would you like mensa with those corn chips?

ok, well sorry to tease if you have never heard of Mensa but it is not a kind of salsa but rather a club. "Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardized, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test. " [Source: Wikipedia]

I was reminded of Mensa this week when a friend of mine was telling a story of a supermarket checkout conversation he over heard.  The teller had no idea that Napoleon was a historical figure (let alone his last name) but a teacher cleared all that up explaining that he was a ruler from Italy! Where it gets ugly is the two of us thought that she was incorrect since he was the emperor of France. Well, it turns out he was both, and at the same time. So, and don't tell anyone, we were wrong. Our assumption that we knew history better than this other person turned out to be incorrect and, while only I was silly enough to investigate, I am left feeling a bit put out.

So what does this have to do with Mensa? Well, my issue is I would like to keep getting smarter as I get older and when I was younger I aspired to one day write the Mensa test and prove it. With age and family though that aspiration has changed to creating an environment for my kids where knowledge is readily handy in their personal development and they are not one of the googler generation who know nothing but "lets google it". (That's right, I don't believe googling everything increases knowledge or intelligence a great deal because far too much of the results are opinions, bad assessments or motivated with someone else's personal gain in mind or hastily forgotten because it can be).

So, who cares? Well, the issue is (I think) that the more knowledge we possess or wisdom we have gained from compiling it, stirring and mixing the more easily we can form our own new ideas that are different or potentially even new. Well, at least that is my theory.

More importantly, I think it contributes to a class system and separation in our society between rich and poor, the "haves" and the "have nots". Interestingly enough though, I would say that western society sees the "haves" as those that can afford material wealth. Eating healthy is not a desirable acquisition, we take our clean water for granted and our health care systems are such that we lead long lives even if we treat our bodies like crap. A smoker can end up taking off 8-10 years of their life from the habit but they could still live to 70 instead of 90. Today the average female lives to 80 but a hundred years ago that would have been 53 and 160 years ago in 1850 it would have been 40. So society as a whole benefits from the increase in human capacity. So, then in a western society where we continue to live longer who are the "have" and "have nots"?

Getting back to the start of this point and my observation on the lack of knowledge by the clerk and my incorrect assumption about the accuracy of the person who comes to her aid, I think the "have nots" are those people who are moving through life only with the knowledge required to sustain themselves and entertain themselves in the short term. Not a -bad- life really. Good food, a warm bed and lots of entertainment that takes them through a range of emotions in a way an old fashioned life just couldn't do. So why are they "have nots" ? My theory is that when these people hit a wall or find a spark within them that wants to light a fire of change, they cannot do it themselves. Worse though, I think because they do not have a wholesome sense of curiosity outside of their sphere of current knowledge and an understanding of just how hard the world is for the leaders and the successful they give up and retreat into even lesser state of human potential. That human potential that sparked within them is extinguished and it is like a match once lit, it cannot light itself again.

if instead of sheltering folks less in-the-know and we share our knowledge for free shouldn't it work out? no, because compared to today's entertainment its boring.

ok, I realize this post really hasn't gone anywhere but I am perplexed at the idea that not all humans want to learn, better understand the world and with each passing year discover how they can contribute to our future in some way.  See, instead what I see are people who do go through the effort but get tired of waiting for the world to come to the same conclusion and make incremental changes and so they take matters to a more radical level. They understand the problem and can't wait idly by any more and so they speak out and take action and instead of appealing to the masses they sound just like another crack pot.

So how do you continue to develop yourself intellectually, share ideas and information with the world, help others get engaged in that journey, shape the future for the better and not sound like a crack pot?

time

when I am busy, I perceive time to be going faster than when I am idle waiting for a time.

the relationship between our mind and time is a curious thing.

huh?

well consider this, our brain is capable of both conjuring up an idea in an instance or taking its time and slowly pulling it together. the same brain.

don't believe me? ok, forget new ideas.

you are going to the basement to get something but you get there and you have forgotten what it was you were going for. why is it that sometimes you can remember instantly and other times you are at the top of the stairs (or worse laying in bed trying to forget about the day and go to sleep) when you remember why you were going to the basement.

now, riddle me this, does our brain ("us" as a participant in this somehow) plan these things? and if it does, then how does our brain know that by manipulating the time involved in our actions there will be different results.

back to the issue of how much time our brain takes to form an idea, or make a decision. how much of that is under our control and how much is an internal function which we only seem to loosely influence?

tired?

well, how about this new variable in my quest: what about the influence of stimulation on the mind whilst it's busy messing with our time space continuum and our stuff? I find at varying times I have more time on my hands where I have no outside entertainment or sounds coming at me and it influences my thoughts, or the ability to have multiple thoughts.

we have more information, collective knowledge, individual knowledge, analysis, research, etc, etc than ever before but we also entertain ourselves like never before and the latter is the stimulation I am most concerned about, particularly of the mindless crap variety.

brain time is a puzzling thing.

truth

The discovery of an acceptable definition of truth seems to be something worthy of many discussion in the future I think.

