The Search for Truth in a Reverent Spirit (Part Three)

(Editors note:  This is the third segment in a continuing series featuring the clash between reason and matters of the spirit which defy rigid limitations of scientific calculation.  The previous segment - Part Two - identifies Theodore Roosevelt’s political transformation as one which neatly highlights this distinction.)

What is the essence of any struggle for healthy liberty and human betterment?  How can we measure the central condition of progress?

Try as he will, Theodore Roosevelt is unable to deny the spiritual qualities inherent in all materialistic pursuits, from science to business to politics.  With the ink barely dry on his 1908 Special Message to Congress, by 1910 T.R. boldly envisions a New Nationalism.  Some label his words “Communistic,” “Socialistic” and “Anarchistic” in various quarters.  Others hail “the greatest oration ever given on American soil.”

T.R. reflects that there have been “two great crises in our country’s history: first, when it was formed, and then, again, when it was perpetuated … .”  The third great crisis is upon us, the struggle “to achieve in large measure equality of opportunity.”

In every wise struggle for human betterment one of the main objects, and often the only object, has been to achieve in large measure equality of opportunity.  In the struggle for this great end, nations rise from barbarism to civilization, and through it people press forward from one stage of enlightenment to the next.  One of the chief factors in progress is the destruction of special privilege.  The essence of any struggle for healthy liberty has always been, and must always be, to take from some one man or class of men the right to enjoy power, or wealth, or position, or immunity, which has not been earned by service to his or their fellows.  …

At many stages in the advance of humanity, this conflict between the men who possess more than they have earned and the men who have earned more than they possess is the central condition of progress.  In our day it appears as the struggle of freeman to gain and hold the right of self-government as against the special interests, who twist the methods of free government into machinery for defeating the popular will.  At every stage, and under all circumstances, the essence of the struggle is to equalize opportunity, destroy privilege, and give to the life and citizenship of every individual the highest possible value both to himself and to the commonwealth.  That is nothing new.

New Nationalism envisions “practical equality of opportunity for all citizens” as the socially desirable result.  This will permit every man to

have a fair chance to make of himself all that lies in him; to reach the highest point to which his capacities, unassisted by special privilege of his own and unhampered by the special privilege of others, can carry him, and to get for himself and his family substantially what he has earned.  Second, equality of opportunity means that the commonwealth will get from every citizen the highest service of which he is capable.  No man who carries the burden of the special privileges of another can give to the commonwealth that service to which it is fairly entitled.

Its central tenet is government protection of property rights, the traditional approach.  But New Nationalism elevates human welfare, the second critical component, to a higher priority and the critical measure of any presidential administration.

T.R. insists that only a powerful federal government can regulate the economy and guarantee social justice, to protect the laboring men, women and children from exploitation.  He supports graduated income and inheritance taxes, a social security system, a national health service, a federal securities commission and the direct election of US senators.  The platform also supports the democratic principles of initiative, referendum and recall as means for the people to exert more direct control over government.  In short, it is a platform which inspires much of the social agenda of the future New Deal a generation later:

The man who wrongly holds that every human right is secondary to his profit must now give way to the advocate of human welfare, who rightly maintains that every man holds his property subject to the general right of the community to regulate its use to whatever degree the public welfare may require it.

New Nationalism further admits “the right to regulate the terms and conditions of labor, which is the chief element of wealth, directly in the interest of the common good.”  Wages must be “more than sufficient” to cover the cost of living and hours “short enough” to permit the worker the “time and energy to … help in carrying the general load.”

Moreover, New Nationalism prohibits the use of corporate funds directly or indirectly for political purposes and strictly regulates political lobbyists which is to be “thoroughly enforced.”  Sentiments of this nature will tend to put the political world on notice, if not take it by storm.

 (Editor’s note:  To be continued.  Part Four in the series arrives at the heart of T.R.’s political transformation to spiritual icon …)


 -Michael D'Angelo

The Search for Truth in a Reverent Spirit (Part Two)

(Editors note:  This is the second segment in a new series.  The first segment introduces readers to the fork in the road caused by the clash between proven scientific principles with matters of the spirit which defy the rigid limitations of scientific calculation ...)

In a land of plenty, something still appears to be missing?  What is it?

