Category Archives: Metaphysics

Beware of Experts-1

(More from David Collum) Just saying …The most popular of all statistics declares that “97% of climate scientists believe anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is a significant problem.” A colleague and climate change activist at Cornell recently claimed in a debate at Cornell, “that 97% number is not even debatable.” He’s right; it’s complete garbage. Over 11,000 abstracts from papers supposedly on climate change were culled down to 79 papers, of which 77 said climate change was a problem. The one chard of truth: 77 of 79 is about 97%. This is what is known by students of Statistics 101 as “selection bias”! Shame on you scientists. You have become propagandists!

Karma is alive and well!

Anyone who doesn’t believe in karma(we call it Divine Justice in Islam) needs to rethink their position in the light of the current pandemic! All the public health experts predicted that the Western countries (U.S.A.,Britain and Europe) would do the best in such a pandemic.THE OPPOSITE turns out to be true! If you think “karma” it is totally unsurprising! These “advanced” countries have been spreading chaos and destruction over the entire globe for the last hundred years- through their wars and their colonialism( think WW1,WW2, Iraq,Afghanistan,drones over Pakistan,French,Belgian and English colonialism in Africa and Asia to name but a few).Did they really think there would be no consequences?! Wa la howla wala quwatta.People really need to rethink their understanding of causation and go deeper than they are accustomed to.The journalists are NOT going to do it for you! lol They are mostly brainwashed by the current agnostic consensus!

The State of the World!

One of the main reasons that this world is on the path of self-destruction is that the current god of Science gives us substantial stable problems like cancer,autism and Alzheimer’s and global warming and only partial and largely unsatisfactory solutions like chemotherapy,ABA therapy, anti-cholinesterase inibitors and carbon mitigation strategies.Religion,so demonized in the modern world, on the other hand, gives us permanent solutions like getting closer to God and developing virtue in our interactions with others and temporary problems like religious wars and sectarianism.So we have it all upside-down! We are betting on the wrong horse!

The Modern “Scientific” Method

Everyone loves science,no?! From politicians to classroom teachers to trendy theologians lol, on a daily basis it is beaten into our heads that we have to worship at the altar of science.But what is really going on?!

In the 16th century Francis Bacon developed,on the basis of certain Aristotelian principles, a powerful and elegant model that is still applicable up to modern times -even in our mundane daily lives.It involves four stages-Observation,Hypothesis,Experimentation and Conclusion.You can use this model in everything from launching a rocket to choosing where you are going to travel next! Very practical-when well-applied and not overdone.

But what has become of this simple model.Simply put,it has become corrupted.Here is what the contemporary scientific model has become.We will use medical research as its exemplar.

1) Strategize your educational process so that your C.V. facilitates your  finding  a good position in a University, Government Health Institution(think Fauci lol) or for-profit Pharma or Biotech Company company

2) Gather together a team of technical experts in statistical analysis,research design and research project management.

3) Choose a trendy subject-preferably not something too original or unconventional(think Dr. Andrew Wakefield lol)

4) Go through the laborious process of grant applications(ask any university researcher)

5) use your academic and scientific connections to get published in a reputable peer-reviewed journal and

6) always remember to stay within the politically-correct scientific consensus-whatever that may be at a given point in time.

Tell me it ain’t so! No wonder we can’t get a handle on the Covid pandemic!

It’s all in the ‘hal’

Spiritual growth and development is a complex matter.It involves beliefs,practices, ethics and various  states of Realization.However,if we wanted to put it in a nutshell,we could say “It’s all in the ‘hal’ i.e that the essence of the process is to get to the best inner state possible.All the great spiritual teachers of the world were in such a ‘hal’.

This is where our so-called “educational system”-at all levels- is so problematic.Because it moves the attention of the participants to a purely cerebral level and also stresses them out  with a diverse set of techniques- like excessive homework, assignments, tests, standardized tests,fixed academic goals and fixed curricula etc.etc. All of these actively destroy the ‘hal’ of the students- for a fortunate few only temporarily but for most its a lifelong effect and it is mostly unconscious!

As Chris Martensen (peakprosperity.com) likes to say about the Covid epidemic lol “it didn’t have to be this way” .That is ,it is possible for people to learn and get educated in a much more healthy,natural and organic way.The world had been doing that for thousands of years before our present academic structures were devised! But most people have not even grasped the problem! So keep learning and do that by avoiding educational institutions as much as you can lol.(You may need to dip into that cesspool temporarily in order to get a decent job but get out as quickly as you can and like Lot in the story of Sodom and Gomorrha,don’t look back!) I learnt most of the things of value for myself outside of those structures.

