At birth, my mother's obstetrician told her I was the smartest baby he had ever delivered. A bit of a difficult birth, the obstetrician used forceps to pull me out as I kept trying to go back in. The obstetrician reasoned I knew where I came from, one with everything, is obviously a better place than where most of us go after birth; lives apart and separate from the infinite....
"Why is everybody now so interested in artificial intelligence, it's been around for over a hundred years." Joe likely is referring to superficial intelligence which has been around since 1905 when the first IQ tests were offered. While IQ and related tests have been good predictors (as have high school grades) of future success in school, success in school reflects conformity of thought (thinking like test writers and teachers who determine grades) and the ability to delay gratification (doing schoolwork instead of goofing off). Real intelligence can only be identified by life choices and outcomes over time; those that prove to be most fun and of least regrets. But that's more a function of wisdom and luck than intelligence....
"The best is the enemy of the good." That which we perceive as the best distracts us from appreciating that which we perceive as good. However, the good is also the enemy of the best as perceiving things relatively, as best or good, precludes us from experiencing things as they uniquely are. Best and good are relative categories, empty of the things they arbitrarily contain. Experiencing things we've categorized, we experience our the associations we have with the categories; not things as they actually are. As everything is unique, experiencing things as they are is the experience of being present. Categorizing things as relatively best or good precludes us from the gratitude that invariably comes from the experience of being present. Gratitude is one of the keys of happiness. It's difficult to be grateful when we are distracted by the enemies we create....
I recently viewed a video lampooning Donald Trump. The video was captioned "Donald Trump's Concession Speech." The video shows a scene from The Wolf of Wall Street movie wherein Leonardo DiCaprio, the CEO of a brokerage firm, defiantly declares to his white salespeople and traders "I'm not leaving" after he was charged with securities fraud. The firm soon collapsed as did Trump's administration. Perhaps cute to those who view Trump as a defiant crook heading a misogynist racist male cabal. But the video clip is also telling of the age-old conflict between educated priests and rough and tumble merchants. Brokerage firms have two arms, sales/trading and research. Sales/trading is what the business is about; the rough and tumble of buying and selling stocks to make money. Research supports sales/trading with investment ideas. Research analysts analyze companies' past performance and prospects, write reports and recommend stocks to buy and sell. Research analysts, like highly-educated priests, are articulate, well-reasoned and cogent in their analyses. However, while never in doubt about their recommendations, they are often wrong. Due to having different perspectives, there is a natural friction between traders/salespeople and analysts. Simply, analysts think traders/salespeople are lowbrows and traders/salespeople feel analysts "don't get it;" that is, analysts don't know how to make money in the markets. However, traders/salespeople and analysts realize that each plays a necessary role in a firm's success. The open question is who is to lead the firm. Analysts think that as they are the more educated, articulate and intelligent, they should lead a firm and have traders/salespeople work for them; a hierarchy based on perceived intelligence. Traders/salespeople view themselves as working for the customers which are the essence of the business. They believe who runs the firm should be based on the Golden Rule: those who make the gold rule. The presidential election was likewise divided. Many who were anti-Trump (Democratic Party progressives) are like brokerage firm analysts, highly educated and articulate. They described Trump supporters as stupid, immature, greedy, deplorable, misogynists, fascists, Nazis, etc.; simply, "bad people." Trump supporters said of those who were anti-Trump: "They don't get it," they don't know how a successful economy and liberal society functions. Ultimately, the progressives would throw Trump and other bad boys in prison or otherwise limit their laissez-faire approach to life. But then how will the progressives afford to buy milk and who will make the milk? Returning to the video, it's actually very funny; though not as intended. It answers a question long befuddling the geniuses leading the Democratic Party: "Why do the people, the working class, who stand to most benefit economically from Democratic Party programs don't vote for us?" Simply, the working class (presumably the majority of the government's customers) might not know much but they know when Party leaders are laughing at them, thinking they are stupid, and they don't like it....
The mind is the flames; ever-changing, illuminating and destructive burning heat. The soul is the bush; unchangeable, eternal, supporting the flames but not transformed by the flames. The mind is wisdom, sometimes. The soul is love, forever....
"Sometimes I sit quietly and wonder why I'm not in a mental institution. Then I take a good look around at everyone and realize...
"The important thing is not what you have done in the past, it's what you are doing today."...
Divine love is compassion, treating all others as we would treat ourselves as we see others as not other than ourselves, imperfect and perfect simultaneously. Animal love is being "in love." When we are in love, love is a veneer that masks the otherwise clear imperfections of those we love. We treat our loved ones with love but not others who we see as imperfect. Moreover, when we are no longer in love with our loved ones, we see their imperfections. As nothing but the universe as a whole is perfect, if we accept our individual imperfections instead of deluding ourselves by being in love we can begin to experience divine love....
Consciousness makes music and verse from a crazy and noisy universe. Let only those with feet on the ground travel to where the universe is being bound. It is there that they will see all that will be. But others best not dare go to this place unaware. For it's doubtful they will return as they were without a burn. Josh Henderson is an artist who took his life as his mind was overwhelmed with strife. ...
We emit vibrations, waves of sound. When our waves are in harmony, that’s love; when not, that’s noise. Harmony brings us to joyous tears, noise tears us apart....