Beyond Our Givens Part-One

The greatest danger to America is not from without, but from Evangelists and their Christian puppets from within.

Courtesy: filmforno.com

(PASO ROBLES, Calif.) - Primary aspects of being exist in a variety of duo-forms; the subconscious and conscious, emotional and rational, plus the individual and communal state.

Brains receive impulses from and are influenced by subconscious as well as conscious vibes emanating from individual and communal sources, and impulses received from all can affect attitudes and be magnified by the persuasive power of others who persist in pushing envelopes of particular interest to themselves.

The danger is that susceptible recipients can become as dogmatic as their persuaders if they accede to their urgings and, in the process, lose the ability to think for themselves. The influence of propaganda, applied intentionally or subliminally, can affect the values of individuals or communities.

Individually, there is another important aspect that confounds certainty; Psychiatrists and Psychologists speak of it as "a fundamental mass of life tendencies" that affects everyone and distinguishes one person from another beyond the moment of birth.

It is a pre-birth phenomenon that is as mysterious as it gets that proves people are not created equal, except in the political sense of the term as applied to opportunity.

America’s Founding Fathers believed that individuals are entitled to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,” in accordance with their tendencies, so long as they do not interfere with the tendencies of others.

We are not born equal because not everyone is equally endowed of talent and ability. But all persons are presumed to be equal in opportunity because of “unity through diversity” that magnifies human potential and contributes most to the success and greatness of nations through combined diversity.

It is an enlightened concept that emerged from the struggle to be free of the constraints of Christianity and the Inquisition’s lingering legacy that was preface to the Protestant schism in Europe and the secularization of the American Colonies via the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights that provided for Freedom of Religion that for more than a thousand years was considered inimical to the Order of the Catholic Church from which Protestantism [a movement opposing Roman Catholicism] successfully flowed, retaining the essence of the faith, sans the required accouterments and ceremonials of the Church, not the least of which was absolute conformity to its will, for which purpose the Inquisition was established and copied by Protestants that made it no guarantee of safety within its ranks either.

In 1620 Puritans fleeing persecution in England sailed as Pilgrims from a troubled refuge in Rotterdam aboard the Mayflower and landed at Plymouth, MA. bearing with them the religious habits still practiced in Europe, including its belief in witches.

Over the next one-hundred years Puritans hanged nineteen witches in Salem, the last in the same century Independence was declared [1776] and the Colonies were secularized via the Separation of Church and State to prevent in the future the excesses of the past.

Today traditionalists residing in rural-America’s northwest, the northern mid-west and deep south, cling to the preachments of Evangelists who control the Religious Right of the Republican Party with the intention of converting America’s Republic into a Theocracy of absolutism under their jurisdiction and control such as existed during the Middle Ages.

The Evangelical Holy See exercised its muscle by making those who criticized Russ Limbaugh apologize to him, or else.

Limbaugh’s role is not as a politician, but as a Supreme Ideologue of a Republican Inquisition whose verbiage appeals to the Holy See that operates in the background and controls by subtle threats those whose souls it possesses. Michelle Bachman and Sarah Palin, and even John “mavericky” McCain bend to its will, but where John seems uncomfortable in his role [does his conscience bother him?] Michelle and Sarah are naturally-disposed to their roles as radical evangelicals.

The greatest danger to America is not from without, but from Evangelists and their Christian puppets from within. . . But, moving on:

What most convinces me of the correctness of inborn tendencies derives from my own perceived phenomena and those of others whose experiences tend to confirm mine. I’ll get to them later, but now I want to speak of AUTISM [a disturbance in psychological development in which use of language, reaction to stimuli, interpretation of the world, and the formation of relationships are not fully established and follow unusual patterns - Early 20th century definition] which can range from intolerable at its worst, to incredible and particular skills, at the other end of the autistic scale. Autism is a malady requiring exposure to cultural expectation and the development of social graces at all levels if it is to appear normal. Unlike persons who learn progressively, autistics often do not adapt easily, but must be carefully watched and tutored in social graces for successful living.

Savants, unlike their lesser counterparts, possess particular talents beyond logical comprehension; limited, but focused skills, exceptionable because they exist without having been consciously learned; otherwise they differ little from others of their ilk whose autism is self-limiting and socially lacking. I saw a program about savants who possessed exceptional abilities that I found amenable to my thinking.

One was a virtual almanac who could say what the weather was on a given day, even before his birth, and in a specified locale. Another could perform calculations almost with the speed of a computer and a third could play the piano as a virtuoso, performing compositions written by composers long before he was born.

He did not read music and never had a piano lesson. I doubt any felt what they did was exceptional, they just did it. As for social niceties, autistics are limited by degree, and generally live shorter lives.

A social worker attempted to normalize a savant who was a painter; her effort was a detriment to her art and a retreat of her personality, but when the social worker was removed, the artist regained her talent that seemed also to bolster her personality.

Normal for her was what she was born with, and might be said of all savants whose limited but extraordinary skills acquired before birth, after birth are revealed as a remarkable and incredible, but particular talent.

Could philosophers be right who argue that what each of us knows is remembered of all-knowledge we possess before birth? Could loss of recall separate us from savants [and everyone else for that matter] and explain why we are not born equal? Are savants abnormal because their limited and exceptional skill is limited to particulars rather than to rational generalities?

The implication suggests that, besides genetics, there is another force at work that influences what we become other than our accident of birth and delivery into a vital situation not of our choosing.

Does the savant-syndrome suggest that normalcy amounts to knowledge that may have been voided before birth, and abnormality be the result of incredibly specific, but limited mental capacity in others? Evidence may exist that could lend credence to the supposition, but whether it exists beyond implication is impossible to know with certainty. Quite simply, it is mysterious.

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Kenneth G. Ramey was a 79-year old "writer without a Website" who is generating excellent, provocative articles on the subject of religion and world affairs. We are pleased that Ken's "lone wolf" presence as a writer in the world has been replaced by a spot on our team of writers at Salem-News.com. Raised in Minnesota and California during the dark years of the Great American Depression, Ken is well suited to talk about the powerful forces in the world that give all of us hope and tragedy and everything in between. You can write to Ken at: darken1@sbcglobal.net