In the entry, The Golfer’s Wife, a reader accuses M., another male commenter, of insensitivity. He says M. denies the primacy of love over racial considerations in marriage and all personal relations. In his response to this criticism, M. gets to the heart of why these issues will always be troublesome and why they will never be absent of gray areas and blurred lines. He also succinctly describes the traditionalist viewpoint on the interconnection between spirit and matter in social affairs.
M. responds, in part:
“Look, I am not unconflicted about all of this. I think this is because we exist as human beings on several related but distinct levels at the same time, and what is considered Quality or Beauty or Excellence on one level may not be considered that way on another.
At one level we are biological beings, animals, motivated by our survival and sexual drives. At a higher, related but distinct level, we are social beings, motivated by a need to be accepted, to gain fame and wealth and status. At yet a higher level, we are intellectual beings, motivated by a drive for truth, nobility, and idealism. And at yet an even higher level, we are spiritual beings, with eternal souls, living here to learn ineffable lessons and grow towards God. Each higher level is dependent on the lower levels for existence, but the values of each of the levels can be in conflict.
So at a spiritual level, I agree with Rita in her interest in spiritual virtue and growth. And I even agree with liberals in their intellectual interest in what seems to be a noble ideal: the end of strife on earth due to racial identity. Who could disagree that, taken by itself, that is a noble ideal? I believe that when possible, the values of the higher levels must take precedence over the values of the lower levels.”
Below is the exchange in full.
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