Ciao, Mephisto

Ciao, Mephisto

by

Ralph Moore

Copyright © 2009 by Ralph Moore

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part, in any form, through any medium.

1

It seems that in one's life one always gets to the place where one asks oneself the questions: What's the point? Is there even a purpose to it all? Why keep at it?

José Fulano was in that quandary many times. José was a graduate student of philosophy. He had an M.A. and was in the Ph.D. program. He hadn't presented a dissertation proposal nor taken his preliminary examination, so he was not yet at the time of our story a candidate for the degree. It appeared he never intended to get his degree.

What he really wanted was to be a writer. He said that studying philosophy gave him a solid and clear view of reality and if he was to seek in his writing to hold a mirror up to life, his knowledge of philosophy would help him by providing an honest image of it. But he also said that with a philosophic understanding he could write about it not as it necessarily appeared but as it could be in any of its many possible disarrangements.

José was important to this story because of his prodding his friend Giorgio into examining his own life from time to time.

* * *

It must be said first that Professor Doctor Giorgio Fortunati was not the most intelligent of men, though he was intelligent. He at least had some respected academic degrees and a classical and European education. Having all that, and partly because of some successful publications of books as well as journal articles in his field, he held an enviable position at a good university.

[I should state here that Professor Doctor Giorgio Fortunati was also known on campus as Professor Fortunati, or Doctor Fortunati, or to his really close friends (who were few) as simply Giorgio. We shall use Giorgio henceforth in this narrative, unless the more formal citation is more proper.]

Giorgio was a son of Italian immigrants to the U.S., raised in a poor neighborhood in New York City—back when they had real ethnic neighborhoods. Most of those growing up in his neighborhood during those years (in the 1920s and 30s) acquired careers with the police, law, politicians, or gangs. But there was also the Church, education, and (the biggest attraction of all) business. The Italians were good at business. From the small restaurant, the bakery, the grocer's, to the retail trader there were more than enough openings in the big city. Our hero chose education and now he was a professor of philosophy in a quite large enough university. Such an achievement might be considered a success.

And so Giorgio came to be a successful man, sitting in his own private office, at his own gigantic desk, thinking about success.

Success: the American dream. Everyone tried to achieve it. Or look like they had. Life was keeping up with the Joneses. And those that had the trappings were seen as paragons. To be emulated.

Who were the great achievers? U.S. Presidents, CEO's of giant corporations, heads of huge (and very well endowed) universities, Generals (not Admirals), and artists, especially performing artists—and of these, the greatest and richest were the TV and movie stars, and now the rock stars. But authors and music composers were sometimes the creators of the best and longest lasting products, though scientists may also be counted with them (even those who didn't write up their discoveries).

Failures? These were also largely from the same classes. Bad U.S. Presidents (and there were many), thieving CEO's, cruel and/or stupid Generals, and failed and forgotten artists, writers, and scientists who got it wrong—couldn't sell their products, or were simply never heard. Opportunity and luck played a big part in almost any success or failure.

Be that as it may, Giorgio thought of success . . . and failure. He was getting along in years, nearing the inevitable end of his stay on Earth, and he wondered if he had achieved what really mattered, or had he altogether missed it?

* * *

From his philosophy studies, especially from Aristotle, Giorgio had learned much about the good life. The important thing was that the good life is lived, and appreciated, and the latter required knowledge. But didn’t everything?

Knowledge is a valuable thing, and the best is not always easy to acquire. Giorgio always strove to obtain the best knowledge he could get, mostly gained from the best (knowledgeable or not) people. But regardless of the source, Giorgio knew from his own experience that knowledge was gained through one's own efforts. And it had to become part of his own thinking and understanding. He did not accept any old thing, and he could not easily be tricked into believing just anything, thus protecting himself as best he could from deceptions or delusions. His method was integration.

Giorgio was in agreement with Michael Polanyi, that knowledge is personal knowledge, and is self-obtained. And with Polanyi and others he could see that there was knowledge of how to do something (skills) and knowledge of real things (in the form of concepts or ideas).

The ideas of the real could be made explicit through symbols, and that made possible not only communication and the sharing of ideas but also making descriptions of reality, which grew as collected scientific knowledge.

