“Abba Anthony said, ‘A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, “You are mad, you are not like us.”‘”
The 38 Counsels of St. Anthony the Great
The advent of post-modernism various decades ago set us on the path to where we are today. Post-modernism essentially made the claim that all meaning is wrapped up in the interpretative community. Without unwrapping that statement, I will say that there is quite some truth to that. As a missionary to another culture, it was interesting, puzzling, troubling, and frustrating to encounter people who interpreted events so different from the way in which I interpreted them.
But, quite some truth and actual truth are two different statements. What everyone who visits and lives in a different-enough culture from their own finds out is that people from other cultures can interpret events and draw different conclusions from their conclusions. Having said that, generally, there is a connection between the cultures that, at least, allows them to acknowledge that they are looking at the same events and discussing them. Post-modernism, at its most extreme, implied that the two cultures might not even have a perception in common. Not only were the interpretations different, but what they perceived was also different.
Over time there have been enough criticisms of post-modernism that the more extreme interpretations have been discarded. But, there is a problem. As with most philosophical movements, the movement started, then it seeped into the culture, then it was corrected by later philosophers. The problem is that the correction also does not seep into the culture until later, sometimes decades later. This is the problem we are facing today.
In the United States of America today, we have a culture that is essentially living in the throes of extreme post-modernism. We have discarded common meanings in favor of supporting our own tribal meaning. Meanings from outside our “tribe” are not received. It is not simply that they are not acceptable. They are not even received with enough respect to be discussed. Thus, the “tribe” to which we belong is unable to receive either any correction or any challenge to what we declare to be true.
And so, today, our arguments have little to do with any search for truth. If we disagree with a person with a different political belief, it is not that we have logical reasons for our disagreement, but that the fact that they disagree with us proves that they are lying. Meaning is only found within our own “tribe.” Any meaning outside our own “tribe” is not meaning, but only madness. Thus St. Anthony was a prophet for we now tend to say, “You are mad, you are not like us.”
Anyone who does not hold this extreme post-modernist view is also mad. Thus, a moderate who tries to logically argue the data is obviously a member of the other side and is “mad.” Anything short of a full agreement with the position of one’s “tribe” is proof that the other person is “mad” and is a follower of the other side. Thus, compromise becomes impossible, for what fellowship can light have with the darkness (or so it is said)? Discussion becomes impossible because any questioning of one’s stance is proof of illogical madness on the part of the other person.
What is the solution? There is no solution. This culture will just have to ride out this extreme post-modernism. At least, we have to hope that the culture will ride it out because otherwise I fear that it will destroy itself. Without common meaning, there can be no unity.
And so St. Anthony is proven to be presciently true. We are at the time he prophesied.
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