The Fable of Christmas

“Wise men see outlines, and therefore draw them. Mad men see outlines and therefore
draw them” -- William Blake. All of epistemology begins with the drawing of
distinctions. The whole of art, science, and the jesters world evolves around juxtaposition
of ones distinctions.

In the world of science Wittegenstein & Betrand Russell's attempt of doing away with
recursive statements (self referential statements) was an attempt to avoid paradox in
scientific axioms. It appears thanks to our language, where they failed our world of social
sciences succeeded. Von Neumann once commented that someone needs to provide a
fiction for behavioral sciences that would work like the elegant fiction upon which
physics was built, its Newtonian particle. Rather than recursive networks with feedback
structures, our daily language has led us down the path of causal relations. The idea of
binary thought, either/or, good/bad, Dionysian/Apollonian, imagination/rigor,
black/white, strong/weak, kindness/ruthlessness. This form of thinking has been
pathological and has left a wake of figure eights and us chasing our own tail. We look for
“kindness”, “ruthlessness”, “good”, “bad” as concrete objects. Neither one exists as they
are but a figment of our imagination.

The decadence of human thought, building a bridge to the wrong side of the
epistemological river may seem frivolous at the seams but a closer look will show the
perils we have built for ourselves. Ignoring paradoxes ad absudum:

Take the life of the average person living in the first world. “Obesity” (The sickness
attributed to accumulation of excessive fat from good living) has become a serious
problem. Gyms and fitness studios, sport equipment makers charge as much as $5000
USD for treadmill exercise equipment. One recognizes another as unhealthy if they have
gained weight. On the other side of the globe, a place considered by many as primitive
(The Third world Countries), a person is considered healthy based on their weight and
size. Fat people are not “obese” but very healthy. They have the money to buy food.
Numerous images flash across First world country T.V Screens (Germany, UK, USA,
Canada) of pictures from children dying of starvation in Ethopia, Somalia and large parts
of Africa. But the world moves on.

Or the average amount donated to third world countries. The US Department of Defense
has estimated the U.S Military spending for 2004 at about 390 Billion Dollars, rising to
projected 400 Billion Dollars in 2005. Compare this with the maximum (after much
congressional debate) of 5 Billion USD being given to third world countries to alleviate
poverty.

The idea of heaven someplace in the sky and Hell some place down below, filled with
heat of inexhaustible proportions is an extension of the either/or distinction. Yet if one
were to show you the life led by a crowned prince, or a member of the Forbes 500
richest families in relation to that of a third world country's starving kid, or one
suppressed by religious beliefs, tortured for his political ideologies you end up with the
view that heaven and hell exists on earth.
Religion! The Christians think they possess the only correct faith. Asked about Moslems
they merely tolerate having them around. Ask the Moslems and they will tell you they
“know” all Christians are sinners. Take the Jewish and you will hear the orthodox Jewish
rabbi tell you theirs is the only true way. They are the chosen ones. According to the
“Jehovah's witness” at the end of time, they are the only ones going to be saved.
Accordingly the Catholics, Protestants, Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, Jewish,
Moslems are all sinners! A common element connects this pathology. The idea of one
being in possession of the “ultimate truth”. That either/or ideology. Elucidate events
committed by terrorists. They believe they are martyrs. Upon Dieing the kingdom of
heaven is supposedly open to them. They gain a V.I.P pass. What leads one to such
insanity. The same pathology connects all of them. Amazingly on a second level of
abstraction they are connected by the same higher laws. “Love for one another, Kindness
to one another, etc).

Financial traders and Market speculators are another example. The field of battle is filled
with the bones of Fundamentalists (Graham & Dod) verses Technicians. The technical
analysts, chartists, neural network traders consider Fundamentalists as just that.
Theoretical traders not worth a cent. Fundamentalists look at Chartists as Voodoo
participants. Amazingly I have yet to meet a pure fundamentalists or Chartists that
became rich with this single frame of reference.

Pim Fortuyn of the Netherlands, Jean Marie Le Pen of France, Ronald Schill “Judge
Merciless” of Germany, Austria's Jorg Haider, Belgium's Vlaams Blok and the list goes
on learn t one lesson that the rest of the world never quite got from the famous movie The
third man. ... “In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder
and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance.
In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and
what did that produce? The cuckoo clock”...

That speech was not quite right. Switzerland showed also by closing its borders and
preventing immigration its citizens could enjoy in relation to the rest of the world a much
higher standard of living equitable to paradise. The average swiss citizen considers
himself a humanitarian, a liberal and will swear to the motto “Die Würde des Menschen
ist unantastbar.” Yet after donating SF 500 to some cause in Bosnia, Somalia etc he or
she will be the first to rally behind the likes of the above named groups. Pim Fortuyn of
the Netherlands had a huge following for his anti immigration policies. Likewise does
Jean Marie Le Pen of France, Jorg Haider of Austria, “Judge Merciless” of Germany etc
The common slogans for their cause is “imported unemployment”, “imported crime”.
These words take on meanings of their own. They cease to be relations and become
tangible objects.

Neither the Atheist, Catholics, the Anglicans, the Jewish, the Moslems or the “Jehovah
wittinesses are right. Neither those for or those against immigration are right. Neither
those considered “good” or those considered “bad” exist. This dichotomy is flawed. It is
tantamount to saying the dollar is very weak. A trader will right away ask relative to
what? The Euro, The Yen, please elucidate? The above topics are not symmetrical
opposites as our language will have us believe but complementaries of each other.
To escape the pathologies created by our thought process we require metaphors. None
other brings this home than the metaphor of Christmas. Rich or poor, sick or healthy,
young or old one relates to the metaphor of Christmas. The idea of humility/exaltation,
King/Servant, Filled with Richness/ Yet Born in a stable, etc. Freud's solution of
Creatura/Pleroma (Land of distinction/ Land of the infinite no distinction), abducted by
Gregory Bateson to explain recursive complementaries as opposed to causal explanations
failed to gain ground among the common man's ways of thought, but a metaphor so
simple, so vastly practiced every 25th of December brings home the best of human
epistemology. A meta pattern connecting rich/poor, powerful/weak, King/Carpenter, etc.
Jesus the bible tells us had both.

Wise men see outlines and therefore draw them. Mad men see outlines and therefore
draw them. We should pay heed to how we draw these outlines.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Shawn
Las Vegas, 25th December 2003