Copyright 2015 by Shea Oakley
\nAll rights reserved<\/p>\n
We live in an age that often seems to embody the idea that the only evil which exists is that which impedes individual human beings from having their own way. This idea is then combined with an unshakeable conviction that there is no such thing as objective, transcendent and absolute truth. The result of this is a cultural metanarrative in the West that deifies the self while simultaneously providing a sort of secular religion that has as its only goal the glorification of radical personal autonomy.<\/p>\n
This is particularly evident in the words we once lived by that now evoke either ridicule or self-righteous anger from the cultural elites of the 21st Century West. A number of these words and phrases come to mind. They include: honor, morality, religion, humility, authority and obedience.<\/p>\n
“Honor” is a term often used to describe a way of life that involves respect for a long-standing code of conduct that requires both self-control and self-denial. It seems that, with the possible exception of the military, the classical sense of honor is increasingly seen today as nothing but a hypocritical fiction put forth by overbearing moralists who have the temerity to suggest that human beings restrain their worst instincts for a higher good.<\/p>\n
Speaking of moralists the word \u201cmorality\u201d has become one of the most politically incorrect words in the land. This is because, more than any other word describing what human beings should and should not do, morality smacks of the idea that there is an overarching Reality which determines that some action is always right or always wrong. Few like such a word in an era of situational ethics designed to free people from any thought of ultimate responsibility for their actions in this life.<\/p>\n
\u201cReligion\u201d has become another verbal bogey man in our society. Perhaps the worst thing that can be said of someone in 2015 is that he or she is \u201cvery religious.\u201d Often the assumption is that such a person must be extremely narrow, repressed and ignorant. This is likely because such benighted souls must have somehow been brainwashed into thinking that human destiny is determined by whether or not we have surrendered our self-sovereignty to a Creator who might actually expect the allegiance of those he has created. Even worse, such a religion usually involves a call to radical humility and \u201chumility\u201d is another d\u00e9class\u00e9 word in the Post-Modern world. Why should any of us consider ourselves somehow less than anyone or anything else? Are we not all deserving of the very best as the advertising ceaselessly reminds us? Are we not all, in fact, absolutely equal in maturity, integrity and character? To disavow ourselves of this kind of pervasive pride is increasingly looked upon as a form of psychological and intellectual suicide today. That doing so was once seen as one of the paths to true happiness seems to have been forgotten in the wake of the much vaunted social revolutions of recent Western history (and the pervasive Political Correctness they have spawned.)<\/p>\n
Then there is the despised word \u201cauthority.\u201d Those in authority are considered corrupt by the very nature of having a power that we can\u2019t veto. Power is, of course, ok for us\u2026.just not for those who we think presume to be in any way above us. We live in a time when authority only exists to be questioned and often torn down as an impediment to self-determination. \u201cDon\u2019t trust anyone in authority\u201d seems to have become the mantra of the age. Meanwhile; if that is generally true then no one should, of course, dare to ask us to abide by the last of the discredited words of the past: \u201cobedience.\u201d Obedience? This word is so out of favor that some of us will not even apply it to the training of our pets. Why should we be obedient to any authority since, as noted above, authority is not only inherently corrupt but demands we surrender our absolute right to being completely our own?<\/p>\n
So Western Civilization is well on its way to disposing of all these \u201carchaisms.\u201d Other words that imply human beings are not the measure of all things are going as well. In the long (or not so long) run we will see what the lexicon of our brave new world will end up being. In the meantime I can think of two words that, when combined, may be among the most accurate to describe where we are heading as a culture.<\/p>\n
They are \u201cself\u201d and \u201cdestruction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Copyright 2015 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved We live in an age that often seems to embody the idea that the only evil which exists is that which impedes individual human beings from having their own way. This idea is then combined with an unshakeable conviction that there is no such thing as objective,… <\/p>\n