The Age of Post

We live in the age of post.

Post-modernism, post-enlightenment, post-absolutist, post-everything

We look around and all we see is me. We’re no longer we, no longer one community, no longer humanity, but the self-absorbed, individualized me.

There was a time when people realized how our lives are deeply interconnected with that of others.

And not just those of a family or direct society, but connected to humankind across space and time. A concept that seems to be slippery sand slipping through our hands. We hardly notice as it slips away cause we’re not focused on the sand.

We’re focused on our own two hands.

Their beauty, their importance, their usefulness and purpose.

About how those two hands do things the right way; they grasp reality in the true light; they know the right way to pick a fight.

But I daresay that’s a mighty arrogant way to see the world.

Yes, we live in a post-history world where we think we have the vantage ground, the correct perspective, the benefit of objectivity.

That the way we see is truth about reality.

But may I be so bold as to disagree?

What makes us think that our blind eyes now see?

See things as they really are, void of subjectivity or the tainted bias that comes from growing up in our society?

We are a product of our environment. Now, I wouldn’t carry that statement as far as some, but there is a degree of truth in it.

Our brains were formed, our opinions and beliefs born, out of our community. Whether we reacted positively or negatively to that stimulus, those deeply ingrained values, they still shaped us.

And in our pluralist society that worships science and objectivity, is there any way to look at the world completely objectively?

We all grew up in circles. Societies with certain plausibility structures, whether we agreed with them or not. Maybe we rejected what our community had to teach, so we left our circle to go to another. One more “objective.”

But we are still in a circle, nonetheless, correct?

So no matter which circle we are in, do we really have access to all other circles, and on top of that, are we void of the subjectivity and influence of the circles we’ve experienced thus far?

Maybe you question me on my beliefs, on absolutivity, but may I have the opportunity to call gently into question your objectivity?

And I digress.

Back to our forgetfulness of the web of humanity, the one that has been being spun for our entire history. Recorded or not, we do have a history.

But that history is also subject to the subjectivity and values of those recording it, who capture only what they see fit to aid the understanding of how we are going to get to their perceived goal of history and humanity.

When it all comes down to it, I’m not sure if we are capable of being entirely objective beings that can provide undisputedly objective statements about reality.

So do I fight this? Do I try to hold myself up as a fraction of a string, apart of from the entire web of silk connected across space and time? Or do I humbly choose to recognize my interconnectedness as a small part of humanity?

There is so much I can learn, so many things I can discern, wisdom I can gain, perspective I can attain, from this larger perspective.

We are knit together into one quilt. One story.

The story of humanity.