Enlightenment, now or never

Our summer course meets for the last time tonight. I’ve tried to convey an urgency about this historical moment. The demand for reason and rationality in our affairs, as a last-ditch existential lifeboat, may be not quite so dire as “now or never” implies. But it might be. That’s my last word on this topic, for now: we live on the edge of possibility, our destiny hangs in the balance. We dare not err on the side of less reason and more irrationality. Sapere aude. Please!

I do want to mention a couple of things, in parting. Unfortunately, the big storm the other night knocked out our internet and cable. I’m drafting this on my little Bluetooth mini-keyboard, quite a useful phone accessory but not easy to edit or insert links with. So bear with me, I’ll finish the final edit after the cable guy shows up—probably in the middle of class, that’s the window AT&T offered. And unless I can motivate myself to go into the office, I’ll be zooming with the class this time via phone, from my rustic Little House out back. (“Rustic” may be a questionable euphemism but I’m sticking to it.)

First, I hope we’ve all been impressed by our respective authors (especially Susan Neiman and Steven Pinker) with the importance of persevering through these challenging and in many ways benighted times. A large part of their message, as I receive it, is that the gap between our personal ideals and the less-than-ideal world we find ourselves inhabiting will not be quickly closed. Nevertheless, we must persevere. I like the earthy way Garrison Keillor puts the point, in terms of “equanimity”:

Equanimity is what most Midwesterners feel they’re born with, a stoical composure in the face of rapid change and insult and injury, but it isn’t a feeling nor exactly a virtue so much as a realization that things happen, change occurs, people come and go, and we float along taking it all in but are not shaken. It’s a day-to-day proposition. Some people turn to yoga, some to Buddhism, some find it in morning prayer. My dear wife finds it in her daily walk. Sometimes I find it in writing, although in writing to you about equanimity, I feel anxious that I may be leading you down the wrong path, so I’ll tell you about the man who walked into the bar with his hands full of dog turds and said, “Look what I almost stepped in.” GK

In other words, let us watch our step. But let’s not stop moving forward.

Next I’d like to acknowledge some of what we’re stepping around in our own backyard.

Margaret Renkl: “Tennessee, where I live, just passed a law banning any discussion of race that might cause a student ‘discomfort, guilt, anguish, or another form of psychological distress.’”

That’s some deep dog-hockey alright. Besides teaching the truth about our distressing racial history we’re going to have to teach the truth about our distressing, unenlightened lawmakers too.

Finally, we were talking last week about Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, and the reason (logic)/feeling (emotion) dynamic their interactions embodied. An enlightened human starship captain of the 24th century is going to have to draw on every dimension and expression of a more progressive humanity.

So, a recent announcement that the Trek universe (as represented by 21st century entertainment streaming services) is about to expand caught my attention. “Anything goes, as long as it can fit into the ‘Star Trek’ ethos of inspiration, optimism and the general idea that humankind is good.” 

Good, but that’s just a bit off. The Trek ethos does not baldly assert an easy optimism about the goodness of future humanity. It simply explores the possibility. As always, it falls not to the next but to the present generation to try and engage, and to make it so.