"Nothing
happens
until someone says something."
...
"Man is surprised to find that things near are not less beautiful and
wondrous than things remote."
... Ralph Waldo Emerson quoted by the Smithsonian American
ArtMuseum
Renwick
Gallery,
Washington DC
"The only
Zen
you find on the tops of
mountains
is the
Zen
you bring up there."
... Robert Pirsig,
Zen
and the
Art
of Motorcycle Maintenance
The sheer establishment, both historic and modern, of Washington DC as
our nation's capital, is impressive. It's hard to ignore. Its monuments
reminding us of what America was built on ie of what America
stands
for, its government buildings in which America conducts its
business,
its
museums
and its memorials which recall what
led
to all this, are prolific,
close
together, and accessible. What's visible too yet not eminently
apparent is the plethora of
quotes
(yes
quotes)
which are everywhere.
There are
quotesetched
into entire
walls
of buildings. There are
quotesetched
into brass plaques which are bolted onto the
walls
of buildings. There are
quotes
by the nation's founders. There are
quotes
by the authors of the United States Declaration of Independence and
the United States Constitution. There are salient
quotes
by well known
artists.
There are pertinent
quotes
by philosophers. And all these
quotes,
if you're alert to them and if you read them, add another
essential
dimension to Washington DC, this fulcrum of the United States of
America (and, by inference, of the
freeworld),
that the buildings and the physicality of the place can only hint at.
These are the
words
on which America literally pivots. Eventually if you read enough of
them, and if you absorb enough of them, you start to realize that
almost every single aspect of American
life
(as indeed every single aspect of civilized
life
anywhere) started when someone said something. And it's all
these
words
ie it's all these Washington DC
words
which adorn so many of the buildings here, which when read and allowed
to sink in, give a
clear
insight into the
source
of the American
way.
Now with all that said, there's a critical distinction to make in this
regard. In the United States Declaration of Independence for example,
Thomas Jefferson says that all people are "endowed by their
Creator
with certain inalienable rights" including
"life,
liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness".
I propose this statement is patently false. Meaning what
exactly
Laurence?
Watch:
if a surgeon carefully cut you open looking for your endowed
inalienable rights, she wouldn't find any. All she'd find in
there is
hamburger.
Similarly, the United States Constitution inter alia says
people of all races have a right to vote, and we all have a right to
due process. I propose these assertions are also patently false. If a
surgeon cut you open looking for your rights to vote and to due
process, she wouldn't find them. All she'd find is
hamburger.
See, there were no endowed inalienable rights. I really want you
to
get
this. Never mind "endowed inalienable" rights: there were no rights -
period. There was no right for anyone to vote, and there was no
right for anyone to due process ... not until someone
spoke
rights into being (said another
way,
not until someone
spoke
the possibility of rights). Seriously. Until Thomas Jefferson
spoke
the possibility of endowed inalienable rights, we didn't have
endowed inalienable rights. Today we have so-called inalienable
rights, but not because our
Creator
endowed us with them to
begin
with: rather because of Thomas Jefferson's
linguistic
act
(which is the United States Declaration of Independence) - that is to
say today we have inalienable rights because Thomas Jefferson
spoke
the possibility of inalienable rights into being.
Now all these mighty, inspiring
words
which adorn Washington DC's buildings' walls, whether they're
etched
into the
walls
or whether they're
etched
into brass plaques bolted onto the
walls
ie all these Washington DC
words
which you'll notice are everywhere in
this city,
at first seem to be the
wordsabout America's founding and its subsequent
freedom
and eventual
leadership
of the
freeworld.
But they aren't that at all. It's
way
more profound than that: they instead are America's
founding and subsequent
freedom
and eventual
leadership
of the
freeworld.
They're not
words
which are about - although they may seem to be. They're
words
which are. Between
words
which are about, and these Washington DC
words
which are, is a
vastworld
of difference, the possibility of which Thomas Jefferson literally
spoke
into being.
