Freedom of Thought

"And I will war, at least in words (and - should
My chance so happen - deeds) with all who war
With Thought;- and of Thought's foes by far most rude
Tyrants and Sycophants have been and are.
I know not who may conquer: if I could
Have such a prescience, it should be no bar
To this my plain, sworn, downright detestation
Of every despotism in every nation."

- Byron, Don Juan, Canto 9.24


Further to my last post on here, actually both of my grandfathers were Methodist ministers: & my maternal grandfather, his father was a Methodist minister too. So I've got Protestantism running deep in my blood.

This Protestant heritage in me manifests itself in the following ways, among others:

The primary importance of the text.

The focus is on the text at hand, the attempt to understand as far as I can what the text is saying, including the context of its composition -

& then, if this understanding is something that applies to my own conduct or outlook, applying it.

Text has consequences in real life.

This understanding of the text is reached by reference to authorities on the subject if appropriate, but emphatically NOT in slavish subjection to them.

I am happy to hear what the priest* has to say, but I do not require the priest as an intermediary between me & God, or between me & the truth as I see it after due study & reflection.

If the views I arrive at displease the priest, or contradict the authority he represents, then that is the problem of the priest & the said authority, not mine.

In other words, I have the right, & in fact the duty, to make up my own mind on any questions whatsoever.

The more important the question is, the more this applies

e.g. the existence of otherwise of God, the meaning or the lack of it in human life & the Universe.

This Protestant legacy makes me suspicious of authority & of hierarchy - suspicious that they are based essentially on imposture. In my case this applies especially to academic & cultural orthodoxies.

However, I don't oppose for the sake of opposing, & insist on decrying everything. If I think some element of an orthodoxy is correct, I am happy to admit it.

The point is that there is nothing - NOTHING - which is exempt from my critical scrutiny, neither in me nor in the world.

My search is for the truth as I see it: & I don't rule out any potential sources, & I'm not bothered who else agrees or disagrees with my conclusions; often conclusions which are likely to be temporary & subject to revision, abandonment, inversion.

As my experience increases, my point of view changes: & if it stays the same on the surface, it deepens below that surface.

Having discovered some fragment of the truth by patient & detailed research & reflection, it is part of my Protestant heritage to then feel the requirement to proclaim it: however popular of unpopular it proves to be, however palatable or bitter to the taste. This is the Protestant imperative to preach, & bear personal witness.

The hero-figure of this urge is surely John the Baptist:

"The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."

(- Mark. 1.3)

My urge to preach finds one of its expressions in this blog, in Bulletins.

*The figure of the priest is introduced here in a synecdochical capacity, evidemment.