The world is complex.
This simple admission is too much for most to stomach.
“No!” they protest, “when you think about it, when you break it down to manageable pieces, within the context, it is not that complicated at all! Why...” and then they proceed to stop thinking, start believing, and disseminate said belief, in manageable pieces and within the context, of course. Except soon that context will be stripped off and said belief will become an unassailable truth, an axiom of civilization!
Consider a student, young and of nimble mind, toiling away at his lessons. He has been told by all quite often that his lessons will determine his life's direction, its quality, and content. He works away, devouring knowledge that everyone agrees is relevant and germane… and yet that knowledge is not the only determinant of his future, nor is it even the most important determinant. What is? How the fuck would I know? The world is complex!
Causality is a fact, undeniable, enshrined in the very nature of the universe we inhabit. That is not to say however, that it can be gleaned by any human. These waters are muddy, and those on the quest to uncover the bottom only succeed in kicking up more silt.
And yet there are those that take whatever glimmer they caught of some causal relationship and they peddle it as the truth. Within context, initially, until one day it becomes the whole truth,the truth of their existence, and of all existence,the prime mover, the cause at the beginning of all causes! Until one day it becomes a cause of its own, and then they come down the mountain and crush all dissent…
Their certainty, you see – their faith in the veracity of that glimmer – is the most dangerous thing in the world; not only when they are wrong, but also – and especially – when they are partly right. For then this certainty, bolstered with a smattering of evidence, and a throng of believers, makes them… zealots.
Is this a bad thing? Or is it a good thing? Is it desirable or abhorrent? The truth, my friends – and do take this with a grain of salt – is that such discussion is immaterial.
It is a phenomenon. It exists. It adds to the flow of causality… as we roll on, zealously, through the causal chain that is the uncaring void of the universe.
What then should we do? And therein lies the contradiction at the crux of this discussion…
Without understanding, one cannot make good choices, and it is impossible to fully understand. However to translate this to not making any choices, not holding any beliefs at all is not a choice available to us, because we are in the thick of the causal chain, constantly adding to it, constantly being buffeted by it’s currents.
What choice then remains to one who refuses to succumb to zealotry –or at least to that zealotry he or she recognizes for what it is?
The cause of one’s life, one’s belief, cannot be a negation of other beliefs. It cannot be a void either. However it can be devoid of certainty. It can be a tangled, contradictory, complicated mess of facts and fiction, of causes and effects, or nature and nurture, little victories and vast surrender… and that is all right. Why? Because well,
The world is complex.
This simple admission is too much for most to stomach.
“No!” they protest, “when you think about it, when you break it down to manageable pieces, within the context, it is not that complicated at all! Why...” and then they proceed to stop thinking, start believing, and disseminate said belief, in manageable pieces and within the context, of course. Except soon that context will be stripped off and said belief will become an unassailable truth, an axiom of civilization!
Consider a student, young and of nimble mind, toiling away at his lessons. He has been told by all quite often that his lessons will determine his life's direction, its quality, and content. He works away, devouring knowledge that everyone agrees is relevant and germane… and yet that knowledge is not the only determinant of his future, nor is it even the most important determinant. What is? How the fuck would I know? The world is complex!
Causality is a fact, undeniable, enshrined in the very nature of the universe we inhabit. That is not to say however, that it can be gleaned by any human. These waters are muddy, and those on the quest to uncover the bottom only succeed in kicking up more silt.
And yet there are those that take whatever glimmer they caught of some causal relationship and they peddle it as the truth. Within context, initially, until one day it becomes the whole truth,the truth of their existence, and of all existence,the prime mover, the cause at the beginning of all causes! Until one day it becomes a cause of its own, and then they come down the mountain and crush all dissent…
Their certainty, you see – their faith in the veracity of that glimmer – is the most dangerous thing in the world; not only when they are wrong, but also – and especially – when they are partly right. For then this certainty, bolstered with a smattering of evidence, and a throng of believers, makes them… zealots.
Is this a bad thing? Or is it a good thing? Is it desirable or abhorrent? The truth, my friends – and do take this with a grain of salt – is that such discussion is immaterial.
It is a phenomenon. It exists. It adds to the flow of causality… as we roll on, zealously, through the causal chain that is the uncaring void of the universe.
What then should we do? And therein lies the contradiction at the crux of this discussion…
Without understanding, one cannot make good choices, and it is impossible to fully understand. However to translate this to not making any choices, not holding any beliefs at all is not a choice available to us, because we are in the thick of the causal chain, constantly adding to it, constantly being buffeted by it’s currents.
What choice then remains to one who refuses to succumb to zealotry –or at least to that zealotry he or she recognizes for what it is?
The cause of one’s life, one’s belief, cannot be a negation of other beliefs. It cannot be a void either. However it can be devoid of certainty. It can be a tangled, contradictory, complicated mess of facts and fiction, of causes and effects, or nature and nurture, little victories and vast surrender… and that is all right. Why? Because well,
The world is complex.
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