John Pospisil

I have great admiration for Richard Dawkins, a notable intellectual (one of the top three in world according to the back cover blurb of The God Delusion). Not every man has the intellectual dexterity to passionately write books about things  that don’t exist..Not every intellectual that preaches science above all things has the intellectual  flexibility to construct an argument based on random anecdotes about things he happens to dislike. Not every intellectual has the fortitude(or perhaps coldness) to argue against something that means something to people without replacing it with something better, or at least equal.

As a man of science, Dawkins will be aware of the state of neuroscience, and what it theorises about human consciousness. Basically it comes down to this (and read this book it’s fascinating). Science tells us that human consciousness is a delusion. We don’t actually have free will, everything we do is determined by a biological computer (our brain), and then we’re  deluded into thinking we’re making the decisions.I am aware of the theories about quantum mechanics and consciousness, but I’m sticking to orthodox science for this post.

So think of this -  Richard Dawkins, as a high priest of science, is a man who must be completely aware of his own deluded state.This deluded creature then writes about the ultimate delusion of all. How completely absurd – but wait it could better.  Given that Dawkins has a penchant for writing about delusions, it’s quite a logical speculation that his next book could be “The Self Delusion”, where in effect a delusion is writing about its own delusion. Ching ching, I think that qualifies as a paradox.  Thinking about all these delusions has given me an idea for my next book – the Science Delusion (though I do admit that science is useful for some things, it’s not useful for all things..

Rocio and I were sitting watching Grace dance at “Physie (physical culture) this morning when I glanced over and noticed one of other dads working on his notebook..He looked bored and tired, and only very occasionally glanced up to watch his daughter. He was obviously not really concentrating on his work (or whatever he was doing), and his mind was obviously not fully there in the hall.

I had an awful realisation that I was just like that guy 13 months ago. I rushing through life not appreciating my blessings, trying to do too much at the same time, not fully living in the present. It’s so easy to become a zombie, and so hard to snap out it.