I’ve just returned home from a lecture given by Cornel West, a sociologist/philosopher/professor/writer/activist/(I’m sure there are a few other roles I’ve missed) currently at Princeton (though the lecture was over here at Stanford). And my heart is on fire.

The title of the lecture was “Democracy Matters,” and West spent the hour painting a simultaneously dark and hopeful portrait of democracy in America. To the same extent that incisive, provocative, self-critical, dominant-line-critical questioning (symbolized by Socrates) and prophetic compassion (symbolized by the Jewish line of prophets) are pushed to the margins of American life, democracy dies, he said. To the extent that these are jointly nurtured, democracy lives on.

I wish I could convey even sparks from the fire Cornel burned tonight. I want to download the whole lecture and just say, “Here; go listen to this. Seriously – you’ll love it.” Instead I’ll try and settle for three of the points I connected most with:

As we seek to be human (think here “all the best things I can attach to the idea of democracy”) in contexts that pull strongly at us not to be, we don’t have to blaze completely new trails. Others have gone before us in this venture, and we can – in fact must – draw from their wisdom, their strength, and their courage as we seek to be human in our contexts. West told some beautiful stories of folks who refused, in some of the ugliest moments of the Civil Rights movement, to either cease their work for justice, or cave into using the same acts of hate and violence that their opponents so insidiously used on them. “Others have gone before us,” West said. “There is already wind at our backs.” I find this incredibly hopeful. And a challenge I want to take – to look for where that wind can be found and then use it to fill my being-truly-human-aimed sails.

Point two: No matter who we are, what political affiliation we have, what religion we subscribe to, or paths toward self-awareness we’ve tried to take, there will always be shadows in ourselves and our ideologies to find and try to right – oppressive dogmas that will need to be raised to consciousness and changed. Admitting this breeds humility as well as patience. It invites us to live always on the edge of renewal and (re)awakening – an edge, at least for me, in this moment anyway, that seems an exciting and sparkly place to be.

Point three: “The unexamined life is not a life worth living,” Socrates said. “And the examined life is painful,” added West. Along with the sparkle of ever-awakening comes the pain of that same process – the admitting to shadows and the having to consequently deal with them. “It takes a lot more courage to look deep and honestly within oneself and one’s ideologies than it does to be a soldier,” West said, “just following orders.” Though I’ve never been a soldier, the pain of my awakening of the last few years makes me think he might be right. I find these words both comforting and validating of the things that I’ve experienced.

Anyway, I’ve characterized some gorgeous points poorly, and haven’t drawn lines from abstract to concrete like deserves to be done, but I hope I’ve conveyed enough to get a few of you to look up Cornel West and buy some of his books. And even better yet, read them. :) I plan to.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 30th, 2004 at 11:08 pm and is filed under Books and Art, Philosophy, Psychology, Current Affairs, Mindfulness, Religion/Spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.