2011-04-17
Quran First
Quite a lot has been happening. But probably the most important is the Mu'tazilite doctrine of putting the brain first, and how this can be reconciled with other sects that put the Quran first.
Here's how.
When faced with danger, we are designed to react without hesitation. He who hesitates ends up as a Saber Tooth Tiger snack.
What Mohammed could see is that war required using the brain, which meant a pause was required before going to war. The recital of the Quran is basically music designed to calm men down, let them sleep on the problem, and declare war the next day. So that is why the Quran must come first - play some calming music first. E.g. Kate Bush's "Strange Phenomenon". After all, we've had 1400 years of music development since people first started rocking to the Quran.
I'll incorporate this into the "reformed Islam" at www.mutazilah.org. Another thing I'll be adding is the dowry system. Nature's intention there is that a man doesn't just marry a woman. He also marries her mother and he has an obligation to ensure that she is adequately protected.
Another theory I've been working on is to do with intermarriage. We already know that to avoid war, princesses were married off to foreign countries. But what Mohammed would have seen is the need to intermarry with the "sun people" and the "moon people" and the "star people" and the "planet people". This is a reason to have more than one wife. Or at least, it may be if we ever make contact with people from exoplanets. The obvious problem being that people from exoplanets are unlikely to be people. And Mohammed may have categorized all stars as being owned by the same people since they all looked the same.
Yet another theory is that we are genetically prescribed to respond to the beating of war drums. I have noticed that I have a similar reaction to jet engines. I have a sense of foreboding and it is difficult to ignore them instead of rushing outside to see if they are friend or foe. I also have a theory that we have a natural need for war, and we are very lucky that we have video games to release that desire instead of releasing it on real people. People who talk of banning violent video games have it the wrong way around.
Also another theory is to do with names. To relate concepts there is a need to use an already-known word. So e.g. I can use the phrase "liberal fascists" to describe the Liberal Party thugs who were physically intimidating me at the NSW election. Even though in Australia the Liberal Party is the right-wing one which I ideologically support! Talk about worldview-shattering. Here was I thinking we had political freedom in Australia and the right-wing were the main champions of that.
I'm still mulling over these things, as they need to be expressed in a coherent manner, so blog updates will likely be infrequent.
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Here's how.
When faced with danger, we are designed to react without hesitation. He who hesitates ends up as a Saber Tooth Tiger snack.
What Mohammed could see is that war required using the brain, which meant a pause was required before going to war. The recital of the Quran is basically music designed to calm men down, let them sleep on the problem, and declare war the next day. So that is why the Quran must come first - play some calming music first. E.g. Kate Bush's "Strange Phenomenon". After all, we've had 1400 years of music development since people first started rocking to the Quran.
I'll incorporate this into the "reformed Islam" at www.mutazilah.org. Another thing I'll be adding is the dowry system. Nature's intention there is that a man doesn't just marry a woman. He also marries her mother and he has an obligation to ensure that she is adequately protected.
Another theory I've been working on is to do with intermarriage. We already know that to avoid war, princesses were married off to foreign countries. But what Mohammed would have seen is the need to intermarry with the "sun people" and the "moon people" and the "star people" and the "planet people". This is a reason to have more than one wife. Or at least, it may be if we ever make contact with people from exoplanets. The obvious problem being that people from exoplanets are unlikely to be people. And Mohammed may have categorized all stars as being owned by the same people since they all looked the same.
Yet another theory is that we are genetically prescribed to respond to the beating of war drums. I have noticed that I have a similar reaction to jet engines. I have a sense of foreboding and it is difficult to ignore them instead of rushing outside to see if they are friend or foe. I also have a theory that we have a natural need for war, and we are very lucky that we have video games to release that desire instead of releasing it on real people. People who talk of banning violent video games have it the wrong way around.
Also another theory is to do with names. To relate concepts there is a need to use an already-known word. So e.g. I can use the phrase "liberal fascists" to describe the Liberal Party thugs who were physically intimidating me at the NSW election. Even though in Australia the Liberal Party is the right-wing one which I ideologically support! Talk about worldview-shattering. Here was I thinking we had political freedom in Australia and the right-wing were the main champions of that.
I'm still mulling over these things, as they need to be expressed in a coherent manner, so blog updates will likely be infrequent.
# posted by Paul Edwards @ 08:34 
