa might apply. Why would a shaman piss about with fancy lasers and science?

In Brittany there remains an interest in {and perhaps practice of} witchcraft. This is no way freaks me out. It is possible the practises here were sourced in the Welsh diaspora arriving. They are of similar roots.

I’ll speculate that a blog post like this would not enhance my promotion prospects were I still institutionalised in science academia.

I have always loved the mist and the fog. I nearly died on The Old Man of Coniston once. I was alone and following crows up a trail in the snow deep into the fog, alone on the mountain. It was exciting. Luckily before I got completely lost in the otherworld, I turned back. I have had much similar fun on Kinder Scout in dense fog. There is something womb-like and enveloping.

Of a still and misty night, when the full moon is partially veiled and you heard a voice at your window calling your name, what would you do.

Could you take secure refuge in the omniscience of your infallible reason?

Or would your blood run cold?

Occam’s Razor and Past Life Recall

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

———————————————————-

Occam’s razor

In philosophy, Occam’s razor (also spelled Ockham’s razor or Ocham’s razor; Latin: novacula Occami) is the problem-solving principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements. It is also known as the principle of parsimony or the law of parsimony (Latin: lex parsimoniae). Attributed to William of Ockham, a 14th-century English philosopher and theologian, it is frequently cited as Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem, which translates as “Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity”, although Occam never used these exact words. Popularly, the principle is sometimes paraphrased as “of two competing theories, the simpler explanation of an entity is to be preferred.”

This philosophical razor advocates that when presented with competing hypotheses about the same prediction and both hypotheses have equal explanatory power, one should prefer the hypothesis that requires the fewest assumptions, and that this is not meant to be a way of choosing between hypotheses that make different predictions. Similarly, in science, Occam’s razor is used as an abductive heuristic in the development of theoretical models rather than as a rigorous arbiter between candidate models.

From Wikipedia

——————————————————————-

Last night we watched a 1997 film called “Contact” with Jodie Foster as the main protagonist among a {now} star studded cast. The special effects were naïve by todays’ standards. The film misused the notion of Occam’s Razor; the simplest explanation was that she did indeed travel to a civilisation near Vega. The film argued that this was too convoluted and did not happen whereas the counter explanation of cunning hoax which was way more convoluted and complicated was acceptable and true to the government. A simple inconvenient truth of interstellar travel was rejected in preference for a hyper-complicated adherence to what normal accepted, science and wisdom insisted.

Rules in science are kept, often way past their sell by date, exceptions and first, second and third order corrections terms are added, one must flog the life out of a dead horse rule. “Science” is so conservative that in worshipping at the temple it does not have to get called up to serve in the IDF. Elvis however did national service.

In the blog under the heading “Reincarnation Themed” in the column to the right are collected a number of dreams which are “Ronseal” dreams. A possible explanation is that elements of past life recall are implicated.

–

–

It might be possible to come up with some convoluted psychological hypothesis as to why I had these dreams, maybe invoke some DSM-5-TR defined criteria for some disorder or syndrome. It could be an act of creative writing on my part. I could have smoked way too many spliffs as a young man or simply be a tin-foil hat wearing rainbow unicorn jockey. I could be whacko the nut-job, from Loony-Ville Alabama.

The simplest explanation is that they contain elements of past life recall. Occam’s razor therefore suggests that this is more likely.

Unfortunately past life recall is not deemed possible by some.

If history teaches us anything it is that things deemed impossible, and adamantly so, can and do prove feasible. Once it was deemed mad to suggest Cholera was a water born disease. History suggests that the prevailing THEY are often wrong yet vehement and assertive. They refuse to accept that they could be in error. Power must not be yielded to plebs and upstarts.

The self-diagnosis by THEY of their own omniscience is rarely a sound diagnosis.

Context and Scale

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

People can be more than a little blinkered when it comes to looking outside of their own context, their own world. At the moment we have an American president viewing everything through the idealised spectacles of what America once was and not giving a shit how the rest of the world views them. If he is trying to sell us the American dream he is failing, all that once was good about Americana is getting tarnished. That old man is doing harm to the image of US of A, he is bad marketing PR for USA plc. He is teaching everyone else to avoid relying on them and depending on them, to make relationships elsewhere. He is reducing their importance.

