I was asked: Is religion the only way to tranquility? I answered: No. People are different. I like to divide them into a spectrum that has three segment.

In the first segment, which is very short, belongs the “wise individuals” who use pragmatic reasoning in their dealing. They create their own tranquility by channeling their emotions and reasoning into constructive actions.

In the second segment, which is short as well, you find the Elite. These are individuals who use reasoning in a specific paradigm which they master its parameters. They find tranquility by focusing on clear well defined objectives with clear value set that help them so the can make the right decisions. They lose their tranquility when they are forced to shift to unexpected new paradigm.

In the third segment, which is by fare the largest, you find the commoners. These are individuals who are followers and need an external influencers to give them direction and makes sense. These individuals need a basic dogma, whether religious, political, racial, scientific, educational or a combination, to give them  a path towards tranquility. In this case, religion is the most successful tool in providing a good level of tranquility)..

(Side note: The Elite exploit this basic human need to achieve their means whether in religion, politics, business, marketing, leadership and all other areas of life.)

What is the reason for this situation.

The answer is simple. It is the “WHY”. We, as a species, are driven by an instinct need to know the why of things. This is the single element that differentiate us from all other species.

Since the 60’s, amazing discoveries in the study of the brain allowed us to get closer to understanding how the brain functions. It started with the concept of brain plasticity which proved that brain growth and development is a long life journey which debuct the misconception that brain stops growing at a certain age.

The next breakthrough was in the 90’s when it was discovered that the brain reached its full structural developmental of its basic set of synopsis around the age of 3 after which it loses half of its synopsis after that age. Still, with what is left, we develop the necessary intelligence to surpass all other species intelligent abilities.

In the last decade or so, brain scanning allowed scientists to study how the brain work in real time that helped them to understand the impact of each sensory experience on brain activities.

These discoveries made the scientist understand when synapsis are formed and enhanced following each sensual and emotional experiences. There are some strong evidences that built-in curiosity basics synapses are activated early in the childhood that entice the children to discover the world around them to make sense of it. It starts simple then complex with a boast around the age of 5 during the “why” asking stage which all children go through. I believe this resembles the qalam we are discussing in this series.

It is worth noting that the study of the brain, neurosciences, and the discoveries of the DNA are still primitive and there are a lot of work required to prove this argument and identifying the DNA strand responsible for the qalam.

Related References

For simple read, check Popular Science. Special Edition, Your Brain. 2018. New York: Time Inc. Books.

Purves, D., et al. (2018). Neuroscience. International 6th Edition. Signature Oxford. ISBN-10: 160535841X; ISBN-13: 978-1605358413.

In the last year, I have been interested in defining life through triads related to cognitive powers. I still don’t know why I am driven by threes. Am I influenced with the Trinity? Time will tell. Here is the first of these triands.

Influenced by Russell’s school of thought, I find that our cognitive powers differentiate between three levels of knowing that would classify people’s attitude towards understanding life: Religion, Philosophy and Science. (Note: later, I refined it to faith, reason and empirical observation. More to come).

Religion is the knowing based on belief where reason and thinking have a low role in the process. In most cases, the derived knowledge is virtual. It is a state where individuals follow the thought of others blindly even when it defies reason).

Philosophy is the knowing that depends highly on reason and thinking. It is not necessary observable or testable. Opinion and personal knowledge has a role although it tries to use facts more than religion would do. It is a personalized knowledge building based on premises developed by the individual. These premises undergo processes of reasoning to build up the knowledge structure of the individual.

Science is the knowledge based on observable and repeatable facts or on mathematical formulation. It has one premises which is the empirical scientific method. An individual of this type are ready to change their knowledge based on the results of the experiment of the mathematical derivation.

