I never used to think so, but now I do. Good ultimately prevails, because what is True is what is Good, and falsity is Bad. These killers live false lives and suffer for it, though on the surface it doesn't seem that way. (See: Criminology)
On the surface, bad-ness almost always wins. Lies win. Machiavellian people ascend to the highest status within our societies. They kill millions of people and seem to "get away" with it. But they can never get away from themselves. But we underestimate the suffering we bring on ourselves until its too late.
It is interesting too that we, and I used to, look at the brain with some discomfort. Why when we look at the part of ourselves that relates most to our thoughts and feelings do we feel discomfort?
It sort of speaks to the fact that we are deluded. That we want to be other than what we actually are. We enjoy such delusions so much that we find it discomforting when they are challenged by looking at a brain.
You may want to check out Brain Story by BBC. In it they do all kinds of things to interfere with or tap-into brain processes. At one point, pressing an electrode against Broca's area (brain) on an awake patient. The interference interrupts her speech as she's counting down from ten.
This is important to realize, everything you think, do, say, wish, hope, love, whatever.. everything about you and not about you, is the representational content of your brain! Your brain obeys laws of contiguity, like physical matter (it is physical). Donald Olding Hebb formulated the basic law of brain development as "Cells that fire together wire together." Your whole entire world-view and concept of self is based in this.
I find that devices that interfere with brain processes and can rape someone of their own self, is more beneficial to us than technology that strengthens our illusion of control. We need to realize our own dependence and frailty, so we can stop hating each other.
Seriously, it was kind of a challenge to find a good copy of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Which may be that book which reads "Vanity Fair" or that may be the magazine. I go to the Good-Will book store and pick-up antique books some times. For The Builder and the Plan by Ursula Gestefeld, they wanted $50 at Good-Will! Some books are quite rare.
These kinds of stories always have more in them than meets the eye. Note that as Virgil is crowning and mitering Dante over himself, he is drawing attention to the fact that Dante's will is free of ignorance, and to act against that will would be error. This gives meaning to the vacuous notion of "Free-Will". Dante's will is not completely free, he is simply free of delusion, free to act truthfully. Which is the best we can be.
To say, liars will have their tongues ripped out is an allegorical way of saying that if you become a liar, nobody will trust you or listen to you. Your speaking will be ignored and it will be as-if your tongue had been ripped out.
Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradisio) is an anagogical allegory. In the book I have, illustrated by Gustave Dore with some beautiful pictures, the literal, anagogical and allegorical are referred to in a quote by Dante Alighieri on the back part of the jacket. I can't seem to locate it online.
Anagogical refers to a procession from a state of ignorance to a state of clarity and understanding. It refers to this "spiritual" procession. Which is really just a change in personal psychology bringing the mind closer to reality.
"Look at the sun that shines upon your brow; look at the grasses, flowers, and the shrubs born here, spontaneously, of the earth. Among them, you can rest or walk until the coming of the glad and lovely eyes--those eyes that, weeping, sent me to your side. Await no further word or sign from me: your will is free, erect, and whole--to act against that will would be to err: therefore I crown and miter you over yourself."
No, I think they are more sensory-stimulating which amounts to ego-gratifying. Still, I enjoyed it for that reason, I find existence nauseating sometimes.
Europeans and their descendants (Americans, Canadians, etc...) speak with forked-tongues. They say one thing, but mean another. Of course nothing we say is sincere, we say it to win each other's sympathy, in order to get what we want. We are too alienated from ourselves to speak genuinely.
Here is a script from my father (a salesman for 15 years and fan of Dale Carnagie):
"Hey, nice sweater! Is that new?" (No, I've had it for years.) "Oh, I don't remember seeing it. Did you have it away for a while? (Nope, I've been wearing it in-front of you for years.) "Hmm, then it must be something else about you that is different. Did you get your hair cut?" (Nope) "Have you lost weight?" (Nope) "Then you must be exceptionally happy today because you are beaming!" (Nope, actually its the worst day of my life) "I'm sorry to hear that. Can I ask you a favor?"
All of his nonsense is a build-up to asking you for a favor. He tries to win you over first. Forked-tongue. It's basically a lie.
