I have come, by way of experience and endeavor, to choose the stance that my closely held beliefs cannot be explained in discussions that include the word: why. My belief is that answering the question why requires a posture of intellectual defense and often takes me out of my heart and into my head. And to be honest I don’t know why I hold a belief…nor do I care. What I do care about is how that belief serves me in the world. Does it help me to be a better father, husband, son and brother? Does it create animosity and confusion or love, understanding and clarity?
It is also my belief that humans are experts at creating lots of inane reasons for “why” they do something. And do so without understanding how the belief serves them or what they get out of being the way they choose (consciously or unconsciously) to be. People use their reasons why to justify all kinds of behavior and world views including many that go beyond simply strange or different into the realm of the abominable.
Questions containing the interrogative, why, can be rephrased to improve the power and insight of the answer. For example, the beginning question for this essay includes the phrase - why you believe you hold a particular theoretical or philosophical worldview? This question could be rephrased: How does holding a particular theoretical or philosophical world view serve you? Or What do you get out of holding a particular theoretical or philosophical world view? In this context I find a useful tool to peel back the layers of perceptual reality and uncover fundamental elements of my own beliefs and those of others. Using this subtle semantic adjustment I can explore beliefs in a way that doesn’t require defense and encourages reflection and thought. It also discourages the uncontrolled emotionalism spin into adolescent feelings so prevalent in our time.
In a society addicted to the expression of feelings and in love with its own image the ability look at how our choices and actions serve or don’t serve us and others brings clarity. It also creates the possibility to make new and better choices. Choices that can take us out of the victim-hood of why and into the clear understanding that the - how it serves me and the - what do I get out of this brings. We get something out of every positive and negative behavior, belief, intent and choice that we make. If we didn’t get something out of what we believe and choose, consciously or unconsciously, we would change our beliefs and choices to something that did serve us.
My family has served in the armed forces for 3 generations. The service is given because we were raised to believe that there is evil at war with good in the world. I believe that this is so. What I get out of this belief is a deep connection to an ancient impulse to protect the weak against danger. It is a genetically ingrained intensity I feel when the safety of my family is threatened. What I receive as a result of this belief is a spiritual and emotional connection to others who are similar to me. Our common bond creates a community of family, friends and loved ones. That community provides a safe place to be in the world. We stand as fellows on the side of what is right and good and are willing to sacrifice all for a greater good. This serves me and those I love and care for. It also serves those I don’t. That’s the paradox of community I think.
Now is a time of great turmoil. We are at war. My sons are at war. I honor them for their desire to serve, pray for their safety and grieve their fallen friends. The memory of the dead lingers in our hearts. We mourn all who have died. We mourn the children who die; some of them at the hands of our soldiers, many at the hands of those who would be called Uncle or Brother. This has happened before. Will it happen again? How does war serve us? What do we get out of war? What impact to individuals, families and society do we see decades later?
I believe that understanding the effect of the millions who died in the war to defeat the axis in WW2, for example, only requires us to look at the blessings and the ills we currently experience in our world culture. We are the answer to How did the war serve us? or What did we get out of the war? The long view back on history provides a clarifying component for the calculus of human conflict. This perspective is what I am seeking in my thesis. I need the clarity that only a long view can give.
We remember those who fell in the past and those who lived to tell the tale so that we would keep a memorial to them. There are more war memorials written on the hearts of the families, descendants and friends of the fallen than there are edifices built to their collective memories. It’s all we can do as a society, to build a token or symbol of the greater temple of memory that lies within. In the immediacy of our culture, with world events swarming our senses, this inner sanctum is the quiet place where our gratitude can be given for the freedom purchased with the blood of soldiers in the battle against evil. For as long as there are people who want to live as free souls there will always be the men and women who will stand between the despot that would rule by force, terror and tyranny.
My belief in the core of my thesis project has strengthened and deepened. I am resolved more than ever to give the vision of REQUIEM form.