There are folks still stuck on the concept of absolute truth and they appear to be divided into two camps. On the one hand scientific "proof" based truth and on the other "belief" based truth. Neither the two shall meet, it would seem, as those truths which they select are not compatible.

In my learning journey on coaching I have come to appreciate just how much language has messed with our human race and have a different appreciation for this "battle" for truth now it would seem.

What I have come to appreciate is the difference between an assessment and an assertion. I read a book by  Matthew Budd where I came to understand Assessments (in which you make judgments); and Assertions (statements for which you can provide evidence) and it changed my perspective on truth, or at least made me think about it more.

In fact, I found myself not wanting to use the word truth any more because its not helpful in conversation, really.

What I find compelling is the number of shared trusted assessments we have in our groups and cultures.  Some of those shared and trusted assessments are the building blocks of our lives today and those building blocks are falling out of place in society because of the fight to maintain that they are assertions (or truth) is not a battle that can be one in the traditional sense.

The temperature outside is 15c is an assertion because it can be measured and the evidence agreed to. It is warm enough to have a picnic is an assessment of how comfortable it is outside and may not be an agreed to assessment but it doesn't matter. What does matter is that some group of people may agree to that assessment and they form together and have their picnic.

I think the world struggles with tolerance for the non picnic folk who believe that they are wrong and should be convinced of it.

Agreement on whether the weather is nice enough for a picnic is one thing, but try getting agreement on assessments about spirituality is no picnic.

ticks from space

a long time ago an alien species crafted a interstellar space cannon that could fire projectiles containing entire communities of it's people across the galaxy in hopes of finding place where they could settle and thrive.

one of those projectiles would arrive on earth and after the impact a vast community of the alien species would set out in search of food and a good environment within which they could survive.

those species are now commonly known as ticks and as they have discovered that we are at war with them they are using biological warfare themselves to keep us within our cities and away from them and the hosts that they live off of in the wild. they have a happy existence feeding off the blood of animals and they will not tolerate our chemicals and concrete.

it is an ugly war, we cannot intercept their strategic plans or use our spy technologies to track them. we cannot use economic power to turn their own species against themselves or easily manipulate their supply chain without hurting ourselves more. what is more, their attacks on us are done with ghost like stealth with a time delay that leaves us guessing at where the attack occurred. we are left wondering if they have leadership or is every last one of them a trained attack weapon with the knowledge to survive alone or in community with little more than a blade of grass until their next unsuspecting supply of goods comes by.

So, what do we do?

do you have a destiny?

is there a hidden agenda embedded in your DNA?

is there meaning in your actions without you knowing it?

are seemingly routine events in your life that seem boring actually making micro-payments into a greater good?

are some people craving anarchy because they think that they are independent or because they feel hopeless?

do you think that "the system" limits your success or reinforces it?

if we found out that we were not alone in the universe, what would that change?

if we stopped using force to influence and dominate the capitalist system what would change?

if McDonalds had never existed would the world be any different?

do you like to do the things that you do or do you do them out of routine and fear?

what would you say differently if you had a billion dollars?

if you could finance a self sufficient energy system and pay it off in your life time would you buy it?

would you work from home if you could?

would you go into space if given the opportunity?

would you planet a garden if you had time?

do you like green eggs and ham?

do you have hope for future generations?

do you like your way of life?

why do you drink milk?

why do you stare at the stars?

why do you speed when you drive your car?

why do you want to stay up late?

why do you want more?

what is your favourite colour?

what is your quest?

is the glass half full?

climate change and atheists

can you both believe in climate change and be an atheist?

if atheists don't believe in something they cannot see or find evidence for, then how could one believe in climate change which is based on a future state of the earth?

hope

it would be interesting to know if any other life form on our planet experiences hope.

I think we assume we are the only species so lucky but I wonder if instinct is the only driver or if there hope in the mind of the great majestic whale or in the hovering hummingbird.

hope keeps us curious, keeps us interested, driven on a pathway without knowns, alive?

I assume that every day I will get the next and hope encourages me to make the most of the time I am given. It excites me to see my kids grow, my relationships with others develop and my understand of the world stretch and expand.

I think I have come to accept that with each day I am not becoming smarter but rather my base of knowledge grows, my ability to process logic gets more experience and my emotional side gains further examples of the human experience.

I can't imagine what it would be like living in a war torn time or place, I assume I wouldn't have these same luxuries and I am so grateful for my situation.

I hope that somewhere in our future we find a way for my priviledge of knowledge, experience and human experience can be the minimum for all humans on the planet. what would it take to channel our greed to something less destructive and harmonious with all humankind?