Page 31 - Effable Encounters

Proxy Predators
(Fantastic Transactions 2, 1997)

The master and his youngest disciple were on an early evening
stroll through the suburban neighborhood in which their retreat was
but one of many indistinguishable houses. Summer dusk descended
slowly as rows of street lamps simultaneously flickered and popped
into unearthly life, triggered by remote sensors. The occasionally
unshaded windows of the homes they passed revealed the residents’
disposition and choreography in pre- and post-prandial tableaus.
“Master, I do not yet think I know what is right.”
The master raised one shaggy eyebrow, but did not break stride.
“I will take that not as a confession, my boy, but a request for
clarification. As your statement is phrased, it presumes the existence
of ethical standards for which a metaphysical basis has been
satisfactorily established. Those standards, absolute by nature, are
generally expressed either as principles or as moral strictures. As
principles, such as ‘shun evil, seek good’, they retain a level of
abstraction high enough to permit or encourage divergence in
interpretation or application to specific cases; as imperatives, they
foster the growth of legalistic and ritualistic religious practices and
institutions. In both cases, adherence to a principle may well devolve
into supporting its opposite—witness, for example, the excesses of
proselytism and orthodoxy. Yet everyone agrees that moral positions
are possible, if not necessary; and that they ultimately derive their
authority from conformity to self-evident standards. Indeed, it is no
wonder that two people who know what is right do not know the
same thing.”
The mismatched pair progressed half a block in silence. Though
young, the disciple was well aware that paradox and contradiction
awaited him at every twist and turn in the path of his enlightenment.
Such impediments to progress could be removed only by resolving
illusorily incompatible phenomena or by dissolving the problem
entirely in the acid baths of reason and linguistic analysis.
“Should I therefore be unconcerned with rectitude?”
The master shook his head sadly.

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