Tuesday, December 04, 2007
mephistopheles...part 2
I was astonished, and said nothing.
He set down his coffee after taking another calm sip, sat up straight, and continued, "What is evil?" His tone was professorial now, and I smirked accordingly. He smiled back, and returned to his normal tone.
"Sorry," he said "It's a new habit I've picked up you see."
I thought for a second in silence, and tried to actually come up with a good definition of the term "evil." I was sure Wikipedia had a nice long definition including "harm to others, dishonesty" and etc... All of these, most likely, would be from one perspective or another. Relative. I had the impression that he was seeking an absolute. There are some absolutes, I was sure, but I wasn't going to give them up so easily, so I countered with the response "On the surface, evil is simple, but it becomes more complex as one thinks about it more deeply. Were we to talk about situations or events, I could tell you which one was evil, and which one was not."
"Fair enough." he said. "Was Manifest Destiny an evil ideology?"
I had to think on this, as well. Manifest Destiny, simply put, the ideology that 19th century America had the God given right and destiny to expand westward at all costs. At least that's how I interpreted it so many years ago. Looking back, and reading commentary by historians, one gets a mixed perspective of Manifest Destiny. Reading contemporary accounts of the time, it seems that people were caught up in the idea of expansion westward at all costs. But, history is often written by the conquerer, not the conquered. Modern writings by Native Americans give a wholly different perspective of Manifest Destiny.
So, was it evil? I wasn't sure. But I had an answer.
"On retrospect, it would seem that Manifest Destiny was an evil ideology, as it harmed others. However, I don't think that many of the people who espoused the ideology were evil, rather, misguided. So again, it's more complex."
He laughed at me. "Are you a post-modernist?" he asked.
"Oh no. There are a few things I'm certain about."Labels: mephistopheles
Thursday, November 01, 2007
mephistopheles...part 1
It was a typically wonderful fall day in eastern Washington state. Cool, bright, crisp, and full of color. We sat outside, on a college campus full of all the signs of fall, at one of the many concrete tables around what was called the Mall area of the campus. It was the central courtyard, a large round tiled area with two water features opposite each other.
He looked up at me, finally, over his coffee, and asked, "How did you know it was me?"
"It was a guess, really. I saw you a couple of years ago, when you first started teaching here, and just put the pieces together." I replied, as I lifted my coffee to my lips. As I lowered my coffee, I could sense his discomfort as he stared at me, his bright unearthly blue eyes piercing me and searching for the meaning of my words. "You could have been more discrete, though." I continued nonchalantly, looking away.
"What do you mean?" he looked slightly defensive now, drawing his shoulders up, slightly.
"Well, the slicked back jet black hair, fashioned into a braided pony tail? The thin goatee? Professor of Philosophy specializing in religion, no less!? All dead giveaways, of course." I laughed. He looked deflated.
"It's not as easy as it seems, you know."
"I imagine not. Don't worry. I don't think anyone else knows."
"Well, what is it that you want to know?"
"I just want to know how you came to be here...I mean, just really, why? Why here? What are you doing here, exactly?"
He sighed, took a sip of his coffee, then slowly set it down on the table. He sat for a minute, looking almost relieved. He was gathering his thoughts, I could tell. He glanced at his watch, sat up straight, took in a deep breath, relaxed, and said "How did I get here? That was the first question, right?"
"Right."
"I was fired."
"Fired?"
"Fired. Laid off. Downsized. Whatever you want to call it." he reiterated, not without a little bitterness in his voice.
I was startled by this revelation. "When did this happen, how long have you been laid off from your previous...uh...'employer?'"
"I was fired on September 12, 2001."
Photo credit: CybermanikanLabels: mephistopheles
