Out of Egypt:

the litmus paper self

This could be my philosophy for 2005-06 (see my philosophy for 2004-05, and, once again, of course, Walker Percy's Lost in the Cosmos).

In that previous entry, I spoke largely with reference to interpersonal one-on-one dialogue, especially between a man and a woman. This was quite appropriate, I think, since, on the horizontal level, the relationship between male and female is the primal relationship for which God created humanity - "But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female..." (Mark 10:6)
And, on the vertical level, this relationship is the metaphor for how Christ relates to the Church (Eph. 5:31-32). As C.S. Lewis, I believe, said (in Perelandra?) God is masculinity in relation to which we are all feminine by comparison.

However, I want to develop in this entry a different implication of Percy's contention, which I have seen echoed in both the sociological concept of the "looking-glass self" and in my own experience. I want to do this simply because it keeps coming up in conversation, and I think it's crucial for how we live our lives.

I argued in my previous entry that the self gains knowledge of itself through encounter with others, usually on an individual level, since then more honesty and transparency is made possible. However this does not settle the question of how others gain that knowledge which in dialogue they are able to give the one who asks. To answer this question, I must make use of a metaphor.

This is the metaphor of litmus paper. Litmus paper is paper that has been treated with some kind of stain, normally invisible, that becomes visible when it comes into contact with various chemical substances from the external environment. I argue that this is similar to what happens to the self when it comes into contact with external stimuli, such as products of material culture, media signals, ideas, or other selves.

The self, being unknowable in itself, in isolation exists in a state of neutrality - the stain, which is its soul, or deceptive heart, containing all one's preferences, whims, and aims, is invisible. However, the self, to be a self, can never exist in a state of isolation. Selves that do so are not selves; that is, they are not self-conscious: witness the wolf boy of France.

Therefore, the chemicals which are the external stimuli of the world, many of which are either directly or indirectly the product of other selves, are continually impinging upon us, causing us metaphorically to turn various colors in response. We can, to a certain extent, notice this change in ourselves - thus we think it is possible to know ourselves. However, we are only noticing a change that occurs on the outer layers of our being, while our inmost drives remain inaccessible. Those around us, as they change color in response to the stimuli we present to them, can help us better to understand the character of our changes, and thus the character of our selves.

To retreat from the active life of the world and from interaction with others is therefore in most cases a deceptive path. In doing so, we deprive ourselves of the stimuli needed to recognize the direction of our change - whether, to extend the metaphor, we are turning brighter or darker. What G.K. Chesterton said about the difference between Christian and Eastern mysticism is profoundly true: the Eastern mystic is pictured with his eyes shut, looking within and finding nothing, whereas the Christian mystic is picturing with his eyes open, often in action (preaching, holding Scripture, holding a staff, etc.), looking at God's world and finding it a book revelatory of himself and the eternal Word.

This is not to say, however, that all interiority is to be avoided. Since I do regard the Holy Spirit as a personal reality with whom there is the possibility of speech, principally through the mediation of the inspired text of Scripture, a time of retreat from transient and temporal stimuli can ground us in that stimulus which is eternal. In Him, we find, as James wrote, a mirror to reveal our true selves: the Word which calls, "Arise, shine, for your Light has come" and "Awake sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will give you light."

Hey Evan,
I really like your litmus paper analogy. Can't you just see someone doing an art project about this? However, I disagree with Chesterton's explanation of the difference between Christians and Eastern mystics, because neither can actually see the path set before him, but the mystic choses to purposely stand still rather than wander aimlessly, while the Christian is led by the hand and voice of the Lord.

Posted by: Courtney at October 21, 2005 10:58 AM

I really like your litmus paper analogy. However, I disagree wih Chesterton's explanation of the difference between Christians and Eastern mystics, because neither one actually sees the road before him, but the mystic choses to purposely stand still rather than wander aimlessly, while the Christian is led by the hand and voice of the Lord.

Posted by: Courtney at October 21, 2005 11:03 AM