Suffering in Life

Every difficulty in life is both a test and a teaching. Most practicing Muslims are aware of the former.Allah tells us to be patient when we are being tested and to be grateful when we are receiving “niamat” (gifts).But these same Muslims are often unaware of the second part-that these difficulties have meaning(ma’ana).

The meanings ,when we are able to figure them out-which is not always possible,are also in two parts.What have we done wrong to cause the problem and how are we to proceed in a way that is more in line with the will of God.A point of clafication here.If you are undergoing suffering it does not mean necessarily that you have done something wrong.Often,that is the case but it could also be your Lord raising your rank as He has done with his beloved Prophets.In that case it is mostly a test for them although they still have to figure out how best to proceed-something they have in common with all of us!

The answers are not always easy to find.Sometimes ,they are obvious.You ate too much.Now you are having heart problems.You treated your partner badly.Now they have left you.Easy-peasy,right lol? Often it is not so simple.And then the Istikhara practice(see the text on this blog) may be of help to identify the factors that need to change.

What I am trying to underline here is that it is ALL meaningful.We just need to figure it out.Some times it takes a while to do so! May Allah guide us all! Salaams,Ibrahim

Conspiracy Theories Unpacked

Conspiracy Theories Unpacked

Fareed Zakaria, one of the more intelligent representatives of the politically- correct, Ivy League Universities of America, dealt with conspiracy theories on todays GPS show on CNN. So it’s time to comment lol.

He talks about “Pizzagate” and Qanon  and the “birther” conspiracies but the one conspiracy that he never addresses is the conspiracy of political-correctness and social, scientific consensus. Of course, he cannot address that as he is completely immersed in it! That is the one that tells us that we live in a truly democratic society, that “Due process of the Law” gives us justice and that man can figure out everything he needs to know through Science and Reason. Ever run into that one lol?! Ever notice how much falseness lies therein.

Well, if you don’t or won’t see that, many other people do. They see the lies, the half-truths, the deceptions and they then try to figure out what is going on. Many diverge into the realm of imagination, fantasy an d sometimes pure projection known affectionately as “paranoia”. But you can’t totally blame them as the mainstream media do.They are being lied to, they know it and so they invent their own lies to compensate. Stated simply, the most important cause of conspiracy theories is the lying and deception promulgated by official sources! All part of a very sick and troubled society!

Now, there is another social myth contributing to this problem. That myth is that our educational system teaches us to think! Wrong! Our educational system teaches us to think in a very outward, Empirical, supposedly logical, way that more often than not leads us away from the Truth rather than closer to it. Our educational system does NOT teach us discernment. It does not teach us basirat (insight, inner vision). It does not teach us true listening and hearing. It does not teach us intuition and insight. So, in effect, our educational system is actually a sophisticated form of brainwashing that few, even those who have designed it, are aware of.

Let me give you a couple of concrete examples to hang your pegs of understanding on. In the late 1970’s Raymond Moody came out with his book: ”Life after Life” analyzing his collection of what became the near-death experience “.Since then I have had an avid interest in these accounts to the point where I wrote a book about them called “The Big Questions-Evidence Based Faith” in 2007. (The second Edition is now available on Amazon.)Almost universally, when you present this evidence of the After-Life to “well-educated” people, they respond the same way: ”But isn’t that just because there are biochemical changes in the brain at the time of death?” For someone slightly more aware than that  you could be thinking “Wha-a-at?!”.Here are people telling you they left their bodies, they met angels and deceased relatives and even God, confirming ALL the teachings of the great religions of the World, and all you can think of is “Are these biochemical changes in the brain?!” This is Empiricism at its most perverse and pernicious level. In my understanding, this reflex is entirely generated by our educational system.

A second example: When I was working as a psychiatrist, at one point I had a number of patients suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. In many cases, it became obvious that the source of the problem was environmental issues like mould or chemicals or insecticides at the workplace or in the home. I would often have to work as well with the partners of these patients as the consequences of these problems affected them as well. After awhile I noticed a pattern. The partners who understood best (some of them had understood even before the patients came to consult!) were almost invariably workmen in the trades! The professionals (doctors and lawyers and even engineers)and other random intellectuals and administrators rarely got it. They were too stuck in their concepts. Many of them had concluded it was all “psychosomatic”-another of the abused terms of the politically correct class. (To be addressed in a future article).

