{Religious Fundamentalism and Crass Stupidity in the Social Services}[11th January 1989]

[Redbook6:91-92)][19890111:1638]{Religious Fundamentalism and Crass Stupidity in the Social Services}[11th January 1989]

*

19890111.1638

We have had two very pleasant Health Visitors for the children but the latest is** an excellent example of the dangers of giving knowledge to the stupid. She had to test our 16-month old [s]: a pile of bricks on the table, and a cup, and she asks for the cup, but [s] is naturally is more interested in the bricks; then a pen and some paper, but [s] is interested in how the pen is put together, and won’t scribble on the paper (something he was trying to do on my book this morning). [s] then goes off by himself to the portable keyboard, switches it on, and begins to play; when he has finished (I presume)[,] switches it off again: he does this three times. ‘When he switches it on’ says Miss Pavlov eventually, her attention having been drawn to these exercises in self-expression and self-motivation, ‘he gets a reward of music.’

Apart from the fact that I find the last remark extremely offensive, and the lady herself unfortunately loud, superficial, and indiscreet about our neighbours, the examinations themselves are an excellent example of compliance tests masquerading as tests of ability. For of course there [are] at least two reasons why anyone should fail an exam: because he is not able to pass it, or because he doesn’t want to. So from the age of 16 months society tests all its citizens for good citizenship, that is to say for obedience to official authority….

The lady is apparently a member of the {(fundamentalist)} […] (?) Fellowship, and a friend of our fundamentalist neighbours*** and erstwhile friends, [B] and [F], whose combination of fundamentalist creationism with what seemed to be cynical exploitation of other people’s helpfulness eventually proved too much for us….

*[Strictly speaking, almost certainly part of the National Health Service, not of Local Authority Social Services; but this particular function seems more social service than medical <20190828>]

**(seems to be, at any rate)

***[not immediate neighbours]

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{Extracts on Fiction and Tragedy [continued (3)]}[10th January 1989]

[Redbook6:90)][19890110:0000b]{Extracts on Fiction and Tragedy [continued (3)]}[10th January 1989]

19890110

‘… Schiller’s* Theory of Tragedy … turns on the hero’s moral rebirth through an act of voluntary self-abnegation.’**

*[Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright….]

**per E[nyclopaedia] B[ritannica] 10, Schiller.

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{Extracts on Fiction and Tragedy [continued]}[10th January 1989]

[Redbook6:90)][19890110:0000]{Extracts on Fiction and Tragedy [continued]}[10th January 1989]

19890110

‘Nietzche’s* first book, Die Geburt der Tragödie aus demGeiste der Musik (1872; The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music) … argued that Greek tragedy arose out of the fusion of what he termed Apollonian and Dionysian elements – the former representing measure, restraint, harmony, and the latter representing unbridled passion – and that Socratic rationalism and optimism spelled the death of Greek tragedy.’**

[Text extracted from ms diagram reproduced above:]

		C		(Scorpio, Ophiuchus,*** Hercules in the Sky Map)
			Apollo
		|	S~
G~	–	+	–	M~
	J~	|
	Dionysus
(Auriga**** in the Sky Map)		A~

*[Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, poet, philologist, and Latin and Greek scholar whose work has exerted a profound influence on modern intellectual history…. Nietzsche's body of work touched a wide range of topics, including art, philology, history, religion, tragedy, culture, and science. His writing spans philosophical polemics, poetry, cultural criticism, and fiction while displaying a fondness for aphorism and irony. (Wikipedia)]

**per E[nyclopaedia] B[ritannica] 24, 897 ‘Nietsche’

***[Serpent-holder: Doctor, aka Asclepius; discovered how to bring people back from the dead]

****[Charioteer, cf Dionysus (aka Bacchus) who is often shown driving a chariot (but/& cf T.VII)]

[continues]

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{Extracts on Fiction and Tragedy}[5th January 1989]

[Redbook6:89-90)][19890105:2052]{Extracts on Fiction and Tragedy}[5th January 1989]

.2052

The business of the author was ‘not to ask what the situation would be likely to make of his characters, but what his characters, being what they are, would make of the situation.’*

What a relief!

*Edith Wharton, quoted in Waterstones’ Guide to Books, 1987.

[So no need for character development, then, in the dynamic sense?]

[continues]

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{Censure and Self-Sacrifice in Society [continued]}[5th January 1989]

[Redbook6:88-89)][19890105:1931b]{Censure and Self-Sacrifice in Society [continued]}[5th January 1989]

.1931

[continued]

The point about this* is that every society (and if Mrs Thatcher really said ‘There is no such thing as Society’ and was not quoted out of context, she must be wilfully blind to the point of obsession or madness) survives collectively, in order to benefit its individual members, by a degree of self-denial and self-sacrifice on the part of each of its members. That self-denial can to a limited extent be imposed by authority – which of course each individual may choose to accept or reject – but ultimately, rests upon the willing self-discipline of each individual member, encouraged by informal collective censure.

