Ukraine: War is brutal and horrible and primitive-always. But this war and the previous war on Iraq by America have something special about them! They are utterly stupid(and unnecessary).Both were entirely preventable. So why is that happening?!Why are we getting stupider(sorry Mr.Steven Pinker -you are lost in the “fog of data”).I have a theory. You know the way certain medical observers have noticed an increase in autism and ADHD since the advent of vaccines mandates in children Well ,I have noticed that the stupidity correlates quite nicely with the development of our Western education systems! The world has never been so educated!And yet it has never been so stupid?! Intriguing, eh? Give it some thought. God help us!
Category Archives: Metaphysics
The Veil of Reason
Watching the NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg(but this applies to almost all public figures!) Reason is a tool, often the primary one, that provides cover for cowardice, hypocrisy, self-interest and self-justification, insensitivity and sometimes outright misinformation. But we are taught in our highly-esteemed schools, to honour even to love it(reason) . If we seriously want to know what is happening we need to see beyond the veil of Reason. Sorry Aristotle lol but you have led us down the garden path. And even “garden-path” is a misnomer. It is the road to hell! As one of my Sufi teachers, Bawa Muhayideen, taught us “The road to hell is lined with beautiful posters”! What he didn’t say was that most of these posters-specifically the ones that don’t appeal to our desires- are impregnated with Reason! God help us!
Btw, We are NOT an Evidence-Based Society!
We are NOT an Evidence-Based Society! We are a theory-based society. Big, big difference!
When I was asked to teach a course at McGill University on Research in Psychiatry, I came across a fascinating and original article. In this article, the researcher went over the most prominent papers published in the last ten years in Psychiatry. Without reading the articles first, he studied the background and theoretical leanings of each of the principal authors. He then looked at the results. None, yes none of the articles came to a conclusion contrary to what the authors already believed! Yes, none! So much for being fact-based!
In my first book,: “Snakes and Ladders; Aphorisms for Modern Living” i published an aphorism that says: “There is no Evidence for Evidence-Based Medicine”!
Before I published it, not wanting to have any obvious errors in my writing, I went to Pubmed(usual first step for medical researchers) where, in fact, I could find no articles where that hypothesis was tested. If you were concerned that it would be difficult to test, I can assure you that is NOT the case, as I explained to the “expert’ I eventually contacted.
For example,i n my field, psychiatr,y the format would be super-simple-much simpler than many of the research studies out there in psychiatry. Take a group of depressed patients,for example. Divide them in two .One set of psychiatrists are instructed to give references in the literature for each of their clinical decisions(that’s what evidence-based means!).The other group(the control group) gets to use their clinical judgment as they see fit. Then compare the results. Pretty simple ,eh? Guess what.?!They won’t do it! Why? Because the catechism says “Evidence-based is the best”.We don’t want to challenge our theology ,do we?
So,to be sure I had done my due diligence, I called around to find an expert. What do you know?! My Alma Mater, McGill, had a world-renowned expert in Evidence-based medicine! He was not easy to reach lol. Finally I got through to him-by email. The response was immediate and shocking. He literally had an academic conniption! “How could you possibly challenge this notion? It is the heart of clinical medicine!” and on and on. Clearly I had touched a sore spot! I had challenged his theology- as if I had told the Pope that Jesus was not the son of God or told a Muslim that there were other ways of getting to heaven. Theology is theology and many people are attached to their beliefs and prepared to die for them. Not usually the case with academics lol
So we ,in Western society, are now surrounded by theories/beliefs. “Due Process of the Law”! Ever had to deal with our legal system? “Capitalism means Competition”.Ever had to compete with a multi-national.?! Democracy of the people“Ever noticed that when the politicians are elected they care more about the interests of the large companies and the large institutions than the people.? “Vaccines are Safe and Effective”.Can the still say that in such black and white terms and not be ashamed about THEIR misinformation. “There is consensus about anthropogenic Climate Change“.Really?! Are they not reading and thinking?“Science is an unambiguous positive force in our lives and we have to cling to it in all circumstances” Have they not noticed that science created the current Covid epidemic as well as a whole host of toxins that are driving the cancer, auto-immune, Alzheimers and Autism epidemics. The list goes on and on.So think again.
