THE POWER OF SUPERIORITY
Et dicebam ego meliorem esse sapientiam fortitudine quomodo ergo sapientia pauperis contempta est et verba eius non sunt audita
Then said I,Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
(Ecclesiastes 9 16)
If a person has great physical strength and his body is beautiful , but the ability to reason logically* is absent, he seems to many people grotesque, unpleasant and stupid.
If a person has a lot of money, but the ability to reason logically is absent, he is often despised by a majority.
If a person has learned and memorized all the details of science, in which he deals, but the ability to reason logically is absent, he is considered abstracted from real life.
The ability to reason logically is the only quality in the intellectual sense _______________________________________________
*Reason logically – to form concepts to completion.
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that gives one homo sapiens superiority over the other. This is the main human quality that separates "Julius Caesar" from the uncouth man.
A great number of people do not feel the boundaries between reality and fiction, between knowledge, which can be verified in experience and knowledge that goes beyond it and is only a fruit of the mind. And this is not surprising, because we accept this visible, orderly world for granted, building in our mind the same orderly schemas that do not correspond to the underlying reality, and are often mistaken in our judgments. But, at the same time, if we take a closer look at nature, everything will become perfectly clear. The reason for this is a modern culture, which has largely distorted our thinking.
Imagine a contemperary individual who spends hours sitting at the computer in interactive websites. He has plunged into a world of digital reality, he has gone through all the most difficult levels of a video game; he's an expert in everything, his own opinion he considers the only correct one. This person will tell you about God, culture, politics... moreover, he still dares to criticize the government, which pays him unemployment benefits and social security guarantees... Let's mentally send this super clever man to Ancient Greece, in the times of the fearless heroes, which were considered inferior in their physical strength and mental capabilities only to the immortal gods. For the Spartans, for example, verbosity was a sign of stupidity. If such an expert would not be killed immediately, he would be
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made a laughingstock for the nation. Although Sparta did not give the world any outstanding thinkers, as Athens, nevertheless it left the eternal memory of the fearless wariors who loved and defended their homeland.
Unfortunately, this is a price for technologies, which leads to a dulling of the natural human qualities. We don't need to remember much information. Why? After all, we can always go to Google and find the answer to almost any question. We don't need excessive physical strength: it is replaced by machines; we do not need excessive skill, vision, efforts for getting a piece of bread. Life has become much easier but, unfortunately, the price of such simplicity is very high to unceremoniously surrender into the hands of progress, without standing for our mental and physical development. If we do not defend our natural qualities from civilization, we are doomed to complete degradation. After all, by nature we are given a physical body so that we can contact with this world, and the mind to perceive it. All around us is in constant motion, and the one who is passive in life, is not in harmony with nature.
In the history of European society we tend to highlight two perfect persons: Jesus Christ – the Messiah, sent by God, and Immanuel Kant – the Messiah sent by Science. Two Messiah's, two world views that have shaped modern spiritual and scientific point of view. Each in his own teaching, they will always be first. The appearance of Christ was preceded by a whole historical epoch and life of the great prophets:
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"A world had been expecting the Spiritual King that is understandable to the afflicted, humble and poor." In the same way for many years philosophers had been creating conditions for the emergence of Kant. Messiahs don't come from nowhere, a proper time gives birth to them.
People tend to respect their life experience, hard-won knowledge, emotions, which they receive learning the secrets of this world. They want to leave in their works a part of themselves and often remain subjective. Messiahs represent human knowledge in General, they are the quintessence, that top, to the construction of which human knowledge is collected for many years - and now the construction is completed, and at the peak there has shone a new star.
We would like to separate thinking people into two types:
1. Philosophers.
2. Thinkers.
Philosophers are persons who rethink old ideas adding nothing new to the development of human thought. For example, Ukrainian phylosopher Skovoroda (1722 – 1794) employed the ideas that were current in Europe in the middle Ages. For Europe of the Enlightenment Scovoroda, most likely, would have been considered a theologian, since he wrote in his works exclusively about christian ethics. In Europe a similar trend in philosophy had been relevant from the first century A.D. untill the Renaissance.
In nowadays reality the most adapted people to social conditions are in government, they hold high leadership positions in the state and therefore must possess those qualities that are most valued in society: self-confidence, an ability to persuade, desire to lead and achieve socially significant goals. These people represent the society as a whole and not just a particular part of it. Someone can read a lot of books, make significant discoveries, figer out the mysteries of the world, but if his achievements are not recognized as useful by the society, such a person can be considered smart rather only for himself.