It is the evident lack of concern for that last factor which is so startling in this* instance. Any society which loses, in its members, the individual desire to deny self to the necessary extent for the common good, and the collective will or ability to apply informal pressure effectively for the common good (much though I personally dislike the way that pressure is often exercised) – is going to end up by turning Mrs Thatcher’s strange statement into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

*[See last previous entry]

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{Censure and Self-Sacrifice in Society}[5th January 1989]

[Redbook6:88-89)][19890105:1931]{Censure and Self-Sacrifice in Society}[5th January 1989]

.1931

Some time early last year, I think it was just before I stopped taking The Times, the TV listings carried a preview, and photo, of a man whose name I forget,* a property developer of dubious repute, who was building himself a mansion in the Home Counties on the proceeds of his ability by strong-arm methods to evict the **tenants of residential blocks he had bought for redevelopment.

It is hardly relevant whether the law was on his side or not, because quite clearly from his quoted statements he welcomed the chance to increase his reputation for unpleasantness to tenants, for obvious reasons; the television investigation was actually serving his purpose very well.

I don’t suppose anyone now alive can remember living in a society, in Britain anyway, where villains boasted nationally of their villainy in order to terrify the opposition, or where the villains were so strong – economically, institutionally – and their victims so weak.

*I should have kept the cutting, but it made me so angry that I threw it away.

**[probably legally secure, protected]

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{Doubling Life Cycles [continued (8)]}[5th January 1989]

[Redbook6:87)][19890105:1542]{Doubling Life Cycles [continued (8)]}[5th January 1989]

.1542

[Text extracted from ms diagram reproduced above:]

				c
	Transformation			(2n)			Lucifer
	Point		256		1		Point
	128			|			2
			8		0
		7	Love	n	Harmony	1
64	6			+			2	4	m~
		5				3
				4
	32			|			8
				←
	Point of			16			Point of
	Accumulation						Experience

How to live to be 128? Well, for most of us it’s probably too late; but if we were capable of unselfishly considering future generations, the implications of this use of C.A.S.* are that we should aim to reduce not only the accelerating effects of environmental stress but also the braking effects of cultural patterns: not only abolish all involuntary insecurity, but also (for example) end all externally programmed education after the age of 16, leaving only the learning (if any) which the student is inner-motivated to pursue.

In fact, such a regime is now – probably for the first time in Human history – not altogether outside the reach of the developed countries, provided they can carry the rest of the World with them. As usual, it is technology which now makes this possible, and ignorance of which makes it unlikely.

*[Circles Analysis & Synthesis – see [Redbook6:67)][19881207:1057]{Circles Analysis and Synthesis (2)}[7th December 1988]]

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{Doubling Life Cycles [continued (7)]}[5th January 1989]

[Redbook6:86)][19890105:1022j]{Doubling Life Cycles [continued (7)]}[5th January 1989]

19890105.1022

[continued]

If you take into account this super-cycle,* incidentally, the K-K-Q-K sequence jumps up one level from 16- to 32-year-cycles, ie

(Youth)	0-32	Knave	(was 0-16,	Childhood)
(Career)	33-64	Knight	(was 17-32)	(Youth)
(Retirement)	65-96	Queen	(was 33-48)	(Adulthood)
	97-128	King	(was 49-64)

What this means is not that the previous (16-year) cycle attribution was wrong, but that it is a good sequence for an average lifespan. A typical life might instead run for the first two 32-year cycles and part of the third – a small part in most cases: at retirement transformation to the Inner Circle is perhaps easier, than at any other time, although despite this many upon retirement either busy themselves with new work or simply lose their direction, and die.

*[ie 128 years, presumably]

[continues]

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{Doubling Life Cycles [continued (6)]}[5th January 1989]

[Redbook6:86)][19890105:1022i]{Doubling Life Cycles [continued (6)]}[5th January 1989]

19890105.1022

[continued]

There is* an implication – and a totally independent speculation – that those who identify their life with their work come to an end of their life when (or soon after) their work becomes impossible – whether through failing ability, or formal retirement.**

In circle terms, almost the whole of the second half of the potential super-cycle**** may be lost.

*[See last previous entry]

**(My mother’s mother by all accounts never did a stroke of work and lived into her nineties.)

[Not by all accounts. This is probably an exaggeration]

***This may explain the apparent symmetry of some lives, eg on [[Redbook6:44)][19881129:0053]{Literary Circles [continued (4)]}[29th November 1988],] p44

****[ie 128 years, presumably]

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{Doubling Life Cycles [continued (5)]}[5th January 1989]

[Redbook6:85)][19890105:1022h]{Doubling Life Cycles [continued (5)]}[5th January 1989]

19890105.1022

[continued]

We can safely ignore the infancy cycles* at this stage; so, more clearly:

[Text extracted from ms chart reproduced above:

(as a scanned typescript because the typed chart would not translate into Blogger):]

*[See last previous entry]

[continues]

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