Judgement Against US

Woe to that Daughter of Rome, for soon it will be in ruin.

The righteous and wicked alike will suffer.

Surely you will be made like a desert, like towns not inhabited. (1)

What fault did your shepherds find in their fathers that they stray so far from their wisdom?

They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. (2)

The shepherds are senseless and do not know from where they come;

so they do not prosper and all their flock is scattered. (3)

Weep and wail, you shepherds; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock.

For your time to be slaughtered has come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery.

The shepherds will have nowhere to flee, the leaders of the flock will have no place to escape. (4)

The destroyers are at your doorstep, their weapons in hand; 

yet your defenses have crumbled under your watch.

In truth, you have even forgotten the foe against which you are defending!

You ask, “Why has this fate befallen us?”

But only a fool asks such a question!

This is not fate. It is justice.

Because of your great gilt and many sins these things have happened upon you.

Have you not let your wells run dry?

Have you not allowed your cities to burn?

Have you not neglected the downtrodden?

Have you not left your dams to decay and break?

Have you not spun a web of lies to maintain your stores of gold?

Do you not see the widows you have brought into being?

Do you not see how your own hands have brought about this suffering?

You speak of justice but neglect mercy.

You decry power but only so that you may take it for yourself.

You invoke liberty as a cudgel in order to abdicate your responsibilities.

You have increased the number of your merchants til they are more numerous than the stars of the sky,

but like locusts they strip the land and then fly away. (5)

Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, 

making his countryman work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.

Your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, 

on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion. (6)

You ask, “How can we forestall this doom?”

Truth be, it cannot be forestalled. 

Deadwood covers your land and it will burn; of this you can be assured.

Emerge from the ashes, here lies your hope.

But do not continue to neglect your foundation, oh Daughter of Rome!

Though the wildfire is necessary, do not let the flames melt your cornerstones;

for you will need a strong foundation on which to rebuild.

So say to your kings and queens,

“Come down from your thrones, for your glorious crowns will fall from your heads.”

Do not weep for a dead king or mourn his loss; 

rather, weep bitterly for the those who are unjustly exiled. (7)

Pay attention! 

Lift up your eyes from your feet.

Do not distract yourself with the mirage in your hands.

Come awake! Look inside yourself so that you may Reflect, Repent, and Repair.

Seek that which has always been sought:

Truth, Transformation, and Transcendence. 

^{1. Jeremiah 22:6 (NIV)}

^{2. Jeremiah 2:5 (NIV)}

^{3. Jeremiah 10:21 (NIV)}

^{4. Jeremiah 25:34 (NIV)}

^{5. Nahum 3:16 (NIV)}

^{6. Jeremiah 22:13 (NIV)}

^{7. Jeremiah 13:18 (NIV)}

Hierarchy of Understanding

I am intensely interested in how we, as humans, understand the world around us. This has led me to investigations of the brain, philosophy, story telling, and (to get to the point of this essay) the nature of wisdom. It seems to me that wisdom is one of the most important aspects of a strong individual and a healthy society while, unfortunately, seeming to be in short supply in our modern culture. The concept is difficult to pin down so I have attempted to take a bottom up approach to describe what I see as the Hierarchy of Understanding where wisdom reigns supreme.

DATA

In terms of understanding, data is the level of pure input. From a human perspective, we call this sensory data. Data are the pressure waves vibrating our eardrum or the photons of light striking our retina. From the perspective of our nervous system, it is an action potential or no action potential. From the perspective of our technologies, it is a number, a letter, a 1, or a 0. By its very nature it is unmoored from anything real in the world - unintelligible, useless, non-functional. Data must be paired with context in order to get…

INFORMATION

Context allows data to transcend its limitations in order to become information. In other words, information is data that can be viewed through an interpretive structure. Information is produced when our brain processes its sensory inputs. It is the book, the file, or the thought. Information is something that can be understood, cataloged, and categorized. Our interpretive structure is what endows data with meaning, giving rise to information. And though it has meaning, information is still fundamentally useless. It is only when information has utility that it becomes…

KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge is information that has utility in producing a predictable result. Knowledge is power. If information has no use (i.e if it cannot manifest or manipulate reality), it is not knowledge. Knowledge is still highly context dependent of course. This is the whole point of the integrative structure which forms the basis of this essay. Knowledge is a type of understanding which takes into consideration both utility and context. Having information about the weather is in Dallas, Texas doesn't help you decide what to wear when you go outside in Portland. In turn, we are also dependent on the context of which Portland we speak of in order to to act in the world. That is, in order to produce knowledge.

