by Atticus Atlas | Nov 22, 2021 | Uncategorized

SUMMARY

of

Eve and Adam Through the Looking Glass

Preamble:

Are there ways in which the validity of principles and understandings can be regulated so that we can live better-adjusted lives? Some of the cardinal assumptions that are commonly made about our place in the scheme of things are queried. There is in the appendix a check-list of the innate drives of men and women that influence our systems of thought. They derive more from convenience than objectivity. The oddness of much of what we believe is considered. A reassessment leads on to possible improvements. It applies to a range of topics in private lives and our societies. The practical results can be about faiths, political systems and perceptions of ourselves. None of it is ex cathedra. Ideas are put forward that will not be to the taste of everyone but open-minded thinking is at its core.

It was said of English culture that a man would fight to the death to uphold the right of another to hold principles with which he totally disagreed. This cornerstone of thinking is under attack and it is the hope that this institute in a small way can play its part in helping redress the balance.

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A general run-down of assumptions and instincts gives a snapshot – if a fuzzy one – of a communally shared mental landscape. The heads of these categories include fundamental ideas and the concepts based on them that have effect in the real world. All can be challenged at various points and ideally be made more fit for purpose.

The habit of thinking over matters of relevance to one’s personal life and that of one’s society is to be encouraged. This can be a primary aim of meditation, including the habit of challenging one’s own habits of thinking. Lateral thinking, rumination, care in coming to conclusions, peace of mind, and more, are part of the mix that makes of reflection an activity of value.

Many of the inmost drives of men and women are taken for granted and taken as read without considering the interlocking ideas that must lie behind conclusions manifested in systems of belief, whether in religion, spirituality, politics or daily life. What is this basic thinking; why can it tend to make for skewed not objective conclusions? Once a sufficient list of human characteristics or traits is itemised – which is not often done – and seen in aggregate for what it is, a re-evaluation of beliefs is more within reach.

The latest findings of science can affect some of our beliefs.

Eve and Adam Through the Looking Glass is also about Practical Wisdom, a goal increasingly needed today. Pointers, rather than encyclopaedic analysis, to the way forward are proposed, some as pilot schemes.

This journey of ideas is accessible,and open to all. It lauds common sense and makes for personal contentment.

A brake applied to an autopilot journey may prevent us haring off into darker passageways of thinking and codes of behaviour. A winnowing, clarifying process is recommended before construction of theories built on more solid foundations. Many ways in which we think individually and as a society are taken for granted or not fully appreciated. It is a painstaking job to identify and evaluate them, a job that normally goes by default. Who ventures on such a project? The barrack rooms are stuffed with lawyers flexed to gum up every inch along the way.

Time spent on reflection should be encouraged in these stressful, speeded up days. The mentality for it can enhance practical wisdom, a quality to be prized. It can help identify realistic plans and reshape behaviour patterns and much besides in line with worthwhile purposes of society, and the way we live our own lives.

What not to do… Chuck in the towel before one gets going.

Proposed alterations in thinking and habits may be marginal but from acorns do oak trees grow. Some ideas are well known, some are controversial. It is hard to know in advance who will think what about which of them. No overall theory needs to be embraced but an idea here and there may twitch an antenna. An angel can be in a detail. In a detail can be the kernel of a big idea which needs only exposition and reflection to light up a whole landscape. The journey is more important than any arrival in a scary cul-de-sac. We can lose our way if we don’t know where we are going. Observations en route about life may be signposts to help reorient stragglers.

This excursus can be a fun ride or a useful intellectual adventure or both. Questions rather than answers are par for a course in a quest to try and unravel a riddle in a blur. It is less a blueprint for action than a possible ingredient in the thinking of people in the engine rooms that make society tick. It is a spot of spring-cleaning so as to buff up some of the mustier niches in our minds, even turn them into vitrines.

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