Dogs Bark
…”Cocks crow and dogs bark—
this is what all men know.
But even the men of greatest wisdom
do not know how to explain in words
how they are formed,
nor can they speculate in their minds
how they might develop in the future.
“When we examine the nature of things,
we can arrive at the infinitesimally small
or the infinitely large.
Whether we maintain the world was created
or that it was not,
we do not go beyond the realm of things,
and in the last analysis we shall find that we are
still in error.
If we maintain that something created the world
then we have already presupposed there was a real thing.
If we maintain that nothing created the world
then we have presupposed there was nothing.
That which has a name and a real existence
already belongs
to the world of things.
That which has no name and no real existence
belongs only to the realm of non-being.
We can speak about it and speculate about it,
but the more we speak
the further we are removed
from it.
Zhuangzi trans. by Hyun Höchsmann and Yang Guorong, Book 25 Zeyang
Yesterday a friend shared with me a debate.
The exchange on Medium between Ben and Matthew was a verbal dust-up as to whether theism, or alternatively whether secular humanism was a responsible foundation for a humane/moral society. The exchange was fourteen printed pages. I settled in to read, to digest page after page until I was finished. I was reminded of how appealing this type of exchange seemed when I was in graduate school. A classic smack-down between other-worldly frame or a this-world frame for life as our species knows it.
The individuals representing the contested positions seemed to understand one another well enough. They spoke the same language, able to hear with understanding the points advanced by the partner in dialog. Fourteen pages of a ping-pong, every serve, well returned, etc., etc.. And at the end of the game, as far as I could tell – there was no victory “smash” to settle the matter. No one walked away having demonstrated he had advanced the better argument… I am sure Ben and Matthew departed as deeply convinced the point of view they inhabited, remained untarnished, clear as diamond, solid as adamant. Matthew took the last turn to assert a remorseless assault on secular humanism. He opined that humans would suffer confusion without a generous dollop of theist transcendence; that theism is unparalleled for enabling life of courage, love and compassion.
Fourteen pages down, at seventy-six years of age, in my head I silently responded:
Cocks crow and dogs bark— that is all that we know.
Enough! Damn it, enough!
One thought on “Dogs Bark”
Through the philosophical musings that humanity has been delving into for several thousand years (and probably earlier) we creatures have been speculating about the “why’s”, “how’s” and “wherefore’s” with no definitive answer. As noted above, perhaps there is no answer, at least not one that our limited minds can truly grasp. The really sad part of all of this is when anyone makes the decision that their point of view is THE point of view. That anyone who disagrees with them just does not have the capability to see that the prognosticator is right. The Seventh Day Adventist shows up at your door to help you understand that you have strayed from the path of righteousness, but as much as they firmly believe they know the truth, they don’t. It just FEELS right to them and as we have discussed ad nauseam, almost everything in this world is open to interpretation when passed through our highly subjective senses.
And so, as was noted in today’s quote from Zhuangzi, incorporating the concept of “knowing we don’t know” is a path that ultimately leads to greater comprehension and a crucial connection to our environment, to each other, and to ourselves.