The Left

   One of my favorite Lewis quotes comes from his book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Peter and Susan are talking to the old professor about what to do with Edmund and Lucy and the business of Narnia. "Logic!" he says. "Why don't they teach logic at these schools?"

   The logic of the professor and the logic taught to students are, I argue, two different sorts. The professor uses circumstantial logic, flexible logic, the sort of logic that allows one to gather evidence and act upon it.If A=B and B=C, then A=C. Taught logic is I-said-so rationality. If A=B and B=C, then A=C, and so on so that A must also equal D. The professor would at this point ask, "Now, have you known A to be equal to D before?"

   "No, sir," you answer. "A has always been comparable to B and thus to C, but never D."

   "Well, then. Let's take a closer look."

   "But my teacher tells me A must be equal to D to follow the pattern."

   "Have any other teachers told you this? No? Has he said anything else you have never heard before? Really? My dear child, just because someone has a degree does not mean they know everything." He has you sit at his desk and pulls out a pipe. "You see, if something has proven itself it can be trusted more than what has not. Use you mind. You don't have to think what you have been told."

   "What am I to think, then?"

   "It is not 'what' but 'how.'"
   "I don't want an F."

   I honestly think we have been trained to think in a rather bullying system. How often do you want to say something that you believe makes sense, or ask a question about something that doesn't, but you don't say anything. You are always mentally grading your character. You see life as a test, and so does everyone else. You need to pass this test.

"Is this a test?"

   So what does this have to do with the left? It's the left side of your brain. Over and over in my notes I have "Get. Out. Of. The. Left."-like messages to myself. Beware rationality, beware trying to get the correct answer, be wary of claiming you have the answer (and I told myself I wouldn't bring this up, but you people blogging about sex and acting like you have the answer that will solve all problems is getting on my nerves) and actually see what you are looking at for what it is. This is what the left side wants. Try being right for once.