(3)

THE WORTHY OPPONENTS

Future historians will have many possibilities to choose from when it comes time to assign a title to this period of history.  The Machine Age, The Industrial Age, The Age of Fossil Fuels, The Age of Technology – these names and many others have been bandied about over the years.  Perhaps, if they can settle on nothing else, they will decide to call it The Age of Relativity.  Referring not to Einstein's theory of relativity, but to the relativity of truth; for the realization of truth's relativity is one of the overriding features of this era.  We each of us have our own version of what constitutes truth:  the conservationist believes that it's the protection of nature which matters most; the industrial capitalist holds that economic factors are the most important determinants as to our quality of life; the religious zealot finds fuel in the belief in a one-and-only god; the lawyer clings to the sanctity of the law; parents look upon their children as the best hope for the future; revolutionists seek to topple institutes of power; etc, etc.  There are as many different beliefs, or combinations of beliefs, as there are people; and each person is convinced that whatever he or she believes must, of course, be the truth – or at least, must constitute the single most worthy foundation upon which all other variants of truth must stand.  In the America of the New Millennium, we still hold to the principle that each of us has a right to his or her own set of beliefs, his or her own relative truth.  But we also believe that everyone else is entitled to their relative truths, and so we don't allow any one person or group of people to force their version of truth onto anyone else.  We as a nation battle constantly to uphold these principles, and in the battle between relative truths territory is constantly being won and lost, boundaries constantly redefined.

There is one truth, however, that is not relative – this being the truth that the culture of any period of historical time is dominated by whatever power structures rule that time.  In this country at this period of time our culture is dominated mainly by big business, though it's strongly influenced as well by the many governmental, religious, and scientific bodies that proliferate throughout our current sociopolitical landscape.  Of course, the rulership of historical periods is also relative, and the power structures of any given period are undergoing constant change.  But they do so slowly and are likely to remain constituted by the same several players throughout any individual's lifetime.  Even if the power structure is undergoing a period of fluctuation, the component members responsible for that fluctuation are likely to be few in number, their influence continuing to be felt for decades or generations.  Thus all relative, individual truth may be said to be dominated and shaped, inhibited or furthered as the case may be, by the boundaries imposed upon it by the power structures of any given historical period of time.

Yet everyone continues to believe in the validity of his or her own personal version of the truth.  And why not?  Personal truth is as various, singular and idiosyncratic as a fingerprint.  But when giving voice to our own individual truth this too should always be remembered:  in our speaking we cannot help but become passionate, and in being passionate we cannot help but become persuasive.  Being persuasive, however, we must be ever on guard to prevent ourselves from attempting to manipulate others for the purposes of control.  The most honest form of truth saying is that which endeavors to remove the prejudices we have each fallen prey to in order to discover what constitutes the core truth hidden within ourselves.  The most compassionate form of truth saying is that which desires to help others to remove their own prejudices for the sole purpose of aiding them in the discovery of their core truth.

We are often confronted by people who attempt to manipulate us into following their version of the truth.  They do so in the belief that their truth is so certainly "the" truth that manipulation appears to be an appropriate and valid course to take in order to convert the rest of us to its standard.  What can we do when confronted by such people but to honor them, for like a mirror that presents us with a distorted reflection of our own face, they help us to seek clarity.  And what else can we do but honor ourselves, knowing that the distortions others see in us will further them in the cause of seeking and defining the truth they hold within?  Mirrors reflecting mirrors, we conjure an infinite variety of possibilities between us.  Which of these possibilities shall become our reality?  Perhaps the answer lies in the degree of patience we bring to bear upon our subject.  For the more steadfastly we look into the face of another, the more clearly we will be able to perceive the reality of our own.