A Response to Walker Morrow #4

Dear Walker,

Thank you for your gracious offer of an exit strategy from this conversation. I believe conversation is important. I want to be open to having my thoughts and ideas challenged by different understandings of the world. It is vital for the well-being of our culture that people who may see the world from slightly different perspectives be able to speak to one another with mutual respect and deep listening. As long as this is what is going on in our exchanges, I am happy to continue.

Your idea of “a subjective objective truth” (see Comment to "A Response to Walker Morrow #3) is quite lovely. But it challenges people. In fact, although on the one hand you acknowledge the subjective nature of the human apprehension of truth, at the same time you run a little fearfully from your own insight.

cont'd.

In almost any conversation in which the reality of the “subjective” nature of our ability to grasp and express truth is honestly and humbly acknowledged, the specter of “relativism” is immediately raised. You say, “We have to grasp onto some things as absolutes, or else we could find ourselves falling into the dangerous waters of complete relativism.”

It is intriguing that you do not feel compelled to list these “some things,” we need to “grasp onto” in order to save ourselves from “the dangerous waters of complete relativism.” What are you afraid of here? And where does this fear come from? Who have you seen who has fallen “into the dangerous waters of complete relativism”? What is your list of “absolutes” that will save me from this threat? Who told you that this list is the correct list of “absolutes”? What if our lists are different? Who is going to decide whose list is really absolute?

My suspicion is that, as soon as anyone starts to list their “absolutes,” they will discover that their absolutes are in fact not quite as absolutely absolute as they thought. Then we are rather quickly enmeshed in a debate about how absolute our “absolutes” really are, or at least about how our “absolutes” should be applied in a given situation. Who gets to decide that your absolutes are in fact the absolutes that should absolutely dominate, especially if they do not seem absolute to me? And how do we know what it will look like eve if we agree to live by your list of absolutes? Might it look different to live by your absolutes in different contexts? Obviously, it is going to take some conversation to work out exactly what we mean by “absolutes.” The whole matter of establishing absolutes is extremely complex, requiring a lot of conversation and a willingness to be open and flexible. Suddenly our discussion starts to feel less absolute.

So what really does lie behind this fear? What threatening monster is being conjured when we are warned of the “dangerous waters of complete relativism”?

I get the impression that you are afraid that if you allow for the possibility that human beings may not be able to absolutely establish some agreed upon code of conduct, pretty soon we will slide into chaos.

I do not think that this “slippery slope” argument is a particularly credible line of approach. It is not immediately obvious to me that the admission that it is difficult to establish hard and fast absolutes to govern human behaviour, automatically means we abandon the human community to a chaotic morass of relativity in which anything goes.

It seems to me that when people raise the specter of relativism, the real problem is that they do not trust the human spirit. We are being offered a vision of the human condition that views human beings as victims of barely controllable forces that are bent upon destruction and evil. There seems to be a fear that we will spin wildly out of control unless careful boundaries and parameters are laid down to confine human behaviour within certain norms. I feel as if I am being told that an ax-murderer lurks deep in the innermost being of every human and we must keep vigilant guard lest the chaotic dark forces that dominate the human heart run wildly out of control.

I do not subscribe to this pessimistic, gloomy vision of what a human being is. We are not born as monsters into this world who must be rigidly controlled. (You should meet my granddaughter.) No doubt there is considerable evidence of a dark destructive streak that runs through much of the human condition. It would be foolish and naïve to assume that all human beings will always make positive life-giving choices if they are simply left to their own devices. Societies must establish agreed upon norms for the conduct of civil community and the establishment of safety and protection for the greatest number of people possible within a social unit. But these boundaries and parameters themselves are not absolutes.

When I say “Societies must establish some parameters for the conduct of civil community and the establishment of safety and protection for the greatest number of people possible,” I am suggesting that “civil community,” and the “establishment of safety and protection,” are values that should be afforded to all people. I cannot imagine that too many people would disagree with these “values.” However, if someone did suggest that civil community, safety and protection are not absolute values, it would be difficult for me to prove to such a person that my absolutes are in fact absolutely absolute.

So the real question is not are there absolutes. The real question is how do I come to know the absolutes I believe are absolute.

Ultimately, the only absolutely absolute is God. So, the real question we are dealing with here is, how does one know God.

Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” This sounds as if it is saying, if we stop our feverish activity, we will learn something about reality. We will learn that there is a God; we will discover the Absolute. But the English translation here can be misleading. The Hebrew in Psalm 46:10 consists of three words, “Rapha yada elohim” - “Be still; know God.” To “know” here does not mean “to know about;” it means “to enter into deep intimate communion with.” This verse is inviting us into a deep spiritual relationship.

This is reinforced by a possible alternative translation of “rapaha.” “Rapha” is traditionally translated “be still.” It could also be translated as “sink down.” So the psalmist is inviting us to open to a deep place within ourselves in which we will discover our connection to the Absolute as a living reality at the heart of our being. We are not being directed to uncover a list of rules and regulations that will tell us understand the absolute principles governing life. We are not being told to acknowledge some intellectual formulation about the nature of life. We are being invited into a living relationship with an active Reality we call God.

We do not enter into relationship with God by identifying a series of absolutes and then conforming our lives and the lives of others to the values we have determined are absolute. We know God by being in loving relationship. I John says, “everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (I John 4:7,8) There are no rules and no limits to love. Love requires opening to the depths of our being and discovering the vulnerability and wisdom that reside within.

When Jesus was asked to sum up the whole teaching of the Hebrew tradition in which he grew up, he did not give a theology lecture; he did not make a list of “absolutes.” Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength…. and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:29,30)

It is important that we do not confuse this “love” with sentimentality. It is not loving for me to let my granddaughter run out into a busy street. But eventually she must grow up to the point where she knows within herself what is good for her and what is harmful. For my granddaughter to mature means she must come to the point in her life where she is able to choose freely that which is best for her own becoming and for the well-being of all forms of creation. As she learns to open deeply to the presence of God’s Spirit within her life, she will know truth and the truth will set her free. (John 8:32)

This is why Jesus tells his followers,

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth… You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you…. the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything.” (John 14:16,17,26) Jesus seems to be willing to risk everything on the presence of the Spirit in our lives.

What does this mean? If “the Father” will “teach you everything,” is Jesus risking complete relativism? Why does Jesus feel no need to make a list?

Faith means trusting that the inner reality of God’s Spirit dwelling in my life is bringing me to truth. But, equally, faith means that I must trust the work of God’s Spirit at work in your life leading you to truth. If you can honestly say, from the depths of your being, that God has shown you that eating only chocolate ice-cream for three meals a day is absolutely the best way to a healthy, trim body, I must trust that you believe this is true. And, as long as you are not harming someone else by forcing chocolate ice-cream upon them, and do not demand that I be your chocolate ice-cream supplier, I must leave you free to act upon your convictions until you discover that they were in error. At the same time, as you stuff your face with chocolate ice-cream, I will continue to ask you to open to the voice of truth within, asking yourself, “Is chocolate ice-cream really leading me to know God more fully and deeply? Is chocolate ice-cream the path to love?”

Love is always the true human goal and the means of achieving that goal. I cannot agree that there is ever a point where “self-preservation becomes more important than love.” Jesus called his followers to self-sacrifice, self-giving, self-death, not “self-preservation.” To be a follower of Christ is to “take up” our cross “daily” and follow him. (Luke 9:23) When we discover within ourselves the absolute nature of love, we come to know that there is nothing we need to preserve, nothing we need to fear or protect. We discover the presence of God within our lives and know an immense security that resides in knowing the fullness of God’s presence. This is why love is the absolute; everything else is just application.