On The Fable Of Christmas

The Fable of Christmas

“Wise men see outlines, and therefore draw them. Mad men see outlines and therefore

draw them” -- William Blake. All of epistemology begins with the drawing of distinctions. The whole of art, science, and the jesters world evolves around juxtaposition of ones distinctions. In the world of science Wittegenstein & Betrand Russell's attempt of doing away with recursive statements (self referential statements) was an attempt to avoid paradox in scientific axioms. It appears thanks to our language, where they failed our world of social sciences succeeded. Von Neumann once commented that someone needs to provide a fiction for behavioral sciences that would work like the elegant fiction upon which physics was built, its Newtonian particle. Rather than recursive networks with feedback structures, our daily language has led us down the path of causal relations. The idea of binary thought, either/or, good/bad, Dionysian/Apollonian, imagination/rigor, black/white, strong/weak, kindness/ruthlessness. This form of thinking has been pathological and has left a wake of figure eights and us chasing our own tail. We look for “kindness”, “ruthlessness”, “good”, “bad” as concrete objects. Neither one exists as they are but a figment of our imagination. The decadence of human thought, building a bridge to the wrong side of the epistemological river may seem frivolous at the seams but a closer look will show the perils we have built for ourselves. Ignoring paradoxes ad absudum: Take the life of the average person living in the first world. “Obesity” (The sickness attributed to accumulation of excessive fat from good living) has become a serious problem. Gyms and fitness studios, sport equipment makers charge as much as $5000 USD for treadmill exercise equipment. One recognizes another as unhealthy if they have gained weight. On the other side of the globe, a place considered by many as primitive (The Third world Countries), a person is considered healthy based on their weight and size. Fat people are not “obese” but very healthy. They have the money to buy food. Numerous images flash across First world country T.V Screens (Germany, UK, USA, Canada) of pictures from children dying of starvation in Ethopia, Somalia and large parts of Africa. But the world moves on. Or the average amount donated to third world countries. The US Department of Defense has estimated the U.S Military spending for 2004 at about 390 Billion Dollars, rising to projected 400 Billion Dollars in 2005. Compare this with the maximum (after much congressional debate) of 5 Billion USD being given to third world countries to alleviate poverty. The idea of heaven someplace in the sky and Hell some place down below, filled with heat of inexhaustible proportions is an extension of the either/or distinction. Yet if one were to show you the life led by a crowned prince, or a member of the Forbes 500 richest families in relation to that of a third world country's starving kid, or one suppressed by religious beliefs, tortured for his political ideologies you end up with the view that heaven and hell exists on earth.

Religion! The Christians think they possess the only correct faith. Asked about Moslems they merely tolerate having them around. Ask the Moslems and they will tell you they “know” all Christians are sinners. Take the Jewish and you will hear the orthodox Jewish rabbi tell you theirs is the only true way. They are the chosen ones. According to the “Jehovah's witness” at the end of time, they are the only ones going to be saved. Accordingly the Catholics, Protestants, Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, Jewish, Moslems are all sinners! A common element connects this pathology. The idea of one being in possession of the “ultimate truth”. That either/or ideology. Elucidate events committed by terrorists. They believe they are martyrs. Upon Dieing the kingdom of heaven is supposedly open to them. They gain a V.I.P pass. What leads one to such insanity. The same pathology connects all of them. Amazingly on a second level of abstraction they are connected by the same higher laws. “Love for one another, Kindness to one another, etc). Financial traders and Market speculators are another example. The field of battle is filled with the bones of Fundamentalists (Graham & Dod) verses Technicians. The technical analysts, chartists, neural network traders consider Fundamentalists as just that. Theoretical traders not worth a cent. Fundamentalists look at Chartists as Voodoo participants. Amazingly I have yet to meet a pure fundamentalists or Chartists that became rich with this single frame of reference. Pim Fortuyn of the Netherlands, Jean Marie Le Pen of France, Ronald Schill “Judge Merciless” of Germany, Austria's Jorg Haider, Belgium's Vlaams Blok and the list goes on learn t one lesson that the rest of the world never quite got from the famous movie The third man. ... “In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock”... That speech was not quite right. Switzerland showed also by closing its borders and preventing immigration its citizens could enjoy in relation to the rest of the world a much higher standard of living equitable to paradise. The average swiss citizen considers himself a humanitarian, a liberal and will swear to the motto “Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar.” Yet after donating SF 500 to some cause in Bosnia, Somalia etc he or she will be the first to rally behind the likes of the above named groups. Pim Fortuyn of the Netherlands had a huge following for his anti immigration policies. Likewise does Jean Marie Le Pen of France, Jorg Haider of Austria, “Judge Merciless” of Germany etc The common slogans for their cause is “imported unemployment”, “imported crime”. These words take on meanings of their own. They cease to be relations and become tangible objects. Neither the Atheist, Catholics, the Anglicans, the Jewish, the Moslems or the “Jehovah wittinesses are right. Neither those for or those against immigration are right. Neither those considered “good” or those considered “bad” exist. This dichotomy is flawed. It is tantamount to saying the dollar is very weak. A trader will right away ask relative to what? The Euro, The Yen, please elucidate? The above topics are not symmetrical opposites as our language will have us believe but complementaries of each other.

To escape the pathologies created by our thought process we require metaphors. None other brings this home than the metaphor of Christmas. Rich or poor, sick or healthy, young or old one relates to the metaphor of Christmas. The idea of humility/exaltation, King/Servant, Filled with Richness/ Yet Born in a stable, etc. Freud's solution of Creatura/Pleroma (Land of distinction/ Land of the infinite no distinction), abducted by Gregory Bateson to explain recursive complementaries as opposed to causal explanations failed to gain ground among the common man's ways of thought, but a metaphor so simple, so vastly practiced every 25th of December brings home the best of human epistemology. A meta pattern connecting rich/poor, powerful/weak, King/Carpenter, etc. Jesus the bible tells us had both. Wise men see outlines and therefore draw them. Mad men see outlines and therefore draw them. We should pay heed to how we draw these outlines. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Shawn Las Vegas, 25th December 2003