Civilizational Pathology
22
India, to Colombia, to the World Trade Center, look all too much the same. And
what of scenes of battle-dead lying in the fields? From the Civil War to Vietnam
we are offered with expressions for which mere statistics can do no justice
Or, what better way to learn about war than the music of the times? Consider
the soundtrack for the Vietnam war: Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Run
Through the Jungle, Bad Moon Risen’ and Fortunate Son; The Byrd’s Draft Morning;
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s Ohio; Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth;
and Jimi Hendrix’s Star Spangled Banner are just a few musical expressions which
embrace the spirit of the time.
When we confront these expressions of death and destruction, and others
from around the world, it becomes easy to question the futility of the circular
and dualistic mentality of us and them, strike and counter-strike.
What does it mean to seek wisdom over knowledge? Wisdom is, as
Gebser notes, receptive while knowledge, so it seems, is projective. Wisdom is a
taking in of all possibilities and even then letting the door open for more (i.e., it
deals with capta rather than data). Wisdom may be grounded in knowledge, but
wisdom transcends the given, the common sense, the consensus reality (call it
what you will). It embraces the world of which we are.
Convention