At this point, my well-educated readers lol are going to reflexly ask the same question! “So what is the solution?!” This too is part of the socially-conditionned thought processes. As if the solution does not emerge spontaneously from a correct understanding of the problem. Which it usually does!

Nevertheless, since peoples’ thinking processes do not change easily or quickly, I will address this issue as well. The answer is that people need to be educated in discernment and all of its doors(what I call Epistemology for lack of a better term).That should be one of the principal goals of education. And I do not know of a single educational institution ,outside of some advanced Sufi circles, that is teaching this very thing that we need so much in the modern world.

This is a very long and complex discussion-full of all kinds of confusions, ambiguities and misunderstandings. So, to avoid the risk of remaining in the abstract and nebulous let me go back to one of the main problems at hand- the Covid epidemic. The conspiracy theories are all over the place on this one. ”This is a “plandemic”-orgainized by some cabal of business and political leaders to control the world”. ”The Covid pandemic is not real. Only 6% of the deaths are really Covid deaths. The epidemic is no worse than the annual flu”.( Ask the doctors on the ground if you need to dispell that one!)”This was a bioweapon developed either by the U.S. military or the Chinese to be used for warfare”. The list goes on and on.I am still waiting for the theory that this is a plot from extra-terrestials lol.Soon to come on your favourite conspiracy web-site.

Then we have the lies of the official classes-somewhat more subtle but toxic nevertheless. Let’s start with the original lie:”This is a naturally occurring virus that transferred from an animal to a human at the Wuhan market”. Almost every serious viral geneticist like Dr.Luc Montaigne French Nobel prize-winner in looking at the genetic sequence can tell that there is human intervention. For those who love the science of it the insertion is called a “polybasic furan cleavage site”. It was produced by “gain of function” research in America which became a hot potato in the U.S. where it was banned and  transferred to Wuhan China in 2014. America knew of the danger after a report to the State Department in 2018 but did nothing about it. When it finally emerged in 2020, the Chinese covered it up at first but shut down the whole area around Wuhan. This is not the place to go into the entire history of this virus but suffice it to say for our purposes here that much of the Truth is not being told to the public. Likewise for the efficacy of Hydroxychloriqine and /or Ivermectin used properly.(Both are being used effectively in Third World Countries!)Both denied by official, social consensus science. Then there is the whole question of the safety of massive vaccine programs. Again either the proper research is NOT being done or it is not being used properly. So people have reason to be suspicious! Not to be paranoid but to be skeptical.

For those who are still determined to find solutions, another element would be true transparency by government officials. That, however, is,despite the rhetoric, highly unlikely given the adversarial nature of current democratic politics and the strategic manipulation of information by one interest group or another.

So, we are by no means out of the woods! Of course, the best weapon against conspiracy theories is Truth! But that Truth can only be discovered through discernment and dispassion. And our current leadership, both in politics AND in science and the professions, has neither of those. They are blind, deaf, insensitive, greedy and ideological-a toxic brew like no other we have seen in history!

Modern Education Revisited

I have listened to and analyzed the reports of many,many students in their experience of academia and have come to the inevitable conclusion that the unconscious intention of almost all schooling is to make students as miserable as possible! This would support the theory which I have, up to now at least, considered conspiratorial that school is designed to prepare people for the workforce.After that painful educational process almost any job,no matter how stressful or boring seems like liberation lol.At least ,at the end of a day of work you are free.And you get paid!At school,you are never free until the semester ends or you get the degree! Welcome to the modern world.But before I leave you on this question,I should mention the cognitive dissonance caused by social conditioning.In this social conditioning,people are taught that school is the best time of your life and the key to happiness. Simply put,that is hogwash!

Epistemology Unpacked -The Covid-19 pandemic

I guess philosophy is important after all lol.My two favourite terms these days are Epistemology and Empiricism and its sister Philosophical Materialism.So my apologies to Wittgenstein and John Stuart Mills after all lol.

