Phil used to drive Sister Joachim nuts in sophomore geometry class. There we were, the rest of us, straining our brains – and patience – to do the QED thing. Not Phil.
Phil would almost
instantly come up with the correct answer, totally without the correct process.
Some kind of genius was Phil, and utterly lacking in any ability to explain how he
did it.
Sister would get
quite annoyed, but the great thinkers of ancient Greece and Rome would have
been pleased. Phil was proving them right. They dismissed the possibility that
humans could work out solutions to puzzles.
People simply
were God’s conduit, they believed, so people did not create art or anything
else. They discovered.
I never explored
the concept of divine inspiration with Phil. He became a cop, and I marveled
one time at the stark simplicity and effectiveness of a police maneuver he
described. It was how to gain control over an unruly citizen, however big and
mean the person might be.
While no witness
to the move would be able to detect what the officer was doing, there would be
instant submission by the troublemaker.
