Gems
of Wisdom?
Personal Observations about Fundamental Issues
Edwin Lee Rev: 6/04/05
Uncertainty and Perfection
*Fundamentalists so fear the cold reality of an uncertain present that they retreat into idealized pasts, snuggle up to lifeless concepts of perfection and wrap themselves in moldy blankets of absolutes.
*The God who launched, enervates and attracts uncertain evolution is far more awesome than a controlling, micro-managing, deterministic creator described by fundamentalists.
*We have two alternatives: we can live and thrive with uncertainty or we can huddle in a corner, forever waiting to be certain before acting. Our lives express our choice. The big-bang and evolution express God’s choice.
*Playfulness is a joyful embrace of uncertainty.
*The desire for perfection is ultimately the desire for non-existence.
*In order to control (reduce the uncertainty) of
one or more variables in a closed system, we must allow other variables to
fluctuate more wildly. The relentless increase in entropy,
randomness or uncertainty, in closed systems cannot be altered. It
applies to businesses, governments and the process of raising children.
Corollary: You can control some of the things to a limited degree
some of the time. You can’t control everything at any time or anything all
the time. (Apologies to Abraham Lincoln)
*We can experience a moment in one of three ways: joy, pain or boredom. Boredom is the least desirable. It is a form of non-existence. Many choose self-inflicted pain to avoid boredom.
*Life is uncertain. Thank God!
*Perfection sucks! It is boring.
*Failure is not an option: it is an essential.
Miscellaneous
*Philosophy, Science and Theology are straw mothers for Philosophers, Scientists and Theologians.
*The belief that we can (or should) save someone else is a great fallacy and a source of untold harm. (This realization came to me from an alcoholic friend who was in AA and had been sober for over 10 years. He said that when he was drinking, those who tried to help him did the opposite. He took their support and used it to sink lower. One day he looked in the mirror and said “I don’t want to be a drunk anymore.” From that day on, the support of his friends and family was vital to his recovery.) When we attempt to save people in spite of themselves, we take the responsibility for their lives, leaving them with no purpose or value of their own. What arrogance! The best we can do is support people who have chosen to save themselves and are leading their own salvation. It is unfortunate that President Bush doesn’t understand this. If he did, we would not have invaded Iraq to “Save the Iraqi people.” If we did, we would not buy this invasion as a noble idea.
*A democracy is not alive and healthy until it has at least two ex-presidents (prime ministers), from different parties, living in peace as civilians.
*“Term limits” is an essential and healthy management concept. Every leader (including popes) should be faced with many years of life as a civilian, dependent on the organization he or she once led. For business executives this would mean that their incentive compensation would depend on the performance of their organizations after they leave, not on its performance during their tenure. The early Athenians understood the value of term limits. They elected officials to serve for a year and barred them from serving again. In our more complex systems term limits of no more than 10 years should apply to all leadership jobs. Nature has always understood this. Almost all living things have term limits. In fact, most die by assisted suicide!
*To learn requires one to remember something new. To remember something new requires one to forget something else. (This applies both to humans and computers. A blank memory has a pattern. Producing a new pattern requires altering, losing, an existing pattern. In some cases a pattern represents nothing useful.)
*Limiting the life spans of individuals is nature’s way of enabling a species to learn and to adapt.
*A healthy belief is both intense and playful. A fanatic's is intense without playfulness. (Insight came from reading Eric Hoffer’s: The True Believer.)
*Tolerance is nurtured more by playfulness than by knowledge.
*There are three possible relationships between people: malevolent, benevolent and consenting adults. The most degrading of these alternatives is the benevolent relationship, it breeds dependence and passivity in the receiver and self-righteousness in the benevolent party. Malevolence at least breeds a strong desire in one party to change the relationship. Healthy, sustainable, personal or professional relationships can only exist between equals: consenting adults. Such relationships have three characteristics: mutual benefit, competitive alternatives and playfulness.
*Healthy productive people in healthy productive companies have rich personal lives. They are eager to come to work and eager to go home. Each venue nourishes the other rather than sucking out its life blood.
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