Free thought and dunderheads

You were Born For This - Tremolo
verse 2
"No one else can play your part
Liberate all of your dreams
Speak the lines within your heart
Don't believe in the rules, Don't believe in the stars"

Today I discussed the impact of transcendentalism in Emerson on the American psyche, and the inherent problems with its philosophy with my Torrey mentor. Then, after a quick game of telephone (you think I kid?), I discussed and taught on Sufi Islam as an esoteric counter-balance to the exoteric orthodox Islam. And then learned from other students about the origins and effects of Greek philosophy in Islam. Basically, how much can you rely just on yourself for knowledge, and when do you have to look outside of yourself?

Dr. Jenson brought up the idea that there is no such thing as a free thinker, that the danger of transcendentalism, and of any philosophy that relies only on esoteric knowledge, is that it loses connection with reality, and so falls into falsity. Furthermore, if one only relies on their own self for truth, it is very easy from there to disregard others. He, if I understood properly, he claimed that there is no such thing as a free thinker, because everyone is going to be either building upon or reacting against other philosophies. All those rebels liberating themselves from the constrictive intellectual traditions holding them back, they're really just adhering to a new one that they happen to like better. And those revolutionaries who magically create a new philosophy? It's not like they live in a vaccuum; their work is influenced by others. Dr. Jenson said this other thing, that you're not free, you're either a slave to Christ or a slave to what's not Christ.

It's a strange notion. It seems so common sense, but at the same time it's uncomfortable. And it's difficult, because at the same time, I have Plato in the back of my head saying that all these stories and philosophies, none of them really are true, they're just tools for the elite philosopher-kings to control the common folk who are dumb enough to believe them. But Plato fails to recognize that even he, and even those philosopher-kings, are accepting a story and philosophy. And for that, in all my academic maturity, I will resort to name-calling, but of a more polished kind. Ye dunderhead! Don't trivialize something so important...

This song I quoted, it's so positive. Believe in yourself! You have a part to play that no one else can! But it's always so hard to remember to believe in others, too, and in the rules and the stars. They have a part to play, too. Believe you can do it, but don't believe you can do it on your own.

I guess I should listen to my own advice...