Thomas Jefferson aims at the pursuit of happiness, with virtue as its foundation.  Alexander Hamilton, by contrast, envisions the physical greatness of the state as being above the happiness of its citizens.  To the extent that the two are at odds, Hamilton would choose the former, and happiness will follow.  Resolving the dispute among his two top cabinet members, President George Washington decides in Hamilton’s favor.  For better or worse, the course is set.  America is constructed on this foundation. 

But although physical greatness does expand to levels unprecedented, the ordinary citizen’s “something is missing from life” experience continues to gather its own inexorable momentum.  The elusive ingredient involves a search for Truth.  Scientists reject any “new” principle which cannot be scientifically proven.  Spirit guided intuition, on the other hand, allows for the potential of a broader understanding and a higher trajectory.

In American History, a study of Theodore Roosevelt’s political transformation typically flies under the radar.  But it neatly highlights the above distinction.  T.R. has spent a lifetime of rejecting spiritual speculation, in favor of the body electric and the physics of (military) power --- from the land prizes of the Spanish American War --- to the construction of the Panama Canal --- to re-building the US Navy, almost from scratch, to a military size befitting the ability to successfully prosecute a two ocean war --- which he foresees 40 years in advance.  At the dawn of the 20^th century, his presidency cements his reputation as the Republican heir to Abraham Lincoln’s grand old party and as the champion of Progressive Era domestic reform.

But T.R., too, feels the hunger pangs of the something that’s missing phenomenon.  With his successor botching T..R.’s progressive agenda and becoming the nation’s top reactionary, T.R. contemplates a return to political life as the calendar turns to 1912.  At the same time a political transformation is taking place within him.  He would begin to argue for wider recognition of the spiritual qualities inherent in all materialistic pursuits, from science to business to politics.

The roots of this transformation can be traced to several sources.  The first dates back to T.R.’s presidency (1901-1908), specifically the delivery of a Special Message to Congress in January 1908, his last year in office.  It argues for automatic compensation for job-related (industrial) accidents and federal scrutiny of corporate boardroom operations.  It campaigns “against privilege, part of the campaign to make the great class of property holders realize that property has its duties no less than its rights.”  It also campaigns against “predatory wealth --- of the wealth accumulated on a giant scale by all forms of iniquity.”  It is to be a war “against successful dishonesty.”

The issue T.R. raises in this message, perhaps more than any other utterance in his career, convinces Wall Street that “Theodore the Sudden” is a dangerous man.

But T.R. scoffs at this criticism, stating that it is “fundamentally an ethical movement:”

The opponents of the measures we champion single out now one, and now another measure for especial attack, and speak as if the movement in which we are engaged was purely economic.  It has a large economic side, but it is fundamentally an ethical movement.  It is not a movement to be completed in one year, or two or three years; it is a movement which must be persevered in until the spirit which lies behind it sinks deep into the heart and the conscience of the whole people.

Followed quickly on its heels is the publication of Herbert Croly’s The Promise of American Life, which becomes the bible of the new social movement.  The book argues the need for a strong central government (Hamiltonian), calling for a war on indiscriminate individualism (Jefferson) and unearned privilege (Jacksonian).  And it also calls for T.R. as the only leader in America capable of encompassing both aims.

But after completing two presidential terms featuring a progressive agenda of activist reform, T.R. upholds the tradition of George Washington and declines to run for a third term.  By 1909, T.R. is now a former president --- still relatively young by historical standards at age 51 --- but nonetheless outside the political power structure looking in.  With his spiritual evolution continuing, T.R. begins to plot his future course.

(Editor’s note:  To be continued.  The next segment (Part Three) will continue to explore the underpinnings of T.R.’s political transformation to spiritual icon …)

-Michael D’Angelo

The Search for Truth in a Reverent Spirit (Part One)

(Editors note:  This is the first segment in a new series.)

Many ordinary people find that something important is missing from life’s daily experience.  The cosmic balance has been altered.  The pursuit of happiness has, so it seems, evolved into a mindless and impersonal pursuit of material gain.  At times, it tends to consume us all.  The more we have yields the illusion that we’re almost where we need to be --- if only we could get a little more?

Why do the multitudes who possess so little appear to have much?  Conversely, why do people who appear to have so much in reality possess little?  Perhaps it’s just a matter of perspective.

Possession may mean one thing, when the goal is competitive advantage.  Its motivating force is a heavy burden which may consume the material aspirant.  But possession may mean something altogether different in a spirit of cooperation.  For example, do puppies at play really fight over a bone?  Or is there another dynamic involved?

