Clive Hamilton's "The Freedom Paradox. Towards a Post Secular Ethics" (Sunday Forum)

by Debb , Tuesday, February 03, 2009, 12:00 (1572 days ago) @ James

» On the question of stories, I agree stories do give people a sense of
» coherence whether one is talking about the aboriginal dreamtime stories,
» the Christian or Buddhist stories or even the Anzac story. But I see these
» stories like the Anzac story as creating a connectedness between the
» present and the past, rather than as providing some guidance for living
» beyond the merely material. At least I hope it isn’t because it might mean
» just a lot more enthusiasm for going off to war.

James, your list of story-sources makes me realise that we need to choose our story, not just accept anything that presents itself as a story. Finding a story that "provides some guidance for living beyond the merely material" is quite a challenge, even more so honing it and celebrating it together.

In Alexander McCall Smith's latest book on Edinburgh "The Incredible Lightness of Scones". he has two characters bemoaning the loss of a bonded, civil society. They wonder how they can recreate it. Perhaps as a part-answer, McCall Smith ends the book (as he often does) with a gathering of friends for dinner, at which one of the characters recites a simple, but inspirational poem. I notice that in this latest book the author keeps revisiting the theme of "forgiveness", surely something we need in whatever story we all end up creating/choosing.
»
» And I don’t see young people’s enthusiasm for environmentalism as being
» part of seeking for some transcendence or “universal essence”. It reflects
» more the idealism of youth that affected all of us in one way or another,
» and is spurred on by what we have been told about what we are doing to the
» planet. And if they have thrown the Christian stories into the same basket
» as Santa Claus, does that mean that that “fabric of society” that
» conservatives love to throw about is going to crumble?

I regularly receive a magazine that young people write for, mostly about issues to do with our treatment of animals. The writers are idealistic but typically completely endorsing of reductionist-materialism (We are all "hard-wired" etc). The culture is also one of beautiful appearances - all the photos of people show young, beautiful, smiling faces with even white teeth etc. I think that anyone who wants to engage with idealistic young people will have to start by recognising those two aspects of their culture.