Guest Post by Dr. Norbert Pintsch and S A J Shirazi
First of all a note on, perhaps surprising, aspects of Religion:
- The basis of thinking of believers as well as non-believers is identical. If non-believers are of the opinion, they are free of religious limitations and think clearly on scientific lines, so this shows actually their incapacity to admit the influence of religion on our way of thinking.
- One should accept this fact in order to understand the errors in the usual way of thinking, giving a shocking dimension to the usual concepts of finding problem solutions.
- In western systems, one is inclined in religious matters to make a comparison between bananas and Neem-tree, i.e. one compares, what is actually incomparable, e.g. a religion with a total life system. One can only compare in order to recognize the differences and after that again separate, because the incomparability becomes apparent,- a continuously changing process which should be quite clear.
The deficient knowledge in the totality approach and the appropriate actions lead to enormous deficits, which are completely covered up in consumption oriented and resource squandering actions. This situation leads to a fascinating situation, which fades away the sense of error.
In spiritual area, the co-called Knowledge of the Time in the internet is actually misunderstood as knowledge itself, even though experts have called it Pseudo-Knowledge,- the strenuous work of the real search must still be done. In material area, the selection of menu in a fast food restaurant is actually understood as general reality! Especially the field of designing helps towards increased consumption, without questioning usefulness of the products at all.
Especially in technology and research-oriented areas, the increasing exploration attempts are mostly considered in themselves as development.
Illlustration 1 shows the various systems ôf the methods in which we proceed: We try to bring order to chaos and begin to recognize the matter, we try to incorporate the gained knowledge into a pattern, the pattern becomes a reality on which new theories are constructed. In this way the distance to reality keeps getting larger and larger and with that also the quantity of the basic fault, which is to be seen in the context of a fiction-reality comparison.
But the reality is actually different and the correct way would be to move away from the effort to bring order and move towards the reality and then again create a new order. This organizing and re-organizing is a permanent process which should be done deliberately.
Would the system “Life” function like the industrial, research and economic systems, one would need “the whole surface of Asia for an amoeba”!
The understanding of known and above all unknown senses is defeated due to erroneous total understanding and can only be compared with the often quoted spiritual dullness of the middle ages in Europe
The enormous discrepancies between the claim and the reality, whereby we are aware of the error multiplications of the previous generations, can be clearly seen in a production comparison between human and machines:
In the first case, production is carried out in a compact and integrated manner.
In the second case the work process reminds of the sorting efforts of early childhood: everything which doesn’t match a toy is put away separately. The development of Extreme Housing does not make such a development unnecessary, rather senseless; this aspect shows the real position of the so-called development.
Loss of knowledge or ignorance, the problems between belief and thinking as well as between thinking and knowledge may be largely seen as intellectual trickery and of absolute uselessness, however they have still not lost their importance. The only thing lost appears to be the importance of the necessity to look into the matter more deeply.
It is not new in the history of mankind to attribute all things improper not on natural factors or their personifications but rather on to an unknown, indescribable single power. One has always tried to focus on a single point even before the start of the civic calendar. If one keeps following this method consequently, the way of thinking internalizes to such an extent, that the secondary and tertiary users of the method become incapable of realizing the reality.
As a consequence of this knowledge, a pseudo-reality is created, which due to the monotheistic influence, leads to thinking and acting in a manner, which is characterized today as success and problem-oriented approach, without actually regulating anything! This is because the capability to manage something is connected to the ability to perceive something. Only that exists, which can also be proved,- what cannot be proved, doesn’t exist at all.
Paradox are scientific claims, which cannot prove their subject.
The conflict potential in the cultural system is expressed in technology, in economy, etc. but the basic problem lies in the one-sidedness, one-level of thinking, in the loss of cultural identity, in the loss of values in general. If the distance between technology and economy to philosophy and religion becomes larger (see illustration 2), this leads inevitably to conflicts.
War & Peace,- Facility Management* and similar terms as income generating concepts and more
The desire for peace is an ancient dream of humankind. To be silent and to have peace appears to be much sought, although silence is not the same thing as peace. There is the socalled silence before the storm and we have also heard of the silence of the grave.
War is something inhuman, it is said. At the same time we know, that wars can sometimes be necessary in order to maintain peace. Through wars, such elements which are detrimental to peace are atlast removed after a long process of trying to come to a peaceful solution. War and peace are not limited to economic or scientific factors but they take place almost in all areas of the western and west-oriented world. In the field of philosophy and religion, this is not noticed due to lack of information and in the field of technology and economy, one is unaware of its potential ! By pushing the problems to the consumer level, to which also sport belongs, and the fad of terms like smartest, best, strongest, a war loses its impression of cruelty.
Peace is only possible, if a basis for understanding is available, a platform from which one can argument. This basis is provided generally by theory. As in case of individuals, where one party is never totally innocent and rather both parties carry a part of the blame, so is it also valid for large organizations.
If it comes to intentional war-like situation between large organizations with loss of lives, it affects the individual person much more than the anonymous mass of the large organization.