So( not supposed to use that word according to current anal grammarians lol.Another form of political correctness-this time in the  world of grammar.).And yet(probably also banned as a term lol) it is SO useful lol.Maybe that’s why they want to ban it! (the conspiratorial epistemology-to be unveiled shortly).So,I repeat,the current pandemic gives us a chance to examine different forms of Epistemology.Epistemology basically means “how do you get to the Truth,The Realty of any situation or question?”(same word btw in Arabic-Truth and Reality=Haqq!)

So let us examine four forms of Epistemology as applied to the Covid pandemic and  try to see their relative value.I will personalize these approaches in order to make the point more vividly and graspable(sorry again grammarians-probably not a legitimate word!).

  1. The Didier Raoult paradigm-information on the ground.For those that don’t know this fascinating character from Marseilles,he is one of the first doctors to promote hydroxychloriquine as a Covid treatment-mostly based on his clinical experience at a hospital in Marseilles.He even took the trouble to document his cases and show that at his clinic ,they had reduced the death rate by about 70% by this approach.Further studies done in the right way,using HCT early in the illness with azithromycin and Zinc came to similar conclusions-anywhere from a 60-80% reduction! All of this based on exanining the facts on the ground.This principle is applicable to many other situations .Ask the people who are there experiencing it.But no! The current Epistemological paradigm forbids this It is dismissed either as subjective or anecdotal or some other disparaging term.         I was pleased to hear from my brother in NYC whose future son-in-law was himself working on the ground in a Brooklyn hospital where the doctors noticed that HCT was useful early in the illness and they were not even using it with antibiotics and zinc! But no,the CDC and WHO will hear nothing of this .They need their prospective, double-blind ,placebo-controlled peer-reviewed i.e. non-existent studies lol to arrive at conclusions.)
  2. The Chris Martenson(peakprosperity.com) paradigm.Unlike the former paradigm  Chris is working from outside the battlefield.But he uses the on the ground workers as one source amongst others.Then he interviews people who have experienced the illness,looks at the research including the less high-profile journals and the non-statistical scientific reports.He scours the newspapers,TV Cable News and radio reports.From this vast array of sources he is able to discern the chaff from the wheat,pick out the B.S. even in hot-shot journals like Lancet and JAMA and then come to conclusions.He is almost invariably right and when he isn’t he admits it.   Oddly enough I have seen judges in the courts using a very similar process of teasing out the reality from an abundance of sources.And they consistently understand the Reality better than the expert doctors who are supposed to be experts in the area. That is because the doctors are using the next paradigm-the Fauci approach lol
  3.  The Fauci and his acolyte Sanjay Gupta approach- also known as current scientific consensus.These people only believe in peer-reviewed,placebo-controlled,double blind prospective studies and Cochrane database metastudies and official organizations like WHO and FDA and CDC..They are very often wrong as has been Fauci all along in this pandemic.He got the mask issue wrong(not enough studies?!)the hydroxychloroquine issue wrong(looking at the wrong studies and ignoring the right ones) and the man-made nature of the virus(how he could get that one wrong is beyond me as HE was instrumental in creating it!). The problem is that most medical personnel and certainly the formal afore-mentioned institutions(WHO,FDA,CDC,NIH) are all using that paradigm! No wonder we are in such confusion and such trouble.
  4. I can’t complete this abbreviated list of Epistemological approaches without mentioning the Brian Rose,Sayer Ji Plandemic conspiratorial epistemology.These people see the lies and the deceptions of the official stories of government and health institutions but go way beyond the facts into paranoid projections.So the fact that there was a 201 Event meeting of government and public health officials and businessmen Organized by John’s Hopkins University  in October 2019 that simulated a pandemic to try to develop strategies to deal with such an event means for them that the pandemic was planned.Wrong! The fact that the Wuhan lab was under the control of the Chinese military means that this virus was a bio-weapon of war.Wrong again. The fact that Bill Gates screwed up with vaccines in India and Africa means that he is trying to depopulate the world so that he can better control it.Anyone with familiarity with the paranoid mind-set(I was a psychiatrist for 45 years lol) can recognize the cognitive errors in these kinds of distortions and projections.On top of it,they may be dangerous as they stir up unnecessary fear and anger in a situation where there is enough realistic fear and anger to go around already!
  5. Btw, each of these types of Epistemology can be used in many other areas of life as well.As I have indicated in other articles on this blogsite-which you are free to explore.In fact,I consider myself to be an Epistemologist of Spiritual Reality and Truth.Keep reading and keep in touch if this interests you in any way .Salaams,Joel Ibrahim Kreps