There is a commercial airing now which advertises some product then shows a man blowing a bubble and encapsulating a kitten in the bubble. The man says something like "We can put kittens in bubbles" and this has nothing at all to do with the product. Same strategy of transference.
Yes, in Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell he describes how Canadian Little League hockey is selected for on a grade-level which puts children born at a certain time at an advantage over their peers.
As to your earlier hypothesis I can offer that scientists working in computational neuroscience have identified that a certain amount of emotional involvement in learning accelerates the process.
University of Illinois WikiEd lists the following emotions as negatively impacting learning: Anxiety, Ennui, Frustration, Dispirited, Terror, and Humiliation.
WikiEd lists the following emotions as positively impacting learning: Confidance, Fascination, Euphoria, Enthusiasm, Excitement and Pride.
These are the extremes ends of a continuum listed at http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Learning_and_Emotion
I wonder if this is a big contributor to the Pygmalion effect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_effect
I never used to think so, but now I do. Good ultimately prevails, because what is True is what is Good, and falsity is Bad. These killers live false lives and suffer for it, though on the surface it doesn't seem that way. (See: Criminology)
On the surface, bad-ness almost always wins. Lies win. Machiavellian people ascend to the highest status within our societies. They kill millions of people and seem to "get away" with it. But they can never get away from themselves. But we underestimate the suffering we bring on ourselves until its too late.
It sort of speaks to the fact that we are deluded. That we want to be other than what we actually are. We enjoy such delusions so much that we find it discomforting when they are challenged by looking at a brain.
This is important to realize, everything you think, do, say, wish, hope, love, whatever.. everything about you and not about you, is the representational content of your brain! Your brain obeys laws of contiguity, like physical matter (it is physical). Donald Olding Hebb formulated the basic law of brain development as "Cells that fire together wire together." Your whole entire world-view and concept of self is based in this.
I find that devices that interfere with brain processes and can rape someone of their own self, is more beneficial to us than technology that strengthens our illusion of control. We need to realize our own dependence and frailty, so we can stop hating each other.
To say, liars will have their tongues ripped out is an allegorical way of saying that if you become a liar, nobody will trust you or listen to you. Your speaking will be ignored and it will be as-if your tongue had been ripped out.
Anagogical refers to a procession from a state of ignorance to a state of clarity and understanding. It refers to this "spiritual" procession. Which is really just a change in personal psychology bringing the mind closer to reality.
"Look at the sun that shines upon your brow; look at the grasses, flowers, and the shrubs born here, spontaneously, of the earth. Among them, you can rest or walk until the coming of the glad and lovely eyes--those eyes that, weeping, sent me to your side. Await no further word or sign from me: your will is free, erect, and whole--to act against that will would be to err: therefore I crown and miter you over yourself."
--Canto XXVII, Purgatorio
Here is a script from my father (a salesman for 15 years and fan of Dale Carnagie):
"Hey, nice sweater! Is that new?"
(No, I've had it for years.)
"Oh, I don't remember seeing it. Did you have it away for a while?
(Nope, I've been wearing it in-front of you for years.)
"Hmm, then it must be something else about you that is different. Did you get your hair cut?"
(Nope)
"Have you lost weight?"
(Nope)
"Then you must be exceptionally happy today because you are beaming!"
(Nope, actually its the worst day of my life)
"I'm sorry to hear that. Can I ask you a favor?"
All of his nonsense is a build-up to asking you for a favor. He tries to win you over first. Forked-tongue. It's basically a lie.
Yes, in Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell he describes how Canadian Little League hockey is selected for on a grade-level which puts children born at a certain time at an advantage over their peers.
As to your earlier hypothesis I can offer that scientists working in computational neuroscience have identified that a certain amount of emotional involvement in learning accelerates the process.
University of Illinois WikiEd lists the following emotions as negatively impacting learning:
Anxiety, Ennui, Frustration, Dispirited, Terror, and Humiliation.
WikiEd lists the following emotions as positively impacting learning: Confidance, Fascination, Euphoria, Enthusiasm, Excitement and Pride.
These are the extremes ends of a continuum listed at http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Learning_and_Emotion
I wonder if this is a big contributor to the Pygmalion effect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_effect