MM#113--Gardener's of Authentic Freedom

Welcome to the theory to action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time to help you take action immediately, and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now, here's your host, David Kaiser.

Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo minute. When Abraham Lincoln, in his Gettysburg Address, referred to a national rebirth of freedom, quote, under God, unquote. He was unintentionally adverting to the most fundamental idea that Western civilization learned from Catholicism, that God's sovereignty transcends and stands in judgment on all worldly sovereignties because God is God, Caesar is not God and neither are Caesar's successors be they kings, presidents, prime ministers or party general secretaries. And because Caesar and not his successors are rather and because Caesar and his successors are not God, their power is limited, not absolute, in addition to Caesars legitimate power, there are other legitimate powers in the world. So the state cannot be all there is. And these words come to us from a wonderful book written by an equally wonderful author, George Weigel, and the title of the book is Letters to a Young Catholic. And because this is Holy Week, I thought I would share one of my favorite books of my Catholic faith. And for many reasons, I love this book, but one of them is the simple one yet direct manner that Weigel writes to explain the Catholic faith. 

For example, in the paragraph we just read wykel takes a fresh look at Lincoln's famous gettysburg address through the eyes of a Roman Catholic and as a Roman Catholic, if you understood, understand the church's deep history through medieval Christendom, you will perhaps gain a new appreciation of Lincoln's greatness, even though it was probably unintentional. But Lincoln's understanding in the of the concept and meaning of freedom is quite brilliant, namely, quote, God's sovereignty transcends, and stands in judgment on all worldly sovereignties. Unquote. And furthermore, quote, because God is God, and Caesar is not God. And neither are Caesar's successors be the Kings presidents, prime ministers or party, general secretaries. And because they are not God, their power is limited, unquote. Now folks that straight in direct clear Isabel and a wonderful delineation of the state's power, and where the lines are drawn, that make their power limited. 

Now, Weigel also does a great job going back through medieval Catholicism to teach us that there is more than just the individual in the state. And that's a big deal. In fact, so much so that Lincoln, like we said, it was probably unintentional, that he understood this concept and meaning of freedom and its deepest, most profound us definition. But Lincoln was well read and self taught. And the even he grasps grasp this notion that medieval Catholicism also taught the idea to the Western mind that, quote, consent is crucial to a just government. Government can't simply be coercion. It also taught the lesson that freedom is a matter of virtue, not just political mechanics. That's another big deal. And why go goes on in this brilliant chapter on the meaning of freedom, where he links the spirit of the American founding, and the great tradition of Jerusalem, Athens and Rome. And he links them together as Truly a woven garment. On. It's fascinating. I encourage you to check out this book. I've given this book way too many young Catholics, because there's so much goodness and nuggets of wisdom throughout. Weigel then pivots to ask the question that inspired this Mojo minute. Yes, the question that we hear on the podcast, love and cherish.

That question is how should we live? How should human beings in the 21st century operate in this world? And we ask this question of ourselves, in some form, or matter almost weekly on this podcast. And as a Catholic, there's another reason I love this book because Why gold tackles the question, straightforward by looking at the Bible. Let's go back to the book, quote. Catholic thinking about freedom should begin where Catholic thinking about every other facet of the moral life begins with the Beatitudes, Matthew five, three, through 512. The Beatitudes are the basic gospel framework for thinking about the question, how should we live? And why? Because the Beatitudes point us to the eternal happiness, for which the moral life here and now is a preparation. So here's another challenge to conventional wisdom, and the Catholic way of thinking the moral life is not an arbitrary set of rules imposed on us by God. And the church. The moral life involves Rules for Living that emerge from inside the human heart, and its thirst for happiness with God. 

Right on, right on. Let's keep going. The basic moral question is not that familiar teenage query, how far can I go? The basic moral question is the adult question. What must I do to become a good person, the kind of person who can actually enjoy living with God forever? And answering that question, we discover rules, but they emerge organically, not from outside, they emerge from the dynamics of becoming a good human person. That idea of the moral life of a truly human life leads to a very different idea of freedom. Unquote. Now why go expands on this and goes deeper in this chapter to help us understand the true authentic meaning of freedom. By explaining It's like learning a new language, let's go back to the book, quote, then there's learning a new language, you discovered, I'm sure that the best way to learn a new language is to listen to it and speak it. At some point, though, you've got to learn grammar and vocabulary, the rules that turn noise into language, there's no communication without those rules. There's only gibberish. Unquote. 

Isn't that a great analogy? That window into the truth about freedom, and how it's really about like learning a new language, and there's some rules to it. If you don't follow the rules, no one can understand what you're communicating. Let's go back to the book. Yes, language means living within a set of rules. But it's the rules that give me the freedom to make new senses to test new ideas, to communicate, to reduce freedom, to the freedom to make mistakes, demeans freedom and demeans us. Freedom involves learning to avoid mistakes, without having to think about it. Freedom is doing the right thing and avoiding mistakes by habit. And another word for habit is virtue. Good stuff right there good stuff. There are some great nuggets of wisdom in there for us to ponder on and reflect upon.