What is the elusive ingredient we are searching for, absent from this great experiment in democracy we call the pursuit of happiness?  It’s not an easy question.  Those who have given it serious thought are content to label it a search for Truth.  However, this search leads to a fork in the road: on one side is science --- on the other, spirit.  A bright line divides the two.

In science, discovery of any “new” principle is little more than a matter of black and white.  If a principle cannot be scientifically proven, reason dictates that it simply be rejected.  Nor is it ever a matter of interpretation.  The idea that the earth is round was first proposed in the 6th century BC.  But it remained a matter of “philosophical speculation” until the 3^rd century BC, when the earth’s spherical shape was “established” as a spherical given.

Surely the laws of gravity existed before man “discovered” its scientific principles.  Consider that nothing changed, in fact, except man’s understanding.  Would it not be pure folly, then, to debate the scientific properties of light?  But we can --- and should --- continue to ponder life’s important questions:  Where does light come from?  What is its source?  And so it is not difficult to understand the controversy over whether global warming is “real” --- for in a competitive landscape, many lives do hang in the balance.

On the other side of the divide are those whose lives are guided by spirit --- an energy force which surely cannot be explained by science alone --- if at all.  To them, reliance on reason alone is a limiting factor in the search for Truth --- unacceptably limiting.

In the scriptures Pilate's questionioning of Jesus went something like this:  “But what is truth?  Is truth unchanging law?  We both have truths.  Are mine the same as yours?”  To say that these questions are provocative --- in such an unequal exchange --- would be a gross understatement.  Will ordinary man’s consciousness ever be raised to the point where such answers do become scientifically defensible?

Liberated from the limitations of science, those who are guided by spirit are driven more commonly by intuition.  This allows for the potential of a broader understanding --- Theodore Roosevelt labeled it The Search for Truth in a Reverent Spirit --- and a higher trajectory.  Non-discriminatory by its nature, this path is available to everyone.  And the transformational principle --- is faith.

While scientific skeptics may be constantly nipping at the heels of spiritual mystics, somehow the latter remain undeterred.  “When an interest in Truth exceeds any interest in blame, expectation, or any form of comparison,” notes Matt Kahn, the spiritual teacher, “it is an indication that life has successfully prepared you for the soul’s true journey.”  As we progress and aim higher, that journey supplies the richness by which we --- and our lives --- will come to be defined.

(Editor’s note:  The Search for Truth in a Reverent Spirit continues. Read Part Two ... )

-Michael D’Angelo

Global Warming, Terrorism & Inconvenient Truths

In late September 2015 your blog host had the privilege to receive the benefit of three days of training in Miami sponsored by the Climate Reality Project, of which former Vice-President Al Gore is the Chairman.  The training created another core grouping of those who would earn the title of Climate Reality Leader.

The purpose of the Climate Reality Project is to raise awareness of the effects and consequences of climate change occasioned by the phenomenon of global warming.  The purpose is also to educate ordinary citizens as to what we can do to stem the tide, mitigate the processes and reverse the destructive momentum.

The training effectively empowers Climate Reality Leaders to present a slide show which updates information initially brought to light in Al Gore’s 2006 Academy Award winning (2007) documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth.  In making the film, Mr. Gore was the subject of an Intergovernmental Panel on climate change of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

The fact is that the global climate has begun to warm appreciably, especially over the past 150 years coinciding with the onset of the Industrial Revolution.  While it may be true that the sun heats the earth, it is also true that carbon heats man.  Hence, the term “carbon man” enters the vernacular.  Coal had been the preferred fossil fuel, prior to oil, and its use is widely still prevalent at the nation’s large electricity generating power plants.  The phenomenon of fossil fuel burning on such a mass scale (coal burning in combination with oil) is what scientists attribute to the concept of global warming.

Scientists are in near unanimous agreement (97%) that climate change is the result of carbon-based fossil fuel emissions as a by-product of energy production mainly from oil, coal and naturally gas.  The film makes the powerful case that stewardship of the environment is not merely a convenience but, rather, a moral issue.

The statistics are sobering.  The US comprises less than 5% of the world’s population, yet consumes about 25% of the world’s energy.  Each and every ordinary American citizen uses about 3 gallons of oil per day, twice as much as people in other industrialized nations.  America is a throw away society, with dismal recycling rates, producing roughly twice as much garbage as Europe.  Until most recently, perhaps, the political parties have seemed content to put the idea of economic growth on one side of the spectrum and environmental protection on the other, as if the two are somehow mutually exclusive.

