Integrate the Strange

        Throughout my life I have enjoyed playing football. I remember playing smear the queer with the Caballos family down the street. We'd start playing in their yard and Casey would bring his brother from across the street to play. Soon we had 5-10 kids tackling each other in the front yard. There were many a time where a score was settled by playing this game. Many a times there was beef generated by playing this game. Overall, I think, this game brought us together. Regardless of what one might think of the name of this game, in my opinion, the game is aptly named.
       Removing all sexual connotations from the word "queer" you come to a basic understanding of the  purpose of such a game. Anything outstanding gets hammered. Simple and straight forward. I'm sad this game went away because it taught me an important lesson in life that I had struggled with after this point. I say taught but, in retrospect, I continue to learn its nuances now. It's important to make oneself part of a group and to face repercussions for derivation from that group cohesion. I remember many a times where I was the object of these repercussions. To explain this, I'll need to explain the rules a bit.
Smear the Queer:
       1. The person with the ball gets tackled by anyone not with a ball.
       2. Once down, the person with the ball stands up and cannot move.
       3. He/She then throws the ball at someone of their choosing.
       4. Goto step #1.
The social aspect of the game is absolutely where the fun comes in. We usually played this game once or twice a week. This means that all the beef you've accumulated throughout the school week can be settled right then and there. Sometimes you volunteer to be first so you can throw it to someone you know avoids getting the ball at all costs but still wants to be a part of the group. I know what you're thinking right now. "This guy just wants to ostracize people from his own group and establish group dominance."
That's a hard no, bud.
       The purpose is to "smear" the "queer". Let's think of this in a somewhat-metaphysical context. The purpose of this game was to bring people closer together by addressing the strangeness of each individual vicariously through a simple child's game of tackle the person that is most strange to you. It's not that we wanted to keep the strange out but quite the opposite. We want to keep the strange in. This strangeness that each individual has is their contribution to the strength of the group. Sometimes we don't understand our own greed masking itself as self-consciousness as we recede into our own little bubble out of fear. This game, in essence, smears the strangeness of each individual into the group in a process that integrates that strangeness into the group. I can attest to the feeling that, when you have that football, you don't feel unwanted.

Fast forward.

       Above is a picture of myself and my mother at an All-Star football game. I ended up being quite successful in my endeavors. I could have continued on my path into college. In fact, I was speaking with a football team in Chadron, NE. A team that hosted a summer training camp every year and I attended this training camp every year. They offered me a partial scholarship. So why didn't I go? Why didn't I take the Heroes journey?

Some part of me wants to place blame on something.

 Maybe I was overzealous to have a love of my own.

Maybe I just wanted to be admired

To be wanted

Maybe I'm a fool

       I can't place blame on any one of these things. I can't even list all of the factors that could possibly have had an impact upon my decision to be strange. To lead a life that was full of heartbreak.

I know I wouldn't trade any of it away because this experience is worth every single rip and tear.

Lyrics

Here from the king's mountain view

Here from the wild dream come true

Feast like a sultan I do

On treasures and flesh, never few.

But I, I would wish it all away.

If I thought I'd Lose you just one day.

The devil and his had me down,

in love with the dark side I'd found.

Dabble in all the way down

up to my neck soon to drown.

But you changed that all for me.

Lifted me up, turned me round.

Wish this all away

Prayed like a father dusk to dawn.

Beg like a hooker all night long.

Tempted the devil with my song.

And got what I wanted all along.

Wish it away,

Wish it away,

Wish it all away,

Wanna wish it all away,

No prize that could hold sway,

Or justify my giving away,

So if I could I'd wish it all away.

If I thought tomorrow would take you away.

You're my peace of mind, my home, my center.

I'm just trying to hold on,

One more day.

Dim my eyes...

Dim my eyes...

Dim my eyes if they should compromise

our fulcrum wants and needs divide me then

I might as well be gone.

Shine on forever.

Shine on benevolent sun.

Shine down upon the broken.

Shine until the two become one.

Shine on forever.

Shine on benevolent sun.

Shine on upon the severed.

Shine until the two become one.

Divided I'm withering away.

Divided I'm withering away.

Shine on upon the many, light our way

Benevolent sun.

Breathe in union.

Breathe in union.

Breathe in union.

Breathe in union.

Breathe in union.

So as one survive.

Another day and season.

Silence legion, save your poison.

Silence legion, stay out of my way.

Critique of Hume's skeptical solution in regards to Salmon's worry

It is my claim that the naturalized epistemology interpretation of Hume’s skeptical solution adequately answers Salmon’s worry and, through my own interpretation, justifies the “serious gap”. I will do this by explaining what the “gap” could be, how this “gap” plays an important role in explaining how understanding works and why it is not an indication of irrationality.

