The Seat is Empty

"How extreme and uncritical the optimism underlying the doctrine of progress was can be seen in one of its main premises: that there would be a corporate human advance toward perfect wisdom and righteousness. We still are so habituated to progressive modes of thought that the idea may not strike us as particularly problematic. But how could such an advance possibly occur?

Can wisdom be passed from one generation to succeeding generations and steadily deepened in its passage? Surely not. Objective knowledge can be thus transmitted, but wisdom (without which objective knowledge is of doubtful value) cannot. A wise father cannot at will call into being a wise son; ordinary human experience makes this abundantly plain. Neither can a righteous father call forth a righteous son. One generation cannot achieve righteousness and then bestow it on the next generation. Perhaps laws and customs can be gradually elevated, just as objective knowledge can be extended. But righteousness is a more vital and creative state than mere conformity with law and custom; this being so, perfecting the existing order is not the same as perfecting righteousness.

Wisdom and righteousness alike have to do with personal qualities which we cannot even assuredly define, much less hand over to others. It is likely that the doctrine of progress, and with it modern hope, could survive as long as it did because of the growing self-satisfaction of Western peoples; they were able to assume unthinkingly that they were steadily becoming better and better human beings. Progress seemed natural, and hope mere common sense."

― Glenn Tinder, "The Fabric of Hope"

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Dear Kate,

"Stop Asian Hate."  What does this statement mean?

To be a good writer--in fact, to speak at all with integrity, as a politician, a preacher, a teacher, a student, a coffee room conversationalist, on topic not necessarily as controversial as the one above, is to engage in the moral exercise of questioning, before anything else, one's own speaking.

To not think through the assumptions behind an utterance is to speak carelessly.  Care-less-ness is a fertile soil for frivolous speech, a stone's throw from harmful ideas and hateful actions.

Take the above statement as an example: "Stop Asian Hate."

It is a local statement, we can probably agree to this much, not something one would need to advocate in an Asian country, or to the entire planetary audience, which is composed of an Asian majority (60%).  Yet the statement is appealing to something quite universal: that there are haters in this world, and we will need to stop them.

So who are these "haters," say, locally (not trying to overreach and imagine life in a palace or igloo)?  And after precisely identifying them, how do we "stop" them?  How about potential haters, wouldn't it be wise to nip hate in the bud and impose righteousness from the get-go?  Maybe continual reeducation, re-imposing, say, at least once a year, dusting off our moral banners and sloganeer t-shirts, bringing to the awareness of every hater and hater-in-the-making that We know who you are, and we are here to stop you.

It is a religious ritual, to set up altars for moral purification, more of them every year, adding to our annual observance of victimization specific, often held in public square, open space (such as, in Vancouver, the Art Gallery) with the visual suggestion of a Judgement Seat and the People on the throne.

Any question?  What seems to be right in this picture seems also apparent.  You would probably join a cause or two if you or your loved ones are the specific victims of some particular hate that is being especially "called out."  Even if we don't "stay woke" all the times, there will surely be days of awakening when we meet our "haters."  You better join the movement now then, for who's going to speak for you if you are not speaking for anyone now?  The Judgement Seat is empty: you better fill it fast before someone else does.

So we speak and talk and write, about right and wrong, setting up altars in social media, burning up incense of tweets, living a religious way of life organized around convictions and experiences concerning ultimate power.  And what are these "ultimate power(s)" we are worshipping?

Do you know any Manichaean?  Manichaeism used to be a true world religion, "spread with extraordinary speed through both the East and West," to Europe, Central Asia and China, "at its height was one of the most widespread religions in the world."  In the Orient it survived as a living religion, up until this present century.  Now it has become extinct--a phenomenal fact that speaks about the futility of human speaking.

The Manichaean vision is a radically zebra vision: everything is either black or white, good or evil.  It has become extinct not because of persecution (which usually makes a religion grow), but because it has no sustaining power to speak about, speak to, and speak for the human condition.  It might have given us fragments or aspects of truth, but was finally a distortion, a corruption of Truth.

Our convictions, true as they are to us when we articulate them, powerful as they seem to shape the world, worthy as they appear of our utmost devotion, could cease to speak and our words wiped away from the face of this world.  Our words could die with us.  Which is to say we could be living meaninglessly now even as we think we are not.

You, a writer, seeking Truth, I hope that's how you see yourself.  If truth-seeking is not our real interest, then we should stop wasting our time.  You know no one is really reading anymore, don't you?  Reading is listening; listening to allow oneself being questioned; questioning questing for Truth.  To say there is no Truth to seek out and speak about is a moral confusion (because the statement is itself a truth claim, called nihilism).  To say Truth is made true only because we are speaking it is to speak about nothing but our denial of death.  No cloud storage is going to immortalize us if a mushroom cloud is what we will get at the end.

We write because we are hopeful.  There is no hope to be found in illusions.  The quote above, from a preeminent truth-speaker, speaks about the illusion of human progress.  Listen to the iconoclast; smash our idols.

Yours, Alex