metonymy4u

If we define, for a moment, an ironist as a person seeking to create a new vocabulary never before heard, what then is a theorist? A theorist could be defined as a person who follows an ironist and seeks to interpret the meaning of the ironist’s work for all humanity. These two are in tension. The ironist seeks to invent new metaphors while the theorist seeks to find a final, big set of metaphors that shall apply to all people. I am not saying this is always the nature of ironists and theorists, rather that we use these words this way for a moment in time. Because then we can understand the modern writer as one who seeks to be both ironist and theorist (poet and philosopher). Why would someone try this? Well, perhaps because looking back at the history of ironists like Socrates, the Buddha, Jesus or Mohammed, we notice that they are followed by centuries of theorists who attempt (ironically enough) to codify and universalize by any means necessary, the teachings of the original. And then they fall into metaphysics. Which could be described as the effort to anchor the words of the ironist to a reality out there in the world. Once the anchor is built, others can be saved and the theorists become priests. Priests who convey the Truth to the unwashed masses. Unfortunately this way often lies war and burnings at the stake. So I beg you not to forget: the ironist was a person like you and me. You too are as great as all these. Your mind is the Buddha’s mind. Your divine grace is as eternal as Jesus. Your wisdom as great as Socrates. Your submission as sublime as Mohammed. These people were great only to the extent that they were remembered. And the remembering was an accident of time. So is yours and mine.