some not so clear thoughts

so how do we feel about the idea of things being relative?

in one of my classes this week we've been discussing "oedipus rex" (doesn't that make me sound like i'm in undergrad all over again?), and today we focused on the very obvious theme of fate versus free will. it seems that with this play sophacles is trying to convey some absolute truths to his viewers/readers, namely that there are some things that are just flat out wrong. his examples of these absolute wrongs are, of course, killing your father, sleeping with your mother, and defying the gods. (this is not to say that sophacles wasn't trying to make his reader sympathetic to oedipus. that is, after all, the great conflict and tragedy of the story. but nevertheless, his choice of dilemma does say something about his own beliefs, i feel).

and this recognition of these supposed absolute truths spurred a discussion about whether or not these are in fact absolute truths. whether or not, for that matter, there are any such thing as an absolute truth.

now i, for one, have always generally held a belief that there are some things that are relative. i just can't help but think that we, as people who have different lives, minds and experiences, will view things differently and so those things are, therefore, not absolute. thus, what may be for me an absolute truth (i.e. capital punishment makes us too much like those we are trying to punish), certainly may not be an absolute truth for everyone else.

but today i was posed with the question of whether or not the belief in relativity is simply a cop-out. do we use the excuse of things being "relative" to avoid the uncomfortable situation where we have to firmly stand by and defend our beliefs? do we use it to mask the fact that our beliefs may have no greater foundation than the fact that they are ours? (but, to that extent, isn't something like belief/faith alone enough reason to find something to be an absolute truth?).

i find this happens most as a christian living in a not always christian-friendly area of the country. what i may hold as my absolute truths as a christian, i recognize is definitely not what many others hold to be remotely true (and you learn very quickly that expressing your belief in this absoluteness can get you labeled, many times, incorrectly). does that make truth relative? is there no absolute truths then, in the entire world? does a belief in absolute truths make us fundamentalists? is being a fundamentalist necessarily a bad thing?

i'm sorry, this is such a convoluted post. i can't wrap my head around this topic, and if i tried, i'd write an entire book on it, so i'm just going to stick with this. i'd love to hear your thoughts though! they may help me sort out my own.

i promise to post some fluff this weekend and get away from the hum-drum dreariness of my recent posts.

oh, sophacles.