Protecting The Look
Becoming a parent brought focus to many new perspectives of my view of man, life, love and human joy. So many common misconceptions about the human mind, learning, knowledge and human nature are revealed as wholly fallacious when you witness first-first hand a child’s transition from the clean-slate of infancy to an individual driven by an insatiable quest to understand and master the world around him.
The expression which I find most endearing, and symbolic of man’s purpose, is that of my son grasping knowledge. The passage below eloquently identifies that expression as well as its significance in a much wider context.
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal : Ch. 24 - Requiem For Man
I will ask you to project the look on a child’s face when he grasps the answer to some problem he has been striving to understand. It is a radiant look of joy, of liberation, almost of triumph, which is unself-conscious, yet self-assertive, and its radiance seems to spread in two directions: outward, as an illumination of the world—inward, as the first spark of what is to become the fire of an earned pride. If you have seen this look, or experienced it, you know that if there is such a concept as “sacred” - meaning: the best, the highest possible to man - this look is the sacred, the not-to-be-betrayed, the not-to-be-sacrificed for anything or anyone.
This look is not confined to children. Comic-strip artists are in the habit of representing it by means of a light-bulb flashing on, above the head of a character who has suddenly grasped an idea. In simple, primitive terms, this is an appropriate symbol: an idea is a light turned on in a man’s soul.
It is the steady, confident reflection of that light that you look for in the faces of adults - particularly of those to whom you entrust your most precious values. You look for it in the eyes of a surgeon performing an operation on the body of a loved one; you look for it in the face of a pilot at the controls of the plane in which you are flying; and, if you are consistent, you look for it in the person of the man or woman you marry.
That light-bulb look is the flash of a human intelligence in action; it is the outward manifestation of man’s rational faculty; it is the signal and symbol of man’s mind. And, to the extent of your humanity, it is involved in everything you seek, enjoy, value, or love. [emphasis mine]
It is precisely that spark of light that is misunderstood, neglected, and under assault from every cultural front today. That spark is what life is all about. That spark keeps a man alive. Man can benefit tremendously from human relationships, but his core existence is driven from and towards that spark. Meaningful relationships, i.e., ones based on explicitly identified common values, are only possible as derivative manifestations of that spark.
Not only have those who evade, ignore or are oblivious to “the look” missed what I consider the most valuable thread of life, they’re also the ones leading the assault, either directly or by ignorant default, against man, against man’s mind, against joy, against life.
It’s those who, never knowing the spark or all that it leads to, resort to force when dealing with others - uncivilized misfits stuck in a civilized society.
When men hold differing opinions, effective communication of rational ideas is a civilized form of persuasion, whereas an anonymous late-night call threatening my 8-month pregnant wife that her husband should “watch what he writes on the internet” is not.
History illustrates it is precisely those individuals who resort to the latter that have always endeavored to destroy those embodied by the former - and despite centuries of human progress, it’s obvious there are still those who’ve failed to rise above a barbarians view of existence.
For me to abandon usage of the only proper tool of persuasion available to a civilized man - rational communication - would constitute a betrayal of my principles, a surrender my values, and a failure to protect myself and my loved ones from cultural (and inevitably physical) assault.
Given our present course, there will likely be a time where brute force will suppress opposing ideals; and when that time comes, if keeping my views to myself might enable our escape then I’ll do so - but as long as there’s still a chance to escape that desperate reality; I’ll continue to foster the spark in man, I’ll continue to speak, I’ll continue to clown ignorance and those who enable it, I’ll stand by every word, and I’ll defend myself and my family by any means necessary.
