The Peripatetic Philosopher on Importance of Having a Point of View:

Crossing the treacherous waters of differences

James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.

© October 24, 2018

M writes (reference: Klaus: October 23, 2018)

Being neither a scholar nor a theologian, I hesitated to even offer a layman's views of how I perceive certain issues which have been thoroughly scrutinized, analyzed, researched, reviewed, discussed, assessed, studied, critiqued for hundreds of years and which, to date, have never been successfully resolved. The author(s) of Ecclesiastes I: 1-18 said it all. In reality, what has really changed except for ourselves, who are only what we THINK we are.

Either Klaus has an inferiority complex or I am an egotist, but I have never felt insignificant and I like me.

Dr. Fisher responds:

Dear M,

What is apparent is that you and Klaus have differing points of view. Part of this, no doubt, is due to differing cultural experience.

You are a poet and, incidentally, Klaus is an artist. You grew up in the Midwest as did I during the Second Word War. Klaus grew up in Europe partly during that war coming to America as a young man, serving in the United States Army as an officer, subsequently pursuing an education and becoming an educator.

You both have active and curious minds, looking at the same things differently. I can relate to that.  I was trained to believe as you do while questioning those beliefs, including belief in God, as does Klaus.

Were you to take a peek at my library you would see that I have read scholars who support and question the myths of our Christian/Judaic culture, and belief system. 

It is not only Friedrich Hegel who claimed we invented God with the supportive narrative of the Old and New Testament, but many other scholars have as well. As you point out, this will no doubt continue as long as man is man.

Nietzsche wrote that “God is dead!” That was anti-climactic since God had departed from the central focus of Western man long before the close of the 19th century. What Nietzsche was alluding to was that secular society was steamrolling into the 20th century with the sacred and profane being left behind.  Nietzsche died in 1900 and is often quoted but seldom read.

Atheism and agnosticism became popular alternatives to Christianity and Judaism in the 20th century. In fact, many Christian scholars whom I have read appear closer to those beliefs than to Christianity, alas, that includes many in the Christian hierarchy.

Roman Catholics clerics were once the only literate class in Western Civilization schooled in Latin, keeping the records and books, collecting the taxes, and managing the kingdoms of royalty, who preferred oral to written reports, as many could not read. That Catholic dominance began to unravel with the Protestant Reformation.

In my personal naiveté, I grew up believing Christianity was about theology and that Roman Catholicism was about its mission, only to find in my long life and traveling through several continents that Christianity is predominantly political and has never lost its taste for power and influence. To state it another way, Christianity has failed to adjust with the times.

Now, having said that, we have to look no farther than the Americas to see what Catholic inculcation has done to South America while the United States unshackled from that yoke with the Protestant Work Ethic has prospered in a liberal democracy. At the same time, this is not without problems for America. The “God of Plenty” which has little to do with religion has taken on a life of its own. 

In the lap of material prosperity and industrial efficiency, America has accepted something of a Faustian bargain, compromising its moral worth buying into the myth of “American exceptionalism.” 

While you and Klaus have differing views on God, there is a general unwillingness of our consumer society to sacrifice some material certainty for the sake of our spiritual integrity. Religion is on the sidelines unable to change much less influence this status. We make moral compromises daily and lie to ourselves in support of the idea of “self-realization” and personal growth. The irony is that this has weaken our resolve and made us more pliable to societal manipulators, including the new gods of science, information technology, media moguls and so-called experts. 

I applaud you and Klaus for resisting these mind managers to think for yourself, and be willing to share this with others. 

 

Be always well,

Jim