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The following first appeared in the private email list IVy-subscribers,
which was available to all those who subscribed to the
printed magazine, International Viewpoints.
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A star is born
by Phil Spickler
28 Nov 00

      Modestly, I must admit I have perhaps refrained too long from, as the
saying goes, blowing my own horn (I don't know if this expression extends
beyond the borders of my homeland, commonly called the somewhat-United States
of America, but in case it doesn't, it simply means to brag or make much of
yourself, or simply "blow your own horn).

       However, the other night I returned to my mausoleum from a meeting of
the Society of People Who Believe that Life is Basically Non-Verbal.
Meetings of this society are usually pretty quiet, which is a relief from the
endless rounds of meetings that we all attend that are extremely verbal.  But
anyhow, after returning from the meeting, I found that one of my thinking
machines was thinking, and with a certain degree of amusement I watched it do
a fantastic imitation of someone thinking.

        Anyway, the conclusion of the thoughts among various thinking
machines was that I should present an early Christmas gift to the IVy list
and present the results of many lifetimes of research into that miraculous
mystery called Life, which is kind enough to continuously keep up its end of
the bargain by endlessly creating further miraculous mysteries so that we
never run out of the urge to catch the carrot.

       The name of the system that has come out of my research, which
promises a greater success in pursuit of the uncatchable than any other
system, is, I am proud to say, Idiotics.  Yes, that's right: Idiotics; and it
rests in a larger philosophy that is called Idiotology, (or if you like -isms
better than -ologies, it's called Idiotism); and has as its prime basic
fundamental premise, axiom, suupposition, presupposition -- well, it begins
with this idea, namely, that life is basically idiotic.

         However, since it's all we have at this time, it's best to think of
it fondly as our idiocy; and once we all get together on the idea of how
idiotic we all are (with NO exceptions), we can start becoming a lot more
friendly to one another than we currently are, because this recognition of
our basically idiotic natures and lives will tend to as-is or duplicate what
we mostly think about one another anyway.

       I've never really seen much lingering happiness or pleasure in the
idea that we're all wonderful, special, discrete, amazing creatures.  That
idea mostly gains a lot of currency when one is feeling really good
physically, has enough to eat, good shelter,very few frustrations, and either
with the help of drugs or auditing or a good night's sleep can look at our
fellows briefly and remember for the moment how wonderfully unique and
amazing everyone is.  Now that feeling usually lasts until you've picked up
your e-mail or you've driven through your second rush hour of the day on the
freeway system, or you haven't read any newspapers, listened to any talk
radio, or watched any television or gone shopping at a California mall or
shopping center.

       If any of the aforementioned things have happened sometimes only one
of them is enough to get you back to feeling, especially if you are driving a
car -- that all other people are idiots, and furthermore, most of them think
the same about you.

        So you can see by this time that Idiotics and its parent subject
Idiotology does have a lot going for it, and since both the past and present
of at least humankind have been and are still filled with so much idiocy, I
again beg you to see that this has been staring us right in the face all
along, and that instead of going around thinking of ourselves as Homo sapiens
(wise persons), we should realize that that classification came as a result
of a large group of idiots getting together and having observed the history,
the actions, and the institutions of mankind, incorrectly concluded that
these strange creatures, our ancestors and us, should be called "wise person
or persons."

      That possibility does exist here and there, possibly, but generally
speaking, and particularly nowadays, the classification should be "unwise
person or persons," which wouldn't really hurt anybody, and might indeed be a
nice acknowledgment of reality, and possibly afford us the opportunity of
then getting somewhere, because we'd have a better idea of where we're
starting from.

       It seems to be a truism that in every age, the people in that age,
being unwise and idiotic, tend to think of their age as somehow being better
than or surpassing previous ages.  This of course is pure idiocy, but does
give people with a tremendous sense of inferiority the opportunity to try to
make themselves look wonderful and that which went before look 'orrible.

        Another idiotic thing to do is to imagine that people of earlier or
previous ages were sitting around mooning and glooming and being depressed
because they didn't have free elections, television, Hollywood, medical
doctors, priests, rabbis, and ministers and other fakirs too horrible to
mention, and that they were highly disturbed because they didn't have jet
airplanes and automobiles, particularly sports utility vehicles.

        Of course, they might have had to put up with clear air, clean water,
vast forests, and an enormous plenitude of creatures, and they might have
missed the sounds that hundreds of thousands of cars make each day in a large
city, and might even have been able to see the stars at night.

        Anyhow, there was a time, pre-scientific and pre-technical, in which
some peoples may have actually felt, with little thought and little speech,
much closer to the miracle and the mystery which all of our machines, both
visible and invisible, currently stand as a barrier to that perception.

        But enough!  I've gotten to rambling, and I've barely told you about
some of the amazing possibilities that the understanding and use of Idiotics
can bring to you.  I shall, in another posting, further reveal the results of
my research, and as a much-married person, I hope to spend some time on what
I've been calling for many years the Between-Wives area.  There's also the
Between-Husbands area, which offers further understandings.

      And now it's bedtime -- I can hear the pump that keeps my blood warmed
and moving slowing down and turning off for the night.  Cheerio and toodle-oo
--
       Phil
P.S.  Here's a dictionary definition of the word "idiot": a very foolish or
stupid person.  "Idiocy" is defined as the state of being an idiot, behavior
like that of an idiot, great foolishness or stupidity