The Democracy of the Dead

Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.

- GK Chesterton

Do not move the ancient boundary which your fathers have set.

- Solomon

Has there ever been a generation of Americans more ahistorical and anti-tradition than ours? We live and make our decisions as if history began with our generation and us. We pay no heed to the wisdom and traditions, i.e., a body of beliefs, handed down from age to age: the understanding that comes from experience winnowed down through the ages means zip to us. We believe that we are fully capable of sorting out the major crises of our day without any guidance from the past. Consequently, we have become a nation of pigmies who are cannibalizing the inheritance passed on to us by giants.

Much of the wisdom we need for successfully navigating through life is found in “the democracy of the dead.” Back in the day (before John Dewy, the father of modern education here in the US), this was one of the great goals of education: to immerse the student in the collective wisdom of ages past as to what constituted a fully functioning human being, a strong family, a harmonious society, a prosperous nation. Western Civilization itself grew out of and sustained itself by this very mindset. In studying theologians, philosophers, artists, societies, and cultures where human dignity, liberty, and equality before constituted law were espoused, each generation sought to conserve and add to this wisdom, so as to pass on the beliefs that secure the pillars of civilization.

Some of the pillars of American civilization are:

God creates humans and ordains government

Belief in a transcendent moral order that is based in religious faith

Belief that individual virtue is essential to societal harmony

Religious liberty

Individual liberty under law

Equality before the law

The right to own what you produce: a critical component of all our freedoms

The most effective governments are localized not centralized

Society is a spiritual community with responsibilities to both past and future generations

Does this mean that we are to accept every espousal of wisdom and tradition (beliefs) passed on by past generations as if it were Holy Writ? Of course not. But if an ancient boundary has been set - if there are generations of customs, mores, and beliefs that have been established – we are fools worthy of destruction, if we treat such as minor inconveniences of no consequence. There is a reason why generations of people adhered to this boundary, why they believed as they did.  At the very least we should find out why this was so, before we throw it into the dustbin of history.

Ignoring the wisdom and traditions of our forbearers while tackling the crises that are threatening civilization with anarchy or tyranny with only our limited reason and experience is hubris of the highest degree. If we want to leave our grandchildren a nation that supports “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” then we ought to discover what body of beliefs from the past created such a culture in the first place.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson.2016

CoachingByMonte

LegendaryLeadership:TheBook

Leveling Variety And The Hatred of Freedom

No matter where we look, we see variety and diversity.

In creation We have deserts and sub-tropical jungles; forests filled with various trees and plants; oceans, lakes, and streams; all kinds of animals, mammals, fish, birds, and bugs; heavens that are filled with uncountable unique stars and planets; and etc.

In humanity We see two genders, various colors of skin, ethnicities, and languages, and cultures filled with people who possess differing temperaments, personalities, intellectual capacities, physical abilities, drives, desires, interests, tastes, talents, and skills.

In the Body of Christ St Paul tells us that the Church, the body of Christ, is made up of various members with a variety of gifts, each one necessary for the working of the entire Body (I Corinthians 12)

In heaven We also do not see any leveling or homogenizing but, rather, people “from every nation, tribe, people and language” worshiping God (Revelation 7)

So why is it that our nation’s government and cultural elite so often wants to poleax people into a cookie-cutter, one size fits all culture, where everyone acts the same, believes the same, and wants the same things? How is it that we think that leveling society to the lowest common denominator in any shape, form, or fashion is going to lead to societal peace and harmony? This is as idiotic as requiring there be no variety in nature.

If variety is the spice of life, then all attempts at leveling are the sapping of life, bleeding out individuality, personality, and mystery.

Oligarchies, tyrants, and what Tocqueville called despotic democracies hate a spicy society, preferring centralized power so as to bring about societal uniformity. Freedom loving people fight for variety because they know that only with freedom do individuals have the possibility of expressing their God given uniqueness, are allowed to utilize their talents as they deem best, have the right to their own property, and where people’s various ideas, diverse opinions and wisdom, can come together and produce a harmonious and flourishing society. In other words, only freedom loving people are fighting for life in all of its fullness.

