Oh so beautifully and truthfully said, dear ForGod'sSake! I agree with every word you've written here.
I revert back to an earlier post to r9etb, having to do with a "two-valued" (i.e., Aristotelian) logical system, in which there are only two truth values, differently stated as: True/false; yes/no; black/white; 0/1. And the significance of the Gödel Incompleteness Theorem, which points to a "three-valued" logical system, with the truth values true/false/undecidable.
Anyhoot, under a two-valued logical system, the absence of one of the values would wipe out its corresponding partner value. I.e., if there is no putatively "true" proposition, its corresponding putatively "false" proposition is starved for air and so just dies away.
This seems fine for simple measurement problems. But in my experience, it seems to me few human problems are resolvable on that expectation. To try to describe the model I perceive/apperceive, human life is not lived in the black-or-white of truth-or-false, but in the "in-between," as mediated by a higher principle. Which is why "undecidable" or systemically "incomplete" results can still be "truthful" results. And are always open to test.
My point is, the strategy of a two-valued logical system is at the base of Left progressive ideology. It wants to reduce all human problems to the dimensions of true-or-false. But human life as experienced never reduces to that! The only way you can assert such a (pre)supposition is to utterly expunge the idea of the sacred from human consciousness altogether....
Thank you so much for your beautiful essay/post, ForGod'sSake!
It’s always a great pleasure for me, betty, when our paths cross and I get to read your wonderful comments.... You’re a real treasure!
Granted to an extent but I think we might have a bona fide disagreement here; maybe not. IMHO almost everything can be parsed down to the dimension of direction. IOW, are one's actions moving one towards good or towards evil; towards right or towards wrong; towards truth or towards lies? That still, quiet voice; our God given spirit of discernment should conceivably leave us dwelling in the unknowable/undecidable for only short periods of time. A temporary affliction if you will.
It may be why most of us I'm sure have noticed that people of faith are a happy, serene and contented lot for the most part. Whereas unbelievers, unfamiliar with the grace and glory of our God seem to live in a constant state of confusion without even being aware of it. Truly an unhappy and discontented bunch of busybodies who think they have the answers when in truth, they don't even know the questions.
Peace ;^)
Re the general serenity of believers and our occasional struggle with the unknowable/undecidable: What do we do when we arrive at a point where we are inclined to throw up our hands and just say, "I don't have a clue what to do, the heck with it"? We turn it over to Him who in fact does have all the answers. If we trust that He will furnish us the wisdom to proceed in a Good Orderly Direction, and have patience, He will not let us down.
Again, peace...