A New Year's Hope
True courage lies in embracing doubt.
That part of the world where I find my balance, the sphere of ideas and imagination, is easily overtaken by judgements. Our basic grammar betrays us. It is full of periods and too often explanation marks. Praise the few who qualify thought, with phrases like “on the other hand” and “in spite of” or “given these assumptions.” And many more ways in which we can keep our minds open to new information and hearts alive to compassion for all.
We will not navigate this century with arrogant certainties. By navigate I mean handle storms, avoid rocks and find safe harbors. It is the use of old, very old, sailing metaphors. Coastal trading communities, port cities, in the Mediterranean spoke of life that way nearly three thousand years ago. Fixed stars and life-long experience were their guides.
Ideas are like Legos. They can be assembled in many ways. I suggest we avoid simplicity, seeking clarity amidst complexity. We can handle it. It is not weakness. It is not “woke,” whatever that means.
Actually, it has always seemed to me at the heart of the Christian message. Human thought when cast into rigid ideologies is idolatry. It shields exploitation from scrutiny. It clocks rashness with piety.
We live in contingencies, landscapes of exploration where, ever more information leads us toward further discoveries.
In this century, the Sirens on the shore have shrill appeal. They call us to tempting harbors. We may not have to tie ourselves to the mast to save our journey, but we need the support of our “crew,” our friends and fellow travelers, for we cannot stand alone.
In the twelfth book of the Odyssey, as Odysseus (Ulysses) is leaving Kirkê's island, Kirkê informs Odysseus of the dangers of the sea that he will encounter on his way home, specifically warning him of the Sirens. Sirens are beautiful women of the sea, who sing songs that hypnotize or lure and trick men into shipwrecking their boats on rocky shores because they follow the irresistible songs. Odysseus instructs his crew to tie him to the mast, telling them to ignore whatever he may say while under the sway of the Siren's song. The sailors stuff their ears with beeswax and then tie Odysseus tightly to the mast. Odysseus is the only one who hears the siren song, while the others ears are covered and they prevent Odysseus from following the song. (http://modernism.research.yale.edu/wiki/index.php/%22The_Sirens%22)
I think we have the capacity to withstand such temptations. The wisdom of our evolutionary past sustains us. How many rival hominids failed to survive? Is it too much of a stretch to think they lacked our genetic turn, our capacity for doubt without immobilizing fear.
Teach the children how to dream
The further shores to reach
To lose the sight of land and fix
Upon the pole star’s light.
For all the worth of life is found
In holding with the wind
To leave in wake horizons crossed
And master open sea.