Relativism: Acquiescence

            Moral relativism is based on the idea that that we can determine for ourselves what makes us happy. We can define Love and community in a way that will ultimately provide happiness for ourselves. I don’t disagree. We can definitely observe, study, and predict that which makes us happy and we can devote our lives to  making sure we replicate that process over and over again so we are happy as much as possible. But these definitions of Love, community, and happiness are all episteme. They are all material Truths, and, by definition, are limited to time and space. Further, relative Truths like this, based on episteme, only point to the self and the self’s intellect. Moral relativism is egocentric and does not point to transcendent Truths of the Authentic Self. Christianity claims that we are not simply material beings; we are spiritual beings as well, and, as such, we are made to be more than just our material selves. That means that if we define Love, community, and happiness with our limited intellect, then all of that Love, community, and happiness will be limited and incomplete. For my students, I relate this back to Sacramentality. Moral relativism is incompatible with Sacramentality because moral relativism does not point to anything beyond the human intellect; it is rooted in human pride and a desire to place our will before any transcendent Truth.

            I have two things at the bottom of the Pit: I have a flashlight and a few feet of slack rope (the rest of the rope goes up to God-knows what). Moral relativism is kind of like using the flashlight to find a nice piece of pecan pie in the Pit and then using the Rope to lasso it toward me. The pie only exists in relationship to me and to how that pie makes me feel. Again, this ideology of moral relativism is egocentric. That will make me happy, but if there is no more pie within the reach of the flashlight, the rope, and the material strength with which I can throw that rope, then my moral relativist mode of finding happiness will always be limited. I need to look at the rope and the flashlight in a different way. I need to think about what are all of these material things pointing to beyond my own ego and my own definition of happiness.

            Phronesis is knowledge gained through encounter with a Truth greater than I can comprehend, and the only thing that I need to “do” in order to gain that knowledge is to acquiesce to that greater Truth. Acquiescence is one of those particular words in English that I think can be taken a few different ways. Essentially, it means to submit to a greater authority. But I don’t like to teach that in my classes. “To submit” has this negative connotation to it and the sound often turns my students off to the process of phronesis knowledge. Most people, not just high school students, dislike “submission”. So, I discuss acquiescence in terms of humility and effective learning.

            The use of analogy and storytelling can be effective here. I share another personal story with my students to communicate the necessity of acquiescence if one wants to be better than what they are now. The story does at least three things in my class. First, it demonstrates an example of why one should acquiesce. Second, the act of telling a personal story where I do something wrong models humility for my students; it is an act of acquiescing, in a way, to my students. Third, the process of using images to teach a deeper Truth is analogous to Sacramental Vision. I usually wait until the next class period to reveal this act of meta-pedagogy to my students.

I tell them this story: I started my college career as a physics major. I was definitely going to be a cosmologist, and I was definitely going to unlock the secrets of the universe. That was short-lived. A few seizures and some serious brokenness of my brain and the further inability to do well in math classes hurt my prospects of being the future Stephen Hawking. I finished my first semester in college with a “C” in Calculus and decided to be an English major instead. I figured I already knew the language so I should do well enough. A year or so later, I saw that I needed to take another math class in order to meet my core curriculum requirements, and I was not going to take another Calculus class! I registered for a lower level math class, Functions Modeling Change. Piece of cake (or pie, as it were). I already knew all this stuff, and I could just sleep through class. They should feel blessed to have someone like me in that class! No humility…all ego. Okay…I did well in the class but that is not the point. I had no respect for my classmates or even for my teacher. I ignored the lessons in class and did all my work and calculations using Calculus systems that I knew from previous classes. I was arrogant. I was a jerk in class. I did not acquiesce to my professor, and, as a result, I did not learn anything new in that class. Acquiescence is the letting go of control for the sake of becoming a better human being. Acquiescence is Trusting that one who is smarter or wiser can help you to become smarter or wiser. It is assuming that there are some things beyond your own knowledge of what is right and wrong or good or bad and letting someone else guide you. It is honestly and humbly encountering one who is greater than you. Acquiescence, as opposed to ego and pride, is the best mindset to have if you want to learn and become a better human being. It took me a long time to learn that.

            While moral relativism takes the flashlight and the rope and uses them to grab on to things at the bottom of the Pit so we can be happy, Christianity teaches that we should take that excess rope and tie to around our waist. It is acquiescence to one who, as we will discuss soon, pull us out of the Pit and into Truth. Moral relativism does, in fact, reveal to us that we want Love, community, and happiness, but only as they are within the confines of human intellect and imagination. Imagine there is a type of pie that would make everyone happy! A sort of Transcendent Pie that we can only get if we are outside of the Pit. The first step in tasting that pie is to tie to rope around our waist so we can start to ascend. The first step is acquiescing to a relationship with one who is greater than we are. We cannot think of ourselves as the end of the rope; it is the One who is outside of the Pit who is doing the pulling. He is the end of the rope. Of course, as we grow in relationship with God, we learn through phronesis deeper levels of what it means to Love and be Loved…greater meanings of community and relationship…greater Truths of what it means to be happy.

(This is where the cheese is."