It should not come to war if human beings actually possess the much praised capacity to understand other viewpoints, generally considered as the most important criteria of differentiation between humans and other living beings, without knowing, how other organisms behave. The distribution of insects in a field can mean the beauty of flower fields for the short-term understanding of the human being, whereas it means the ultimate for the micro-organism.
The path of conflicts can mean for some people new work opportunities and incomes*, whereas one does not really recognize a danger in it, that ist until one suddenly finds himself in the middle of the war, which one did not want at all.
We had called intellect as a medium of communication. The intellect does not function like a machine, but is rather hormone controlled. Although there are a number of diverse scientific theories and function models about the causes of conflicts, these can normally be explained quite clearly afterwards as to what has led to the conflict, between individuals or between large organizations, -but at that point it is normally too late: the problems are already created and they are compounded in different forms and at different levels.
In times of general confusion, such conflicts can take place so subtly, that the involved parties do not even realize that they are part of the conflict; because destruction does not necessarily occur through brutal force, but also through negative influence on a value system, which leads to reactions from opposite sides. In this manner apparently beneficial development as understood by one person can create feelings of fear and with that aggression in the other person, without both of them actually understanding the real cause.
Conflicts do not emerge out of nothing; they are either automatic or cultural additions to the human orientation system; if the system is influenced through pseudo- theories, the basis of understanding with the other party is lost, a further input to the existing confusion!
Due to this pro or anti position, the conflict moves from one level into another, sometimes coming to agreement, but reaching another level again and again, till it comes to conflict one day (see illustration 3). That is why we often hear, that conflicts occur between individuals due to their inability to speak to one another. An anecdote makes clear such situation, which may also apply to organizations: in the first marriage year the man speaks and the woman listens, in the second marriage year, the woman speaks and the man listens, in the third marriage year the neighbors listen,- in case of large organizations, we can add the factors of self interest, wishes and aims of auxiliary organizations too.
In a phase of escalation, the physical force is not the only measure, against it, but even together with it, psychological force can also be applied, -in both cases, one is far away from creating an understanding, although the intellect has been used with all its possibilities. In such conflicts, there is an end to the relevant system (the death), a change to the relevant system till agreement, but never can we speak of resolved conflicts, even though it may look like that. This leads us to the knowledge, that development cannot take place, if there is only silence and peace and there is no war, which creates fear and leads to readjustment.
The changes to the relevant system refer to very different factors, which take many forms of influence: general disturbance, misuse of rules, demonizing the other side, etc.
The changes and the partly sub-conscious factors of influence take place in current times more and more on a technological level. To these belong not only discussions about human rights, where one party insists they are present and must be valid all over the world and the other party does not share this opinion because of cultural differences. Complex applications in security area also belong to it, so that in case of a conflict, which –it is stressed- nobody wants, what one achieves for its own side, keeping human lives intact. This argument is sold quite well at least to its own people. Even if the described situation appears to be a distant possibility, a civil application of the Facility Management (see illustration 4) is nothing more than a shifting of values, of the influence, of the opposite effects of income generating measures and of the loss of incomes from work. Thanks to, or should one say, due to missing knowledge and the time to reflect, we arrive in current times to the mentioned forms of confusions. For this reason we should utilize, at least from time to time, the possibility to balance out the fundamental deficits, this requires however an appropriate realization. If this realization is not there, it must lead to conflicts, at the end of which a little understanding, a spark, –like a wonder- finds its way into the human understanding.
Sometimes this spark even helps the human generation develop further,- if there are more -one can assume that there is nothing for free-, the peace is obtained on the shoulders of other unlucky people of other regions. If one would attempt to verbalize this tragedy, it would mean the end of comfortableness for the peace preachers. Strangely, there is something old enough from the middle ages, which represents an important factor to promote peace on an individual level: the love; in large organizations, the only possibility to avoid conflict is permanent dialogue, which should take place even if unresolvable limitations stand in the way. This is because the other option to the desire for a certain social order is the reality of chaos (see illustration 5).
* The considerations are based upon a model of CULTURE, in which although discussed in different dimensions from various authors, it still holds, that different cultures still have certain commonalities like a written or verbal form of dealing with each other, some sort of method for material exchanges, some form of activity to pull out of the daily routines, etc.
** As a precaution, we may point out that there are cultural systems, which have a total approach to their subjects but they are often misunderstood from outsiders as religion,- this is an important cause for many misunderstandings. There is a difference whether we consider the founder of a religion as a rhetoric personality or as a communal politician, who carries the responsibility of creating order among the chaos of human inter-action.
Technology and economic-oriented persons can gain knowledge about spiritual problems by the following authors:
- Paton:Ueber Nicht-Wissen
- Skrates:Ueber Un-Wissenheit zu spielen, um beim Gespraechspartner die Vernunft ans Tageslicht zu bringen (Maeautik)
- Drewermann: Ueber Glauben & Denken, Denken & Wissen