He knew, to be precise, that knowledge was either tacit or explicit. If it was tacit, it was either related to skills and how to operate the body, or conceptual (in the form of ideas), or aesthetic (dealing with feeling or emotions). If it was explicit, it spoke of reality in the form of concepts (science), or it presented some thing as art to be perceived (and to evoke feeling and emotion).

And there was a special kind of aesthetic knowledge obtained directly from personal experience and comprised of feelings and emotions, a knowledge which was intuitive in form, a knowledge of the relation of something to oneself, to one's state of security relative to that something which excited or evoked the feelings or emotions. Women appeared to excel in acquiring that kind of knowledge.

Scientific knowledge as ideas of reality could be proved true by testing them against other knowledge. This is done by comparing an expressed scientific description of that knowledge with reality itself.

Other knowledge, social and aesthetic, depended on what worked with people and their way of doing things; and the truth, the utility, of that was found if it survived the pragmatic test. You needed to know the real thing and you needed to be street wise to survive the jungle out there.

Purely aesthetic knowledge came from firsthand experience as a perception or appreciation of the values associated with the subject, and those coupled with the values one had for one's own person. It was all about what was good for oneself. If something looked pleasing, and you felt nice about it, it must be okay—unless you've been tricked. If that happens and you discover the trick, you'll get a batch of strong opposite feelings.

He thought of Aristotle, very formal and systematic. Things could be scientifically so described, but things are not done so methodically.

In summation, Giorgio thought he had it clear in his own understanding. Knowledge is from inference, as Hermann Von Helmholtz said: a mental construction. Inference is created by comparison of two things, sensations with items, and one's mind seeing a relation between the two.

Seeing such is an illumination. It is based on awareness, and brought into being by what is like a spark. What Helmholtz called a Schluss, or closing. This was a mental enlightenment.

The enlightenment is the creation of a concept, which is a relation of two items which has a meaning to a third. The new concept is an idea, to be kept in memory. The third is the mind, and the concept becomes a part of its memory and thereby of its knowledge.

Modern cognitive psychology, especially since William James, could describe thought and ideas in a different way from the Greeks. And physiology, in combination with micro-electrochemical anatomy, could explain the material operations of mental states and body actions. But nothing explains the spark which mental ideas and body movements require.

In all of this, the important element is the spark: enlightenment. What is it, and what makes it happen?

* * *

But was knowledge what Giorgio really sought? What outstanding utility did it have? In the end, what did it really matter? He should probably rather consider the important questions of life and existence. There must be something there which makes knowledge worthwhile.

First: Why was I born? The question itself calls for a purpose as an answer. Well, a purpose is fulfilled in action. An entity has purpose (function) either to maintain itself or to accomplish something. The first is of no matter; the second brings up the questions, Accomplish what? and For whom (or for what)?

The fictional detectives say, Follow the money. So, who profits? Who or what benefits from the action? What benefit does the action produce? Is the entity (the human who is born) a total system, or is it an element (a contributing part) in a larger system? What larger system? Who benefits from that larger system's action? What are the larger system's purposes or goals? How far does it go? Does the chain of construction ever end?

Then (a question frequently asked): What does life mean (does it have significance or value)? What does the question itself mean? And how does this relate to the former question of being born? If life does have meaning, who is communicating or doing what to or for whom—and what is he, or it, or they saying or doing?

Since I am born, are there values in my life? Do we not have some overall guide to a good life? The Greeks, of course, have given us many—and so far they were probably the best. Is morality or social mores the measure and the standard?

We think there are things one can do in life and things one should not do, called generally virtues and vices. According to various religions, the bad things are sins (from an archery term meaning fallen short of the mark).

With the Christians there were the seven deadly (or capital) sins: pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust. These were to be punished for eternity in Hell. But what is so bad about these? It would appear that only actions that could result from such states or attitudes might be bad (to someone else?). Perhaps one would understand things better if one were to remove the capital label. These failings would and should merit no punishment. Their presence could only bring about what would naturally result from these flaws in behavior or attitude. These flaws were well known to the Greeks more than 650 years before Christ, and they were known simply as human character flaws.

