Kibosh Puttings On

I’ve been thinking about not trying to think so much lately. Trying to limit the overthinking. Put the kibosh on it if you will and I know you and you my friend enjoy you some kibosh puttings on. But this got  me thinking about my overthinking and who am I to say I am overthinking? What if I am thinking just the right amount or maybe even not enough? What if the kibosh doesn’t need to be put on? What if the thinking needs to be dialed up a bit, maybe to 11? What if just thinking about overthinking is a tell-tale sign you aren’t thinking enough? Dammit! I just want to know if I’m thinking the right amount but I have to think about it to think about which makes me think about it. 

Help me, please, stuck here, need help, quick!

Operations That Reduce The Difference

In How The Mind Works, Steven Pinker writes:

“Intelligence, then, is the ability to attain goals in the face of obstacles by means of decisions based on rational (truth-obeying) rules. The computer scientists Allen Newell and Herbert Simon fleshed this idea out further by noting that intelligence consists of specifying a goal, assessing the current situation to see how it differs from the goal, and applying a set of operations that reduce the difference.”

Are we setting any goals to reduce violence?

Yazoo Piggly Wiggly

In addition to being an atheist, I am also an amoralist or as some say, a moral nihilist. It’s not as bad as it sounds. I follow laws, I treat people and animals well (as well as can be expected for an omnivore), I drive defensively and follow traffic laws (which is more than I can say for many, many other drivers in the northeastern U.S.). Sure, I had a few scrapes as a kid and even a few in my mid-twenties but I have never been arrested and have only received a few speeding tickets. So I am a lot like you when it comes to behavior in most regards. But if you are not a moral nihilist (or a moral relativist) you believe that there is an objective moral measure of actions/behaviors. In short, some deeds are wrong and some are right. 99% of the time this doesn’t matter one iota because we have (here in the US anyway) a legal system that, to an extent, manages morality for us. The difference for me is that there is no ultimate or objective source of morality – no god to say this is right, period and this is wrong, period. Do this, don’t do that, per god. The Coen brothers had some amoral fun with this in the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? On the lam after escaping prison Delmar and Pete get baptized and Delmar is touting his absolution when Everett points out the grey area between god and the law:

DELMAR

Well that's it boys, I been redeemed!

The preacher warshed away all my

sins and transgressions. It's the

straight-and-narrow from here on out

and heaven everlasting's my reward!

EVERETT

Delmar what the hell are you talking

about? - We got bigger fish to fry-

DELMAR

Preacher said my sins are warshed

away, including that Piggly Wiggly I

knocked over in Yazoo!

EVERETT

I thought you said you were innocent

a those charges.

DELMAR

Well I was lyin' - and I'm proud to

say that that sin's been warshed

away too!  Neither God nor man's got

nothin' on me now! Come on in, boys,

the water's fine!

(later…)

PETE

The preacher said it absolved us.

EVERETT

For him, not for the law! I'm

surprised at you, Pete. Hell, I gave

you credit for more brains than

Delmar.

DELMAR

But there were witnesses, saw us

redeemed!

EVERETT

That's not the issue, Delmar. Even

if it did put you square with the

Lord, the State of Mississippi is

more hardnosed.

So like I say 99% of the time, my amorality won’t be an issue, won’t cross with your moral objectivity. But when you think about it, when you really think about it, Delmar has got a point. So heaven is by far the most important goal is it not? What can possibly trump heaven? How can Mississippi, as Everett states, be more hard-nosed than the requirements for eternal bliss? One can be square with the lord but not a state? When did state or federal governments enter the pantheon of moral fiber such as to usurp god’s place in judging humans? Isn’t this putting the cart before the horse? Don’t laws flow from morality and not the other way round? See, I told you they had fun with it.