Maybe he is a visionary. I think he is stuck in some faux-sepia image of a Great America. Times have changed. He is trying to raise it from the dead. Without tariffs “capitalist” America is no longer competitive commercially.

Let’s remake “The Bird Man of Alcatraz”.

Hindsight is often 20:20 but people can be {willingly} blinded if there is something in it for them. With a modern context this image differs from when it was taken.

–

–

People seeking kudos and fame associate with those who might purvey that for them. The single minded can neglect hazard warning lights.

People can get very caught up in their own world unaware that there is a much wider context and a scale which they are completely oblivious of. Their own little world, the relationships and socio-political pecking order are tantamount; the border and boundaries of universe are defined. Like a particle in a box only certain behaviour wavefunctions are allowed. They are confined. It rarely occurs that to an outside eye they might look a bit odd.

–

–

They can be surprised if you even suggest that there is something outside of their “world”.

For quite a while I was closeted in UK science academia and unaware of how the outside world thought and did. Aside from the jibes of my father, “those who can, do, those who can’t, teach!”, I had a fairly naïve view of business.

I’ll suggest that my worlds now extend way beyond that microclimate and that I am appreciative of a much wider set of contexts than I once was. I have a sense of scale which surpasses my mundane existence as a “poor” arthritic retired person.

I know that the previous post in this blog if taken seriously, by those whose world to which it pertains, is a very big deal if true. If I am just a nut job and a dreamer then it is of no import. In one context big, in another irrelevant. Context matters.

There is no way you can advise, warn or help an “omniscient” being to learn, to see a wider perspective. By definition those who think they know a lot are the least willing to accept any new stuff outside of their world, their assimilation of reality. Caught in mundane socio-political advancement games they do not know what harm they are doing to themselves. What karma they are making.

And nobody can help them see. This is because they do not want to see, they already know best.

–

–

If for example you were to find yourself interacting with a Bodhisattva of a certain degree. You could have no idea of the context in which you are interacting nor of the scale of implication of your actions. Chances are you would try to shoe-horn your interaction into your customary context or set of contexts.

I might be able to still have a conversation for a while within the confines of an academic context world-view. I can borrow a trailer from the farm store and bring my sit on tractor-mower to them for repair, highlighting the problem areas on an engineering diagram. I have learned {partially} a new context. The scale of a two acre garden was way bigger than I had first anticipated. I know now.

We all of us learn {hopefully}. A good starting point is to imagine that there are very many things outside of our preferred and well used, dog-eared contexts.

Someone not so long ago told me that the Guardians of the Race did not exist, that there was no such thing as the spiritual hierarchy. He was adamant and insistent.

Clearly it was I, as is so often the case, who is/was in need of education…

Group Control and Decision Making

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

It is not unusual for groups of people to gather together and try to control what an individual outside of that group is doing. They may even have the illusion that said individual is keen or desperate to join their group as per the famous Garry Glitter song about gangs. Groups by their nature have real difficulty seeing and assimilating perspectives outside of the rarefied air of their Olympian group. We Gods know. The group may even believe that they know what is best for the “lucky” individual. Being quasi-corporate they can only see a quasi-corporate “answer” to whatever the imagined problem may be.

–

–

They can get quite complacent if something approaching within-group consensus is found.

The problem is that they can be very mistaken and totally unaware. There is very little one can do when a group has made up its mind. Nietzsche is attributed this quotation.

—-

“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

—-

You can decide for yourself regarding some of the “sanity” currently coming out of the USA.

Groups may consider it sound to offer the lucky person a fait accompli. Having discussed only amidst themselves they may not consider how it might wash with an individual outside. Such a thing happened with the so-called peace efforts expecting Ukraine to suck it up and be grateful. The individual is then blamed and scapegoated for not accepting the divine arrogance of group omniscience.

“That pesky pleb should count his lucky stars!! He should be very grateful!!”

This phenomenon can be found on all sides in academia, industry, business, politics and amongst the righteous “they” down the pub.