Now we get to the question I am most interested in: How does knowledge transcend itself and become wisdom?

WISDOM

I find wisdom to be a very slippery concept and one that does not lend itself to easy explanation. So before trying to slot wisdom into the aforementioned structure, it is probably best to express some of my intimations about wisdom’s core characteristics.

Embodiment

Wisdom is a type of understanding which is fully embodied. It is not as simple as a belief or a statement of fact but is like something that lives inside of us. Something which doesn't have its cash value in words but instead, fundamentally, in action. It is more like a function of choice. Knowledge can help one lay out the options to a given matter but all the knowledge in the world cannot make the decision for us. At some point we must make a choice. That choice doesn't seem to be the simple product of knowledge but instead is the product of our wisdom.

“Of all the words yet spoken, none comes quite as far as wisdom, which is the action of the mind beyond all things that may be said.” - Heraclitus

'That there is a difference between what we see with our eyes and what we know through our spirit is a wisdom from long ago.’ - The Book of Chuang Tzu

Integration

Another hallmark of wisdom is an integral viewpoint of the world. That is to say, a holistic and comprehensive view of the world, one which takes all things into account. When faced with a decision that is positioned as “either / or”, it is wisdom that can see the “both / and” solution.  Wisdom is comfortable in the face of paradox. Wisdom revels in ambiguity. The ability to hold two seemingly conflicting ideas at the same time, that is wisdom.

In other words, wisdom seems to be more about understanding the relationship between things rather the things in themselves. It is the ability to see the "betweenness" of the world. It is a recognition that all things are interconnected, flowing, and perpetually in a state of transition. Rather than the dissecting nature of knowledge which breaks the world down to understand the constituent parts, wisdom puts things back together to understand the world as a whole. Wisdom reads between the lines. Wisdom sees all. 

“For wisdom, listen not to me but to the Word, and know that all is one.” - Heraclitus

‘The perfect way knows no difficulties

Except that it refuses to make preferences;

Only when freed from hate and love

It reveals itself fully and without disguise;

A tenth of an inch’s difference,

And heaven and earth are set apart.

If you wish to see it before your own eyes

Have no fixed thoughts either for or against it.’

-Seng-ts’an, On Believing in Mind (Buddhist scripture on Wisdom)

With all this in mind, let us look at how wisdom might relate to the principles of context and utility discussed earlier.

First…context. Wisdom could be viewed as completely independent of context. That is, understanding that goes beyond any single circumstance. It is understanding that is so fundamental that it applies in all places, at all times. Alternatively, wisdom can be viewed as the epitome of context dependent understanding, a sort of hyper-contextualization of understanding. In this frame, wisdom is bound to the intricacies of the here and now. It is the type of understanding that can only play out in real time. One that cannot be written down or distilled into a set of simple facts or axioms.

I’m inclined to see it as both: wisdom is both completely free of context while also being utterly dependent upon context.

Now…utility. Wisdom is bound to the choices that we make as embodied agents in the world. How does one utilize the power provided to him by knowledge? In this answer lies wisdom. Wisdom goes beyond the simple decision between A and B. Wisdom is able to see option C. Wisdom sees that which cannot be seen, cannot be quantified, and cannot be spoken. Wisdom understands that the best action may in fact be non-action. Wisdom is an insight into the Truth. Not a truth but the Truth.

This is how we transcend simple knowledge and gain wisdom, through the embodiment and integration of Truth into our lives - by living in Truth.

Can Morality Exist without God?

In a word, no. More to the point, morality cannot exist without a conception of God. 

