Rumours of Grace: Dancing with nihilism
December 2016 is done and January 2017 is
here.
Most of us probably said, shouted or screamed, “Happy New Year”, a few days ago and it would be great to think that we are one month closer to a future that is happier than the present, but we have to wonder.
Some years ago, in his song, “The Future”, the late Leonard Cohen wrote, “I’ve seen the future… It is murder.” I don’t share Cohen’s view of the world, which I think was quite dark and I don’t share his philosophy, which, from the few bits and pieces of his work that I am acquainted with, appears to be a kind of post-Jewish nihilism.
We have seen it all and having seen it all, we are tempted to run with the nihilist essential statement of faith, “Nothing means anything.”
We have seen the image of Hiroshima going up in ball of flame; and without thinking accepted the horror in the city streets below. We have seen the human body enjoying every sexual option and we have seen some taking offense when others take those options to the next level. We have seen our current prime minister promising to do more to protect the natural environment; then we have stood by while he approved the construction of infrastructure that will facilitate the release of more carbon into the atmosphere. We have heard the president-elect of the U.S. insult many groups on his way to the top and we have heard his key opponent poison his reputation on her way down.
We seem locked in a dance that is crippled by global barbarism, the demonizing of the offensive “other”, the broken promises of leaders and public discourse that is ruled by the art of the smear.
So we may be tempted to join the character in “The Future” who seems to say that it is all meaningless. He longs for the old days when everything seemed certain; when politics, economics and also the church provided absolute meanings for living.
He wants it all back because it is “lonely” in this new world where nothing means anything. In our late-modern world we live in a “blizzard” of “anal sex”, “crack”, the deaths of dictators (“Stalin”) and the loss of political benchmarks (“the Berlin Wall”). And yet, he can’t return. “Things are going to slide, slide in all directions…Won’t be nothing… Nothing you can measure anymore.”
We can no longer latch onto meanings to give us our bearings because none of them seem to hold up. It is like the opening lines of the Bible (Jewish and Christian). The world is “without form” and “void”. A great “darkness was over the face of the abyss”.
In a new book, The Great Escape from Nihilism: Rediscovering Our Passion in Late Modernity, moral philosopher Gordon Carkner explores an alternative path.
He writes that it can seem cool to join those who celebrate the victory of a world-view of meaninglessness. Those who do are aware that the discovery of meaning can make some people pushy, causing them to force their views on others. The treatment of native people in what is now Canada and the U.S. is a classic example.
We would rather be cool towards the idea of meaning. We tend to regard it as out of fashion. What you believe has meaning for you and what I believe has meaning for me.
But is that as far as it goes? There may be some who cheerfully go through life believing that they don’t have any meanings to share with others and that they have no need of your meanings. Yet, as Carkner points out, when it comes to anything important in life, the need for meaning becomes critical.
How will the embrace of meaninglessness help us when we are trying to grow a relationship with our mother or father, or with a possible future spouse or with a sibling? How will the embrace of meaninglessness help us work through issues of parenting, economics, care of the earth, immigration and family vacations?
The reality is that we are constantly thrust into relationships with fellow human beings that cannot proceed in any way without paying attention to meaning. You cannot have a friend if you don’t think that friendship is meaningful. The embrace of meaninglessness often helps lead to depression and isolation.
Carkner goes further, he draws on the thinking of McGill University philosopher, Charles Taylor, monk Thomas Merton, Canadian author David Adams Richards, literary scholar C. S. Lewis and many other hopeful thinkers. He points out that the search for meaning cannot be divorced from the question about love, and it cannot be sundered from the question of God.
It is possible to adopt, as some do, that the universe is a cold come-by-chance place, in which we have to eke out our own meanings. This can seem heroic, romantic and sophisticated. However, this path typically betrays those who follow it. It leads to hardening, arrogance and isolation.
But when we hold these three – meaning, love and God – before us as proper objects of reflection on how to live, we are open to a world of meaning, that, though it is not without the risk of misuse and abuse, is also a path of hope.
