Abandoning Reason For Madness
Falsely Believing Ourselves To Be Wise
Abandoning Reason For Madness
Falsely Believing Ourselves To Be Wise
Written by a human, for humans, always.
I used to believe.
I was told the same story as so many different people.
That different universities were desirable for knowledge...
That different groups could be trusted to oversee our best interests...
That different institutions cared about the Truth.
Today...
I have my doubts.
Sadly...
I have seen too many individuals, universities, groups, and institutions fail to live up to the intended beliefs.
I have seen so many of these claim to be wise...
Then completely abandon reason for madness.
If you are a nerd like me, you will understand that I happen to also be referencing a famous piece of media...
The Lord of the Rings.
There are two powerful and intelligent wizards...
Gandalf the Grey and Saruman the White...
Also known as Saruman the Wise.
Saruman was considered the greatest of the wizards...
So Gandalf goes to meet him about something that could destroy the free world.
But instead of Saruman helping Gandalf...
Saruman reveals that he has turned to the side of darkness.
Upon understanding the situation, Gandalf famously says...
“...when did Saruman the Wise abandon reason for madness?”
This reflects something that I have now seen far too many times in reality.
People who are believed to be “wise”...
Who, upon closer inspection...
Have abandoned all reason...
And have pursued and promoted things which inevitably create destruction.
It also makes me think of a Bible verse...
“Claiming to be wise, they became fools;” Romans 1:22 NRSV
Here is an interesting question to consider...
What leads to this happening?
How is it that someone who once appeared to be wise could fall so greatly?
What allows an institution to begin to fail in its intended role?
How do institutions that were designed for good purposes begin to serve horrifying means?
How do groups develop and begin to turn to terrible deeds?
Likely, it is many different things.
Pride.
Fear.
Lack of humility.
Biases.
Being surrounded by sycophants and enablers.
Belief in ideals that others do not share.
Refusing to consider other perspectives.
Putting trust where it was never earned.
All of which can be summarized as...
Being human.
To call yourself wise does not make you wise.
To be correct in some things does not make you correct in others.
There are objective realities that we cannot escape.
Some seemingly great theories do not play out in reality.
Surrounding ourselves with people who always agree with us does not serve us.
Always agreeing with others does not serve them.
The truth is sometimes more complex than we can imagine.
Sometimes what is simply understood is furthest from the truth.
Logic at one level can begin to quickly fall apart at the next level.
What is old is not necessarily useless.
What is new is not necessarily better.
We live in a world where everyone believes themselves to be wise...
But when I look...
I rarely find wisdom.
More and more often I find only a veneer of wisdom...
Hiding ugly truths that were not meant to be seen.
The Wizard of Oz has been revealed...
A human with no real power or ability...
Pretending to be something greater than they truly are.
One of the greatest traps of today’s world...
Is believing ourselves to be wise.
When we begin to truly believe that we have wisdom...
That is often where we begin to blur the line of reason...
Doing things that do not really make sense in hindsight...
But too lost in our delusions of grandeur to see our own madness.
Oh, how the mighty fall...
Proving themselves only to be fools who abandoned all reason...
Unleashing madness all around them.
To Your Sageship,
Cody
P.S. - It can be Difficult to Figure Out How To Achieve…
Stress Optimization
Psychophysiological Freedom
An Exemplar Wayset
If you want Aid on the Path to Sageship, let me know - I’ll be Your Coach and Guide.
Just Send Me A Message.