Humans have different varieties of cognitive reliance in each area. In my case, the below chart demonstrates how I perceive my cognitive. The chart is not conclusive, but it was developed partially bases on religious belief (what I believe how I see myself), partly philosophical (how I think my powers related to each other) and partially scientific (where I use number 5 as my scientific power then compare the other two cognition to it):

[image not displayable by Word Press The values are: Religion=3, Science=5, Philosophy=7]

Will the future prove me that there are more? I don’t know. But for now, it is a triad. (Note: later, the idea moved from a triad to a continuum where faith/religion is at one end, scientific/empirical is at the other end and reasoning/philosophy is somewhere in the middle).

In a recent discussion about wisdom in life made me articulate a raising method I applied with my son: During childhood, teach them principles, and not values. Let them choose their own values. When they become adults, they can make up their own principles if they wish.

In my case, the principles I enforced on my son were:

1- Make mistakes. But never make the mistake twice.

2- Spend money that you earn. When you earn money, put 20% for retirement. 20% for risky business. Enjoy life with the rest.

3- Never let your brain power go to sleep. That is, don’t get drunk. Don’t use drugs.

4- Never be involved in death situation. Neither yours nor others.

When we focus on principles rather than values, we give our children more independence. We do not transfer our baggage to them. We free them from living our past. We allow them to see life through their own eyes, their own experience and their own strength. We create children who lives their present and focus on their future rather than kids who are bugged by the past of their ancestors.

It has only one draw back: your kids will be independent when you grow old and you might be lonely when you cannot take care of yourself. But parenthood has to choose the wining sacrifice. And seeing your kids progressively happy deserves all prices.

I am stuck in the airplane on YMM runway waiting to head to Calgary. Apparently the captain cannot see his way due to heavy fog. While waiting for one hour, I interacted with some LinkedIn articles and I’d like to record my thoughts here.

1. There is a move against cloud computing. I agree with the reasons (i.e security and cost of tracking confidential information on the uncontrolled cloud). However I disagree on the perspective. Cloud computing provide considerable savings (through effective real time collaboration and platform free potential and geo-independence), so, I think the shootings should not aim at the Cloud technology but at the security standards and the controls implemented in the IT world. COBIT et al should start revamping their security codes to accommodate for cloud potential. I will raise the issue on the right platforms once I return.

2. There is a talk, at least in LinkedIn circles, that we should revamp the use of technology in education. I agree as well, but, again, from different perspective. I think it is time to reengineer education itself to meet modern technology advancement rather than modify technology to meet old traditional educational models. It is time to move education from the “outdated” Industrial Age perspective (I.e. Mass production, one-to-many teaching, social/economic focus philosophies) into a more modern, post knowledge age mentality (I.e. Collaborative individual growth, Many-to-many learning, individual focus, connected knowledge..). There has been a lot of good reforms ideas and forward going attempts. However, in my opinion, education circles should reframe and reengineer education by visiting and redefining the principles upon which should drive the reform, then work on the values (the set of whys). The principles of the industrial age educational system focused on meeting socio-economic goals first, then mould the individual to meet these goals. The principles of the post knowledge educational system should focus on the individual first, then the socio-economic factors. In my opinion, which I will do a research to prove it, this will yield a happier work force, increased productivity , improved economical results. And since the workers are happy, the society will face prosperity.

Let’s see if I am right.

I got the below infographics from Sylvia Boyd which summarizes the history of the cloud computing…

Source: WebsiteHostReview.com

I had a delicious breakfast in Amsterdam this morning. I discovered few new tricks that would add gourmet flavour to common breakfast food:

1- for scrambled eggs, add a dash of French dressing (mustard based) and the eggs will taste energizing.
2- sauté half tomatoes and when done, melt a thin slice of Swiss chess on top, a drop of lemon and a dash so salt! Heavenly
3- on a slice of herb cheese, put small diced mushroom (sautéed with butter) and dash of pepper then roll and eat…
4- instead of putting mushroom in the scrambled egg, separately sauté them with butter and have them on the side of the eggs… To replace the potatoes…

All the above are delicious and fulfilling without ruining the all protein diet…

I love Amsterdam!