But the wild card today remains oil.  The US consumes approximately 21 million barrels of oil per day, about 65% imported.  It is not an exaggeration then to say that US dependence on imported oil is a greater threat to national security than any threat from terrorism, real or perceived.  Perhaps at no time since the pre-Civil War South’s economic dependence on slavery can it again be said that the US reliance on oil is so acute as to constitute a life or death economic dependency.  The need is so alarming, so encompassing, and so pervasive, that any moral issue that may come up along the way, including human rights and/or the environment, can also be dismissed as secondary.  Which begs the question: Once the problem of terrorism is theoretically dispensed with, are we then “free” to heat the planet into oblivion?

The slide show presentation challenges audiences to ask themselves three basic yet provocative questions.  First, must we change?  Second, can we change?  And third, will we change?  As President Obama has stated, “We’re the first generation to feel the effects of climate change … and the last generation who will be able to do anything about it.”  As leaders get set to gather next week in Paris, France to attend the long awaited gathering on climate change, the stakes for our way of life --- including the survival of our planet as we know it --- can hardly seem greater.

-Michael D’Angelo

Our Great Unfinished Business

As civilizations become more inter-connected through the amazing technologies of the early 21^st century, the third great crisis in our nation’s history celebrates a significant birthday.  The great crisis of wealth disparity as a result of unequal access to the field of opportunity --- first identified by Theodore Roosevelt in 1910 --- is now unfortunately more than 100-years-old!

For the ordinary citizen, the American Dream is at risk like at no other time in American history.  In response, many ordinary citizens are reaching for the pull chord and the alarm bell to stop the train.  Many others, however, believe that such matters lie in the natural order of things --- as a necessary byproduct of an every man for himself mentality of Social Darwinism --- and that everything will work itself out in the end.

The sympathies of President Obama appear to rest in part with the former group.  On August 28, 2013 the president gave a speech on the 50^th anniversary of Dr. King’s march on Washington.  Almost five years into his presidential term, he reminded the ordinary citizen that his eye remains on the ball, as he strives to mold America to a purpose he boldly envisions:

In some ways, though, the securing of civil rights, voting rights, the eradication of legalized discrimination --- the very significance of these victories may have obscured a second goal of the march, for the men and women who gathered 50 years ago were not there in search of some abstract idea. They were there seeking jobs as well as justice -- not just the absence of oppression but the presence of economic opportunity. For what does it profit a man, Dr. King would ask, to sit at an integrated lunch counter if he can’t afford the meal?

This idea that --- that one’s liberty is linked to one’s livelihood, that the pursuit of happiness requires the dignity of work, the skills to find work, decent pay, some measure of material security -- this idea was not new.
...
Dr. King explained that the goals of African-Americans were identical to working people of all races: decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old age security, health and welfare measures -- conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children and respect in the community.

What King was describing has been the dream of every American. It’s what’s lured for centuries new arrivals to our shores. And it’s along this second dimension of economic opportunity, the chance through honest toil to advance one’s station in life, that the goals of 50 years ago have fallen most short.

The president continued:

... the measure of progress for those who marched 50 years ago was not merely how many blacks had joined the ranks of millionaires; it was whether this country would admit all people who were willing to work hard, regardless of race, into the ranks of a middle-class life. The test was not and never has been whether the doors of opportunity are cracked a bit wider for a few. It was whether our economic system provides a fair shot for the many ... . To win that battle, to answer that call -- this remains our great unfinished business.

Why does our great unfinished business hearken back the name of Benjamin Franklin?  When he returned home after participating in the secret deliberations to draft the US Constitution, Franklin was said to have had an inquisitive exchange with a Philadelphia woman:

“What have you made for us, Dr. Franklin?” the woman had wanted to know.

“A republic, madam, if you can keep it,” was his infamous reply.
 

Franklin understood that democracy was not forever assured --- that active, informed citizenship would be required not only to keep but also to help it evolve.  As the jurist Louis Brandeis once observed, “We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.”

The challenge of ordinary citizenship, then, is to promote progressive ideas towards the improvement of our democratic ideal, regardless of the politics, regardless of the political party.  That means solving the crisis of achieving meaningful equality of opportunity for all citizens --- and completing our nation's great unfinished business --- once and for all.

-Michael D’Angelo