Dear Ron,
RE:
"" qualifies it so that it does not (a) contradict other statements in the
> Writings and (b) disintegrate into logical nonsense as all unqualified
> assertions of relativism do.
You write,
"Actually, I like to keep the contradictions. There are contradictory
statements all through the Writings. Most (but certainly not all)
assertions in the Writings can be paired with contradictory assertions
elsewhere in the Writings that seem to say the opposite thing. Most of
the time, most of us tend to just pick and choose the statements we
like and forget the ones that seem to contradict our favorites. I
myself am certainly guilty of this.
However, I believe the contradictions are there for good reasons.
Reality is complex and contradictory."
It is important to distinguish between genuine contradictions i.e.
unresolvable statements which clearly negate or cancel each other out, and
paradoxes in which the *apparent* contradiction can be resolved correctly by
various means.
Thus, it might be better to say that the cosmos is paradoxical - but not
contradictory - because the "all creation is one" (Paris Talks, 131). To say
it is genuinely, irresolvably contradictory is, in effect, to say that the
universe is disunified, fragmented, not subject to one universal law as all
things are (SWA-B, 63).
The same goes for the Writings. To say they are riven with genuine
contradictions is to say that they do not present a unified vision i.e. are
themselves not unified.
It is, of course, possible to say that the Writings (and the cosmos) are
dialectical in nature, but this is to say that the contradictions are not
genuine, ultimate, irresolvable, but rather part of a process to attaining a
higher synthesis or unity.
We must also be careful not to confuse and conflate (a) complexity and (b)
genuine, i.e. unresolvable contradictions. Genuine contradictions preclude
complexity since they break things down into various fragments, whereas
complexity does not do so. Thus, IMO, reality is complex but not genuinely
contradictory.
You write
"To me, the crux of the matter is that our Writings, and all spiritual
literature, are trying to express and communicate in words in human
languages what is inherently not able to be precisely expressed in
human language. The only way to do that is to pair immense
incongruities with one another. The incommensurateness of the concepts
discussed in the Writings are an elliptical way of pointing us towards
spiritual realities."
I agree with you about the "crux of the matter" but would qualify your
assertion that the only possible response is to "pair immense
incongruities with one another." It all depends on how this is done - as the
medievals and especially Aquinas already explained in their theories of
analogy or "identity in difference." Analogies, metaphors, similes must meet
certain standards if they are to communicate even on non-verbal levels.
IOW, any old pairing of incongruities will not communicate spiritual or any
other kind of truths. The Dadaists and surrealists discovered this is their
verbal experiments to produce a poetry transcending ordinary speech and
logic. Not all incongruities convey a creative tension. , one could create
profound spiritual statements by scrambling all the words in the dictionary,
and randomly stringing them together again: purple name stomp Vishnu,
Tylenol, post-it."
You write,
"Reality can not be completely expressed in words in human languages,
for reality is far more complex than human language. This does not
mean that communication is impossible because human language can and
certainly does point us in the right direction and allows good enough
communication to take place to get things done, but such communication
is never perfect."
I completely agree that reality cannot be "completely expressed" in human
languages, but this fact does not support the deconstructionist dictum that
all statements endlessly subvert and undermine themselves or that words can
never connect with reality in any way.
Nor is human communication perfect - but that admission is a long way from
accepting the deconstructionist dictum about endless self-subversion or
infinite referentiality that ultimately make communication impossible.
Here again we see the trouble with deconstruction: if we take it at its
word, we ultimately get nonsense, and if we try to 'tone it down' to make
sense we get platitudes, i.e. statements that recycle old-well-known
observations.
You write,
"Spiritual reality in particular is not easily amenable to being
expressed in words. Thus we see spiritual writing is full of
hyperbole, metaphor and contradictions. Still, good spiritual writing
can and often does point us in the right direction."
You write,
Spiritual writing obviously often uses language that is non-literal, but in
the end, these usages must be able to convey some coherent sense of meaning,
i.e. resolve into some coherent sense of meaning or attitude. As I said
before, otherwise, one could create profound spiritual statements by
scrambling all the words in the dictionary, and randomly stringing them
together again: "purple name stomp Vishnu, Tylenol, post-it."
Best wishes,
Ian Kluge
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