We were told there is no truth. That self is the ultimate. That what is true for you is true for you and what is true for me is true for me and who are we to make judgements on such things?
This places us firmly in a narrative where self is the center.
As we live out that life, it turns out, we pretty much stink at being at the center…that if me at the center is the pinnacle of being and reality…that the story is way too small.
When we make ourselves into gods we aren’t any better than the Greeks or the Roman – gods who looked and acted a lot like human. Lying, cheating, manipulating their way through existing.
We need community. We need roots in our history and past. We need a story bigger than self, where self is not at the center but someone else (God) is the one pushing the story forward so we find our proper place in the story.
It turns out the world does have laws and realities that no matter how hard I want to define things my way, still exist. Jump off the ledge, you will fall. You aren’t exceptional in that regard. Drive your car into a tree, it will hurt or kill you – you can’t will or wish away the laws and realities of the world around you. Sleep with a bunch of people, lie your way through things, etc etc and you will find reality will eventually slap you in the face, no matter how much in your world that isn’t supposed to happen.
What would postmodernism do with racism? If you can do life your way without anyone else telling you what is right or wrong? How does that work out, exactly? Now, we see things happening and KNOW exactly what is going on. How so? How can you be post-modern and know when racism is happening? Is the racist just living out their reality? We know that is unacceptable. Post-modernism isn’t all it was cracked up to be.e
Time to wake up.
One Response
Good stuff. I was recently considering postmodernism’s spin on truth while preparing some corporate training material on how to live. It doesn’t work out well.