The Greeks of Athens considered innocence and ignorance to be equivalent. America is yet the hope of humanity. But it is no longer a place among places. The sturdy and kind people of the Midwest are suspended in a fog, so to speak.
We must get over our innocence. What does guilt do? Not the guilt of robbing a 7-11. No. It is the guilt of doing nothing, the recrimination of the unconscious inclination to act. But due to repression, the “fog factor” moves in. One is never to be complete, perfect like an animal. One must speak directly with others, in their presence.
“To agree to disagree” at the highest level possible, not about who is what but about what is critical on spaceship Earth. Universal man, “every man in his place,” is obsolete. Comprehensive man (the behavior of the whole is unpredictable by all the parts in isolation) is each one actively putting everything in its place. This planet is for all men, women, and children.
So, back to the fog-factor. What is the relation between guilt and certainty? It is insanity. Certainty is pathological. Einstein refused the presidency of Israel. He knew the insanity of Zionism. Any religion or ideology must separate the cultural expression (“to squeeze out”) from metaphysical certainty, dogma.
There are innumerable expressions in countless religions of enduring compassion and beauty. The fabric by and through which meaning is gleaned is culture: Bach reached a hand down to Luther, who hated Jews. On the cusp of the Enlightenment he manifested how time works as space.
Before the British left Palestine, they were standing back while Jews were killing Palestinians who had lived in harmony with Jews for centuries. War is insane, easy to say.
If Netanyahu considers anti-Zionists to be antisemitic, then I and millions of others are “antisemitic.”
If Elon Musk believes that war,” “killingry,” is inevitable on this “pale blue dot” (Carl Sagan) in “precession through the galaxy,” (Ed’s note: From Wiki: Coined by American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor and futurist (1895–1983 Buckminster Fuller from killing + -ry, modelled on weaponry.), then he should consult thousands of anthropologists in concert with religious thinkers. “Courage gone, nothing avails.” And doubtless, “in the face of uncertainty.” Changing perspectives is a daily task. Speech is ambiguous. But America is “the only new thing in history” (Eric Hoffer).
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Al Strehli