Sep 26 2008
Social Conscience: In or Out?
Personal Journal: Room With a View, September 26, 2008:
Last week, I got into a cab at Farragut West headed for Tenleytown. We had only gone a block or two when the driver asked, “What do you think of Tolerance?” Suddenly, the world was in slow motion. The words of every ethicist I have read filled my head: Martin Buber, Emmanuel Levinas, Aristotle, they were all there; yet, the only Gestalt present was “i-other”.
Here I was, making small talk with a perfectly nice man who was happy to drive me across town; and I found myself facing an ethical epiphany.
The next thing I knew I was talking. I was telling the nice man how I felt about tolerance; and actually between you and me, I was working through a thesis that until that very moment, resided only within… “I don’t like the concept of Tolerance because it seems to possess an inherent power imbalance,” I stated frankly. Oh hell, Foucault was there too.
“Tell me more, if you don’t mind” said the nice man. “Well, I think if one is tolerant of an-other, that very premise suggests the-other is somehow other-than-me. We are all human beings—people. For me to be tolerant would suggest I believe me to be somehow superior, in order to render the judgment of being-tolerant in the first place. I prefer to acknowledge the-other-is.”
“That is very interesting”, said the nice (kind) man. As we drove by the National Cathedral he said, “I am really glad I got to drive you today!” Still deep in my thoughts, I laughingly responded, “No, I am glad I got to ride with you today!” I wondered if he knew how truly grateful I was for the opportunity to synthesize my beliefs on this issue. As I walked through the campus gates it occurred to me that I had just experienced on of those neumenal moments; that place where something “bigger-than-me ” constantly resides. I have always thought that was God…
Later I was looking in old folders from my Masters days… That is where I found this: “Jung believed that when we use symbolic language we are acknowledging content that we “know” (but are not aware of) that resides in the unconscious. Jung believes symbol is used to establish a relationship with the unknown by positing it in the known as symbols revealing a deeper, more significant psychological concern. Encounters with archetypes possess a neumenal quality, the instinctive inner “knowledge” that we are in the “presence of something awe-some.” The passage came from my Final Exam answer two years ago in graduate Psychology & Religion.
Social Conscience is interesting turf. I wonder if it could be considered Main Street of our individual core beliefs…
Aw, come on! Any good Fundamentalist will tell you that Super Jeeeeesus is the Main St. of our core beliefs.
Social conscience, by the virtue of it’s existence, does indeed imply some sort of social caste system. Until we can view each other simply as human beings, some sort of “classism” will always exist.
Boring, mundane, and unproductive are hallmarks of the status quo. There is indeed some semblance of class warfare here, and the knee-jerk reaction when you question its existence is for the other party to question your patriotism. I do hope that my kiddo gets to grow up in a more enlightened era than the one I did, but a lot will have to change.
And we can start Nov. 4th.