To get back to the principal point here, in so MANY, many ways we are living in a society driven not by reality but by theory. Our educational system has NOT taught us discernment! In fact our educational system reinforces this bias- often teaching things that are completely irrelevant to our lives. And I have noticed over and over again that the vast majority of people are not able to distinguish between thought and Reality. No matter how much Mindfulness practice they do lol! Think about it .It could change your life!
Data,schmata.Oy vey!
( After reading a review of a book on Comparative Studies of Medical systems across the world)
Bottom line. Data is a BAD way to figure out what is going on! Kinda does in the whole intellectual enterprise, no?! I guess they were right in saying: “The demon is in the details” But they forgot to say,”The Truth is in the Big Picture”. Get that one right and it’ll change a LOT of lives!
Pathological Doubt-A Fundamental Problem for Science.
Anyone who has done a basic course in statistics-one of the pillars of the modern scientific method-knows about “the null hypothesis”. In order to prove a causal connection, the scientists begin by testing the “null hypothesis”-the hypothesis that the connection between the two variables studied could have happened by chance alone. Then they perform their magic and show via “p” values (known as statistical significance) that this is highly unlikely to be the case.
All of this might seem like purely technical issues but it is ,in fact, much deeper than that! It is symbolic or perhaps more precisely symptomatic, of an approach-an approach that begins, at the very start and in a very fundamental way, with the negative. No surprise then that scientists when they are being scientists ,as opposed to marketers and propagandists which many do become, seem unsure, confused, overly complicated and generally unimpressive in their personalities.( Ever been to University lol?)
Once again, this may all seem abstract and unimportant but that is very far from the Truth. The consequences are enormous! Let me give you some examples. In the current pandemic of SARS Covid-2 there were early signs that hydroxychloriquine and other forms of chloroquine could be effective against the virus. Chloroquine had already been shown to be effective against Covid-1 and MERS.Early clinical reports from docs like Didier Raoult in France and Peter McCullough in the U.S. were showing promising results. Then Ivermectin came on the scene and the results seemed even better.
But the ” scientific” types were not buying it. There were no “large-scale randomized, double-blind peer-reviewed studies that had published in prestigious journals”(their religious belief lol) to prove it, they claimed.. Only two years later when Pfizer came out with Paxlovid-in limited quantities- was there possibly an equivalent. Because of this “doubting” mindset it is very likely that hundreds of thousands of Americans and Millions of people world-wide died and many more were seriously ill with long-term consequences. This is no laughing matter! The cost of doubt can be extremely high.
Now, just in case you are doubting my analysis( which if you were well-educated you should be doing by now lol)I am well-aware of the economic incentives to deny the truth of the efficacy of these cheap, repurposed drugs! And that is certainly an important variable. However,I feel that it is VERY important not to deny the intellectual fault-line as well as the economic one. After all ,that is what the Faucis and organizations like the WHO use to justify and convince the medical community about their corrupt practices.
Another example of this “Pathological Doubting” occurs in the literature about near-death experiences. It is patently clear that these experiencers have left their bodies and travelled with their souls to other worlds. In a normal world, there should be no doubt(see the chapter on “The Doubters” in my book “The Big Questions:Evidence-Based Faith”.)But instead of accepting these accounts on face value ,the doubters come along and develop all kinds of far-fetched theories about brain chemistry and neurophysiology. What is even more incredible is that many “normal”people (those who haven’t joined the cult yet!) because the doubting voices sound “scientific” buy into it. More brain-washing from our educational system!
Now, surprisingly and paradoxically, this same “scientific” community is involved in “Pathological Certainty'” as well! Wtf you might think?! Yes, they don’t even remain consistent even though consistency is one of their main beliefs-one of the Ten Commandments of the Rationnalists. Aristotle must be turning over in his grave lol.