So for me, human laws are the ones that really matter and as anyone who’s lived on this planet for more than four years knows, humans are endlessly fallible. Henceforth, our laws are fallible. Our ability to follow laws, be ethical, do the dishes, or to prevent the Broncos from driving 98 yards in 1987: all fallible. But if we’re all fallible and realize said fallibility, then we are all on the same page: not some appealing to god and others not. And there is a lot, a huge amount actually, to being on the same page. Good rulers know and have known the importance of standardization.  Deciding what a pound is or an acre is puts everyone on the same page, whether you are farming an acre, buying an acre, or selling an acre. Our so called objective morality is nothing but a stab at standardization – a stab at getting everyone on the same page. It’s the process, the steps to get there that actually end up throwing a wrench in the system. Instead of appealing to just the importance of standardization and trusting in this (and a leviathan or state to enforce said standardization) some folks said no no no, we need some more muscle if we really want this to stick. Let’s not only tie it to this life (laws) but let’s also tie it to everlasting life and instead of this-life or earthly enforcement, let’s enforce via eternal salvation or eternal damnation. That should get these people to straighten up and fly right. Hmm, we’re going to have to codify some things from the almighty. Hmm what to codify, how to communicate messages from an unearthly being to earthly beings? Hmm…
 History is nothing if not proof that this little effort failed at a grotesque level and actually did more harm than good. So again as Nietzsche said “human, all too human” but at least we’re all in this amoral world together and can make it better or at least more manageable on a day to day basis just by accepting our very fallible standardization – perfection isn’t the goal, consistency and not getting murdered for thinking the wrong thing is.

Memoir Excerpt

Surely there was a time I felt content and secure, you ask. I am not so sure. For one, George Carlin was right: security is an illusion. The world isn’t safe…at all. It is an amoral globe stockpiled with physical and mental threats at every corner and at every time of day. Just go to google news if you doubt me. So while safety and security are out the window, contentedness is not and contentedness is what allows us to deal with our amoral world. I’ve been content. I have immensely enjoyed hot baths after twenty mile runs with a Sunday crossword perched on a clipboard hovering over steaming water; I have melted into my bed after sensuous, passionate, exhausting sex with a beautiful woman; I have quietly cried looking on in awe as my children do the most mundane things – finding the sublime in their development; I have been lost in thought, lost in music, lost in philosophy and history, lost between six strings on a Gibson Les Paul and not caring if I got back; I have…been content. So why am I not self-actualized and why is life exponentially harder for me than it is for…others? Why am I waiting for the other foot to fall, waiting to be insulted, waiting to be hurt, waiting to be considered less than, waiting for them to talk behind my back? Why? Did I not have positive influences? Am I analytical to a fault, thinking there are no heroes and no monsters? Leaving everyone, human, all too human, as Nietzsche supposed? Is this the cause for my outlook on life? Were all of my influences negative? Perhaps my outlook on my childhood needs to jettison the rose-colored glasses in favor of some reality tinted shades? Nope. There are no monsters. My parents were human, doing the best they could. That may seem tautologous and it may ring like a platitude but in this context, realizing my parents’ humanness and my childhood as something other than pure negativity capable of producing only dysfunction and abnormality is more than wishful thinking; it is all that is the case and it means everything. It is the everything that puts me right here right now…a man trying to keep it together, trying to get the most out of what he has, trying to be more, trying to be a good husband and father…but battling his nature and nurture…a nature and nurture that can’t be overcome, only reconciled…and that too, is everything.

Osbourne Cox: Some clown, or two clowns, have gotten a hold of my memoirs.
Katie Cox: Your what?
Osbourne Cox: Stolen it, or I don't know...
Katie Cox: Your what?
Osbourne Cox: My memoirs, the book I'm writing.
Katie Cox: Well why in God's name would anyone think that's worth anything?

Exhibit A

Going to plant a seed for you dear blogger readers.

Two words.

Very important words.

All I need are these two words, to turn your world, upside down.

And no the two words, are not upside down. Though that is clever.

No, the two words (drum roll) are…

abstract and arbitrary.

ab·stract

adjective

adjective: abstract

abˈstrakt,ˈabˌstrakt/

1.      1.

existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence.

