"You have a thought provoking, but ultimately cliched collection of quotes. I forgive you this because in a universal sense, we are reaching the limit of description."
"I am filled with excitement when I think about the great music yet to be written, love stories and epic poetry still to be penned, improved societies we may yet construct!"
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 1998 19:40:42 GMT
To: cybrgbl@deltanet.com
From: DeltaNet Form Processor (formpro@www.deltanet.com)
Subject: Feedback and or QuestionsThe field values for the form received were:
Name="ARabinowitz"
email="rabinowitzgen@netvision.net.il"
comments="you have a thought provoking, but ultimately cliched collection of quotes. I forgive you this because in a universal sense, we are reaching the limit of description. 20'th century man has been let down by science's atempt to to give meanig to our lives; science has just made us aware of how inconsequencial we rae, and how limited our understanding is. Looking to art and literature, we hoped to find at the very least empathy and description of or angst. Reading through your site from Israel, I came to realize the futility of this endeavor. What can be yet said that does not seem to be taken from that cliche master, Robert fulghum? And so I add my own : "the purpose of knowledge is that we may not know." Rabi Nahman off Breslov, 18'th cen. Jewish mystic and teacher."
Findout="Just surfed on in!"
recipient="cybrgbl@deltanet.com"
thankURL="http://www.rjgeib.com/about-me/guest/thank-you.html"
Dear ARabinowitz,
In my opinion, the proper realm of art and literature is mankind and the more permanent and endearing aspects of the human soul. True enough many in the 20th century have made of science a false idol and correspondingly have been disappointed when it did not solve the age-old problems of war and peace, inequality and injustice, good and evil, etc. Yet to claim, as you do, that many of the most famous thoughts and works of art and literature in Western civilization are "clichéd" or that - incomplete as it may be - humanity has currently reached the "limit of description" is to grossly underestimate the very real accomplishments in human history as well as our potential for learning in the future. I am filled with excitement when I think about the great music yet to be written, love stories and epic poetry still to be penned, improved societies we may yet construct!
It might be true that hubris and pretensions to knowledge have greatly damaged humanity in the 20th century, as certain thinkers have promised more than they were able to deliver. Nevertheless, I disagree with Rabbi Nahman that, as you put it, we learn so as "not to know"; if a lack of knowledge is part of the problem, I can hardly believe that knowing less is the solution. I would argue that we strain mightily to learn, as claims historial Daniel Boorstin, so we may gain some refuges of hard-earned knowledge and truth in the "oceans of our ignorance." Slender might be the thread of civilization and culture upon which we place ourselves presently, but we see the alternative when we look at some of the most savage and brutal instances in the world today (Rwanda, ex-Yugoslavia, Iran, the West Bank, Iraq, etc.) as well as in a past all too often littered unfortunately with the most abject misery and naked cruelty.
If the human mind, in the 20th century, failed to resolve the many ills of humanity, we need not despair and throw up our arms in surrender, claiming we have reached the limit of our collective imagination and understanding. As a human being, teacher, (and, yes - even web author!), I look at the situation akin to historian of ideas Will Durant when he asserted, "We are all imperfect teachers, but me may be forgiven if we have advanced the matter a little, and have done our best. We announce the prologue, and retire; after us better players will come." This is how I see it.
I hope this e-mail finds you well in Israel.
Very Truly Yours,
Richard Geib
P.S. Who is Robert Fulghum?
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