In the heart of every leveler is hatred for freedom and for the diversity and variety God has brought into being. These egalitarians and utilitarians want to manage and control people, so as to work out their own will for society. Freedom lovers see this for what it is: an aspiration to overthrow the Creator and Lord of the universe and enthrone themselves as gods.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2016 

CoachingByMonte

LegendaryLeadershipTheBook

Finding Contentment

We call bad one who rejects the fruit he is given for the fruit he is expecting or the fruit he was given last time.  - C.S. Lewis, “Perelandra”

David Niven (actor, 1910-1983) once said that, “Watching too much TV can triple our hunger for more possessions, while reducing our personal contentment by about 5 percent for every hour a day we watch.”  Given the average American watches 34 hours of television per week, this suggests that many people are experiencing an insane degree of discontentment. And how could they not, especially given the reality that advertising is geared toward eliciting a desire and transforming it into a fundamental need for, say, a faster sleeker car, furniture fit for a king, or the newest iteration of a smartphone.  

The reality of human nature tends toward an insatiable desire for what we do not possess. On one hand, our desires can certainly spur us on toward bettering our living conditions and ourselves. On the other, left unchecked and undisciplined, such desires can lead to frustration, then to discontent, and finally to full-blown envy. It doesn’t take much discernment to see that a majority of us have found our way to full-blown envy: a cancer eating away at our souls and destroying the peace and harmony of society.

Whereas St Paul lived in a contented state of being, whether in poverty or riches, being abased or abounding (Philippians 4), we generally prosperous Americans can’t seem to experience contentment for any longer than it takes to unwrap the box of our newest toy. But people who are not content with what blessings God has sent them will never be content with what they want but do not yet have.

And herein lies the key to contentment: trusting God.

Discontent is a leading indicator regarding our faith: it tells us that, whatever or whomever it is we are trusting for our wellbeing, it is not God. He knows what we truly need, where He is leading us, and what part we are to play in the theater of life.  Our contentment, then, lies in being grateful for all He has sent our way, which, by the way, keeps us free of greed.

We have all been born into a story written and directed by God. He knows exactly what is needed for each of us to play our part. It will do us no good to demand rewrites and a new director. Our job—our calling—is to play our part well, trusting that the All-wise and All-powerful Director knows what He is doing.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2016

CoachingByMonte

LegendaryLeadershipTheBook

Happiness and Consumption

Happy is the man who, in the course of a complete life, has everything he desires, provided he desires nothing amiss. - St Augustine

Our forefathers pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to securing freedom from a tyrannical King George III and establishing a nation that acknowledges and upholds the inalienable rights of each individual to the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. Tragically, over the last 70 years or so, society has moved toward a wholesale rejection of the complexities of self-responsibility for the simplicity of having King Daddy III in DC making our decisions for us, telling us what will create the greatest degree of happiness for the majority of its subjects. Of course, to take away our inalienable rights, one of the things statists had to do was redefine “happiness,” which now means the fulfilling of our desires without any thought of an objective moral order that applies to the individual, as well as the state.

Just as our Supreme Court often prefers redefining our founding documents according to the latest social fads and political agendas to discovering original intent, and ruling accordingly, so the common citizen prefers his own definition of “happiness” over what the author’s intended.

Newsflash: They were not guaranteeing our rights to infantilism or making way for a parental (re: tyrannical) state.

When Jefferson and Co. wrote of “happiness,” they were referring to pursuing one’s own wellbeing--also referred to as a well-lived life--which, for them, required living virtuously. Therefore, in their minds, while pursuing happiness included seeking after material goods, it went much deeper because happiness depended upon our moral health.

Writing to James Monroe, James Madison expressed his concern about misinterpreting, “the pursuit of happiness” in its application to the interests of society at large (1786):

There is no maxim in my opinion which is more liable to be misapplied, and which therefore needs elucidation, than the current one that the interest of the majority is the political standard of right and wrong. Taking the word “interest” as synonymous with “ultimate happiness,” in which sense it is qualified with every necessary moral ingredient, the proposition is no doubt true. But taking it in its popular sense, as referring to the immediate augmentation of property and wealth, nothing can be more false.

Happiness and Consumption

For us moderns, however, happiness comes from consumption: in the purchasing of more and more possessions or in consuming our neighbor’s possessions via a confiscatory system of taxation. Moreover, because we no longer believe in a divinely ordained and objective moral order, there are no limitations that may be placed upon our pursuit of happiness. There is only one “sacred” standard: my desires. If my desires go unmet, I am unhappy. If I am unhappy, you—either as an individual or individuals collectively represented by the state—must take care to see that my desires are met. After all, such is my right as an American citizen!

This redefining of happiness has opened the doors for an epidemic of consumption: a societal outbreak of spiritual tuberculosis that is suffocating all possibility for true happiness for individuals and society. As long as we live our lives divorcing happiness from virtue, thinking only in terms of our present desires rather than a well-lived life before God, we will be consumed by death.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2016