Groups do not always make the best and most inclusive decisions because they cannot see outside their own Venn diagram walls. A collection of frogs at the bottom of a well, even though it may agree amongst itself, has not seen a pacific sunset nor has it gone on a silent retreat in the mountains for three years. It might imagine itself more knowledgeable and experienced than it actually is.

Groups with corporate mind always want to deal with other groups in which the socio-political hierarchy is known. They are obsessed with hierarchy and group positions. They struggle with even the notion of a non-affiliated individual. Group to group interaction can be even less inclusive. There are often power struggles and a great deal of negotiation. It is so often about power and preservation of status quo. It is about control.

The object of negotiation can be totally unaware of the blessings, he/she is about to receive.

People are people and the tendency is to do the same shit over and over.

…

The Tendency to Underestimate

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

This tendency can be followed by overreaction and disproportionate over reaction at that. One might point at Pearl Harbour, 9/11 and the recent Hamas attacks. There was underestimation prior in each case. If something catches people unawares it is an act of terrorism if “they”, do it, or an act of cunning if “we”, do it. Placing thousands of indiscriminate pager bombs in Lebanon to maim and kill Hezbollah was “clever” and in no way terrorism… “Terrorism” depends upon which side you are on. The “allies” firebombed Dresden, hardly an altruistic act.

People, countries, who are prone to arrogance tend to underestimate others. I’ll speculate that Trump has made a miscalculation concerning how people feel concerning the USA and his actions in particular. We shall see.

It is possible that people have underestimated me or that they have overestimated me or that they have judged me spot on. I have perceived that from time to time I have surprised people. I have done things which they did not see coming. I may be mistaken. If they had me sussed, they would have foreseen.

The problem with words like underestimate is that they are linked to competition, winning and even conflict. “Never underestimate your opponent”. The estimation is tied up in an oppositional scenario, there is a presupposition, a desire for victory.

When I was a younger man, I thought I knew a lot more than I actually did. I was full of bullshit and prone to evangelising about science, thermodynamics and veganism. I have hindsight now. But back in the thrall then, I was certain and dogmatic. People in the thrall lack a wider awareness. They do not know what is beyond their ken and may be arrogant and conceited about their self-diagnosed omniscience.

–

–

Not so long ago someone “told” me some things about Castaneda and that The Guardians do not exist. He was adamant. As usual I was direly in need of education. People have told me many things. I’ll estimate that in general I get told way more than I am asked. The assumption is perhaps that because I am not a soap-boxing gobshite, I know little or nothing. I do not feel the urge to show off.

I could say that I know no-thing but nobody would understand what I mean by that statement nor get the experience behind it. They would not think to ask what I mean. They might tell me.

People can be markedly unaware as to the extent of what is unknown for them and yet feel entitled to opine thereupon.

I have mentioned the blue books opus in this blog. There may be those that think it to be made up hippy shit. If the contents are real and even quasi-factual then it would be unwise to underestimate the so-called hierarchy, those others call The Guardians of the Race. The Tibetan suggests they differ markedly from Joe Bloggs buying a steak slice at Greggs and from those having a BYOB works event at 10 Downing Street.

–

–

People can pooh-pooh out of arrogance and that can be a miscalculation. There is a tendency to pooh-pooh as a knee jerk reaction which may stem from a sense of entitled complacency.

The Tibetan mentions masters as having taken the fifth initiation, this means that even after they become a nirvani there is work to do. If you have never met a putative awakened Buddha, it might be wise not to slag them off, if only on the off chance that they are real.  It might be good to spread your bets.

But of course, those who are fond of the sound of their own voices, when they find themselves in a bit of a hole, tend to keep on digging. They may be unaware because of their underestimation that they have indeed fallen into a hole, a trap of their own making. Even when someone hands them a spade or a shovel, they may not cotton on to the hole hypothesis. Dig baby dig.

This tendency to underestimate is widespread. It pertains a little to an arrogant sense of entitlement.

“Mr Ghandhi, India is British my good man…”

I have never met a “know-it-all” who actually does.

Perhaps one day if people keep telling me what I am, what I know, what I am thinking, what my motivations are and who I am, I will learn.

Then they will be right…

And I can finally sleep soundly…