So what do I mean by “Pathological Certainly.” Two examples come to mind. One from the world of Vaccinology and one from the proponents of Anthropogenic Climate Change. Let us start with the first. All over the media, as well as in medical conferences, one hears the mantra: “Vaccines are Safe and Effective’ .Not even any caveats as we see on American TV when new medications come out.”This medication can cause this and that problem .It should not be used in this or that situation”. None of that! “Vaccines are Safe and Effective” .And yet all around us -with the slightest bit of research(have you seen the VAERS?!) or even looking around us, we can see the contrary. We see people who have been vaccine injured and we see people who have gotten sick with Covid despite being fully vaccinated. No mention of those realities in the Infomercials that pass as Public Health Announcements about vaccines. Nope “safe and effective” period. Do they take us for idiots?! Yes, they do. The problem is they may be not that far from the Truth lol.People are refusing to look into these questions for fear of the consequences to their personal lives. So they live in ignorance.
Now well before the Covid epidemic there were issues about the vaccine mandate in children. Were the vaccines causing autism? Were they doing irreversible damage to the neurological and immune systems of our children? We didn’t know. However, in the last three years we have some very credible studies done by credible scientists like Brian Hooker and James Lyons- Weiler, showing clearly the long-term detrimental effects of the vaccine mandates on children(see the “Vaccine Issue” on this blog.)Anyone in the scientific community noticing?! Certainly not the champions of “science”. They just keep repeating the mantra:”Vaccines are Safe and Effective”.
The other example of “Pathological Certaintly” occurs in the domain of climate change. We are told repeatedly that the theory of “Anthrogenic(man-made) Climate Change is irrefutable. A consensus of 97% of published papers confirm it. A gerry-madered statistic by the way. I never really bought the theory?! After all, we have no control over earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and volcanoes-all the other climate events. How come we have control over the Earths temperature?! Never really made sense to me. Sounded like human hubris! We are in control, right? Wrong! The temperature of the Earth has been changing up and down since the beginning of Creation! it has been a lot colder and a lot hotter. And the Neaderthals ,a time of greater warming than now, were NOT driving SUVs and burning coa-l as far as I know lol.
For those who like documentation and data ,there are two relatively new books “Unsettled” by Steven E. Koonin- a theoretical physicist trained at the world-famous Caltech and “Inconvenient Facts’ by Gregory Wrighthouse who covers much of the same material in a more user-friendly format, that seriously challenge the catechismic belief that “man is responsible for the current climate changes because of the “greenhouse effect” due to the carbon imprint on the atmosphere”. If you want a lighter read you can check out “Climate Change;An Alternative Analysis” on this very blog. S o you can have plenty of support for the counter-argument that man has very little impact on climate generally. All he can do is ‘adapt“. If you think more metaphysically, that is our usual Existential position-relative impotence. That’s why we need belief in a Higher Power-a subject for a later essay lol
So… bottom line; Contemporary man is contaminated by both “Pathological Doubt” and “Pathological Certainty” -both in the name of science! Btw who started this cult?! It could and is leading to our destruction! But I won’t say “certainly” lol so as to distinguish my approach from that of the so-called “scientists”
Theory OR Reality
Possibly THE biggest problem in the world is that people have been taught(yes our educational system contributes to this) to prioritize theory over Reality. So if you look at Ukraine now, the fact is that there is a section of the country(Dombas) that is divided between Russia-leaning and Ukraine-leaning. That is the Reality(somewhat like Northern Ireland which has had its share of difficulties but could be a model for the solution, however).That is the Reality. The theory is about the sovereignty of states and the right of states to join NATO. This can only be perceived as unfair and threatening by Russia! But who cares?! We have theory on our side,right?! At that point, war becomes inevitable. Whenever we prioritize theory over Reality, we get suffering and misery. That is a law of Nature as much as the physics of gravity and momentum.