Now, you might ask the question, what does all this have to do with democracy and for living a flourishing life? Well, LIGO answers that question by saying everything indeed everything. This is where I just start marking up the book and putting Asterix and in arrows and I'm there's this is all good stuff coming here. Back to the book, quote, Freedom untethered from moral truth will eventually become freedom's worst enemy. You Think about this, if there's only your truth and my truth, and neither one of us acknowledges a transcendent referee, the truth by which to settle our disagreements, then one of two things is going to happen. You're going to impose your power on me, or I'm going to impose my power on you. Persuasion, which is the lifeblood of democratic politics, gives away to coercion, which is an acid eating away at democratic institutions, and commitments. Wow. That is fantastic analysis. And that is exactly what is going on right now, and has been going on for the last 50 years in the United States of America. And finally, why gold concludes this chapter with a personal story which gets to the heart of liberty, and this notion of freedom. And, frankly, freedom for excellence. Let's go back to the book. Quote, when I was a young when I was a boy, the US Supreme Court Ringly affirmed the inclusion of all Americans in the community of common protection and concern in its epic 1954 Brown versus Board of Education decision, which outlawed segregation and government supported schools. Less than 40 years later, the court was proposing a morally indifferent, content free freedom, as the official national created the United States, in a deed at the very purpose of American democracy. As three justices put it in 1992, writing in Casey versus Planned Parenthood, at the heart of liberty, this is a quote at the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of the existence of meaning of the universe, and of the mystery of human life. 

Now, let's stop right there. Justice Kennedy wrote this opinion for Casey V. Planned Parenthood. And I'm sorry, but Justice Kennedy, I know you're a Roman Catholic, or we're a Roman Catholic, you have passed away. But my Lord is that complete moral confusion? So much so that, Justice Scalia, in his dissent of Casey versus Planned Parenthood, I highly recommend you all read it. I think it's roughly about 2123 pages trying to remember this off the top of my head, but he even quotes this mystery of life passage and he makes fun of it, he says, quote, is the sweet mystery of life passage. Unquote. If you're Justice Kennedy, I know you've passed away but my Lord, we will pray for your soul. 

Let's go back to the book. A decade later, the Court drew on this bizarre quote, mystery passage, unquote. And it's 2003 decision, Lawrence v. Texas, which suggests that the state's only interest in matters of human sexuality is protecting an unbridled license to fulfill what any configuration of consenting adults defines as, quote, personal needs, unquote. Holy smokes, quote, personal needs. Boy, is that not bizarre how in the world does the Supreme Court by law come to that conclusion? In that court case, the Supreme Court and Lawrence v. Texas held that intimate conceptual consensual sexual conduct was part of the Liberty which is protected under the substantive due process clause under the 14th amendment. Hmm. The 14th Amendment says nothing about human sexuality.

And rightly so Weigel says, quote, the moral architecture of freedom in the United States is crumbling, unquote. But he correctly encourages us not to act like some Americans by wanting to silence the bad ideas, especially those bad ideas coming from the Supreme Court. Or coming from bad Catholics on the Supreme Court for that matter, or coming from our first anti Catholic Catholic President of the United States. That's That's my emphasis not Waggles let me be clear about that I'm calling our current president, the first anti Catholic Catholic president. Such is the confusion of this President and his moral code and mindset. But on a positive note, why gold does correctly encourage us by saying the best antidote to a bad idea is a good idea. So we need to challenge other Catholics who have a very bad view. And understand very bad history and understand very bad meanings of freedom, ie the late Justice Kennedy. 

Like I said, We will pray for your soul. Because it's not freedom of indifference. It's not freedom to do whatever you want. It's the authentic meaning of freedom is for excellence is the freedom to do the moral Gore good. And, and objective moral good, not your moral good or my moral good, but in objective moral good. American democracy should, just like Lincoln said, Put itself quote under God in not in place of God, it should be tethered itself, it should tether itself to the founding principles. And American Catholics as well as all Americans have a special responsibility for tending to this ongoing experiment that we call the United States of America. It started with the miracle in Philadelphia, and over the last 246 years, we have in large part pursued that miracle as people going towards the moral good. Let us not get confused now and forget the true authentic meaning of freedom. It's not freedom of indifference. It's not willfulness, whatever you want to do. It's not freedom to do anything that we want to do. And the words of Weigel, George Weigel, at the close of this chapter, quote, let us be skillful and dedicated gardeners of freedom, unquote. Right on because then freedom pursued rightly is freedom for excellence and the freedom to flourish.

Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this theory to action podcast, be sure to check out our show page at T Mojo academy.com where we have everything we discussed in this podcast as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.