As usual, really excellent. This is something my therapist and I talk about all the time -- how few people really want their freedom, how few people truly appreciate freedom. Humans typically prefer the safety and security in being told what to do. Less thinking and no responsibility. If you follow orders and it doesn't work out, hey! Not your fault. Freedom means looking in the mirror when you don't like yourself or don't like how something has worked out. The desire for a king is a desire that everyone has to manage. Religious people must constantly re-direct it to their God, and the rest of us must constantly resist it entirely. Not easy for anyone, even those who experience themselves as having a relationship with a real God, as the propensity of some religious people to turn Trump into a God shows. Thanks -- keep it up!
Humans have heuristics. One of them is leadership. We want a strong, effective, wise leader to ensure our survival. We instinctively know that it will make us safer. Never mind the politics, this is how we are. We do it before we even think. For many, the politics commonly follow behind the choice of leader rather than as a strategic-rational choice. Whichever side you're on, the danger is that you will be fooled by someone who suffers from strategic blindness. That is, for whatever reason, your chosen leader might not be inclined to take a threat seriously, one that you do. There's a lot to it, my point is that wise societies choose wisdom first among qualities in their leaders. I recommend anyone of any views who wants to inculcate a preference for wisdom in choosing poltiical leaders to read their children "The Owl Who Was God" by James Thurber. An all-American classic containing the sort of values we must transmit forward.
A good word, indeed, but I fear it will fall on deaf ears. god help us!
Proverbs 28:9
As usual, really excellent. This is something my therapist and I talk about all the time -- how few people really want their freedom, how few people truly appreciate freedom. Humans typically prefer the safety and security in being told what to do. Less thinking and no responsibility. If you follow orders and it doesn't work out, hey! Not your fault. Freedom means looking in the mirror when you don't like yourself or don't like how something has worked out. The desire for a king is a desire that everyone has to manage. Religious people must constantly re-direct it to their God, and the rest of us must constantly resist it entirely. Not easy for anyone, even those who experience themselves as having a relationship with a real God, as the propensity of some religious people to turn Trump into a God shows. Thanks -- keep it up!
Humans have heuristics. One of them is leadership. We want a strong, effective, wise leader to ensure our survival. We instinctively know that it will make us safer. Never mind the politics, this is how we are. We do it before we even think. For many, the politics commonly follow behind the choice of leader rather than as a strategic-rational choice. Whichever side you're on, the danger is that you will be fooled by someone who suffers from strategic blindness. That is, for whatever reason, your chosen leader might not be inclined to take a threat seriously, one that you do. There's a lot to it, my point is that wise societies choose wisdom first among qualities in their leaders. I recommend anyone of any views who wants to inculcate a preference for wisdom in choosing poltiical leaders to read their children "The Owl Who Was God" by James Thurber. An all-American classic containing the sort of values we must transmit forward.