Another stunning example occurs in medicine- as we can see by the Covid treatment fiasco. The theory is “the randomized, placebo-controlled, large-scale (i.e very expensive) multi-centered study published in a prestigious peer-reviewed journal.” That is the biggest mouthful of theory ever invented lol. The reality is that there were many small-scale studies published in less well-known journals and numerous clinical reports and series from observant, perspicacious doctors that showed that early intervention with cheap ,repurposed drugs could be used to successfully treat Covid and limit hospitalizations and death! That was the Reality! The CDC, the FDA, the NIH, the WHO would hear nothing of it! The consequence was excessive deaths in the hundreds of thousands in the U.S.A and millions worldwide! A significant difference ,no doubt. But who needs Reality when you have a comfortable theory at the bedside?!God help us and protect us from the merchants of Theory, who ultimately are the Merchants of Death!
Humanity On Notice
Humanity on Notice
You have drunk the Kool-Aid!(add the name here of the person whom you are addressing!) The Koolaid of the social consensus narrative of Empiricism and Rationalism. Once that is the case ,there is little to be done. The intoxicant in the Koolaid prevents you from seeing or hearing or feeling any Reality that goes against your conceptual framework. This is the way the world ends–not so much in conflict as in ignorance. The conflict is only a by-product of the ignorance. God Help us!
P.S. Feel free to send this to anyone who needs the medicine. I have released the Copyright lol
“The Incoherence of the Scientists”
At this point in time,we need to bring back the great 12th century Islamic scholar Imam Ghazzali who wrote “The Incoherence of the Philosophers”. That was a time when philosophers were highly respected and taken seriously. The updated version of that book needs to be called “The Incoherence of the Scientists”-for the modern world .But while we are waiting lol, I will give you my version.
We see an incredible amount of incoherence amongst the scientists analyzing the Covid epidemic-both on the pro-vaxx AND anti-Vaxx sides! So the pro-vaxxers(leading luminaries like Antony Fauci ,Rachel Wallensky,Sanjay Gupta and Paul Offit to name but a few) for so long and still to a significant extent are doubting the lab origins of the Virus-something for which there is now clear-cut documentary evidence and something which the French nobel laureate Dr. Luc Montagnier asserted on first seeing the genetic code of the virus in Jan.2020!Plus they are denying the evidence of the efficacy of early treatment with Ivermectin and hydroxychloriquine despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This alone has cost millions of lives!
On the other side, you have very clever thinkers like the financial analyst/lawyer types like David Martin and psychiatrist Andrew Kaufman claiming that the virus doesn’t even exist because it has not been isolated.. And you have almost universal agreement amongst the anti-vaxxers on the one hand claiming that the PCR test is completely bogus and unreliable(which I wholly agree to) at the same time claiming that we have proof that children do not spread the disease! How can you have proof of that when you have no workable tests to confirm it I, personally, have noted several instances of spread from children to adults in the people around me .Almost every ordinary citizen where I live noticed the uptick in cases when the schools opened and now in Quebec half the outbreaks are in schools! So give me a break!
The next level of unravelling this delusionary process is the fact that not only are scientists incoherent but Science itself is also! If you go back to the basic principles of the scientific method( (Observation, Hypothesis, Experimentation, Conclusion)implicitly it requires the capacity for objective observation and objective analysis to arrive at unbiased conclusions. Anyone who has understood Freud and his contributions or even someone looking at the world and its people around them realizes how unlikely that is!
But we will go one step further here-on a metaphysical plane. Coherence itself is incoherent! That is because Reality is replete with contradictions and paradoxes. So any attempt to create a coherent model is bound to be defective and misleading! The map can NEVER represent fully the territory. At its best it is a defective, one-dimensional representation which is bound to cause problems.
So….. what are we left with?! Hearing, seeing and intuitive feeling. Those are the tools for apprehending Reality! (Both Zen and Islam and in all likelihood many other spiritual traditions confirm that. Then we can regain our humanity and escape from the clutches of the robotic transhumans of data analysis. God help us in our journey!
