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The Mexican writer,
Carlos Fuentes, attributes
the recent success of capitalism over Soviet socialism to the
West's "constant self-criticism."
He says the danger now, in celebrating our victory, is that we'll stop criticizing
ourselves. And warns that the "rule of a single ideology
could bring on the worst of dictatorships, in which people are distinguished only by the
color of their currencies."
The danger, as I see it, is that we seem to be approaching a state of order. We do this
every now and then. The trains start running on time, and those who are quick enough get
on them and don't come back.
Order is a disease. At least from the point of view of the
creative thinker. It's the folly of imposing systems on a universe that is basically
chaos. And works best that way.
For example, recent developments in understanding dyslexia support the
"disorderly" work of Dr. Helen Irlen, a California psychologist. She
successfully treats dyslexia with ordinary colored filters.
But before scientists could explain why her filters work, three states banned Dr. Irlen
from using them in their schools. She was using something that was—heaven help us—a mystery. What's worse, she discovered her treatment by accident.
All of us are here by accident. So why deny the spontaneity of our existence? Let's be
careful. And not take too much credit for falling into a social experiment that, for the
time being, just happens to be working.
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