Transcription
Well, the first thing I would like to say is welcome. We're, uh, thrilled that you're here, and, uh, we appreciate the time and the effort and the energy that you've expended and the risks you've taken to be here. And, uh, we hope that the consequences will be worth the effort.
Why Arc? Why the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship? Well, the Arc, I suppose, is our movement into the future. And that begs a question, which is, how should we move into the future? How should we conceptualize the future? Or perhaps even, what is the responsible way to conceptualize the future?
Now, this is a complicated problem, and it, it shouldn't be taken lightly because the future is a very uncertain place, and the evidence is always susceptible, let us say, to multiple interpretations. And one interpretation is that we live in a world that's characterized by intrinsic scarcity and terror, that we must be apprehensive in the face of the potential apocalypse, that we need to batten down the hatches and restrict, that we need to subject ourselves to an ever-increasing level of control, that we need to cower and demoralize our young people because there's not enough to go around and the devil take the hindmost. And I'm not a fan of that particular stance, and I don't think that it's, I think it's untrue. I think it's unnecessary. I think it's cowardly, and I think it's manipulative.
And having said that, I would say, well, we have reason to be apprehensive about the future, just as we have reason to be apprehensive about the present. We are fragile creatures, mortal, vulnerable, and we know that as we look forward into the future with a sufficiently long horizon, that the worst of all possible fates will befall all of us. We'll all disappear. Everything we know will vanish. And so you might think, well, why not despair in the face of that? And why not turn away in cowardice and confusion and terror? Why not give up all hope and responsibility? Why not abdicate that to those who might help what provide us with what we want as a consequence of our whims and alleviate and alleviate our divine responsibility?
I've been reading the book of Job recently and writing about it. And Job, the story of Job is a story of a man who's tortured beyond any reasonable limit. And I would say that's the story of each of us, at least at some points in our life. We'll be pushed beyond the limits of our tolerance. We'll be pushed to ask ourselves, how can the world be constructed in this manner? How can we possibly go on? And I would say, what, what Job says continually when he's tested, which is that we have the responsibility, and not the naivety, right? The responsibility to face an uncertain future with faith and courage. And that faith doesn't mean the willingness to believe preposterous stories designed for naive children. It's the faith that's necessary to confront the future properly is indistinguishable from courage. Like, what could be? Well, the worst we can possibly imagine. What else could be? The best we could possibly hope for. How do we determine which of those two potentialities make themselves manifest? Well, we do that as a consequence of faith. We make the presumption that despite the evidence that might present itself to us about the fundamental hopelessness and meaninglessness of existence, to take the nihilistic stance, that there are, that the fundamental essential aspect of being itself and of human being is positive and noble and worthy. And to act, to act in accordance with that as an axiom. To decide that that's worth staking yourself on, because you're going to stake yourself on something, or you'll stake yourself on nothing, and that's not a wise decision.
And so maybe we stake ourselves on courage and say that despite our limitations and the magnitude of the task that besets us, that unbeknownst to us and in a mysterious manner, we have the capacity, if we conduct ourselves properly, to make the best of anything that presents itself to us, to make the very desert bloom. And that's a different vision than a zero-sum, the zero-sum Malthusian nightmare that's been presented to us, is it not? Is it not possible that if we each brought to the world what we could bring to the world, and that if we all cooperated in the manner that that bringing forth would enable, that we could still wreak untold miracles? We've done that continually in the past. Could we not have, with all of our technological might and power, could we not have a future of unlimited abundance and opportunity for everyone? Is it not possible that we could aim at that? And is it only naive to presume that that might be possible, or is it actually a hallmark of courage and faith to say that that is what we could have if we chose to do it?
And so that's faith. And then you might say, well, how is that aligned with responsibility? Well, one of the things that, that I've learned. There's a biblical story, another biblical story featuring Abraham. And Abraham, Abraham is born into what you might describe as the, as the socialist utopia. Abraham is, has everything he wants at hand. He, he's, his parents are well off, his, his tribal group is flourishing. Abraham has no reason to move out into the world and to do everything, to do anything. He has everything he needs at hand, if his needs are construed, let's say, as the needs of an infant who's dependent and needs merely to be satiated. And Abraham hears the voice of his ancestors, right? The voice of God, as he hears it. And the voice says, leave your comfort, leave your comfort, leave your family, leave your tribe, leave what you know, move out into the world. Why? Because you could have the glorious adventure of your life instead of the infantile satiation that has encompassed you.