Salaams,Ibrahim
Btw The first coherent argument in the history of our planet came from the snake speaking to Eve.: “Eat this apple and you will gain the knowledge of good and evil’ Perfectly logical! What could possibly go wrong wit that lol?!
DON’T Follow the Evidence!
(It’s just more mischief from the Social Consensus Echo-Chamber!)
If you follow the concrete evidence(read Empiricism and Materialism), you will end up concluding that life is a pile of crap made of arbitrary and unnecessary misery. Need evidence?! Go to any hospital, any prison, any school or the vast majority of workplaces lol. If you follow the evidence, you will end up discouraged, depressed and despondent. You will end up like the Existentialists and worse-believing that there is no point to it all! What a place to be?!
So instead, follow your deepest inspiration and intuition. Follow the Revelations and peoples’ mystical experiences and the teachings of the great spiritual beings of the past and the present. Ah, you can breathe again with your new vision.
So it’s your choice-misery or upliftment. Make it a wise one!
Salaams, Sufi Ibrahim
A Quick Note on Patience!
(Did your contradiction detector light up lol? That’s the way we have all been trained by our so-called education system. Should be called miseducation system but that’s a whole other story. Yes, quick and patient .Get used to it! Life is full of contradictions. (Apologies to the most honorable Aristotle- the Guru in chief of logic!)
So(another faux pas that I love. Not supposed to start a sentence with “so” according to the politically correct grammarians!) But(another dubious start lol) it is such a great word…”so” and “so” As say the Americans “sue me if you don’t like it”! So, this is another in a series of articles about Islamic concepts being misused, overused and abused. We will be talking shortly about “Bir Walidayn”-another problematic concept-at least in modern usage. Stay tuned!
A French lady living for a long time in Egypt came to the conclusion that the basic Egyptian mind-set was “bokra inshallah”(Tomorrow, if God wills).That is NOT patience. Patience is neither procrastination ,nor slacknes of will nor cowardice. Although those are often unwittingly being invoked by the term “patience”. That is NOT the sunnat of our Prophet saws.
As I like to say, something which could be misunderstood as heretical since we believe our Prophet saws was inspired in his actions, if Muhammad saws had been patient with the Qurayshi kuffar for another year in Mecca we may never have had a religion ! That of course is not possible as the spread of Islam was from Divine destiny. The point however is still well-taken. Patience, although a good default position, is not always the right option. Sometimes it is action that is needed. And the difference between the two is a matter of judgment and discernment -two entities that are not subject to fixed formulations!
So what is Right Patience(borrowing here from the lexicon of the Buddhists).As mentioned previously Right Patience is neither laziness nor procrastination nor cowardice nor fatalism nor passivity. Right Patience implies hard work-doing our “due diligence”. It requires intelligence and effort and a reasonable measure of planning(not the obsessional over-thought planning we see in modern Western institutions!).After all of that is done, then we rely on Allah (tawwakul) for the result- knowing full well that only He can cause the result to be.(see the Aphorisms of Ibn Ataillah for further elaboration on this point).Understanding and seeing this can be considered an absolutely essential part of our suluk(path) whatever that may be. And we have a most excellent example of that in the life of our Prophet saws.
In the hadith we have a very instructive teaching on this principle:
Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, the hadith outlines the story of a Bedouin man who was leaving his camel without tying it. The Prophet (PBUH) asked him “Why don’t you tie down your camel?” The Bedouin answered, “I put my trust in Allah.” The Prophet then replied, “Tie your camel first, and then put your trust in Allah.”
Our Prophet saws did not only speak about this, he acted like that! His entire life he “tied his camel”. That is, he did the necessary work, planned when needed(for the Muslim battles for example) prayed and then left the result to Allah. And that is the way we need to be. No more “bokra inshallah” lol. Rather firm commitment to Right Action and Right Words and then trusting deeply and absolutely in God. May Allah help us all to understand and to see! Salaams, Ibrahim