reading: That's Saul, folks
Bess Lovejoy, The Peak

I should admit that I have never read any of John Ralston Saul's books. I did, however, once live with someone who did, and Mr. Saul's ideas were frequently the subject of our late night conversations-the kind held during while doing dishes and wine-drinking, and lamenting the state of our bathroom.

Saul's ideas, at least translated through my roommate, had quite an effect on me. He says the sorts of things I have known instinctively all my life.

His talk on January 19 at the Stanley Theatre was mostly focused on his newest book, On Equilibrium, but it also served as a good overview of his ideas. Much of his thought seems to turn around the idea that our society was not designed well for human beings. He argues that the specialism we are driven towards doesn't take full advantage of our capacities. The individualist rhetoric so often put forward runs contrary to what human society is about, and that the predictability and certainty we so value belies what makes us most uniquely human. "Certainty is always an illusion, because eventually we'll all be dead," he said.

He railed against the creation of artificial dichotomies, such as head versus heart, reason versus irrationality. And he had some very good points about how our society exoticizes and seems to celebrate nonconformity, when in reality to act as nonconformist is often to be labelled an irrelevant romantic and to not be taken seriously.

What he's saying is not at all new. The critiques he elaborated of our society's instrumental reason go back to the Frankfurt school, and railing against capitalism, were one of Marx's favourite pastimes. Plus it's a good thing I agree with him from my gut, because if I didn't, his arguments would not have won me over. That's because he didn't actually present many arguments. He just made ambiguous statements, such as "sharing is at the heart of what society is about", or "love is private, it is not a mechanism which affects change."

If university has taught me anything, it is that critical thinking begins by defining one's terms, and that claiming the meaning of a term ("love is" such and such) is a very powerful act. I'm extremely wary when anyone wants to tell me what society is about, or what being a human is about, even when I agree with them. What we should really admire about Saul is his courage. While his thoughts may not be new and not totally rigorous, attempting to be a public intellectual in these times is a courageous act. To be able to survive in life with a critique that goes so deeply to the core of what modern society is all about is an admirable act.

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