And then you might say, well, how do you have the glorious adventure of your life? And I would say that you discover that in responsibility. And I would say further that that's not something that we have been communicating well for decades. We're torn apart with concerns about identity and what does identity mean. And we insist at every moment that our identity is to be found in the instantaneous gratification of every possible hedonistic whim, knowing full well that a pathway that's marked out by nothing but that self-serving hedonism is destined to, to despair and catastrophic failure. And we say at the same time that, like God himself said to Moses, I am only what I say I am, and I can define myself completely. The ultimate extension of a narcissistic liberalism. Well, what's a responsible response to that? Take responsibility for yourself. Why? Because in bearing that noble burden, you'll find the self-regard that sustains you through catastrophe. And if you can take care of yourself, well, maybe you can dare to offer your hand to someone else, to your wife or to your husband, and you can say, we can join together, and as a unit, we can be stronger and more responsible than either of us could be apart. And then, if you're careful and awake and you take on the responsibility, you can manage that. And then, if you can do that, maybe you can dare to bring children into the world and you can say, well, we can weld our family together, and we can make of our local environment a place of productivity and harmony and generosity. And if we can develop expertise in that, that will be a meaningful adventure. And then maybe we can extend a hand beyond that to our local community, to our neighborhood, to our town, to our city, to our nation, to our nation under God. And we can serve at every one of those levels of hierarchical responsibility. And in doing that, we find the adventure of our life. We find the meaning that sustains us through catastrophe. And we simultaneously protect ourselves from being the aimless slaves who do nothing but wander blindly in the desert, and from the tyrants who would like to govern every single action we take.
If each of us did everything we could do and needed to do, we would have no need for a king. We're sovereign citizens. We have responsibility for our own destinies. If we take that on, there's nothing we can't do. We organize ourselves properly. We aim at the truth. We, we, we interact with each other as reliable, productive, and generous individuals. We engage in the proper sacrificial service that enables the community. And we tilt the world towards heaven and away from hell.
[Applause]
We've wrestled, we've wrestled with the conception of an international organization that brings people together, that promotes a subsidiary vision, a vision of distributed responsibility. Because there's a paradox in an organization that brings people together, putting forward a vision of distributed responsibility. How do you balance that? Well, I would like you all to meditate on that while you're here.
Why are you here? You're here to listen to our slate of remarkable speakers. You're here to meet people who are all worth meeting and to derive the benefit from the community that could be established as a consequence of that. But you're here for another reason too. We invited each of you because we know that you're centers of distributed responsibility. That you all have a domain of sovereign government. And we would like you to decide, well, you're here if what you are hearing and experiencing is, in fact, inspiring and motivating to you. And then to reflect on how it is that you can move us into this positive future, given what you have to bring to bear on the situation.
And we believe that. I've thought this for a long time. I've talked to audiences all around the world. How do we tilt the world uphill rather than downhill? And the answer is, well, you do that within the confines of your own life. The, the eternal message that's at the foundation of Western civilization, and I would say necessarily at the foundation of civilization as such, is that we are each a divine locus of value, right? And responsibility. And, and if that's true, then we each have a cardinal and irreplaceable role to play in the destiny of the world. And I also believe that's true. And so what we're here to do, all of us, is not to listen to yet another plan to bring about the desirable end, but to meditate communally on what each of us can do as the captains of our own ships to sail the entire fleet towards the promised shore. And that's what we're here to determine.
And why do we need that courage and that faith? Well, it's our responsibility, and it's our meaningful responsibility, and it's our duty, and it's our privilege. But I would also say the alternative is hell. And we've brought about hell a number of times in the last 100 years, and before that as well. And we could now bring about a hell that would make all those previous hells look like nothing but practice. And now we can decide, and we are deciding, each of us as we sit here with every direction of gaze that we undertake, which of those two ends we want to pursue. And if we're careful enough about pursuing the proper ends within the confines of our own lives, then maybe the proper end will make itself manifest in the world. And that's on you. So God help us all as we sit here and determine what our responsibility is in relationship to the future. And I mean that most truly. And I would like to thank as deeply as I can all of you for coming here to engage in this enterprise and, and to join with me in the prayer that we're wise enough to do this properly. Thank you very much.