Happy New Year.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
Most of us probably said, shouted or screamed, “Happy New Year”, a few days ago and it would be great to think that we are one month closer to a future that is happier than the present, but we have to wonder.
Some years ago, in his song, “The Future”, the late Leonard Cohen wrote, “I’ve seen the future… It is murder.” I don’t share Cohen’s view of the world, which I think was quite dark and I don’t share his philosophy, which, from the few bits and pieces of his work that I am acquainted with, appears to be a kind of post-Jewish nihilism.
We have seen it all and having seen it all, we are tempted to run with the nihilist essential statement of faith, “Nothing means anything.”
We have seen the image of Hiroshima going up in ball of flame; and without thinking accepted the horror in the city streets below. We have seen the human body enjoying every sexual option and we have seen some taking offense when others take those options to the next level. We have seen our current prime minister promising to do more to protect the natural environment; then we have stood by while he approved the construction of infrastructure that will facilitate the release of more carbon into the atmosphere. We have heard the president-elect of the U.S. insult many groups on his way to the top and we have heard his key opponent poison his reputation on her way down.
We seem locked in a dance that is crippled by global barbarism, the demonizing of the offensive “other”, the broken promises of leaders and public discourse that is ruled by the art of the smear.
So we may be tempted to join the character in “The Future” who seems to say that it is all meaningless. He longs for the old days when everything seemed certain; when politics, economics and also the church provided absolute meanings for living.
He wants it all back because it is “lonely” in this new world where nothing means anything. In our late-modern world we live in a “blizzard” of “anal sex”, “crack”, the deaths of dictators (“Stalin”) and the loss of political benchmarks (“the Berlin Wall”). And yet, he can’t return. “Things are going to slide, slide in all directions…Won’t be nothing… Nothing you can measure anymore.”
We can no longer latch onto meanings to give us our bearings because none of them seem to hold up. It is like the opening lines of the Bible (Jewish and Christian). The world is “without form” and “void”. A great “darkness was over the face of the abyss”.
In a new book, The Great Escape from Nihilism: Rediscovering Our Passion in Late Modernity, moral philosopher Gordon Carkner explores an alternative path.
He writes that it can seem cool to join those who celebrate the victory of a world-view of meaninglessness. Those who do are aware that the discovery of meaning can make some people pushy, causing them to force their views on others. The treatment of native people in what is now Canada and the U.S. is a classic example.
We would rather be cool towards the idea of meaning. We tend to regard it as out of fashion. What you believe has meaning for you and what I believe has meaning for me.
But is that as far as it goes? There may be some who cheerfully go through life believing that they don’t have any meanings to share with others and that they have no need of your meanings. Yet, as Carkner points out, when it comes to anything important in life, the need for meaning becomes critical.
How will the embrace of meaninglessness help us when we are trying to grow a relationship with our mother or father, or with a possible future spouse or with a sibling? How will the embrace of meaninglessness help us work through issues of parenting, economics, care of the earth, immigration and family vacations?
The reality is that we are constantly thrust into relationships with fellow human beings that cannot proceed in any way without paying attention to meaning. You cannot have a friend if you don’t think that friendship is meaningful. The embrace of meaninglessness often helps lead to depression and isolation.
Carkner goes further, he draws on the thinking of McGill University philosopher, Charles Taylor, monk Thomas Merton, Canadian author David Adams Richards, literary scholar C. S. Lewis and many other hopeful thinkers. He points out that the search for meaning cannot be divorced from the question about love, and it cannot be sundered from the question of God.
It is possible to adopt, as some do, that the universe is a cold come-by-chance place, in which we have to eke out our own meanings. This can seem heroic, romantic and sophisticated. However, this path typically betrays those who follow it. It leads to hardening, arrogance and isolation.
But when we hold these three – meaning, love and God – before us as proper objects of reflection on how to live, we are open to a world of meaning, that, though it is not without the risk of misuse and abuse, is also a path of hope.
Happy New Year.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
