We're in Denial of Truth

 A look at a book entitled What We Can't Not Know: A Guide, by J. Budziszewski, the Underground Thomist, whose blog posts I often share.

From Everyday For Life Canada

Recently, I revisited the book, What We Can't Not Know: A Guide. It's an insightful text, and we fully agree with the author's thesis. It's a book worth reading more than once and deserves serious study. In an age of moral relativism and political correctness, the author reminds us of right antidote.

There are countless books out there about religion, ethics and philosophy. However, Budziszewski's text aims to instruct and remind us that we know more than we think we know about morality. The listening reader quickly realizes that the author has much to say that is worth saying. At least, we think so. The author tries to make natural law and ethics understandable, but also why it's relevant in living the Christian life, the virtuous and good life: the life human beings are meant to live.

Today, most people have come to believe that ethical relativism rules the day. Your opinions and feelings are just as good as the next person's; there is no truth, just different views. Human ideologies such as Marxism and fascism have tried to do away with morality but the "all controlling state" has too often collapsed from within. The politics of the despot or an oppressive government, no matter how good the ends, can never justify the means. The lie is soon uncovered. The current pandemic with its unjust public health protocols proves this to be true. Pandemic falsehoods are being made public.

The main argument of the book is pretty straightforward: every human being is endowed with a "deep conscience" and from there spring values that are enduring and ought to guide human thoughts and behaviour. This moral code is built on the Ten Commandments and natural law. The observation is often rejected because of its religious roots, demands and plain common sense.

What We Can't Not Know tells us what we already know but too often refuse to accept or rationalize away. For example, we know that to kill unborn babies is murder. It's also morally wrong to euthanize people by physician assisted-suicide. Destroying life in the name of "mercy" and "end of life care" remains the killing of life. We know that indiscriminate sexual encounters are wrong and so is human trafficking. We know that stealing and lying are wrong. We know that drug addiction and pornography are wrong.

Budziszewski’s book, What We Can’t Not Know: A Guide is truly a refreshing moral voice in our present wilderness of secularism, atheism and nihilism. Personal feelings trump all else. The author reminds us that there is moral truth and we can know it through reason and grace. This natural law is “a universal possession, the emblem of a rational mind, the heirloom of the family of man.” In other words, the moral code is embedded in the human organism. St. Paul says that God has written his law in the human heart.

Budziszewski presents the work of St. Thomas Aquinas who saw human beings endowed by the Creator with the capacity to know through reason and their need to be "witnesses" of natural law. This knowledge comes from a “deep conscience, the witness of design as such, the witness of our own design, and the witness of natural consequences.”

This natural plan, blueprint of human design should guide our behaviour. Then, the question is this: why is there so much ethical confusion currently in our culture about right and wrong? The author responds by saying that natural law isn't a specific set of principles that we just follow like a computer program, but is more akin to general knowledge that leads us to moral truths. What human beings naturally know must be nurtured, taught and developed. In short, a good conscience must be formed. And how do we do this? We do it through culture, family, tradition, institutions and moral education, which sadly for decades, have been in rebellion against conscience and truth.

The problem we face today is that school, family and other institutions that were once there to support the development of conscience have been eroded by relativism. Just think of how secularized our governments and the classroom have become, this includes religious schools. To add to this difficulty, we have embraced ways to rationalize and deny wrongdoing. We argue that sin, lying and denial are legal and "progressive." It's a "live and let live" attitude. So, abortion and euthanasia are no longer considered a crime but human "rights." Radical sex education programs are not abusive and unsafe for children. It's freedom. Let young people make sexual choices and experience sexual pleasure. There is the "right" to do wrong. Good Christian schools are discriminated against in the name of tolerance, equity and inclusion. Pope Benedict XVI described this as the "dictatorship of relativism."

The sexual revolution of the 60s has failed horribly. Why? Because it didn't account for what human beings are biologically and naturally designed to be and do. There is a moral code to define human sexuality, marriage and family. The high divorce rate and the absence of fathers in many families is living proof of the fallout of rejecting moral principles. We do it, "my way." We are in denial.

The author argues that we know what is wrong, yet we rationalize and choose what we want. This goes against the Creator and natural law. When we choose based on self alone, there is a price to be paid both morally and physically. We end up with sexually transmitted diseases, sickness, depression, broken families, drug addiction and much suffering. The author explains this denial because we experience guilt. He calls this the "Five Furies": justification, remorse, confession, atonement and reconciliation. We can try to escape this punishment but the Furies are "inflexible, inexorable and relentless, demanding satisfaction.” They will seek their revenge. This also helps to explain the high consumption of legal and illegal drugs in our society.

If you're looking for a book that soundly argues for the importance of restoring moral order, in a selfish culture obsessed with the self, state and sex, What We Can't Not Know is the book to read. Buy the book for family and friends. Do expect resistance because we live in a society that has decoupled from the natural order, its true essence and Creator. Budziszewski has given us a great book in the service of moral truth and love.

Lastly, we do know when we are doing wrong, but we deny it and rationalize truth. What do you think?