Progress Heroics

Whatever human theme we choose, of substance, there needs to be explanation about what is meant, what is included, perhaps what is excluded in the discussion to understanding.  For Christians there needs to be understanding what is heroic to society and what is heroic to God.  It may even include contradiction within and between secular and spiritual contexts.  What is heroic to this person is folly to another.  In general terms, nearly everyone agrees that beliefs and/or acts are heroic if they entail sufficiently large risk to the persons engaged of their own free will, or giving good report of any engagement forced on them.

The real heroes of society and God are those who give themselves, without self-interests as primary, to progress related to improvement of and for persons.  For mankind progress is that making life better in nature than they have had in the past.  For mankind genuinely choosing Christian faith and maturity of that personal faith in life experience may require heroic efforts.  This is a point well taken by Blaise Pascal in his writings.  For him the heroic was to bet on God – the giving up of the known human pattern for a faith pattern reliant upon an unseen God.  The Christian then has two heroic ideals to address – a sacrificial surrender both to God in righteousness (maturity as modeled in Jesus Christ) and the human ideal of progress (serving mankind).  The Christian discovers that God incorporates both ideals in heroic life.

Of the concepts generally expected by a sophisticated citizenry is progress.  For them progress is to touch virtually everything related to mankind.  Progress in agriculture is found in treatment of soils and seeds, in machinery and management, in irrigation and drainage – all included in creativity related to new efforts like storage systems, hydroponics, and the list extends in variant interconnecting scenarios. Not only does all this require education and training to accomplish and manage for a massive population, it is faced with a variety of backgrounds in the population that may be at odds with one another.  At the store, I pass rows of natural (no additives to soils) grown foods, and those that have been grown in enriched soils.  The discussion about the values and changes in the products are a matter of debate requiring some heroics.

The philosophers arise seeking the good (progressive) life.  In our time we devote time to read, understand and discuss the projections of the best of these persons – related to all of life experience, both personal and social.  The writings of Plato (sometimes quoting his beloved teacher, Socrates) and Aristotle, (sometimes disagreeing with his beloved teacher, Plato) remain for modern consideration with innumerable advocates of this or that since to plague us with variances, amendment, addition, contradiction/paradox – so that one may not be clear who is friend or foe – right or wrong.  We can’t opt out of the fray if we live heroically.

Progress, often a mystery as to its identity, has been perceived as an ideal.  As this is being written there appears daily the stories of the ferocity of terrorists claiming religious authority for the murder of persons including children and other innocents related to their cause.  Although they claim spiritual authority for their atrocities, they are really mired in opposition to progress.  Opposition to progress held for centuries in some oriental nations.  Progress was interpreted as violation of the culture found to be attractive at a high point and was deliberately stalled at that point.  The land borders were closed and the old was perpetuated until the border blockage was broken in modern times.  (Theodore Roosevelt sent navy into Japan’s waters)  But the new effort to block progression to freedom for human participation in all the earth has taken on warlike activity and atrocities that were not believed to arise again after the two world wars.  We can hope that the human progress of nations to peace will reach its peaceful context.  Peace is an objective for human progress.  Peace is a goal of spiritual progression that incorporates peace.  The difference is that spiritual peace is made a part of faith culture, and that begins with the individual.  It is a peace higher than international peace, in that faith persons find idealism as a guide so can know personal peace when there is no peace.  Personal peace is a standard factor in Christian life and culture.  If chosen it is also an illustration of what may be identified in secular culture.  Peace is heroic, an option to the life of the jungle.