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Exploring the intersection of sacred and secular.
Reflecting on human nature is kind of my thing, and it always has been. This is part of what drew me to study the Bible — it’s a massive anthology of humanity at its best and hot-messiest. It’s also what made me mildly obsessed with the Enlightenment.
I’m Quite at My Leisure
More accurately, what piqued my interest was the impact it had on the framers of our own government as I read their writings. I was fascinated by the idea that Four-score-and-change before Lincoln, these thinkers gathered in coffee houses and other establishments to imagine a world inspired by the very best of human thinking. And what it produced was profoundly different than anything that had come before — you know, this, and other propaganda we all probably learned in school!
What really sparked my interest was the late-period Enlightenment idea that the Industrial Revolution would spark a utopian society, bringing the benefits of abundance and leisure to the working class, similar to what nobles enjoyed. The AI summary of answers to my search for enlightenment thinkers who championed utopian ideals identified Robert Owen. Also, utilitarianists like John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham weren’t entirely focused on this, but they did believe industrialization could increase overall happiness by allowing time for intellectual pursuits and self-fulfillment.
Needless to say, as I write today, I wonder what in the actual hell happened to us.
No Really, Hear Me Out.
Considering the writings of not only Utopians, but the founding thinkers of our nation’s ideology, I observe the miasma of our political and social realities on this side of the Industrial Revolution and come to a clear conclusion: we kind of suck.
No really, hear me out. We had the opportunity to create any kind of society. We were an ocean away from the imperial forces who threatened us, and on the backside of the Revolution, they’d largely lost interest in trying to control us as long as we were willing to trade with them from our inexhaustible abundance. We had everything we needed, and the rare opportunity to establish a social contract that didn’t need to be perfect to be just.
If You Can Keep It
These aspirations are enshrined in our founding documents. Folks like Benjamin Franklin thought so, too. When asked what the Constitution established, he said cryptically, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” He understood not only what they’d accomplished, but many of the threats to liberty we would face. This is why I’m convinced the checks and balances they established weren’t designed to be enshrined. They were designed to provide a State of continual, peaceful, revolution, and though I’m not positive they envisioned us keeping the document they drafted for such a long time, I’m even less convinced Franklin would say we’ve managed to keep the republic — regardless of whether we’ve “kept” the constitution.
Without being overgenerous, I think he understood the predicament caused by the fact that the same brand of enterprising personalities who brought this republic are the exact types of people likely to exploit it into oblivion.
My Daughter is the Smartest
While I don’t think we’re capable of Utopia, we’re certainly capable of better.
My seven-year-old is sitting here playing Minecraft on a server, and I love listening to her play because I get a general sense of what her idea of a social contract is. She asks for permission to access ops mode as soon as she joins a new group because, “I don’t know, maybe they’ll give it to me.” Honestly, it sounded kind of rude to me at first. It seemed presumptuous to expect someone to just give her that kind of privilege, but then I listened to what she does with it.
She helps people with their builds. She offers to help correct some of the problems people are facing, just as a part of her own gameplay. She builds her chicken jockey statues and weird houses at her own pace, and while she’s frustrated I don’t let her finish everything because she needs to eat and do other things, she won’t build them faster by ignoring people because — and I’m not making this up — “that’s not how you taught me to play the game.”
I don’t remember teaching her to play Minecraft, though I’ve played plenty with her and around her. I do know that we work hard to teach her that our social contract is one that puts the needs of others on par with our own.
As always, our children hold the tools we need to create something better. The question is, what kind of game are we teaching them to play?
Eric Wolf is a local Lutheran pastor, and he’d love to buy you a coffee, tea, or beverage of your choice to tell him about your faith, your ideas about meaning, or whatever “sacred stuff” means to you. Reach him at eric@havenma.org! To learn more about Eric and his writing, visit his blog at Love Sees Color.
