Right and wrong
Whether we know it or not, we are always moving, working, towards an end. Or, conversely, if we are not actively straining ourselves to achieve a certain goal, we are wishing to be in a certain quandary. It is humankind's only real reality in its existence: that it is sufficiently embroiled in a drama, that it cannot see the entire silhouette of, but that captivates it to regard it, fervently, with desire or apprehension. If one wants, a body can dedicate their efforts to a monumental work. However, this will never be fully visceral in the way we mean, because it is always so that the passenger-through-life - the wanderer - is continuously thrown to Earthly matters; which means, in the last analysis, that they have to focus their beliefs, their hopes and their dreams, on the very things that seem to be everyday, colloquial, in that metaphysical sense, but it is not actually metaphysical by academic standards: I mean that humankind is fundamentally motivated towards a simple and easy truth, or if we are critical of parochial laws and ordinances, orthodoxy.
Obviously, I have not thought these matters through. The fact is that I am an overthinker by temperament. That is to say, I am often perplexed at basic facts of human existence, and I cannot be satisfied with accidental or jejune answers. Nevertheless, in the last analysis the so-called great questions of life can only be replicated by trite and oft-repeated statements, that have no connection to the noble part inside people's brains that wishes things to have a good degree of elegance, poise and rationality. But these attributes do not really matter; the human race is perhaps just a weird accident of Nature, and their sole calling is to accept with resignation the unfair deal that the world has granted them - yet I do not see that as a satisfying answer, if only because we choose what we believe about life's potential for us: life is what you make of it, and you are allowed to allocate whatever resources you have to whatever purpose you can think of, in principle. I will say, to that effect, that our species is in this sense only a religious creature and it is sensible in point of fact to live in apprehension of the Divine, which is in reality just a kind of negative capability in the human soul, whereby they are not forced to take on any kind of opinion that is not yet their own, but that they want by their or some predominating will to control their actions. However, there are really articles of faith, so to speak, that correspond directly to every individual's moral instinct and their better judgement, so that they are automatically pulled towards those acts with genuine and natural grace and commitment, without needing to pretend, cajole or deprecate. Certainly, a body can sincerely become a full person, just by cementing the Yin and Yang of their inner constitution in some glorified or authentic way, so that their proclivities are channeled in a healthy way to exalt the Holy, or because we think it is meant to be (or not meant to be). In this way, we are actually elevated to become individual people, as Jung framed it, or just at the very least balanced, excellent men and women. I will say, besides, that people are simply fine the way they originally are, and a body may do as they like, as long as it is not stupidly motivated, or actively depraved in its design. These facts are simple, but a body may be tempted to discourse about them at length. Let us drop the subject for the moment.
A higher morality is not a failure-proof recipe for success. I suppose we are then inclined to listen to teachers and mentors who urge us on to believe as we are told and follow along unquestioningly with the body of workers that build our society and uphold our way of life. At the same time, we realize all too well, when we study the myths and fairy tales that we are brought up with and that we take to heart, or discard, as we grow up, that there are profound human behaviorisms that decide everything we do, and there is greatness in conquering, not the world outside, but the spirit within. This is, in the end, all posturing, meant to prepare us for, indeed, freedom, or something that can pass for freedom. The real freedom lies, however, in the deep human convictions that compel us to build our house on the rock, as Christianity's Bible teaches: these are not arbitrary poetic statements, but summations of the human endeavor to live like themselves, in a world that tries to enforce a fake identity or lack of identity on us.
Do not misunderstand me. I do not zealously deny the existence of absolute truths, if that is what you think. In a way, I let it be that way. I acknowledge absolutes, albeit, perhaps, in a tacit way. If we are honest to God, we should probably admit that subtle, refined truths about the world really do not matter. Except, if we put it rather cynically, the theory of relativity: E = MC². Einstein himself had a vibe that pointed towards such a belief, such an attitude towards life. However, even Einstein admitted that a person who does not see the potential for meaning in the world has a greater likelihood to perish in it. The notion of meaning in the world is absolutely important - like the theory of relativity actually - for surviving in that world. More so, I suppose, than relativity, because signification is actually essential to humanity's condition. We tell stories, we dress up as characters, we play musical instruments, all out of this deep-seated need for meaning. On the other hand, humans have a drive towards nonsense as well. Comedy, abstract art, and travel, in a way, all can be made to kind of illustrate that people need something in their souls that is not strictly meaningful: not so much a Will-to-truth, if you will, but a Will-to-wonder, a tendency in the human heart to quiet the senses and feel in harmony, in unison, in immanence, with the external world. The human race is in this way divided against itself. That could also be seen as proof of universal constants, in the form, again, of Yin and Yang dualism; yet I do not regard that with a philosophic enthusiasm. I do not think that our species can really become balanced on the factor of balance itself. True balance is a form of moderation, and what cannot be measured, cannot be moderated. In this way, we are drawn towards system, order or substance. The children of the Earth want to have, indeed, a monolithic truth, a totem. That is not altogether an infantile idea. Some have suggested that civilized society should be founded on self-restraint and subservience to the common good. It is clear, to me at least, that it is much more liberating to center our attentions on our own inner battle, which is, ultimately, just a microcosm of the conflict going on out of doors. We must recognize that the universe is, as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, constantly in flux, between harmony and strife, so that it is very apt to consider someone's calling to lie inside himself, although I do not think that flux is a function of truth. Having said that, it is manifest to us that the inner may be the outer, were it not that it is so vitally important to behold, clearly and distinctly, the inner.
