Understanding

Through the years I have read widely, from many sources, covering many themes, and find the effort engaging even though it arouses within me a mild depression.  The despair is not dangerous, and in itself is an educational factor even if it is somewhat depressing to the serious mind seeking truth.  Depressing because no matter what one believes there is considerable support from carefully prepared reasonable supporting documents from contenders for contradictory arguments, themes and conducts.  Which is best?

Believing in the life of the mind, and noting the dominance of emotions from the general public in most matters, I wonder if society can manage freedom well – since the ballot appears to be more influenced by emotions, money invested in campaigns, partisanship given high priority, and even weather determining whether voters will go to the polls.  Even persons, well educated, knowing what is going on, benefitted by the exercise of the better parts of our natures take stances, use their powers, follow their personal prejudices, so to make policies and follow systems that lead to warfare, failure of economies, unsatisfactory administrations, sometimes illegal practices commonly seen in graft and bribery.  There are additional negative factors, some bizarre.  They make me want to call back over the centuries and ask Plato: Now, what do you think of this or that?  We remember that Plato did not have confidence in the ordinary citizens for this purpose and believed the intelligentsia should rule.  He was a man of the mind.  The sum total of the failures of the masses may be no greater than the sum total of the well-educated who are also able to control great wealth so to assist them in their objectives, some of which do not appear to serve the public welfare.  The scenarios range along differently, but the consequences point to human imperfection that misses gaining the mark that is possible for mankind – not perfect at their best, but satisfactory.  We seem to miss satisfactory contexts even with intellectual persons working the processes.

Among many other factors, I have learned that whatever a person believes, there are others who believe the same things and write well in defense of the belief/conduct context – perhaps also well in analyzing the failures of those holding contrary beliefs.  The outcome for me has been that there may be several ways to do a thing well (workable success) and several ways in doing it badly (workable failure).  We will have government, well or ill formed, either of which are better than anarchy.  Our life coins are made of more than one head and one tail.  There are various ways in which a problem may be met that will work and various ways to be followed that will defeat the purpose.  This ought to lead to cooperation, to counsel, to care for decision-making that is passed on with authority and legality to the multicultural society.  This is so complex that no one has yet cast society in a fully satisfactory history.  Success has been limited.

Scripture offers acceptance in all the options for social order: patriarchal, militarism, tribalism, dictatorship, judges (theistic in ancient Israel), kings, subordinate authority (Israel under Babylonian or Roman rule) and even family centered order (reviewed in the closing chapters of Judges).  All had periods of success and all fell to failure until recovery in some way leading to continuing cycles up, over and down.  In some way we can follow, even in private life, the similar cycles of some success to decline to some level of failure.  If the failure is great enough, as experiences in the loss of a war or an economic decline for a nation, or a divorce, or loss of a job or a death of a loved one for an individual, there is a forced new beginning with some progress until the next negative cycle is imposed through wrong actions, morals, concepts, and omissions. Likely the greatest omission in any human context is the management of the imperfection of mankind noted in Christianity as depravity a much maligned point of view by that mass of humanists who harbor the feeling that mankind may be, at this stage of things, faulty in the ways of human beings, but not crippled somewhat by a sinful nature.  The best leadership for families, business, education, governments, institutions or even self-direction is to determine with understanding the force of negative human nature.