ku # 569 ~ complexity and nuance
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 at 09:04AM 
Spring moss • click to embiggenIt was opined on yesterday's entry - by Mark Meyer -
... you are pretending that 'truth' means one thing. Obviously there are different kinds of truth and different contexts in which to to speak of truth, some open to interpretation others less so without some real stretches of the imagination. You seem to have trouble with the idea that 'truth' and 'real' are just words and behind those words are manifold ideas which can't all be treated the same.
To which I would respond that, regarding the tone and tenor of yesterday's entry, Mark has a point as far as the words of that entry go. However, if one were to also consider the picture that accompanies those words (along with most of my pictures that have ever been presented on The Landscapist), one might have second thoughts regarding the notion that I am not open to the possibility that "there are different kinds of truth and different contexts in which to to speak of truth".
It should be obvious to even the most casual viewer of my pictures that I fervently embrace the notion of complexity - both in the visual characteristics of my referents (the noted) and, by inference, the meaning(s) that might be derived from that visual complexity (the connoted). One of the reasons that I favor complexity - other than my seemingly preternatural disposition for it - and the possibility, in fact, the probability of multiple meanings is that I really believe that "that's life."
When it comes to finding meaning(s) or truth(s) in my pictures (assuming that is some to be found), I am very much like Brian (Monty Python's Brian) who tells the assembled throng clamoring for answers to go "figure it out for yourselves". And, FYI, while I do believe that I have somethings of value to say (with words and pictures), let me state again (for the Doubting Thomas' in the crowd) that I offer those things as evidence of what I have figured out for myself, not as papal edicts. Again, let me quote from Brain:
Brian: I'm not the Messiah! Will you please listen? I am not the Messiah, do you understand? Honestly!
Girl: Only the true Messiah denies His divinity.
Brian: What? Well, what sort of chance does that give me? All right! I am the Messiah!
Followers: He is! He is the Messiah!
Brian: Now, fuck off!
[silence]
Arthur: How shall we fuck off, O Lord?
All of that said, what I wish to make clear is that I do not believe that the notion of the exercise of free will by the individual in order to divine personal truth(s) in any way negates the concept of shared / universal / common truth(s).
In fact, quite to the contrary, I think that all of the evidence of humankind's evolution to this point in time leads to the inescapable conclusion that humankind on the whole has progressed towards the realization of and acceptance of many shared / universal / common truth(s) - however nuanced they might be, if for no other reason than our very survival on a shared planet depends upon it.
Now, fuck off.
And, while you're at it, try to figure it (both life and picturing) out for yourself (which does not negate the wisdom espoused by both John and Paul [of The Beatles, not the Bible] that you'll "get by with a little help from your friends").
Reader Comments (2)
I love this thread! That was one of the best retorts I've heard in a while. I argue the same point (that Mark made) about truth to you vs truth to me being distorted through the lens of our bias, upbringing and learned behavior. I find it hilarious that it is so difficult to grasp that there is no ultimate truth. Being that we are all imperfect beings and not machines you'd think we'd know it by now. But no, and I get mad as ever sometimes trying to figure it out. I love it. Now fuck off! :-D
By saying that there are "No ultimate truths", you are speaking what you consider to be a "TRUTH", ultimately. So, if you have at least 1 ultimate truth, that there are no ultimate truths, why is so hard to fathom that there are other ultimate truths. One comes to mind. Is it not true that there is space and time. How one experiences, as Einstein put it, space/time may vary, relatively speaking, from individual to individual. But ultimately that there is space/time is a truth.