The modern system of education to a greater extent forms a certain view on the culture created by people. We are an intrinsic part of it, therefore only in the context of this culture we can achieve something. He who loves knowledge for the sake of knowledg goes deeper in understanding
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the laws of nature and of man's place in this world. In social terms, this feature is rather considerable, and personally to the individual it gives a sense of intellectual superiority over others, self-confidence and control over a dubious situation. The desire to be insightful, thoughtful, and in the end being right in disputes, offsets, to some extent, our lack of public recognition. Because it is important for a person to reach a certain position in life, to gain self-confidence, to feel the rightness of his opinions, beliefs, judgments. That is why the ability to persuade can be considered the main power of superiority over others, however to convince not fraudulently, but with a whole rigor of logical proof.
The ability to defend one`s point of view is a crucial point in today's reality – this is the only way to survive in a world of fierce competition. Therefore, the ability to prove one`s case and refute the arguments of others is an essential prerequsite of survival. To cope with external attacks one should have to reveal their irrationality and absurdity.
There is a common opinion that man has evolved from the monkey, which has covered by a shadow of prejudice the name of Charles Darwin. This scientist is still misunderstood by many people. The evolution has touched all the living things in nature without exception: as human beings as well as animals. Has man really descended from apes? Evolution is the process of separating of species, and obviously man with the monkey has a common ancestor. In the same way it can be argued that we evolved from mice, the process of separation with whom
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took place hundreds of millions of years ago. It is not always the strongest one that survives in nature, but usually that kind of species that can adapt to the environment for the procreation. Mammoths possessed great physical strength and were not able to survive, but ants still exist.
After a detailed study of Darwin's work "the Theory of the Origin of Species" (Darwin, C. R. 1861. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: Murray. 3d edition), we could not find in it neither the word "monkey", nor the word "primate". The only mention of human evolution you can read below:
"In the future I see an open field for very important discoveries. Psychology will be based on the foundations firmly laid by Herbert Spencer, on the necessary acquisition of each mental capacity by gradation. Much light will be shed on the origin of man and his history".
That what many people mean, when they talk about development, can be applied only to human intelligence, which allowed us to create culture by making us "kings" of nature. Unfortunately, intelligence has not developed, but rather weakened our natural instincts, touching only technological progress and not our natural qualities.
A funny thing that happened to one of our friends during a medical checkup for conscripts of military service will confirm that a person, who defends his own interests, tends to deny even a fact.
Going to the ophthalmologist's office, he decided to feign
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the inability to see clearly.
- Everything is blurred before my eyes, he said.
The doctor showed him two fingers from a distance of three meters.
- How many fingers do you see?
- Or two, or three; I can't tell.
The doctor came closer and repeated the question.
- Or two, or three; I can't tell.
Realizing the trick, the optometrist put two of his fingers right to his eyebrow.
How many fingers do you see now?- demanded the doctor for the last time.
- Or three, or one; I just can't see clearly.
The doctor lost his temper and raised his voice at him:
- If I hit you with something between your eyes, your sight will instantly get better! Get out! - he pointed at the door.
The intention to pretend sick and not go to serve in the army was a common practice among the military conscripts in the nineties of the twentieth century. The medical staff was really fed up with all that. Our friend still managed to avoid military service, but for a different reason...
The above example demonstrates the tendency of a man to appreciate the world from the point of view of personal profit: as explicit and conscious, as well as hidden and unconscious. This includes faith, beliefs and principles. If a society cannot protect its provisions, it ceases to exist. It follows that the ability to persuade is the ability to survive.
We want our book to be some kind a guide to life, a certain hint for those who are willing to adapt themselves to the powerful dynamics of modern society.
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It is very important to know how to react to a particular situation, not to be deceived by various promises, which form a false orientation and give an illusory hope. People need to be armed with solid knowledge, have a powerful logic so that they can be convincing enough. The words of the great Vladimir Solovyov has not lost its relevance even today, "the only guide in any case... only it's practical usefulness, and it`s purpose can only be success. No one can certainly vouch for the truth of his aspirations, for the truth of his opinions, but without exception, everyone equally strives for success and triumph of his aspirations and opinions. Therefore, the only real essence of life is to look for practical success by all possible means, and as this kind of success for a single person is achieved only with the support of others, the main task for him is to convince others to do what he needs himself. Because of it the most important and most useful art is the art of verbal persuasion..." Soloviev VL. vol..M., 1988, vol. 2., S. 591.