Is it Logical?
One of the most common criticisms that a person on a spiritual path will encounter is that it is not logical. Somehow this call to the higher power of logic has the power to negate anything the 'logical' person wants to negate.
The process is very simple. The act of calling something 'not logical' demands the response of proving that it is logical. The counter argument will be rejected because the reply will not be logical and therefore it is wrong.
This form of argument is a misuse of logic, and shows a lack of understanding about the nature of logic. Logic is the justification of a pre-determine prejudice.
The purpose of logic is to find a way to justifying whatever end result is required. If an engineer designs the structure of a building he/she will start at the end. How big will the building be? How much will it weigh? What will the wind loads be on the building? Will the ground it is to be built on support the building?
From this point the engineer will work backwards from the big to the detail. Eventually the engineer will arrive at the very beginning where a set of plans and specifications can be given to the builder. The builder then starts at the beginning and works forward until the building is completed.
Logic is the art of working backwards from where you want to be to find where you must start from to get to where you want to be.
If something is attacked for not being logical it means nothing because the pre-determined prejudice has been defined to be somewhere else. Logic can only 'prove' something that has already been pre-defined.
If I wanted to prove white people where smarter than Afro-Americans that is the prejudice I would start with. If I wanted to 'prove' Afro-Americans where smarter than white people I would start with that as my prejudice. The starting point established by working backwards from each prejudice would be different. By using the different starting points I can prove whatever prejudice I want to prove.
Used in this way logic is very dangerous. It can be used to prove anything.
But used correctly logic is a beautiful tool. What do you what? Where do you want to be? Let that be you pre-determined prejudiced. When used in this context prejudice is not a dirty word.
From there work backwards from there to here to understand how to get from where you are to where you want to be. Working forward again from here it is logical that you will end up where you want to.
Logic used correctly can take us to Heaven. Used incorrectly it can take us to Hell. It is possibly the most powerful tool invented by the human race. It has to understood and used correctly if the outcomes we want are to materialise.
David Young.