But she pinned these passages to the topic of “Love”
rather than “Morality”. And she also
said that “Love” wasn’t about “emotion” as people usually experience it, but
about the proper implementation of its opposite, Power.
Now all of this certainly rings an intellectual
bell. After all “Love and Power”
corresponded to the feminine and masculine personality polarities of
psychological mating in the philosophy of Paul Rosenfels, as I have often
written about.
It is often said that “Love is something you do, not
something you feel”. Don Eastman used to
preach that at MCC Dallas back in the 1980s.
Even so, it has to own a connection to emotion. I am constantly impressed by the way many
people try to get my attention with emotional appeals or overly personalized
communications. As I noted, I am seen
as aloof. I don’t like to be recruited
or solicited (particularly with manipulative and “emotive” appeals, sometimes
demanding joining the direct experience of others – fasting is an example), and
I don’t like to chase people down to buy thins for me. I recall that debate in the Minnesota
Libertarian Party back in 1998 about “winning arguments” instead of “winning
converts”.
Faith, for many people, seems to be infused with
emotion. As practiced in the church in
which I was reared (FBC) it was not real evident. As far back as the late 1940s, Richmond-raised
Dr. Pruden would preach progressively about the need for racial equality and
civil rights, and yet it was always in a somewhat analytical fashion. When I was out on my own as an adult, I was
surprised by the amount of emotion people brought to faith, especially when I
lived in Dallas. Along with that came
proselytizing, or perhaps salesmanship.
At one time, we were used to interacting with one
another much more personally. Typical
ideas of salesmanship in business depended on that, and in recent years that
has broken down. My own father made a great and stable living as a “salesman”
for decades. And some people get taken
back when I don’t want to continue that sort of life strategy.
A few films make this point. “Blood Brother” shows the intimacy with which
volunteer Rocky Braat works with kids (born to HIV-infected mothers) in Africa
(Movies blog, Feb. 16). The short film
“Mission in Belize” made by youth of a local church showed the hands-on and
closeup “intimacy” with kids abroad (Drama blog Nov. 4, 2012). With my upbringing and life strategy (an
adaptation to not being able to “compete” in a normal way) such intimacy seems
alien. But it is a way of life for many
people, and often necessary. And it does
comport with openness to relationships that need complementarity, as well as to
higher levels of social interdependence and social capital.
President Obama announced his “My Brother’s Keeper”
initiative today. It may be more tied to
race than it needs to be, but it’s interesting to contemplate the ideas of
service, giving back for those who start out farther behind in line and make
more sacrifices, and then real involvement and emotion.
I did grow up with the idea of emotion in
music. I took that to be real “feeling”. It’s odd how that excluded real people if
they were too far below perfect. That
idea is in my “DADT III” book, which was officially published today (see entry
in my Books blog).
"Love" -- perhaps the ability to "see people as people" (as my father once said) seems to replace "The Law" at some level. It's necessary in order for any of us to overcome involuntary vulnerability. It's necessary to have an audience that can benefit from the innovations one has made or the cultural or artistic output one has authored individually. It seems essential as a step for permanent, long-lived intimate relationships allowing co-dependency. That is not necessarily restricted just to traditional marriage.
Love -- and connectedness -- seems necessary to overcome he apparent moral contradictions or at least paradoxes in the law.
"Love" -- perhaps the ability to "see people as people" (as my father once said) seems to replace "The Law" at some level. It's necessary in order for any of us to overcome involuntary vulnerability. It's necessary to have an audience that can benefit from the innovations one has made or the cultural or artistic output one has authored individually. It seems essential as a step for permanent, long-lived intimate relationships allowing co-dependency. That is not necessarily restricted just to traditional marriage.
Love -- and connectedness -- seems necessary to overcome he apparent moral contradictions or at least paradoxes in the law.
Wikipedia attribution link for Yin-Yang
picture.
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