[MD] Oneness, Dualism & Intellect

[Squonkriff at aol.com]

Dearest Mark and Dearest others,

Mark: 
When the, 'problem' of  intellect is mentioned, my initial reaction is,  
'Problem? What  problem?'

Mati: Here is a problem. You are sitting in a doctoral  committee meeting to
review your research proposal.  You want to use MOQ  as possible basis for a
research methodology to understand and pose a way to  better approach your
research problem. There are a bunch of real smart guys  in the room, your
advisor, the department chair is there who has a strong  background in
philosophy who, rightfully so, questions and is critical of the  basis of
every idea that is presented. Now the problem. Most of these guys  are not
well versed in philosophy, you painfully explain MOQ with your  diagrams and
careful explanations.  It is like trying to get a newborn  infant up and
walking in a one hour meeting.  Now after an hour of brain  grinding
questions they drop this one.  "Well can you define intellect  in such a way
that clearly delineates social from intellect values and give  us a clear
indication or example as to how you are propose to delineate the  interview
data you collect as social or intellect based values?"  That  was the problem
and still is.
 
Mark 03-03-07: Hi Mati,
Again, i feel the same feeling of, 'What's the problem?'
The context you describe above is distressing and i sympathise with  you.
However, symbolic manipulation is the answer:
a. Social symbols are imitated behavioural patterns. Example: Goinf to  
church because other people do it.
b. Intellectual symbols do not stand directly for social or biological or  
inorganic patterns. They are self referencing and behave according to  rules.

Mark:
The intellectual level has always seemed so very simple  to me.
May i explain please?
Imagine a time in the course of value  evolution when there is no  
intellectual level?

Mati: 
I have a thousand times. 

Mark:
Evolution is  dominated by social patterns, and these patterns are those of  
imitated  behaviour and the celebrity. The celebrity is the best human -
those with  arte. The arte humans are the ones who get to choose what 
language is  transmitted
from one generation to the next. For them, the Good is Arte, and  language  
reflects this.
Duality already exists at this time:  Duality between those who are arte,
and those who are not. A better term may  be, 'differentiation;' those with
arte are differentiated from those of no or  little arte.
At some unspecified time, geometric patterns are described for  the first  
time in language.
Geometric patterns are perfect examples  of the Truth.
If you want to build a Good wall, that wall will be the best if  True to  
Geometry.
This challenges arte, because Truth is so  regardless of how little arte  
anyone has.
What good is it to have  all that social arte when an ugly, weak little  
bastard can build a  wall in accordance with geometry which protects everyone
- even those  without social arte - from the enemy?

Once the concept of truth is  worshiped in its own right language isn't  
dominated by social arte  privilages anymore, and so the intellectual level
begins to break free from  the social level: Abstract symbolic  manipulation.
Structures of all  kinds from music to poetry now have a new dimmension -
new differentiations  which begin to replace the old social differentiations
of the  Good.

Mati: Very interesting stuff of which I really enjoyed. Are you  saying that
ones capacity to utilize truth is the basis for intellect? If so  then how
would you answer the doctoral committee question?  Take care.  Mati
 
Mark 03-03-07: I just did above: b. Intellectual symbols do not stand  
directly for social or biological or inorganic patterns. They are self  referencing 
and behave according to rules.
The wall is a pattern of inorganic  patterns and the laws of geometry arrange 
them into a good wall.
A good wall behaves in accordance with the truth, because the truth is  a 
species of the good.
I hope this thread continues Mati.
Love,
Mark