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9. THE TROUBLES
"From the standpoint of reason
Both Emotion and Intellect
Are forces on the loose—
Unpredictable unreliable susceptible
To suggestion and manipulation—
A raw potential in need of
Control and regulation.
Encountering no indication that
The forces washing around it are
Not meant for its use alone
Enamored by the idea that
Human nature is not perfect but in need
Of guidance and supervision
Reason takes on the responsibility
And trumpets blowing flags waving
Harnesses a human life
Into serving some rational objective.
You may ask
Has this noble effort
Perfected human nature?
For all the good that
Words have done to human kind
They have also done damage—
The din of non-stop mental chatter
Blankets the host system with
A layer of noise so dense
The rustle of sensations and feelings
Is smothered beyond recall.
In this state
Consciousness—
The left hand of reason watching
What the right hand is doing—
Steps forth—replaces awareness
And takes charge.
The two
Consciousness and awareness
Have little in common:
Awareness is the inner eye
Fixated on the spirit level
Responsive to changes within—
Every sensation a sign of life
Stirring inside you informing
How the you alive here and now
Fares in a world teaming with life.
Consciousness keeps its gaze
Fixated on external events.
Clueless to feeling it coordinates your
Actions with what is out there.
With consciousness in the lead
You get your bearings from
Common knowledge and codes of behavior
Circulating in the environs.
Given full reign
Reason may block out awareness of
Sensation feeling and emotion altogether
And with it goes motivation and stamina.
In this listless state
The sense of self is adrift
In the air as well."
*
"Constantly tested by
What it sets out to do and
What it actually accomplishes
A mind deeply rooted in common knowledge
Plays it safe by relying on attitudes—
A common sense deduced from
Experience and handed down from
Generation to generation—
Standardized behavior applicable
To many similar situations
A saving grace to Reason.
The logic is simple—actions which
Have repeatedly proven to be effective
Will under similar conditions
Deliver similar results.
You strike an attitude every time
You respond or act as if by habit
Without consulting your feelings.
The shortcut saves much thinking
But misses the subtle nuances that
Differentiate similar situations
One from the other
Inviting failure and frustration.
When a person a people a creature
Or an institution
Fails to deliver the expected results
In situations you approach with
A purpose in mind
Dispositions replace attitudes—
Disposition a behavioral tactic
A strategy a frame of mind
Good only for a specific situation.
If the posturing projected
Does not deliver the goods expected
You alter your stance
By switching dispositions—
From emotional to rational from
Submissive to assertive to resolute behavior—
Each tactic aimed to overcome resistance
One way or the other."
*
"Reason faces its own shortcomings
Most severely when its efforts
To make things better
Only make them worse.
A mind
Distressed by failure or
Overwhelmed by the injustices
Of the world is apt to wander to
The far side of Reason where
The primal rules of survival
Are the law:
Take what you need or perish.
If you entertain the possibilities
You envision yourself in action
The sensation of being alive of
Seeing yourself active again
In charge of your life again—
Life offering you a second chance.
If empowered you begin to savor
The imagined rewards—before long
A plan of action suggests itself.
Suppose in the flurry of living
The dream crosses your path and
You plunge into action—
Glory be if the risks taken
Deliver the expected gratification—
If your planning your scheming
Your daring have paid off—
The world in day-glow colors
Yours for the taking beckoning you
To stop wasting your life.
It's only fare that you—
A victim yourself—
Victimize others in turn.
An eye for an eye
Explains it all.
In any situation
Action is the true measure
Of Reason's prowess.
And actions that fulfill a pressing
Emotional or intellectual need or
Compensate for ravages suffered
Ooze the balm of power
Gained earned acquired—
Omnipotence
Reason's most glorious achievement.
Attraction is
At the core of intentional evil deeds.
When you fight Attraction it
Tempts charms teases seduces casts spells—
Every verb suggesting
A powerful tempter lurking
In the folds of the mind watching
Your every thought and move
Challenging you to cross the line
That holds you back."
*
"Attraction
A force impersonal voiceless before
Given a name and a face turns into
An invasive alien force—
A temptress a seducer—
Demon mammon the devil of lore
Painted on walls pictured in books
Described in sacred texts—
To be shunned feared
Bargained and reasoned with
Even outsmarted.
If temptation gets the better of you—
Powerless worthless miserable you—
There is always the Evil One
To blame."
*
"Isn't Reason the only faculty
Able to divert energy from
Its intended course and
Channel it into activities meant
To deliver specific results?
Aren't evil deeds expected
To deliver specific results?
Don't intentional activities
Call for planning ahead and
Isn't planning—arranging activities
In the order of cause and effect—
The exclusive domain of Reason
The foundation of all civilizations?
Don't you see?
Remove Reason from the equation
And where else will evil find
The necessary brain tools?
*
"The recipe for evil calls for
No special ingredients—
Pick any repulsive situation or image
Strip it clean of sensory impressions
So no scruple of a feeling will sneak up
To corrupt the enterprise
And the chosen victim becomes
Mere object—a fixture necessary
In attaining the expected results.
Let the urge exercise the mind and
A plan of action is at your fingertips.
What we call evil—acts that
Victimize others for personal profit
Or satisfaction—is
Grounded in an ancient rationale that
Flourishes to this day in
Animal and human survival.
Once society instituted controls
And proclaimed some acts
Unlawful or sinful
Some people no longer
Take what they need but
Take what they can.
Morals?
A tool has no morals.
Like any other faculty
Reason too is there to be used
And in skilled hands it will do
What it is meant to do
As long as Emotion
Of whatever shade or color
Supplies the motivation.
Moral codes of behavior
Distilled from social or tribal custom
Are not unique to humans.
To avoid confrontation
All social creatures watch their step—
Consequence teaches
Which actions reward docility
Which invite punishment."
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