The Experience of Clarity

285 The complete realist sees from an “ideal” vantage point.  The idealist, of course, does the same.  The only difference: the realist recognizes that he brings his instances into the moment by way of a single, integrated recollection — whereas the idealist will not recognize that he does the same.  And why not?  ... because the other world , the predominance of mind , and even order itself seem to be at stake. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

111 Among the many who vie for leadership within a herd, he who constructs an ultimate but protean “enemy” will not only secure his own herd but will find that he also absorbs neighboring herds.  He proposes an enemy which transcends all provinces.  Satan – the enemy who opposed the world and before the world began.... A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

286 Once upon a time, when Instance made love to Repetition ... unto the great Cerebral, the one and only God, two children were born, with equally convenient names, Fact and Ideal.  Now Fact took after Instance, and Ideal was the spitting image of Repetition.  Both grew in perfect harmony: “It’s all yours,” said the Fact to the Ideal . “And yours too,” said the Ideal to the Fact. “After you,” invited the Ideal. “No, after you ... I insist.” Now our God, like we mortals, had two organs for perception and was pleased at the sight.  In one eye He was nearsighted, seeing only Fact.  In the other, He was farsighted, seeing only the Ideal.  And so it was that from this perfect distance and direct point of view, He could see in perfect harmony, Fact and Ideal, as they frolicked side by side.   I must tell the reader that it was out of love and not mistrust that He drew nearer to embrace His children.  God was completely innocent, for ...

112 It is not that our friendship does not extend “this far,” but that the concept of friendship suddenly found itself beyond its own causes.  Certain conditions that were present at the formation of our friendship no longer exist.  Demanding adherence to the concept is not one of these original conditions.  Demanding adherence is a new condition .  We once shook hands in peace and friendship, and we must continue.  We work together under the same conceptual heading ... but colder ... as love becomes duty. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

287 There are no magic words, just as there are no instant values. The confusion arises when we think we are scientists etching a complex formula on a chalkboard, when in reality we should be simple farmers weeding and cultivating a garden of preferred habits and stimuli. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

113 To force two relationships into one standard is to sacrifice one of the relationships, if not both. But to have two standards for two relationships forced into one context is also to sacrifice one of the relationships, if not both. Thus, two relationships, two standards, and two contexts maintain harmony ... a harmony by way of a wall. Without walls we would not have the concepts of “neighbor” or “relationship.” A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

288 The habit-path: The difference between our species and a water shrew is that we can “classify” experience and apply an old lesson to a completely new environment.  The water shrew, as the ultimate realist, is too perfect ... too “honest” to continue an old presumption into the new circumstance ... not for very long anyway.  When something new is brought into its environment, it does not play false to the immediate world — but only because it is true to its history.  It nonetheless very quickly comes upon the difference and begins its correction.  It tries out new paths through the new environment over and over again in order to perfect the new, highly efficient habit-path.  In short, the water shrew is the perfect scientist; its presumptions are soon encountered, and immediate sense perception takes over and corrects all previously learned lessons. Our great advantage, on the other hand, is our “dishonesty” to the immediate world ... our unrealism ...

114 Objective Morality:   I take what I observe in others to guess what others must see in me.  I thus understand how my subjective notions of successful display are not always successful from another’s point of view.  It is now in my best interest to hold to disinterested objectivity. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

289 Should I defend myself or defend the Truth ?  I am the captain with one foot in each of two boats and it is my chief task to persuade, convince, threaten, cajole my separate crews to remain coordinated ... keep the course true so that I am not forced into one boat at the expense of the other.  * * A: But the truth never strays! B: Which truth?  There are ‘truths’ that take you away from yourself just as there are ‘truths’ that bring you back. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

115 In every disagreement one of the two or both are fools, and both cannot be wise except in the case of agreement, but that is not to say of course that in agreement both are necessarily wise. In fact when both are in agreement, the probability is greatest that any existing error will remain. So, two wise individuals who come to agreement suddenly frown, for in losing their cause for debate they have also lost their instrument for error detection. And observing them, two idiots agree wholeheartedly that it is an indisputable error for someone to set his aim on wisdom and yet give free rein to this obvious flaw of implacability. Doesn't everyone agree that it is an error to want anything other than the happiness of peace, harmony, and universal agreement? A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

290 For every lie I kill, I find another innocent truth grazing in the meadow. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

116 What slows the private effort?   That he stops to prove to his herd the reality of his discovery. What slows the herd?   That he stops to prove to his herd the reality of his discovery. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

291 I am not constructing a system for truth, but discovering the stippled image of my task and training my reflexes to serve this task. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

117 For rational harmony within a group, it takes all to raise the standard, only one to lower it. From the viewpoint of an inherited morality, it takes all to maintain the standard, and the one who attempts to raise it, lowers it. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

292 Why this fear that we will somehow lose the human spirit? Have we not admitted that we can never see around ourselves? ... that despite all our efforts we are no less attached than before? No, the human flame is brighter than our objectivity is dark. It may flicker under the breath of our coldest arguments, yet every word arrives by that which our fire consumes. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

118 If the conductor of a harmonious reason has carried the mind once, he will thereafter tend to carry that mind, even if it is now only by a cymbal clash of “Thou shalt....” A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

A Human Strategy, Matt Berry, aphorism 293 A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

293 I am the universal system, but the stuff of which it is made, my certainties, will not have it so.  Predator and prey, at times I stalk the infinite ... for that brief moment until it swallows me whole again. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

119 One can choose to be wise instead of becoming rich, but one cannot choose to become and remain rich instead of becoming wise – because it takes wisdom to acquire wealth and to hold on to it.  Both the miser and the spendthrift do not gain that same acceleration of wealth that is optimized through moderation and prudence. Now there are those of course who resolutely deny that a rich man can be wise, but this is only due to their resenting the possibility.  In the end, such moralists did not give up wealth for wisdom; they gave up wealth and wisdom. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

294 Man is organic. He only need remain rooted in the soil where he finds himself. He grows his meaning. Like the Amazon, he estimates more species than he can hope to name. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

120 There is a point where the need for marketing newspapers overtakes the real event.  In successfully gratifying the needs of the public, the moral within the story may then have greater value than any honest reconstruction can attain. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

295 A human is an expanding equation.  We tend to think a lot of ourselves, and so this equation usually totals up to more than what we actually are.  However, in the aftermath of a great disaster, the error is usually discovered.  We reduce and simplify the equation, in human fashion, that is to say, to the extreme .  Our equation is then less than our actuality ... which is also to say that our actuality is then more than our equation .  Existing now well beyond our own definitions, we become the objects of our own wonder, so how could we then settle for such a small, inadequate equation of ourselves?  The equation expands. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

296  “Declare war and leave victory as the only way out” — proof that one’s eyes have not yet opened.  One is always at war ... has always been at war.  We have more thoughts inimical to our own advantage than even the most insecure nation.  We are not only bored — we are blind. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

121 A government that leads the people is not a government by the people. A government by the people lacks initiative. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

297 Repetition is the only thing one can grip; the surface, the only thing one can let go. Yet we fly from repetition as though from a boring neighbor ... running for those spectacular celebrities who ignore our existence before they suddenly leave us. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

122 ... but a politician only needs to fool enough of the people, enough of the time. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

298 We have finally discovered that the word “freedom” has floated away from the center, and in its place we find the word, “Boredom.”   Boredom is a satiety which nevertheless still lacks something ... a want of excitement, by which we preserve an advantage: deadened “needs” permit us to introduce stimuli with delicate, retractable instruments. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism