Truth & Power

 

"Whoever is partner with a thief hates his own life; He hears the curse [when swearing an oath to testify], but discloses nothing [and commits perjury by omission]. " Prov 29:24

"'My house will be called the House of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers." Matt 21:13

"Is not impotent truth just as despicable as power that gives no heed to truth?" Arendt, Truth & Politics

 

 

To be or not to be

In the most basic sense, truth simply "is" ... being ... existence ... "what is". Thus Pontius Pilate unknowingly answered his own question when he asked, "What is truth?" which is, perhaps, why Jesus [the great "I am"] did not respond. This truth is both unmoved and unmovable as described in Aristotle's metaphysics:

“[T]here is something which moves while itself unmoved. ... Th[is] first mover, then, exists of necessity; and in so far as it exists by necessity, its mode of being is good, and it is in this sense a first principle. ... On such a principle, then, depend the heavens and the world of nature. ... We say therefore that God is a living being, eternal, most good, so that life and duration continuous and eternal belong to God; for this is God."

To do or not to do

But the ancient sentiment goes on to further describe existence as movement making it personal ... "handsome is that handsome does" ... extending being to becoming ... one to many ... static to dynamic ... potential to actual ... eternal to changeable ... timeless to temporal ... stasis to agency.

• stasis - Latin stare = "to stand, make or be firm, condition, position, state, manner, attitude"
• agency - Latin agere = "to set in motion, drive forward, to do, exert power, produce effect"
  

"We must consider also in which of two ways the nature of the universe contains the good, and the highest good, whether as something separate and by itself, or as the order of the parts. Probably in both ways, as an army does; for its good is found both in its order and in its leader, and more in the latter; for he does not depend on the order but it depends on him. And all things are ordered together somehow, but not all alike,-both fishes and fowls and plants; and the world is not such that one thing has nothing to do with another, but they are connected. For all are ordered together to one end, but it is as in a house, where the freemen are least at liberty to act at random, but all things or most things are already ordained for them …” 

And so the age old question arises, "What happens when the irresistible force meets the immovable object?" ... when power diverges from the truth which quickens it?

Money is power ... but "What is money?"

Paraphrasing Pilot, does the question "What is money?" contain its own answer? Yes and No. "Yes" to the extent that money reflects "what is" ... existence. "No" when money is detached from "what is" ... in which case the power of money diverges from the truth of money ... setting the stage for a cosmic collision.

 

It is increasingly clear that the global, financial detachment of money from "what is" by a small group of unchallenged elites who have hijacked the people's power [demos-kratos] by using that delusion of fiat money and credit is now cascading the destruction of not only the atmosphere and environment but of humanity itself in what can reasonably be described as unjustifiable robbery of cosmic proportions:

“Another characteristic of a living society is that it requires food. In a museum the crystals are kept under glass cases; in zoological gardens the animals are fed. Having regard to the universality of reactions with environment, the distinction is not quite absolute. It cannot, however, be ignored. The crystals are not agencies requiring the destruction of elaborate societies derived from the environment; a living society is such an agency. The societies which it destroys are its food. This food is destroyed by dissolving it into somewhat simpler social elements. It has been robbed of something. Thus, all societies require interplay with their environment; and in the case of living societies this interplay takes the form of robbery. The living society may, or may not, be a higher type of organism than the food which it disintegrates. But whether or no it be for the general good, LIFE IS ROBBERY. It is at this point that with life morals become acute. The robber requires justification.” - AN Whitehead, Process and Reality, Chap III - The Order of Nature, Section X - Life and Food, 1929

If YOU have doubts about the prospects for a cosmic reckoning ... or should we say wrecking ... I encourage you to listen to this exchange [pretty much one way] between a Swedish godling of finance [let's call him Molech] and an American shepherd and grower of figs [let's call him Amos]. Like Molech, you will be speechless ... which is what ALWAYS happens when power meets truth.

 Perjured by omission ?

"They hate the poor at the gate, and he who speaks correct things they despise. ... Because of this, he who understands in that time will be quiet for it, because that time is of evil." Amos

[Please read the whole book of Amos and remember ... either GOD is not a respecter of persons or nations ... or else HE is a liar ... and, either way, YOU should be frightened.]

We have only one account in the New Testament of Jesus using physical violence [arguably twice]: driving the money changers out of the temple with a whip. After all, he pardoned a dishonest tax collector over lunch and was crucified between thieves to whom he showed only mercy. Why was this offense so abhorent to him? Why such zeal for God among a group of socially accepted [even necessary] business persons?

 

Perhaps, it was because these offenders had unknowingly crossed the invisible line from their corrupt nomos into the timeless logos ... using money to rip power from truth ... defacing the image of God in His creation ... and then, TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY, claiming "IN GOD WE TRUST" as the justification for their robbery and thereby blaspheming his name with oaths and making it appear that God condoned and ordered their robbery of the people who came to the temple for His help.

It is dangerous to remain silent in the face of robbery ... because robbery must be justified. But it is damnable, when the robber falsely swears trust in God.

 

WE MUST SPEAK OUT ... WE MUST DO SOMETHING. WWJD?

Prayer & Education

The best thing, where it is possible, is to keep the patient from the serious intention of praying altogether. ... One of their poets has recorded that he did not pray "with moving lips and bended knees" but merely "composed his spirit to love" and indulged "a sense of supplication". That is exactly the sort of prayer we want. ... At the very least, they can be persuaded that the bodily position makes no difference to their prayers; for they constantly forget, what you must always remember, that they are animals and that whatever their bodies do affects their souls.
Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis

What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? - Matt 16

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your entire spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. - 1 Thes 5

a $ensible supplication

In Thinking Smartly About Climate Change, Bjorn Lomborg begins with a concession to nature:

"There is scientific dispute over the extent to which global warming is manmade. [But since I speak as an economist and not a scientist] I will not weigh in on that controversy, except to concede that global warming is real, to some large extent manmade, and a serious problem."

 ... and concludes with an appeal for cultural affirmation that requires neither breaking nor sacrificing [which is truly amazing given the admission above that we have a "serious problem"]:

"[W]hen it comes to climate change, our focus should not be on [mitigation, accommodation or adaptation] policies that cost a lot, deliver little, and in the end likely don’t even work. Rather, we should focus our efforts on developing new technology and encouraging innovation that will lead to the production of affordable and dependable green energy. It is possible for us to have a sensible climate policy without breaking the bank and without sacrificing the amazing opportunities delivered by cheap and abundant energy."

The cursory reader is easily persuaded that Lomborg has issued a prayer ... a $ensible supplication ... and without requiring us to make any bodily change in our current posture ... without the trouble of "moving lips and bended knees". Surely this is the best way to pray ... to maximize profit$ or, at worst, to minimize losse$ ... what more can a poor soul be expected to do?

sanctify body, soul and spirit

In Breaking Together [available free in ePUB], Jem Bendell also begins with a concession to nature:

"[After] a year’s unpaid leave from my university job to look more closely at the primary science [in many different disciplines] ... I [with extensive help from an inter-disciplinary team] conclude[d] that it was too late to prevent both catastrophic change to human societies and the inevitable collapse of the industrial consumer way of life."

... but follows immediately with a multi-disciplinary, organic, diagnostic appeal to education [the "moving lips"] which Lomborg in large part skipped [because he was "not a scientist"]:

"The first step towards ... steadiness is to realise just how bad things are and will become, no matter what we do. Then we can get real about what aspects of the world we might wish to save. We can also aspire to not repeat the same patterns that caused the problems in the first place, as we try to respond to them. That requires us tackling the true cause, rather than piecemeal activities addressing the symptoms, which will be swept away by the tides of history. It also means we should not ditch what we believe to be right, just because we have become anxious and more vulnerable to manipulation."

... and then concludes with a loving call to free ourselves for cultural revaluation [the "bended knees" which Lomborg did not require]:

"The aim is not just to ‘save’ more of the world, but to sense the world more fully, respect its beauty, and help keep it worth living in. Therefore, it is critical that we keep in mind some universal values as we consider the size and significance of the troubles faced today."

Even the cursory reader can feel the discomforting energy and unsettling movement that Bendell demands ... the vigorous exercise he requires if one is to "sense, respect and keep" the world he claims to envision and value ... if one is to have any hope of ultimately attaining a "composed spirit of love" as opposed to being distracted by Lombard's siren call to "amazing opportunities delivered ... without breaking or sacrificing".

education ... tethers culture to nature

"I commence a sacred discourse, a most true hymn to God the Founder, and I judge it to be piety, not to sacrifice many hecatombs of bulls to Him and to burn incense of  innumerable perfumes and cassia, but first to learn myself, and afterwards to teach others too, how great He is in wisdom, how great in power, and of what sort in goodness. For to wish to adorn in every way possible the things that should receive adornment and to envy no thing its goods—this I put down as the sign of the greatest goodness, and in this respect I praise Him as good that in the heights of His wisdom He finds everything whereby each thing may be adorned to the utmost and that He can do by his unconquerable power all that he has decreed." - GALEN, on the Use of Parts. Book III

In Ideas Have Consequences, Richard Weaver's stereopticon reveals the external power of culture using Plato's allegory of the cave:

"The chains which keep the prisoners from turning their heads [to glimpse the real things that stand between the light outside the cave and the shadows they perceive within] are the physical monopoly which the engines of publicity naturally possess."

Socrates goes even further to assert that, for those who become accustomed to cave life, these external chains become internalized and preferable to unchained living [aka liberty] in the sunlight outside which

"would hurt [their] eyes, and [so they] escape by [re]turning [back inside the cave] to the [shadows] which [they are] able to look at, and these [they] believe to be clearer than what is being shown to [them in the sunlight]."

Bendell echos Galen ... first learn then teach. And, by his own admission, in the learning he has experienced the pain that comes from walking in the light ... something Lombard declines to attempt by claiming a "clearer" and painless view can be had from inside the cave. And yet, when reading Bendell, which of us does not feel a tugging in our heart ... something attempting to drag us from Lombard's cave of chained comforts into the harsh light outside which we want to trust?

That tug is prayer and education [which are identical] ... the unbreakable tether that pulls against the chains of culture which bind us to our dark comforts ... drawing us out of the cave ... towards freedom through submission to nature as the organic [ie. "working"] reality of which we are always a part and from which we can never be apart.

As Bendell predicts ... in the end, either we pray and work together in the universe ... or we break together ... and the choice is ours to make everyday ... by embracing or rejecting the role of prayer & education in the 3e's. Both Moses' 4th commandment  and St. Benedict's dictum affirm this description of the task before us ... we must learn and work together in the creation. Ora et labora in natura ... which is the 3e's in Latin.

Ora et Labora

 

"When My servants ask about Me, I am indeed close to them. I listen to the prayer of every supplicant, when he calls on Me. Let them also, with a will, listen to My call, and believe in Me, so that they may walk in the right way" (Qur'an 2:186).

"Did you know that 6 month prior to Ramadan the Sahaba’s used to make du’a to Allah that He would let them reach Ramadan. After Ramadan they used to make du’a for 6 month that Allah would accept their fasting and good deeds." Cristina Tarantino, "Be Successful This Ramadan"

Education and Economy

St. Benedict claimed conscious human life should be [is only?] conducted in one of two stages: prayer or labor ... ora et labora. Some even went so far as to claim an identity ... that prayer IS labor and labor IS prayer ... to indicate that the two ideas presuppose one another in such a way that neither is meaningful if separated from the other.

 

Just looking at the Latin words evokes the idea that they are related ... with labor [labora] being some sort of extension of prayer [ora]  by combining it with the Latin word labium or the Greek lobos meaning "lip or lobe" ... implying we must "speak" our prayers into existence thru our work ... although the precise root for the Latin word labora remains obscure.

 

For those who have considered the 3e's, prayer and labor resemble the notions of Education and Economy. [For more on prayer as Education see the Lamedh page in this blog].

 

Distinction and Connection

But distinguishing prayer from labor ... Education from Economy ... without disconnecting them is vital. Indeed, the 4th commandment reveals the relationship as 6 parts labor to 1 part prayer [ie. "not-labor" or "leisure" ... which is "schole" in the Greek from which we get our word "school"] insisting on the distinction:

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.  Exodus 20

Of course, some Jews observed the distinction without understanding the connection. They identified prayer and the sabbath with the temple ... where "with the temple" is the literal translation of the word "contemplation".  [And anyone looking at the 4th commandment can see that "family" and "household" are at the heart of it all ... which is the topic in our prior posting].

The Jews also knew from Psalm 46 that once in the temple on the Sabbath they were to "be still and know that I am God" ... which Jesus attempted to explain on many situations ... including driving buyers, sellers and money changers from the temple [on two occassions?] ... clearly distinguishing Economy from Education without disconnecting them.

So how about us? What do we understand about the distinction and the connection between prayer and labor?

Process or progress

Most people believe the work ethic drives economic progress. But labor is only the power that drives us forward ... prayer is the steering mechanism that provides our direction and navigation. How does prayer do this?

The 3e's claim life is a process in which Ecology stands between Education and Economy ... God stands between prayer and labor ... as the missing link which connects Education to Economy ... so that each plays its assigned role and fulfills its intended purpose.

If we return to Psalm 46 above, we see this confirmed ... the purpose of being still is to know God in order to do the right thing ... Education arising from Ecology reforms Economy. And ONLY by understanding and observing all 3 stages of the process can we make sense of any of its 3 stages.

There can be no progress or understanding without following the whole process.