Page 32 - Effable Encounters

Proxy Predators

“That question does not do credit to your studies with me, young
man. Do you not recognize it for a variant of Russell’s Paradox? By
asking if it is right to do right, you are chasing your own tail. It is an
easy enough excuse for those who cannot or will not go past simple
cynicism to arrive at a well-developed moral sense.”
They paused abruptly as a harried commuter turned abruptly in
front of them into a driveway and brought his fuming creaking
vehicle to a squealing halt in front of a garage door. The disciple,
intent on the lesson being imparted, had not realized the danger until
he felt the master’s restraining hand.
“Then the dilemma resides primarily in the nature of my
epistemological approach?”
“No, neither can that avenue provide escape. The knowledge of
right action, at whatever level it is apprehended—intuitive,
situational, or revelational—cannot be argued into nonexistence or
insignificance; it can only be willfully or innocently ignored. In most
courts of authority, sacred or profane, the former is deemed worthy
of punishment and the latter as evidence of immaturity or
incompetence. The answer, if any, is to be found in the nature of the
human condition.”
The disciple thought he saw a connection. “Ah, then the key must
be our capacity for choosing to cause pain and suffering.”
“As many keys exist as there are locks. If this one opens your
mind, then let us employ it. First, can we distinguish between pain
and suffering?”
Picking his way carefully through the conceptual minefield he knew
he must traverse, the disciple said, “Both are aspects of the human
condition, overlapping in meaning and often indifferent in
application; pain would seem to occur within the body only when
those parts of the nervous system able to receive and transmit painful
stimuli are activated. Suffering ranges from chronic pain to memories
of pain to judgements of the internal or external state of other
individuals. So, we may conclude that the terms are interchangeable
in many cases—but not all.”
“And how is that related to being human?”
“Whereas any organism with pain receptors can suffer, only self-
aware creatures can partake in the abstract assignation of suffering as
a condition in themselves or others. That fact impinges directly on

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