Fellow Travellers

The last two days have been a whirl of social interaction with friends and family. It's good to say 'hello,' to our fellow travelers, but there is a sadness in the enterprise. As a philopsher (Wittgenstein) once said, the thoughts, intentions, feelings and pain of 'others,' are unknowable. All we have to go on are words and actions. Words and actions are easily misunderstood. So we are at sea, alone, trying to puzzle out meanings. Everything seems opaque, partial, unsatisfying.

Two lines of dialogue stand out for me, the first, 'we are all the same,' was hurled at my feet (I refused to pick up the cudgel) by someone I've known many years. It's a generalization, so in that sense, it is both meaningless and 'a truthful lie.' Better to say, 'we are all human.' But since we all have different physical equipment, experiences, histories, etc. our differences seem just as important as our similarities.

The second line: 'you are too cynical,' was directed at me in the middle of a political discussion, by someone I admire greatly, so it kind of resonated inside and led me back to my American Heritage Dictionary. First, it must be said, labels are meaningless. I don't think you can sum up a human being with one nice, neat, label. Instead, we all wrestle with dichotomies (Cynic - one who believes all people are motivated by selfishness. Idealist = one who sees the world as it 'ought to be.') and we can glide up and down the spectrum as needed.

Upon reflection, since I am an adherent of 'the School of Clarity,' (to see the world as it is), I am actively trying not to be an idealist. I want to see the world as it is, and sometimes hope for a world that 'ought to be.' In that sense, I guess I am closer to the Cynic. Richard Dawkins' 'The Selfish Gene,' tells us, on the biological level, we are all selfish organisims fighting to survive and reproduce. Of course, we can choose to 'override,' this tendency (for example willful barreness), just as we can see selfishness in ourselves and others and celebrate when we 'transcend,' through Art and Love.

It may actually be 'healthier,' to start with the premise that all people are motivated by selfishness, and to be suprised when you seem to be proven wrong. Better than the disappointed Idealist, who expects the best and is disappointed. I think that both Democracy and Capitalism have thrived because they assume that people are motivated by selfishness. Communism fails because it assumes people will act 'as they ought.' Of course, all this speculation is tentative and partial too. Today I choose to play the Optimistic Cynic, tomorrow I will be glad to be proven completely wrong.