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Should there be any limits on knowledge? Is there
anything we shouldn't know? Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography (St.
Martin's Press) suggests that if there are no boundaries to knowledge, maybe there should
be. Truth be told, however, the creative tension between the desire for such boundaries
and the inability to hold them firm is a source of a much more valuable form of
knowledge--moral consciousness.
There is good reason why we must approach certain
kinds of knowledge with moral integrity. Knowledge is responsibility. Sometimes the
responsible choice, according to the author, Roger Shattuck of Boston University, is
ignorance. He doesn't call it ignorance, but prudence.
We are familiar with three contemporary quagmires
where knowledge, morality, freedom, social norms and higher values are tangled almost
beyond hope of resolution: atomic energy, genetic engineering, and pornography. In his
attempt to create some moral consciousness from these enigmas, he reminds us that they are
just the latest in an ongoing story of the unfolding of history. What if Eve, for example,
had not eaten of the apple? Sometimes breaking certain taboos is essential to our
development. We can see how atomic energy has found redeeming value. It is less easy to
find redeeming value in pornography.
An old definition of taboo is useful:
"holiness and pollution not yet differentiated." Over centuries humanity
gradually has separated what is holy in sexuality from what is polluted. Shattuck sees
pornography, and he examines the writing of Marquis de Sade in depth, as an attempt to
undo our development by trying to stir up fascination with the horrendous.
Shouldn't we be free to explore this domain of
human nature? Some argue that Sade's work is of value in eliciting our outrage and
reinforcing our moral boundaries. Perhaps so, but sometimes the effect is the opposite.
Serial killers, who have become almost a faddish anti-hero in contemporary media
entertainment, have often indicted pornography. Shattuck takes seriously the last words of
Ted Bundy, who, prior to his execution as a sadistic serial killer, begged experts to
respect the polluting power of pornography. There is such a thing as toxic knowledge. In
trying to balance the virtue of freedom with the virtue of respect for humanity, Shattuck
concludes that pornography should be given a warning label: "Caution, exposure to
this material may be hazardous to your psyche."
What about good and useful knowledge, but
knowledge that is obtained without proper credentials? The issue is more serious than
whether or not to print photos taken by intrusive paparazzi. Consider the Nazi experiments
putting people in frigid water and studying their medical signs as they slowly froze to
death. What if the knowledge so cruelly obtained in those experiments could now be used to
save lives today? Some have argued that to legitimize that knowledge by using it betrays
the people who involuntarily died in the immoral creation of that knowledge. Such
knowledge should remain taboo. Others have argued that to save lives with that knowledge
redeems the lives that were stolen. How do we know which position to take on this dilemma?
The development of ethics surrounding research
with human subjects--and animals, too!--reflects our understanding that the press of
curiosity needs to regulated by moral sensitivity. We can not afford knowledge "at
all costs." We do not accept that "the ends justify the means." It is not
right to hurt people even to obtain knowledge intended to help people.
Today our curiosity, expressed through
explorations in both science and art, is carrying us into the future faster than society
can constructively respond. What part of this curiosity is a reflection of a divine
impulse seeking greater consciousness and what part is an alienated ego playing with life
as if it were a toy?
Like pornography, that can pervert a vulnerable
sensitivity, so can occult or spiritual knowledge, such as the Kabbalah, destroy those
unprepared for transformation. When liberating spiritual awareness meets limited human
understanding, the result is not always spiritual.
The gap between an all knowing Creator and the
knowledgeable human is, according to Shattuck, what defines our humanity. The gap sets our
bounds. The gap is narrowing. Yet it is the power of the Creator, more than the Creator's
love, that we are more rapidly assimilating. Clearly, we need more of the love that
creates wisdom and compassion before we can cope with the detached knowledge that lust for
the power to control craves. There may be limits, in fact, to detached knowledge. Edgar
Cayce was capable of passing along tremendous knowledge and wisdom because of his ability
to surrender to the intelligence of supreme love. His mystical union with the creative
forces still faced boundaries of knowing that God also had to respect. "Even God
doesn't know how you will choose!" Our very freedom of choice exits because there is
a veil of ignorance surrounding the quantum leap in our own moment of choosing. The taboo
on knowing yourself may grant you the freedom to be yourself. Shall you break that taboo?
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