So what is, if I may say so, the big idea? We might assert, simply, the Spirit. The best creatures of the Lord have been trained towards this overt reality, that has been expounded by Protestant ex-theologians and ex-philosophers, to the ruin of probity and amity and catholicity, freedom, expression and gentleness! I insist nonetheless that the mystic body of the civilized world behooves to console the one or the other in the growth of this respect, this sensibility of righteousness and consideration, in which the Inner Light shines. The nations of the Earth may raise the flag of mysticism, of spirituality, of sacred ritual, in the darkness of their despair, and move tenaciously towards new plateaus of love and hatred, of obsession and capitulation, as long as they don't lose themselves in this new mission, this new foray in the unknown. For we know, as well as anyone could, our commission is nothing more or less than an exodus, away from the Old World and into the New, since we have seen the miraculous paths and settlements of this wild Frontier. So I will say: laugh and be happy. Dour stuff that overcomes us is nothing to the sage. The learned deliberations of the scholars and the bookpersons are immaterial to the knight of faith, whose every decision is harnessed by the insight into the Biblical data, the knowing of the news. In other words, we can stabilize ourselves, not in character, or morals, but in our intellect, in what we have done, not to know, not to learn, but to do it again, to rehearse our part in the play of the great King, so that we can really say: I lived.
I have avoided to tackle the issue head-on, but now I will grapple with it immediately: to be quite frank, our dearest ideologies, our deepest cultural adoptions, are little more than masquerades that we put on, to feel at ease in our cultural, social and psychological environment. What does that mean? Concretely, it indicates that, no matter what gurus may do to make it seem otherwise, nothing in our identity is a matter of life and death. Truly, one may even wonder what an identity really is. The philosopher David Hume actually postulated that when he searched himself, he could not find anything resembling a "self", no matter how hard he tried. It may, as a result, seem rather self-serving to pontificate about one's beliefs, knowing full well that he has just appropriated them, through decades of spiritual searching, or of introspection, or through any other mechanism of self-assertion or self-revelation, without actually experiencing their validity in a universal and apodictic manner; and thus we can fully sympathize with people who think that theology is a worthless enterprise, and personal philosophies, that have to do with grand visions of how we ought to behave, are frivolous. One might think, in his reasonableness, that the only thing worth discussing in a serious, objective setting is natural science, or, if that is too high-flown, mathematics. The ancient Greeks actually inclined towards such a situation: the original meaning of "school" had to do with researching geometrical propositions in one's spare time, although it is also the case that the ancient Greeks and Romans defined school as idle conversation they held when they reclined together in their houses. Still, the intellectual world of the classical person was built up from simple topics like grammar and oratory, and did only in special occasions ascend into speculative topics of a purely theoretical nature. I will maintain, in any event, that human beings can find tangible means by which to solidify their attachment to culture, and in this way they will actually become paragons of that complete and wise manner of life that used to be the topic of songs. We can grow in wisdom and character if we just apply ourselves, and this quiet process, which can occur to us as both study and sport, has value, even though we do not find this value in forests and canyons, palaces and libraries and cities and countryside. People may learn facts and sophistries about themselves, but in the end, the deep wiseperson will uncover not per se the grand prestige of dogma, but the refined glamour of style, that truly convokes our existence. Can we, irrespectively, achieve material decorum in the vast theatre play of life? Or, casting decorum aside, significance? But there is, presumably, no material significance: only spiritual. Which points us back to the arena of religion, but I will not assert that religion is the answer, but it is an answer, and we don’t need to make that smaller than it is. People may find their own answers - that much is true, but the constellation of answers out there is worthwhile too: we need only believe in it.












