6 June 2004

Nietzsche called on philosophy to study the shapes, colors and appetites of the world at hand, rather than indulge in abstract speculation. One of his means was to doubt any pretensions to One Truth. There was after all a kind of music of the personality that attracted perceptions into a particular key — let's say, here Christian, there Buddhist; here artistic, there scientific — all of which went under the grand banner of “thinking” but which was, in truth, not objective. ... Concealed in the body of Nietzsche's work was the powerful suggestion that the cogitating subject, the infallible “I” of Descartes, was probably not the key to understanding the truth of the world. — Lesley Chamberlain, “Nietzsche In Turin: An Intimate Biography”

When we think of Truth we think of it as supremely objective. It is what it is — influenced by nothing — oblivious to our hopes, dreams and fears.

Yet, on the other hand here we are, human beings, not known for being objective or realistic — under the influence of almost everything. One of the great beliefs of humankind is that the garden-variety subjective human personality can recognize supremely objective Truth when it sees it. But nothing casts more doubt on this hope than religion itself: Too many conflicting scriptures, too many absolute believers, and too many horrendous conflicts give belief a bad name. It's starting to look more like indulgence than devotion.

The road to peace is paved with renunciation — the renunciation of absolutes across the board: theological, philosophical, ideological, personal and political. This is not to say we must give up our beliefs. They can stay the same. It's our claims that need modified. And we can still make a case for our beliefs as beliefs; and we might make more headway than ever before.

WE'RE ALL UNDER THE INFLUENCE

Let's talk more about being under the influence.

We live under the influence of our genes; of our time and place of birth; of hit-or-miss parenting; of a happy or unfortunate series of personal experiences; of the depth of our knowledge and understanding ... or the shallowness; and under the influence of a scripture or an ideology our culture deems morally superior and unerringly true.

The stunningly complex combination of these factors, as they build up imperceptibly over the years, can be summed up as "a kind of music of the personality that attracts perceptions into a particular key." Each person is a symphony of subjectivity attracted to notes and phrases that keep his or her melody from going sour.

TO BE CLEAR

Our inherent subjectivity does not disqualify us from knowing (or guessing) "the truth of the matter," but it does disqualify us from knowing that we know. Or perhaps it's more accurate and hopeful to say that once we realize we're under the influence of our own unfathomable personality — beyond reckoning and more powerful than any drug ever invented — then we'll be more circumspect about the claims we make for our knowledge and objectivity ... for our objectivity is, after all, OUR objectivity and therefore not objective at all.

BUILDING UP SUBJECTIVITY

For all intents and purposes I think it is fair to say that we're continually in the process of building up, maintaining and reinforcing our subjectivity ... under the guise of being logical, reasonable, moral and mature. But perhaps it's more accurate to say we're simply drawn to things that harmonize with the Key of Me.

Indeed, our belief in our own objectivity is just another aspect of our subjectivity. That's the crux of the matter. To abandon the music analogy for a moment: We're like drunks claiming to be sober in slurred speech. The person drunk on his own worldview slurs his speech, too, but with ideological terms or scriptural claims. Listen for it. Understand you're hearing someone under the influence. Don't mistake Otis Campbell for Joseph Campbell.

This is a hard lesson to learn, but I think we must. I am tempted to say, "We should sober up," but we'll always be under the influence of something. Maybe understanding that is enough; then we can put quotation marks around Truth and discover life. Perhaps there's music in that as well.

AN AFTERTHOUGHT — RECLAIM "KNOW"

One more thing: Let's take "know" away from the theologians and True Believers. They are forever saying, "I know!" when they really mean, "I believe." Nothing in theology or metaphysics can be known in the way "know" or "knowledge" specifies; otherwise, it would be science, not metaphysics.