"abstract concepts such as love or beauty"

synonyms:		theoretical, conceptual, notional, intellectual, metaphysical, ideal, philosophical, academic; rareideational "abstract concepts"
antonyms:	actual, concrete

o    dealing with ideas rather than events.

"the novel was too abstract and esoteric to sustain much attention"

o    not based on a particular instance; theoretical.

"we have been discussing the problem in a very abstract manner"

o    (of a word, especially a noun) denoting an idea, quality, or state rather than a concrete object.

"abstract words like truth or equality"

o    of or relating to abstract art.

"abstract pictures that look like commercial color charts"

synonyms:		nonrepresentational, nonpictorial "abstract art"
antonyms:	representational

verb

verb: abstract; 3rd person present: abstracts; past tense: abstracted; past participle: abstracted; gerund or present participle: abstracting

abˈstrakt/

1.      1.

consider (something) theoretically or separately from something else.

"to abstract science and religion from their historical context can lead to anachronism"

2.      2.

extract or remove (something).

"applications to abstract more water from streams"

synonyms:

extract, isolate, separate, detach "he abstracted the art of tragedy from its context"

o    used euphemistically to say that someone has stolen something.

"his pockets contained all he had been able to abstract from the apartment"

o    withdraw.

"as our relationship deepened you seemed to abstract yourself"

3.      3.

make a written summary of (an article or book).

"staff who index and abstract material for an online database"

synonyms:

summarize, précis, abridge, condense, compress, shorten, cut down, abbreviate, synopsize; rareepitomize "we'll be abstracting material for an online database"

noun

noun: abstract; plural noun: abstracts; noun: the abstract

ˈabˌstrakt/

1.      1.

a summary of the contents of a book, article, or formal speech.

"an abstract of his inaugural address"

synonyms:

summary, synopsis, précis, résumé, outline, abridgment, digest, summation; wrap-up "an abstract of her speech"

2.      2.

an abstract work of art.

"a big unframed abstract"

3.      3.

that which is abstract; the theoretical consideration of something.

"the abstract must be made concrete by examples"

Origin

Middle English: from Latin abstractus, literally ‘drawn away,’ past participle of abstrahere, from ab- ‘from’ + trahere ‘draw off.’

ar·bi·trar·y

ˈärbəˌtrerē/

adjective

adjective: arbitrary

1.      based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system.

"his mealtimes were entirely arbitrary"

synonyms:		capricious, whimsical, random, chance, unpredictable; More casual, wanton, unmotivated, motiveless, unreasoned, unsupported, irrational, illogical, groundless, unjustified; personal, discretionary, subjective "an arbitrary decision"
antonyms:	reasoned, rational

o    (of power or a ruling body) unrestrained and autocratic in the use of authority.

"arbitrary rule by King and bishops has been made impossible"

synonyms:		autocratic, dictatorial, autarchic, undemocratic, despotic, tyrannical, authoritarian, high-handed; More absolute, uncontrolled, unlimited, unrestrained "the arbitrary power of the prince"
antonyms:	democratic

o    Mathematics

(of a constant or other quantity) of unspecified value.

Origin

late Middle English (in the sense ‘dependent on one's will or pleasure, discretionary’): from Latin arbitrarius, from arbiter ‘judge, supreme ruler,’ perhaps influenced by French arbitraire .

Morality, like measurement, is an abstraction we kooky humans, superimpose upon the world. Feet or meters or yards or minutes or seconds don’t exist in nature. If you can’t sense it, it’s abstract and you have never, ever, yes you, sensed a yard or a second.

Ah but measurements sure are valuable to us kooky humans. Ah, quantity how we love you. Quantify this quantify that, measure this measure that…we love it.

But, can we say the same about morality?

Not so much. History is nothing if not Exhibit A for the trial of moral objectivity. Right and wrong are as relative as Uncle Chester, and none of us like Uncle Chester, but dammit he’s kin, so we keep him around.

Morality is arbitrary, another whim we superimpose upon the world but without the value of measurement.

In fact, it might be time to jettison this arbitrary, relative, nonsense in favor of some good old cogitatin’.

Who’s with me?!