Friday, June 12, 2015

Comfortable with certainty

There’s nothing humble about saying, ‘If I knew everything, I’d be God.’ There are things one can say that are just a ‘matter of fact.’ Usually, but not always, these are self-evident truths. I should rather say, always they are truths, self-evident to most, but not to all. I can say, for example, that it is a ‘matter of fact’ that there is a God. What I mean by this is that it is absolutely certain. Of course, in respect to me personally, one can say it is subjective, or that it is my opinion, because someone might object that it is not self-evident to them. Because they object to my statement, they think they are being objective, and therefore not themselves stating an opinion. My response is not to defend myself, because I am comfortable with certainty, and the other is uncomfortable with it.

Certainty makes some people uncomfortable because it makes them feel trapped. There are many kinds of certainties, ‘matter of fact’ statements, that I or anyone can make and still be called subjective. Is it because it makes some people feel subjected, that is, restricted in their freedom? A man and a woman are attracted to each other (or a man and a man, it doesn’t matter which). They grow in closeness and in intimacy, but neither is comfortable with the relationship becoming a ‘matter of fact,’ that is, with it culminating in marriage (that’s why I included same sex, to be fair and balanced, and not homophobic) because they are afraid of certainty. They want to feel certain about their partner, yet they are afraid of certainty for themselves. People don’t want to feel trapped, so they allow themselves to be held captive by ‘what if,’ and withhold themselves on the pretext of being ‘objective.’

Just as it eventually got bored with moral relativism, very shortly the world is going to find itself completely bored with political correctness, and it will have to come up with some other subterfuge, some other pretext to avoid ‘matter of fact’ truth, because it can only feel safe and convinced of its being objective when everyone who claims to know anything with certainty is categorized as subjective. Personally, I am comfortable with this even though it is not, as yet, a ‘matter of fact’ nor is it a certainty. I’m even comfortable with being labeled as subjective, because the same people who would call me ‘subjective’ say the same thing about human history. Their objectivity doesn’t astonish me, and I’m quite comfortable with it, as a ‘matter of fact’ and a certainty. Indeed, after my certain knowledge of the existence of God, I am almost as comfortable with the certainty of the world’s ‘objectivity.’

Just one little thing I’m not quite comfortable with, and it isn’t certainty. ‘Lord, why is this taking so long?’ is my question, please, not my personal opinion.

No comments: