MM#47--Step Back From Our Cultural Suicide

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. At these Mojo minutes, we try to find nuggets of wisdom and truth to help us all live better lives. So over the past weekend, this past weekend, one of America's most serious thinkers was in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, giving a speech, his name, Peter Kreeft. And he is the professor of philosophy at Boston College. He's actually one of the most respected and prolific Christian authors of our time, I had really wanted to go to the speaking event, but it was still recovering from COVID. So I did not attend. However, I did order his book and recently received it in the mail. The title of his new book is captivating, how to destroy western civilization and other ideas from the cultural this. 

So in the recent decades, there has begun a movement to try and destroy western civilization and all of its greatness. However, Peter Kreeft is not in that camp. In fact, he is hoping and praying that the Western world comes out of this tailspin of a cultural revolution that we're all experiencing right now. And he hopes we can write that airplane and put it back on a much, much steadier course. And I have to say, I completely agree with him. That Western culture is on the verge of committing cultural suicide, and is under attack all at the same time is, frankly, very puzzling. When you really dig into these arguments, there is no good apparent reason or reasons. One of the places in the world where Western civilization has been attacked relentlessly is on the European continent. 

Many writers have been documenting and writing about Europe's great cultural suicide for the last 20 years, but one of the best books written on the subject comes to us from George Weigel, the great papal biographer back in 2014. Weigel wrote this, to put it gently, it is hidden, historically, unpersuasive to argue that the moral claims that gave birth to European democracy, the dignity of the human person, the superiority of the method of persuasion and politics, the limited power of the state majority role in the protection of minority rights were solely the progeny of the French Enlightenment, unquote. And that comes to us from again, George Weigel, in a book called The Cube in the cathedral. At the time of when Weigel was writing this, the newly formed European Union had just omitted from its constitution, any recognition of God, or Christianity, or the value of Western civilization, for that matter. They wanted nothing to do with any of it for any part of its history, in any manner or form. So that's like forgetting, I don't know, some 1500 years of human history on the European continent. That's laughable. In fact, that's just psychologically bizarre. Now, we could certainly add to Waggles list of the great virtues of Western civilization. And I'm almost certain any older person could and can, that's listening to this podcast certainly can recall those benefits of Western civilization because they were taught in every school as the civics class, or perhaps in my day government. 

But those teachings weren't what they're called propaganda. Now, they were not propaganda. They were the truth, objectively, empirically, they could be measured. So reaching as far back as the Greeks with their city state policies. We could include some of the great benefits of Western civilization such as constitutional government, which we just mentioned, and why NGOs quote But also we can add to that list, the free market economy started by the Greeks, the rule of law, owning proper private property, certainly the bedrock of the rule of law, and of a free market economy.
We can add to an empirical reason and logic, you know, that notion of not basing one's feelings on certain data, but looking at the data with an objectivity and not a subjectivity, which is obviously, sadly missing from our current culture. Then, finally, and most importantly, the notion of personal freedom and liberty. Certainly, those are under attack and threaten nowadays for sure. These are all the hallmarks of Western civilization. And I would argue there's no greater culture, culture, in the history of the world than Western civilization. It is the most multiracial, multi ethnic, religiously diverse, and company and the most human beings ever in the history of the world, and giving all those human beings, everything we just listed. So where are those trying to destroy it? 

Let's come back to Peter Kreeft. In his book, quote, Europe, is a spectacular example of a sophisticated, cultured, sensitive, advanced, compassionate continent that is dying, because it reputed it, it repudiated its primitive roots, unquote. He goes on to say, it will soon be a Muslim continent, necessarily so because it is uprooted. While Islam is rooted, and only rooted plants grow. If we want to grow the Christian field, we would want to expand. And if we want to expand Christ's kingdom, we must recapture those roots, unquote. And he's right those roots of Western civilization are found in the classical world of the Greek and Roman cultures. And most importantly, they're overlaid with the philosophies and the theologies of Judaism and Christianity that Peter Kreeft just mentioned. So now, if we pivot to the United States, the United States was built on that great foundation of Western civilization, it's part of our cornerstone, it is part of our greatness. So before we in the United States commit the same cultural suicide, following after Europe's lead, perhaps we can look at our roots, and begin to read and contemplate and pray and put theory to action in our own lives to understand the greatest civilization that the world has ever known. 

Western civilization and we can even more importantly, understand and read the best history books of the United States of America to understand our roots and our great heritage. Because in fact, we the living right now in the United States, are the privileged few to inherit this incredible country. And while we are not perfect, certainly not. No culture and civilization was ever perfect. But on the whole, we are in fact, good. We are in fact, very good. There has never been a country that has done so much good around the world for so many people, as the United States of America, that's an objective fact. You can research it, all of it by any standard or measure. 

So in today's Mojo minute, perhaps we can look back and begin to read good history again. And I mean, good history, but not ideological tropes, which is a lot. Which is a great deal of the history that's out there these days. But very good history written by professional historians and objective and balanced rhetoric, to understand our American roots, the context, the excellent values, the principles, and certainly not whitewashing the blemishes and the bad moments in our history. But learning from them and learning what the principles were, that overcame those. And finally, perhaps we can do our part to save this great civilization from cultural suicide and extinction. And finally, just like with people, you can measure a person by their character by not what's on the outside, but what's on the inside. What are their actions, how do they conduct themselves? us in the content of America's overall character is good. Like I said, it's very good. And sure we have some knuckleheads as part of our 33 million people. But that doesn't take away from our overall American character.

So let us defend what we have inherited at a great price, a very great price. Let us read the good history of the United States. Let us learn its first principles. It's great documents its heroic history. And today's Mojo minute let us step back from the cultural suicide, sweeping our country. And most importantly, let us remember what Lincoln said in his 1838 Lyceum address. At what point then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer if it ever reaches us, it must spring from among us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher and as a nation of Freemen. We must live through all time or die by suicide.

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