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This was put forward with great clarity (and beauty) by Ralph Waldo Emerson: that the highest soul is one who does not discriminate between good and evil but sees both as necessary complements of the whole.
Or rather, that the only ultimate evil is to sever the true unity of reality by forcibly introducing an artificial schism between good and evil - such that the wholeness of life and of each human life is destroyed.
From the monist perspective which sees unity as the ultimate truth, this must be correct; thus all Christians are revealed as (qualified) pluralists (as are most other religions).
And since unconstrained pluralism collapses into monism (think about it); the truth of Christianity (and most other religions which have a limited-pluralism) is thus put wholly upon revelation - it is revelation (and that only) which tells us the extent of pluralism.
But it is this deistic spirituality of non-discrimination - with roots in the Romantic movement including the New England Transcendentalists - that underlies the incoherent concretization and perversion of modern politically-correct 'non-discrimination', and the ethic that the only true evil is to 'discriminate'.
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Taoism in a nutshell:
ReplyDeleteWhat is it? It is what it is.
Is it 'good'? Partly.
Is it 'bad'? Partly.
There is often good in bad, and bad in good, thus whatever it is, it is what it is.
Leftism is a perversion because it actively discriminates against discrimination. If it really was what it said it was, its individual practitioners would not discriminate, themselves, and would not discriminate against others who they judge to be discriminating.
Leftism could work, if it was able to mind its own business, and apply its rules to itself. But that is highly unlikely.
Christianity could work if its individual practitioners were Christians, rather than desiring that everybody else should be.
But it is this deistic spirituality of non-discrimination - with roots in the Romantic movement including the New England Transcendentalists - that underlies the incoherent concretization and perversion of modern politically-correct 'non-discrimination', and the ethic that the only true evil is to 'discriminate'.
ReplyDeleteWait, didn't you just say that we shouldn't try to figure out where leftist ideas come from?
@WmJas - I don't think the Left's ideas *came from* Emerson - if Emerson had never lived, it would not have made any difference to the Left.
ReplyDeleteRather I am saying that the Left is where Emerson's ideas *went*.
@Crow - "Christianity could work if its individual practitioners were Christians, rather than desiring that everybody else should be."
ReplyDeleteBut if Christianity is true, it is reality, and the reality has eternal consequences for good or ill - and part of that reality is that we are all God's children and intrinsically involved one with another - so of course Christians want people to live according to reality, not illusion or lies; and we want to save our brothers and sisters from eternal misery.
The trick is to be able to recognize reality, not to 'believe' it is reality.
ReplyDeleteIf one is unable to recognize it, oneself, one is unable to persuade others to recognize it.
Paradoxically, even one is able to recognize it, one is still unable to convey that recognition.
Perhaps acceptance of 'you can't win' is the most beneficial way of living.
Leftism could work, if it was able to mind its own business, and apply its rules to itself. But that is highly unlikely.
ReplyDeleteHighly unlikely? Impossible on the face of it, if experience is any guide. We have yet to see a Leftist regime that does not expand into every possible sphere of human activity.
Leftism that "minded its own business" would not be Leftism. "Equality" (the principle against which "discrimination" offends) has no meaning unless it applies to everybody. Anyone standing outside the circle of "equality" would instantly be designated an oppressive enemy whose unjust advantages must be eliminated.
JP: leftism is based loosely upon truths and lofty principles. But that basing upon is its only connection to truth.
ReplyDelete'We are all equal': this is true, in a certain sense. But broadly absurd.
As Bruce says: leftism is a perversion, which, as you say, is what makes it leftism.
It would seem that, at the root of this perversion, a failure-to-detect reality can be blamed.
This would infer that most people are - in fact - mad. And the fact that most people are mad, comprehensively explains the results we see.
I think he touches, and misunderstands, something true and valuable. Evil is a privation, nothing essentially evil truly exists. Reality is perceived by humans subjectively, as "good" and "bad". The highest soul does indeed discriminate against evil, but it does not reject the subjectively "bad".
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