On the continuum between unity and fragmentation, our culture appears to have taken up residence on the fragmented end of the “us/them” divide. But here’s the thing about such a factionalizing ethos – the subdividing regress of schism incessantly splinters into ever new definitions of who the “us” and the “them” are . . . until it finally becomes the self-induced isolation of the sanctimonious arbiters of moral outrage. This is how the whole world closes in around the narcissist intent on living in the shrinking solipsism of their own pronouncement of the “authentic self.” And everyone doing what is right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25) is exactly what occurs right before a culture becomes a complete dumpster fire.
In a world where everyone is entitled to their own truth – truth itself has no real value, as it has become nothing more than a synonym for “felt experiences”. The pathology of such emotivism presupposes a self-existent ontology – where the whole of reality is ever reinvented to suit the latest iteration of existential pronouncement. I say this because our relationship to truth is meant to be as a reference point, placing us in full context within the whole of existence . . . and not just as we presuppose it should be. Put another way — competing ideas about what is true can be a healthy debate . . . but competing truths can only ever lead us to a deepening chasm of divide, ever alienating us from one another.
Think about it. A world where you can invent your own truth, is in fact, a world where you imagine yourself to be a god – which might seem okay until it occurs to you that everyone else will also be inventing their own truth, imagining themselves to also be a god within that very same world.
So either we all become the gods of the imposed will driving us to violence, or we become the gods of the quid pro quo – instrumentally using each other, living in our little fiefdoms of sovereignty, tending to our uneasy peace agreements with one another . . . but only until we’re able to seize the upper hand and expand control over our fiefdom.
Clearly, worshipping at the altar of the self, insisting that our truth can’t be questioned, invariably places us at odds with anyone unwilling to be held hostage to the hubris of our vanity. And this is the state of fragmentation our culture currently finds itself mired in – everyone demanding that their truth be validated . . . actual truth be damned! This is transparently an untenable way forward because it can’t possibly be culturally sustained . . . as it is actually antithetical to what it means for us to validate the dignity and humanity of one another.
Here’s the thing – I can’t make you validate what I believe to be true, as you can’t make me validate what you believe to be true. But what we can do is humbly confess our own limitations . . . and that our interpretations of truth will inevitably be judged by what is actually true. Because pretending to be the gods of our own make-believe world, will eventually have to give way to the God of the real universe. Remember — Adam and Eve imagined that they could simply be like God . . . and we all know how that turned out.
Too long have we lived with the lies we tell ourselves . . .
Comments are closed.