John Buttrick of Concord can be reached at johndbuttrick@gmail.com.
In the halls of the U.S. Senate, the town square, or a city neighborhood, fake news is contaminating dependable truth. Trying to ferret out the truth feels like an almost futile task.
The 4th century BCE Greek philosopher, Diogenes the Cynic, demonstrated this futility by carrying a lamp during the day, looking for an honest man. He must have chuckled as he cynically carried a lamp useless in the daylight. You see, Diogenes and his lamp may be seen as a metaphor for a person who refuses to see anything as truth but their own written-in-stone biases and beliefs. Also, Diogenes and his lamp may be a metaphor for a person blind to the schemes of powerful people who use equivocation, overly ambitious promises, flattery, and twisted vagaries impersonating truth.
In our time, these metaphors are a commentary on the personal obstinance and disingenuous hortatory infecting Congress and our country. This is the predicament facing citizens seeking honest, open-minded candidates for whom to vote in the coming 2022 elections.
Psychologist Karen Douglas, writing for the New York Times, suggests, “People have a psychological need for… certainty.” There is comfort in experiencing an absolute. I absolutely depend on the certainty that coffee beans will always be available to brew my morning coffee. Others may need absolute certainty that there will be shelter and food at the community kitchen every day. However, some people let the need for certainty dominate their lives.
Douglas writes that these people may be attracted to conspiracy theories. They may live in a fantasy world of absolutes where nothing will ever change. For example, these people may believe there are universal laws that can be discerned unchangeable for all future generations. They may be convinced there is only one correct inerrant eternal religious ethic and way of life. They may try to revive a cherished pastime to make it an absolute for the present and all future time.
Their way is the ordained way. It informs their unchangeable beliefs about such issues as the environment, the economy, women’s rights, religious freedom, U.S. foreign policy, and immigration.
However, human beings have a natural ability to balance the need for absolutes with the need for inquiry. David Brooks notes in the New York Times, “Sometimes… you should stick to your worldview… But sometimes the world is genuinely different than it was before. At those moments the crucial skills are the ones nobody teaches you: how to reorganize your mind, how to see with new eyes.”
Socrates insists, “by accepting that you know nothing, you open yourself up to the potential about learning truth rather than fitting it into your current way of thinking.”
Lorraine Daston writes inHedgehog Review, “the achievements of one generation (will) almost certainly be overthrown by the next, and so on ad infinitum.” She continues, “the words of Heraclitus hold: ‘One cannot step twice into the same river’…. One gradually accustoms oneself to the fact that (life) is unfinished.”
The scientific community has learned their next discovery may make previous knowledge obsolete. Historian Henry Adams wrote in 1903, “Scientific advances (are) hurtling forward with the speed and force of a locomotive—but no one knows… whether there is a destination. All one can do is hang on for dear life.” Scientists can teach us to ride the locomotive, not to a final destination, only to new discoveries along the way.
In science, politics and all aspects of human endeavors, it is a significant challenge to create a dialogue between absolutists and inquirers. Absolutists find security in the faith that what they believe is universally foundational. Inquirers accept tension between security and risk taking. They believe there are implications for humanity to be discovered in the expansion of the cosmos and the movement among the stars. They believe there is “more truth and light” yet to come in human relationships, and changes are a part of life.
Successes are steps on the journey. Failure creates new possibilities. Inquiries are in motion, exercising the mind. Absolutes stagnate, atrophying the brain.
At present, Congress is dominated by absolutists. Much proposed legislation is labeled as absolutely right or absolutely wrong. Such obstinance ends discussion, suffocates astute minds, stifles innovation and stymies progress. Therefore, in this coming election season, it is most important to identify candidates who are inquirers to replace absolutists.
It is time to seek candidates who will bring fresh air to Congress — open minds and enable innovation. Then the new Congress may affirm the words of Heraclitus, “One cannot step twice into the same river.”
In time, Congress may experience the freedom and flexibility to consider their actions as steps into the always changeable future. Discussions within a political party and between the parties may focus more on the flow of ideas, possibilities, and good government, and less on absolutes and stagnate party loyalties.
Imagine a Congress that gets things done. Imagine the flexibility to take a new look at the workings of democracy or the structure of the government’s three divisions of power. Imagine a welcoming border receiving people to enrich culture, contribute to innovation, strengthen the workforce, and even support prowess in sports. Imagine challenging the relationship between the government and the industrial complex.
Imagine a Supreme Court true to its mission and free from political and religious pressure. Imagine open and free discussions about a U.S. Constitution appropriate for the 21st century. Imagine listening and learning in the town square and city neighborhood. It’s time to forgo stagnation. Choose the life of an inquirer. Be free to take some risks.
It begins at the polls.