Most religious traditions place suffering at the core of the nature of Being. That is, Being cannot exist without suffering, limitation, dissatisfaction, and death. This problem of suffering demands a solution (since none of us are inclined to abide in our suffering). Ultimately, Being can be viewed, fundamentally, as a series of problems to be solved. 

How will we stay warm? How will we get food? How will we protect ourselves from nature (both within and without)?

At every level, our orientation is to identify and solve problems with the goal of reducing the suffering in our lives. Pain is arguably the most motivating factor in human life and our brain is naturally oriented towards problem solving (i.e. the alleviation of suffering). Our technological advancement is an effort to constrain nature. Our culture traditions are aimed at resolving societal problems. 

So with that in mind, let’s start by taking a look at the language used in the problem solving arena. The first ideas that come to mind are the concepts of “right” and “wrong.” We conceptualize a problem and aim at resolution for that problem. We use the ideas of right and wrong to evaluate solutions to said problem and determine a path forward. Right and wrong are not moral terms because at this level, we are not dealing with moral problems.

Let’s take the problem of navigating from point A to point B as an example. This isn’t a moral issue, at least under typical circumstances. It is simply a process of evaluating optional paths to get you to where you want to be. If a choice moves you closer to point B, then it is right. If it doesn’t, then it is wrong. The terms “right” and “wrong” are sufficient to evaluate these sorts of problems.

But as we elevated the height of our problems, we tend also to expand the base language that we use to navigate the problem. Let’s call these ethical problems. In the ethical realm we tend towards terms like “good” and “bad.” Here we can frame solutions as “values.” Values including those like fairness, beauty, justice, autonomy, and responsibility.

These are abstractions, unmoored from any specific case or narrow problem. They operate at a higher conceptual level and thus cover a broader range of problems in our lives. These are also problems that are far more complex, typically without simple solutions. These are the types of problems that cannot simply take a binary right/wrong approach. They deal in more ambiguity and have solutions which are better (more good) and worse (more bad) but often with a mix of good and bad. The simple binary language of right and wrong is no longer fit to the task. The value, in turn, is also not so clear.

But what of the ultimate problem? What of THE problem of Being. This is a problem so abstracted that it covers the whole of life, all elements, over all time, for ourselves, our ancestors, and all generations to come. As we aim higher, we must broaden the concepts of right and wrong (good and bad) into the ultimate edge of the spectrum, the final word that lies at the base of this orientation. At this level we cannot help but use religious language, that of “Evil” and “Righteousness.”

And what is the ultimate solution to the ultimate problem? This is God. God is the orientation towards the highest of values. Transcendent value. Universal value. Timeless value. The specific symbols and manifestations of God may differ from person to person but the ultimate reality of God exists in each one of us, regardless of our invocation of a deity. 

When we speak of morality, we speak of a transcendent ethic. One that is not easily defined and cannot follow a simple set of rules or rote procedures. This transcendent ethic must be oriented towards a transcendent value, that is, oriented towards God. I imagine this as a triumvirate, a hierarchical form, a direction and goal oriented form, with the base comprised of the spectrum of positive and negative language on which this value structure stands. It is as though you cannot reach the conceptual level of God, without widening the base of the concepts which we use to speak about God.

At this level things become so abstracted as to become paradoxical, ineffable, and persistently mysterious. Let’s take the Semitic perspective of God as an example. What is the solution to the problem of Being? Being. Literally as encapsulated in the translation of Yahweh, “the one who is, the existing”; “to be”; “to become”. What is the solution to the suffering of life then? To be. To become.

Highly correlated is the Daoist concept of the Way. The Way is a process - a path - and walking the path is the goal. Being and becoming are the goal. And how do we know if we on the Path, aligned with the Way, properly Becoming? It is only in reference to the Evil and Righteousness in our lives. Simple concepts of Right and Wrong are not sufficient. They are not expansive enough and they limit our thinking. We need transcendent language. The type of language that is as paradoxical, ineffable, and mysterious as the concept of God itself. 

What is Evil? Impossible to say but we know it when we see it. 

What is God? Impossible to say but we know it when we see it.