WHO KNEW?!
BY
MICHAEL KOENIGSKNECHT
Presented
The
Joint Meeting at the Fortnightly of
Knock, Knock
Who’s
There?
Who Knew
Who
Knew What?
Who’s What?
What’s
Going On?
I
don’t know any What’s Going
Or
Coming
Who
do you think you are?
What happened to
What?
When, are you going to
answer my questions?
Who, What, When,
Next you’ll be
calling me Where!
Let’s keep it
simple, shall we?
It’s Who Knew.
Friends,
Ladies, Gentlemen, lend me your ears; I come to ask the questions, not to
answer them. The evil that men do –
that’s a subject for another evening. Tonight’s topic is Who Knew.
First, is
it even a question? Or is it, rather, a
rueful declaration of futility; as Jean Paul Sartre used to say, an existential
cri de coeur?
How will
we ever know? Who shall we ask? Is there an answer to this central issue of this
time, and of this place?
Is the
human mind capable of penetrating this mystery?
Or, shall we, seat mates on the tilt-o’wheel of life, simply have to
live with this ambiguity at the very core of our dinner conversation?
I am
reminded of something Groucho Marx once said . . . very amusing . . . But, let me come back to that later. Let me come back to Mr. Who Knew and to Mr. Groucho
Marx. First, let me talk about Thomas Jefferson; there
may be a serious, even a melancholy, aspect to this topic.
Thomas
Jefferson was a man of politics, science and theology. Putting aside ineluctable human frailties,
most of us would consider him a thoughtful, articulate and educated man. He was well traveled, spoke and read several
languages and devoted time to scientific study, even during periods of
substantial commitment to public service.
But
looking back on Mr. Jefferson now, we see intellectual blind spots. One was Mr. Jefferson’s struggle with
accepting the fact of the extinction of species. Today, it is accepted fact that of all the
species that have lived on earth, 99.9% are currently extinct. But 200 years ago, the concept of species
extinction was radical. Fossils, large and small, had been discovered and
examined. Theories included that these
were remains of current species which had simply relocated. Jefferson himself examined some notable
fossils discovered on eroded river banks in the
At the
time of Lewis & Clark’s expedition French scientists had already published
works about species extinction.
In 1859
Into the
early twentieth century,
The quest
for knowledge, science and the scientific method are wonderful things. They co-exist
with other aspects of human nature: romanticism, religious beliefs, a tendency
to anthropomorphism and to reason from the very specific and temporary to the
general and infinite. All of these
respond to our thirst for answers to large questions. Sometimes we conflate two or more of these
aspects to satisfy our need for answers.
Our human tendency
to prematurely believe that we know, that we have “The Answer”, is actually
counter-productive. As long as men knew
that the earth was the center of the universe, a better understanding of the
mechanics of our solar system was impossible.
As long as
people think, as did
Even
Aren’t we
all, like Jefferson and Darwin, subject to emotional and cultural limits to
stepping into new intellectual territory?
Isn’t
human knowledge itself a bit like earthly flora and fauna, subject to
evolution? Let’s be honest, 99.9% of our
ideas are doomed to extinction. Any one person’s knowledge is constrained by
their position on the intellectual evolutionary chart. Each of us may be of different heights, but
we all stand on the shoulders of those who came before.
So, Ladies
and Gentlemen, is it possible to keep it simple, to a concise Who Knew? Must we not also consider matter, time and
space?
Recall our
friend, so rudely roused from his restful repose by an abrupt “knock,
knock.” Was he not correct to ask What?
When? and Where? in answer to the laconic Who Knew?
Ladies and
gentlemen, can we name a grand prize winner of our global game by merely asking
Who Knew? I think the answer obvious,
don’t you?
Truly, we
are on a journey tonight. Together, we have
just experienced, in this room, incarnate, that very intellectual tendency just
mentioned: the impulse to the premature conclusion. Guys, I know what you are thinking: “Gosh,
that never happened before!” Under the
sway of the compulsion to believe that we know, we seize upon the offered
answer and declare the discussion closed.
Some people are satisfied with the premature conclusion, others
not.
Well, let
me assure those of you not so easily satisfied: this inquest is not yet
concluded. We have yet to touch upon the
seminal point.
There
remains the as yet unasked Why. Not the
day-to-day, common why, but the Great Why.
When we
have amassed heaps of facts, of Who’s, What’s, When’s and Where’s, the Great
Why is still out there. It is not
factual, it is not reasonable, and it will not be still.
Cleared-eyed
science, reason, focused intellect are wondrous things, but they do not answer
every purpose. What lies beyond reason,
beyond intellect? There be the Great Why.
Yes, oh
yes, young Ishmael, there be the Great Whyly Why. She lurks in deep waters. Often submerged, she glides silent and
powerful, just below the surface; a dark shadow beneath the flotsam and jetsam
of our daily lives.
Our quest
for the Great Why may seem senseless, impossible even; yet, pursue her we
must. So, we few, we happy few, voyage
beyond science, beyond reason. On our
journey, who will offer map or compass; or better, GPS? When we search our memories, one man breaks
the surface, gasping for breath and clutching the device of our salvation. That
man is Groucho Marx.
Groucho
Marx, that piquant philosopher and game show host, and; confidentially, a
flagrant, casual philatelist. Oh, yes,
ladies and gentlemen, you know those
Tonight
Groucho Marx shall remain clothed in the sensible woolens of moral
philosophy. The great man once said,
quite casually, he may not have realized the profundity of his words:
“Any man
who says he sees right through women, is missing a lot.”
So, so,
true. If we but infer what the Great
Marx actually intended to impart, our toes will be pointed in the right
direction.
What lies
beyond reason and intellect? Beyond the Who,
What, When and Where’s? There be beauty.
There be poetry. There be mystery,
spirituality and humor. Let not our too
sharply focused reason cause us to miss those.
In the
end, my friends, Who Cares, Who Knew?!