Sein und Schein (Part XIV)

A Wayward World in Which Appearances Command Being

This series started out as a philosophical tract on perception, how we use symbols (language) to conceptualize what we perceive, and the ease with we can be fooled when the conceptualization of our own existence is not grounded in reality. I then took up the notions of freedom and liberty and set out to show how differently we think about these notions today than we did at the time of our founding, and why we must revitalize these “ancient” concepts, if America is to survive. Indeed, so important has this intellectual discourse become that I am reluctant to let this series go.

Words are important because each is a symbol of what we experience through many years, generations, and lifetimes of perception, experimentation, contemplation, and interaction with each other and our biological and physical habitats. By way of extension, values are words that we have heard, read, spoken, and written repeatedly in the same and different contexts. These words — values — are the conceptual anchors of discussion, emotional interchange, and human decision-making, for each is laden with experience and elicits in us much more than the poetry of speech. They represent the cornerstones of our various cultures.

By way of elaboration, many have said that the speech of those who swear is more trustworthy than that of the most eloquent speakers among us. I maintain that such speech is also the least trustworthy depending on the individual who uses it. For the same word or phrase repeated over and over again can just as easily serve to inspire confidence in ourselves and others as create a wall behind which we hide our darkest thoughts and inclinations. It is for this reason that it is important, every now and then, that we examine closely the words that we most often use. And, why not? For, they form the basis of our focus and decision making.

Then too, in the digital world of today images, video sequences, sound effects, and music are just as important as words, for they, too, are symbols or symbolic constructs of experience that evoke emotion, elicit thoughts, and cause us to take action. Mêmes make us laugh, cause us anguish, inspire, and excite. Certain odors, things we touch, and what we taste, if they are experienced over and over again, can be gravely missed, and when finally experienced again, bring us tremendous feelings of comfort. Is there anything better than the smell of food cooked by one’s mom, if one was lucky enough to have been raised in a home in which she was always there?

In other words, we need to be self-aware — not in the sense of always thinking, “What do I want”, but in the sense of knowing how we are influenced by our social, biological, and physical environments. For, it is these that can be used by others to manipulate, guide, and direct us both for good and very foul ends.

In a recent interview between Tucker Carlson and Bret Weinstein, a somewhat known professor of evolutionary biology, Professor Weinstein expressed an opinion very close to my own. We are both more inclined to believe that God is the creation of us, humans, rather than the other way around. And, neither of us can say with certainty that either approach to our understanding of the concept is correct. Indeed, I was pleased when Weinstein insisted that from an evolutionary point of view it does not make a difference which came first — the chicken or the egg. For, in the end, we need only agree about the important role that the notion plays in social outcomes, and we can live together harmoniously — as so-called Believers and Non-Believers. Tucker Carlson was silent on the matter and let it be stated with neither affirmation, nor objection. It is what makes Tucker Carlson a good interviewer despite his frequent attempts to confound fact with factual opinion.

Surely, the concepts of freedom and liberty are just as fundamental to being American as is the notion of God to those who are Jewish, Muslim, or Christian — the trinity of Middle Eastern faiths. Indeed, we have only to understand what we believe and truly believe it for the magic of these notions to begin their work. Important is that we can get others to believe the same. For once everyone is on the same page about certain fundamental notions we have a team.

Is a belief in God fundamental to being an American? I think not. Has Christianity played a fundamental role in the development of Western society? Indisputably so. Is it necessary for the West’s continued flourishing and development? I do not know. Then too, it surely can do more good than harm so long as we in America hold dearly to the “ancient” concepts of freedom and liberty, and do not threaten each other with extinction by denying one another the right to agree to disagree.

It was also Bret Weinstein’s comment about genes that captured my attention, for he stated that biological life is the struggle of genes — not species. This substitution frames the entire discussion of evolutionary biology differently. For genes inhabit cells and cells provides an environment with a protective barrier — a garden for reproduction. This is a very different notion from that of species in a constant struggle for new habitat. Verily, I do not recall the phrase, “survival of the fittest”, even being mentioned during their conversation. This said, Weinstein insisted that he is a Darwinist, but that his field has gone astray. Maybe it has. I would not be surprised, for his dismay was revealed in another comment, when he stated that self-proclaimed atheists spend nearly all of their time attacking the notion of God rather than developing an alternative or, at minimum, an understanding and appreciation for the important role that a metaphysical notion such as God plays in the maintenance of human society and ultimately the prosperity of the human genome.

One was left with the notion that life is just as much about finding and maintaining a protected niche as it is about a competition for what in the short-run are limited resources, but in the long-run are clearly a seemingly endless amount of mass and energy — enough for everyone and then some. Our goal then, as a genome, is to get along in the short-run while we seek new ways to harness more energy in the long run.

At some point in our evolutionary development sexual intercourse — the repeated coupling and decoupling of the human genome — was replaced with technological advancement as the preferred means of our genome to adapt and protect its environmental niche across time. This development in no way diminished the need for human procreation, but for many it has turned what in the past was a foundational activity for all of society into a recreational playground for the nihilistically prone — what is not an insignificant proportion of Western and American society. The problem with technological advancement is also its forté; it is rapid and leaves little time for the rest of what it means to be human to catch up. On the one hand, we, humans, are creatures of habit, custom, and environment, and technological change disrupts all of these. On the other hand, technological advancement give those who engage in it an edge over those who do not. This creates a need for balance that is not easily achieved, but, in the end, must be achieved, if our genome is to survive. With this in mind we have an imperative that is both existential in character and moral in solution.

That we dwell on it or perish!

In liberty,

Roddy A. Stegemann, First Hill, Seattle 98104
Author of Mount Cambitas - The Story of Real Money, “A Call for the Restoration of Monetary Order” (Parts I and II), the Substack series “Let’s End the Money Racket”.