But the Christians also had seven contrary virtues (antidotes to the seven deadly sins): humility, kindness, abstinence, chastity, patience, liberality, and diligence. These are attitudes or activities which are naturally contrary to the aforementioned sins.

So, what are the values of vices and virtues, and where do they come from? Who dictates? Why aren't they natural, and naturally known? Do vices and virtues serve for anything other than principles of living well and getting along with your fellow man?

Giorgio wanted to know what, deeply, it was all about, and how could he get the best out of it. And wasn't that what everyone wanted?

But Giorgio's basic problem was not just to gain knowledge. For himself: he questioned how could life best be lived. What should a person have as resources and abilities to succeed in living a good life? In his position as a teacher he wanted to know on what he should focus his teaching. What could he give to his students which was at least worth their while? But, underneath it all, while he might be trying to increase his own knowledge, and to build the knowledge of his students, he was, more importantly, trying to build the knowledge of mankind, and this to be more than merely more.

* * *

Now he had to get ready for his fall seminar. He considered this form of instruction as the most efficient tool in any quest for real knowledge. The seminar had three things going for it. It would be composed of qualified participants; these participants would have open minds; and the system was based on communicative exchange [dialectic]. This would satisfy Socrates, Aristotle, and even Marx and Lenin.

Because of his stature and position in the university, his seminar was given special treatment. It was called publicly, though it had no official name, the Fortunati Seminar. More particularly, it was called either the Fall Fortunati Seminar or the Spring Fortunati Seminar because those were the times they were given each year, and they were the only courses that Professor Doctor Giorgio Fortunati now gave. As for enrollment in his seminar, he only needed the number of students he would accept, and these he habitually kept to six (he said it was a good number for a poker game, so it was good enough for him). The subject of the seminar was also of his selection, and the grading of results was of his judgment. Though the seminar is a course at a doctoral level, Giorgio could accept students who are bachelor, master, or doctoral students to participate. [Getting a class with Giorgio had always been a great achievement for a student who really wanted to learn, and carried with it a huge prestige.]

For the coming fall seminar, Giorgio had already accepted six candidates. Now, what questions would they examine?

First: physics and metaphysics, the being and structure of everything, including the real. Of course he knew that physics and chemistry serve well to describe matter, but even matter has a role in life and reality.

Then: death (really, life and death—and after).

And: to expand the scope, extra-reality, which will cover extra-sensory perception and magic. And how about using other entities as contacts or guides, or perhaps as spirits to do our bidding—maybe because of a pact or deal, such as in return for some act, or for the sale of one's own soul? And how effective was prayer?

These topics, Giorgio thought, were good for summarizing all that was important for a good life. Both he and his students should be able to profit from an investigation and discussion of them. And they covered everything from the most simple knowledge to that knowledge most complicated, difficult, elusive, and maybe even unknowable. They will probably raise more questions than they will ever come close to answering.

He particularly liked the inclusion of, first, real things and real knowledge; then, the apparently unknowable question of death and what happens after; and finally, the unreal reality of oneirica and the possibility of an extra-reality of any other kind existing along with ours, as well as the existence of other kinds of beings in that other reality, including some who could intervene in our own reality. The whole gamut of possibilities promised opportunities for the students to contribute new and strange ideas, or new and revolutionary arguments, to reshape our current or presently emerging ideas of the universe and our position within it.

The whole scheme of this fall's seminar was almost too expansive for even his ambitious mind. And it might also be too loose for him to control. Maybe he should be thinking of restricting it a bit, less it all fall to pieces. He could not afford that, considering his current status and record. Better to play it safe. Otherwise, people might say he was losing it in his old age. But it might even now be with appropriate limits and he should probably keep it at that.

* * *

Enough for the day! Giorgio put away his papers and gathered some reading matter, mostly older journals, and started for home. There, a nice supper was awaiting him, prepared perfectly, as always, by his house-keeper (his wife had died more than seven years before). After supper he read a bit before the fire in his side parlor and then put everything aside and went to his bedroom to rest for another day.

But, before he crawled into his bed, he reflected on a problem that bothered him. Does magic and such really work? He thinks it stupid to believe in such things. But he also thinks he ought to try it, give it a fair chance in a scientific test. In the end, he said to himself, I think I will try to summon Mephistopheles.

And so he did. He merely said, Hey, Mephistopheles! I should like to ask you to come to me so that we can talk together about matters, some of which are very important to me. Anytime soon will do. At your convenience, of course. And, relieved at having done so, he got into bed and lay on his back, waiting, until he fell asleep.

2

Prof. Dr. Giorgio Fortunati had called for Mephistopheles the night before, but nothing had happened. He started the day in a subdued mood. He had a light continental breakfast, hurriedly set up by his house-keeper, which he hurriedly ate.

He walked to the campus (at least that was a pleasure to his day), saying Hellos or Good Mornings to people he met on the way, and entered his office—his sanctuary. He sat down at his huge desk and proceeded to review his notes and other readings he would use in his fall seminar. In that, he passed the morning.

A quick lunch in the school's cafeteria, and back he went to his office—his salt mine.

About the middle of the afternoon someone knocked on the door and Giorgio reluctantly invited whoever it was to enter. The door silently opened, and just as silently a man entered, turned, and silently closed the door again. He was dressed not like a student but like a young professor. Navy blue blazer (double vents, he noticed), a red striped shirt (with broad crimson stripes and very narrow white and black stripes), grey slacks, and shiny black shoes. He wore no tie, his collar unbuttoned, giving him a look of casual finery.

Ciao, Giorgio! the man greeted him.

Do I know you? Giorgio responded cautiously.

You do now. the man stated. "You sent for me . . . Mephistopheles. I'm really flattered, and I am happy to meet you, to make your acquaintance. . . . What was it you wanted of me?"

Mephistopheles?

Yes. You know, last night. Well, here I am. You'll have to forgive the delay, but I have many things . . . projects . . . I'm involved in . . . and you must know there are many demands made on my time. But don't worry about all that. Let's get down to business.

Excuse me, began Giorgio, laboredly, but do you have any identification? Are you a student? . . . If not, where are you from, . . . or do you represent someone, . . . or some organization?

Documentation? Represent? the man said, scornfully, "Hey, you're talking to Number One. You asked to see me. Well, I'm here. Now you owe me. . . . Okay. Talk to me."

I'm sorry about that, said Giorgio. A lot students play all sorts of pranks. I should welcome you if you really are Mephistopheles. But, could I ask you to perform a small trick to prove you are who you say you are. That should get him, he thought.

Trick? he almost shouted. "You mean a supernatural 'work?' A ‘miracle?' Hey, don't believe in miracles.

"You know, there's a story. . . . A guy called Christ dealt with certain people who didn't understand or agree with what he said. He responded to them, saying something like, 'If you can't believe my words, believe my works.'

"Don't believe in his 'works,' or in anybody's 'works.' And definitely don't believe in anybody's 'miracles.'

"Can you examine now such 'works?' Can you examine 'Christ?' (If he ever was, he's long dead now.) Can you examine those who reported his 'miracles?' Those who wrote such reports into your 'Bible?' Have you ever examined a living preacher or interpreter or reader of this 'Bible?' What does a religious preacher know of such 'works' and such 'miracles?' Only what he has read. Anyone can write down a lie, and it remains untrue; but it can be printed, and reprinted, and translated, and preached, and it will be believed by the masses.

"Don't believe any works. Magicians' tricks, false tales, a hawker's spiel. Read or hear the words, which represent ideas, but make sure you understand them and that what they say makes sense.

"We all think. We all have ideas. We all can reason. We all have a mental view of reality and how it works. Ideas and understandings and visions of reality are what we have, and what have value. Ideas can belong to any of us, can become our own possessions. They alone may have, for anyone, value and utility. Seek the idea, the good and useful idea. Beware the deceits put forth by illusionary 'works.'

"But let’s get some method into this.

"Look, let me make you an offer. I have many things I can do with you or for you, some of which I am sure you cannot refuse. I can give you some really fantastic experiences. Exotic pleasures of the cosmos. Exposure to infinite