    A successful inductive argument justifies its conclusion only if we are independently justified in accepting the principle of the uniformity of nature or PUN. The principle in question infers that there are inherently two sides to all things. Anybody can accept that there exists an up and down, forward and back, light and dark, limited and unlimited, odd and even, one to many, male and female, resting and moving, straight and curved. In geometry a line is defined by two points or two circles(Lundy, p. 14). Even in physics with hot and cold, entropy and order, positive and negative charges, the PUN stands. My claim has 3 stanzas: One, principles of the uniformity of nature can be justified by supporting it with deductive claims and are not solely dependent upon inductive claims, two, the PUN still stands but understanding is gained when supplemented by deductive claims and , finally, that Salmon’s worry is unfounded because the “gap” is merely the expansion of human capacity to learn and is not an indication of irrationality.

When considering the merits of inductive processes, it is paramount to understand what we are saying.

The very nature of the word induction contains the in-prefix. This prefix alludes to the negative, or opposite, form of another. For example; indecisive, inadequate, inexpensive and inorganic. This means there must be something to be compared with.

The word deduction contains the de-prefix. This alludes to the necessity of a precluding entity. Words like; derive, decompose, define, deregulate. These words infer that we; not, do the opposite of or undo. The word is constructed to be related to another word. This seems, to me, to be heavy nod to my previous statement about dualism being a PUN.

Thus our language has an effect upon our logical precession of exploring the merits of inductive reasoning based upon principles of the uniformity of nature. What is this opposite to which the prefix “in” in induction alludes to? The only opposite to which makes logical sense in this context is the process of deduction. The twoness of these words point at each other and are seemingly diametrically opposed. So it is my argument that inductive processes hold no merit unless held up to the light of deductive processes and vise versa.

Keeping in mind the reference inductive and deductive processes have with one another, let’s explore why there seems to be such a gap between the two processes. It is natural for us to make an object of the other when considering the merits of one. We place ourselves on opposite sides of this coin to evaluate the other side. ‘It is there, other, that not this, and essential as a basis for comparison, the method by which our minds know things’(Lundy, p. 14), we fall into the same inductive cycle of logic. The presupposition that the two are separate. The idea that these two methods can hold up on their own is ludicrous. We depend upon these two methods in order to expand our selves. This is the very mechanism to which we obtain knowledge. In this sense, empirical knowledge does arise from a way of life (custom and habit) but does follow a set of rules. Habits and customs in this case being empirical methods/findings and the rules of logic linking our findings, through deduction, to ourselves or the one.

Just as a telescope can see further as its diameter gets larger, so too does our capacity for knowledge work. As we gain more knowledge, our ability to analyze an idea by taking opposing positions grows. Creating a vast gap between our inductive analysis and our deductive analysis. The larger the cavern is the more certain we become of what is or isn’t true.

Thus, the “gap” remains in a not so serious manner but a useful one. The claim that science has no ground on which to maintain its cognitive superiority to any form of irrationality, however repugnant, holds true. In that, cognitive superiority does not come from the results or methods of science but from how well science can link empirical findings with deductive findings. Science does not have a monopoly on this method or rationality. Sometimes irrationally linking two inductive statements to the point of contradicting itself. Spending more time analyzing its own empirical findings without attempting to link them to deductive ones.

Just as quantum mechanics can tell us things about astronomy, so too can astronomy tell us things about quantum mechanics. Without bridging the gap between the two, we can still learn things about one or the other. To imply that the very large and the very small operate on different rules would be irrational and allude to the lack of the uniformity of nature.

Sources:

Lundy, M. (n.d.). Quadrivium (Vol. 1). New York, NY: Bloomsbury USA. - PAGE 14

Expansion of the Self

Bertrand Russell has been quoted saying, “All acquisition of knowledge is an enlargement of the self.” What Sir Russell means by this statement? The act of seeking after knowledge expands what the self is capable of doing. For this to make sense let’s consider what it means to know something, what it means to acquire knowledge and, finally, what it means for the self to enlarge and how that pertains to Socrates’ statement “Wisdom is knowing that you know nothing”.

In order to know that something is true there must be a balance between estimations and opinions. What I mean by estimations would be based upon what would be considered temporal laws of science or mathematics. When our estimations coincide with our opinions we could say that is knowledge. Acquiring this knowledge means moving through contradiction or admitting that our estimations or our opinions must be wrong. Russell understood that our opinions can have an effect on our findings such that our estimations fall subservient to opinions. He refers to this trap of subservience as prejudice. Prejudice occurs when an opinion is used as a starting point and is subsequently backed up by estimations supporting that opinion. This can be referred to as an ontological perspective.

An important word to pay attention to in Sir Russell's statement is “acquisition”. He isn’t saying that all knowledge enlarges the self. On the contrary, the majority of what we would call knowledge today would have no relevance elsewhere. That is to say, without context, most of this knowledge is useless.

The problem confronted by the seeker, when applying new knowledge, arises when new strong estimations are found but there is no context in which to relate the information. These estimations (even if the doubter would be hard pressed to counter-balance the validity of these estimations) fail to aid in the acquisition of knowledge as there is no clear grounds by which the opinion of the receiver can relate to the new estimations.

