“Both classical (Plato & Aristotle) and Christian
(Augustine) political thought held rulers accountable for the wellbeing of
their peoples. Machiavelli, in ‘The Prince’, focused entirely on what rulers
had to do to get and keep power, which meant exploiting the fears and desires
of their subjects…”
“…[Hobbes] started by dismissing all Aristotelian questions
about the ultimate goal of politics. There is no greater good for human beings,
but there is, he thinks, a universally agreed-upon greatest evil, ‘sudden and
violent death.’ The problem is we all have the power to inflict that evil on
one another… so we are forced to treat one another as standing threats…As a
result, life in the state of nature is ‘solitary, poor, nasty, and short.’ Thus
it is in everyone’s interest to establish a single, superior authority, which
will stop us from killing one another. This is the origin of the state…”
Quoted from “We, The Polity: A New History of Political
Thought” by Adam Kirsch in the New
Yorker.
“IT IS NOT GOOD FOR
THE PEOPLE TO BE SCATTERED OUT ACROSS THE PRAIRIE. I WILL TEACH THEM TO MAKE
THEIR CAMPS TOGETHER IN A CIRCLE, LIKE THE GREAT CIRCLE OF THE EARTH, AND TO
LIVE IN HARMONY AND PEACE WITH EACH OTHER AND THE EARTH. I KNOW THE PEOPLE DON’T
LISTEN SO GOOD, SO I MAY HAVE TO TRICK THEM INTO ACCEPTING THIS TEACHING. Hyemoyhost Storm in Seven Arrows
“Facing our
messiness is the stuff of a calling… and is surely the linchpin of our
salvation…”
“”…whether
we continue to bear our spiritually and emotionally challenging work or not,
the world’s suffering continues. Even were we to step out of the trenches, none
of us can adequately shield ourselves from …these inevitable injustices and
sufferings… in fact, it is our very attempts to protect ourselves from such
painful realities that we actually injure ourselves spiritually.”