This is a phrase I used today in a meeting. Education tries to help an individual to become successful in his life by giving him the right tools, habits, attitudes, knowledge and skills he needs to succeed based on what the curriculum thinks are needed. In most cases, these needs are determined by socioeconomic factors like market studies or government driving polices and guidelines. However, if the individual is not competent in any of these skills, there is a tendency in education to force the change and in many cases deform the abilities or potential of the individual. For example, if the market opportunity requires Math competency while the individual does not have it, education tends to either force him to learn it through hard methods (from the individual perspective) or tag him as incompetent with every psychological load such tagging holds.

It is time to focus on student happens when thinking about individual success.

The discussion about the “dependent thinkers” and “independent thinkers” enticed me to put it in the framework of Islam.

The Quran, to some extent, classify people into categories: believers, knowers (3alem), mushrek (believes in more than one god) , mol7ed (does not believe in god), and  so on.

As I mentioned in my previous post, believers are dependent thinkers. The Quran values one specific group of believers and not all. Specifically, the “believers who do not get astray from linking to God”. Those are promised happily eternal life. Consequently, the believers who get astray of linking to God are promised miserable eternal life.

On the other hand, the Quran glorifies the knowers. Those who create their own knowledge through the use of faculties of the brain. In fact, the very first moslem as mentioned in the Quran, i.e. Ibrahim (the biblical Abraham) is considered to be the first Muslim because he believed in God through reason. Notice: believing thru reason!. Merger of belief and science! The Quran glorifies the “independent thinkers” far more the “believers”. For example, as mentioned, the first independent thinker in history is the first muslim. There an aya in the Quran that states explicitly that we cannot compare the “knowers” with the “unkowers” (aka believers) in stature (Wa hal yastawi al lazen ya3lamoon wa al lazen  la ya3lamoon). Another aya explicitly states that God “yakhsha” (i.e. owe respect) the knowers from among his followers (Wa la yaksha allahu min 3badihi ila al 3olama’).

Unfortunately, modern Islam, in both its Shiite and Sunni versions, valuee believers and believing overs knowers and reason. In clear contradiction to the will of God as presented in the Quran.

Later, I will support my Quranic references with exact aya and sura,

In a dialogue I had with couple of my dear community, we reached to an interesting concept that can direct  the way we raise of children. We have noticed, as parents, that our action and attitude towards our kids can promote one of two types of thinkers: the dependent thinker who strive to collect their thoughts, ideas and knowledge by absorbing them from others. The independent thinkers is those who create their own ideas by themselves through observations, interactions and reflections and they do not wait for others to show/dictate/ them how.

Relating the above to sociological dynamics, the first type, i.e. the dependent thinkers, are the “believers” who follow tradition and the norm of their community of practice or culture. The second type, i.e. the independent thinkers, are the “scientists” who rely on observation and analysis of patterns around them to create their own understanding the parameters of life.

Unfortunately current religious practices, especially in Islam, convert the believers, or the dependent thinkers, into a lower form of thinkers. Al Jabiri calls then: the resigned thinkers. I.e., those who disassociate reality from reason completely and just follow what the usually devious elders to set the route of life for them.

Creating independent thinkers happens when parents get  less involved in the upbringing of their kids between the age of infancy and toddler-hood. By letting them free to discover their world on their while providing: love, support and a set of values that governs their principles.

In my case, the set of values I provided my son during his youth were: (1) Don’t spend money unless you earned  it, (2) Don’t get involved in any act the render your reason faculty useless, (3) Don’t be involved in activities that might result in loss of life and (4) Make mistakes, but never do the same mistake twice.

Reflecting on my son, I find that he has added many values to the  above set. If I choose one from his set to add to mine, it would be: (5) Be compassionate.

I am reflectively sitting in-front of my old computer firmly placed on the tall table in my spacious room while I am glaringly looking through the tinted window towards the massive park adjacent to my house. thoughtfully admiring its tall trees.

Red=nouns, Blue=pronouns, Green=adjectives:

I am sitting in-front of my old computer placed on the tall table in my spacious room while I am looking through the tinted window towards the massive park adjacent to my house. admiring its tall trees.