For example, “There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand making up all the beaches of the world. And yet, there are more atoms in a single grain of sand than stars in the universe.” Although this statement is relatively true and seems to enlarge the self, it provides no avenue in which would allow the receiver of this knowledge to apply it to their own lives.

So let’s say that knowledge alone isn’t enough for the enlargement of self to occur. But, instead, through the act of acquiring knowledge, the enlargement can take place. Enlargement of the self is dependent upon the knowledge with respect to context and its acquisition helps us form an opinion as to it’s use.

    The enlargement of self could  be correlated to intelligence. The more knowledge that is acquired, the more intelligent the self becomes. The expansion of the self could be described in terms of how intelligence can be applied to both the internal and external world. A possible way to measure this would be the rate by which current possible freedom of action correlates to future freedom of action. In other words, the more knowledge I acquire, the more possible futures are available to me. Without acquiring knowledge my actions are limited to common knowledge or tradition.

    With this in mind let us consider the example of Socrates. He is known for professing that he himself knows nothing. But I don’t think that this means he would have a small self. I think he fully understands that knowledge alone isn’t enough for the enlargement of the self to occur. His ultimate goal, knowing that he knows nothing, is an attempt to remove any prejudice he might possess for the value of the knowledge he seeks after. In his case he has shown by his actions that acquiring knowledge from a multitude of different sources is highly beneficial in the expansion of the self. This also means he is not afraid to be wrong and, as we have discussed earlier, this aids in formulating new estimations and opinions. Thus expanding his ideas of what is possible and therefore enlarges the self in the process.

No time like the present

Walk with me
Show me your vision
Dare to be
No need for precision
Our thoughts can be
free of decision
No vacancy like a prison
Nowhere our minds can't run
Be here with me
Love can fill the silence that you feel
It begs the question "What is real?"
What's behind the emotion we conceal?
What ailments would they heal?
I want you to know
The thing that kills my mind is fear of being alone.
Can't forget the things you've shown me
I won't pretend they don't control me.
So this is my plea.
Be here with me.
Where our minds are free.
I can't believe I feel this way.
I want to be a star in your play.
Ever since that first day you took my breath away.

Truth

Truth is an alluding entity.
Our search for it continues to be a long and sinuous road.
But it is not often enough we truly ask ourselves "What is truth?"
Not only is its definition illusive but those moments where everything clicks into place as events in past, present and future align like colors in a kaleidoscope is so fleeting that remembering it becomes near impossible. In these moments you need no assurance that these truths are.

Orbiting stars

Be patient
I must keep reminding myself of this
Instant gratification like vines in the underbrush.
Ego met with mindlessness
Shaking hands with his super
Their grip so strong when comfortably numb
I shake uncontrollably as my energy is blocked
Vibrations becoming violent
Thought turning towards darkness
I call out of the pervading darkness
Pleading with the light to illuminate my soul
"I would walk in the light! O' Creator! O' Universe!
Dispel these dark shadows of the mind.
Guide my minds eye towards the light.
Let my shadow always fall behind me."
O' that I were made of mirrors! That I may fill my world with light.
To be a beacon among beacons.

Yet, as I look inside to find the source of shadow of which my mind fights. To pay it in kind for the sadness it brought me,
I think of the eons of time wasted remembering the times and how else I would have faced them. Recalling the things it had taught me. You must have a plan that expects derivation. Accomplishment comes through focus and meditation.

So when gratification walks by with an innocent twinkle in her eye,
just give her a wink and a sigh and know, under smile, there's a lie.
The lie is yours and that's why you're stricken.
She could be yours and your heart starts to quicken. Do I swoop in now or do I abide my time? I'd go with patience, losing is no crime.
So rather than only living for now, I'll continue to drop sweat from my brow. Hoping some day, some way, somehow, I could be yours when the time is right. Opportunity presenting, O' resistance I'd fight. Until days turn cold and out rolls the night,
I return to your warmth and eyes so bright.
To share with you what drives me so and speculate on where and when we'll go. What we want, what we need and how to distinguish the two.
Finding peace and calm after what we've been through. How grateful I am that I have you.
To strive for, to live for
In everything I do.
I hope these words, for you, ring true.
And those words are, "I love you!"

A new hope

Saying goodbye.
Sometimes easily done.
Most of the time hard.
The idea of saying it to you makes me shake.
Soul shattered with sorrow.
That I didn't say goodbye, at first.
Then a thought drove it deeper.
I never told you that I love you.
Knowing that you knew I meant it.
That I could see your face when I told you.
As this realization flooded my soul,
other beautiful people throughout my life flashed before my minds eye.
My entire body now flooded with an overwhelming sense of sorrow and gratitude.
Making me feel more alive than I've felt in years.
I want you to know that, although our paths might seem separate, I will always remember you.
These memories will always fill my soul with light.
I will forever carry hope that we will meet again.

With Love,

Jon Archibald