Between Two Titans – Part 3 – The Necessity of Community
/April 3rd
Between Two Titans – Part 3 – The Necessity of Community
In the last essay we introduced the resounding proclamations of our two titans of thought. The one called Liberty cries “You are your own.” And the one called Community declares “You are beholden to your fellow man.” Naturally this creates a fair bit of tension.
When dealing with two ideas that are intrinsically in opposition, how does one determine which to follow and in what situation? Especially when both have the ring of truth! Here, I think, lies the core of most debates I have observed and in which I have taken part. Where does one titan’s sway end and the other’s begin, which should we heed, in what situations, and to what extent?
To begin I think it is important to explore the idea that one always supersedes the other. It is fairly easy to defend the idea that we cannot completely dismiss the proclamation of Community in its entirety, and follow only the command of Liberty so we begin there.
We can thank many writers throughout history for exploring the idea of runaway liberty ideology. The horrors of the fully developed Laissez Fair* dystopia of Ayn Rand, unchecked by the loving hand of care for one another, have been explored time and time again throughout all forms of literature. Whether you think things would escalate into the Corporate dystopias of Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, or descend into the anarchic societal collapse of the post apocalyptic visions of the cinema’s MadMax and Book of Eli, we can all agree that the world where The Self reigned supreme would be a rather bad one.**
Even if you find the apocalyptic visions of anarchy and unchecked selfishness to be a little far-fetched, a world where all men and women advocate only for themselves would be a sad world indeed. In such a world you may well ask, “What reason then would men have to stop littering, to clean up the trash in the ocean, or to keep the dog park free of filth?” Better to ask, “Why would there be public spaces at all?” A man may say, “So what if I burn tires on my lawn to keep warm? It matters not to me if my neighbor’s children begin to cough.” And it could then be freely said, “So what if the greedy and violent lay hold of my neighbors house or person so long as they are not coming for me.”
It would be a world without heroes or heroics, without friendship or family, without true romance, and without brotherhood. You would never receive or give a hug simply because one is needed. No brother could stand at your back, and no trust or camaraderie could be expected or accepted. It would be a world barren of so many of the things that make life good. And deep in our souls we would know it was not right. Man is a social creature. Like God we have it in us to desire company and to seek kinship with others of our own image.
In fact, let us consider God for a moment. If you, like me, are of the Christian persuasion you will know that for you, the proclamation of community takes on the form of a command. Now, please know that it is not my intention to try to persuade any atheist with Christian theological arguments! I have found that what is good and right, what is practical and wise, is evident and reasonable to everybody who cares to take a look. For the atheist, the commands and ideals from the Bible may be seen as an overlay. It would be one that some people place on top of the secular world, something that adds to or augments it, and as a result, something that only truly applies to those who choose to live by it. As Christians we can not expect atheists to be beholden to the teachings of Christ any more than a Buddhist could expect us to beholden to their ways.
With that said, I will make the point that if you consider yourself a follower of Christ’s teachings you can in no way dismiss the voice of the titan that declares that you should be concerned for the well-being of your fellow men. We are commanded to, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Christ said of taxation that we were to “Give to Cesar that which belongs to Cesar, and give to God that which belongs to God.” (Which is a beautifully subtle stance, and certainly merits further exploration at some point.) Even Jeremiah commanded the Israelites in captivity to, “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” A particularly situational command, but certainly in the spirit of the thing.
But I do not really think many people to whom I am writing would throw out the claim of community if the choice were to throw one of these two out in its entirety. Even the staunchest libertarian would feel in his heart that, were his grandmother too ill to go to the store, he really should offer to pick up some groceries. If we see a neighbor struggling to carry a heavy burden and our hands are free we would feel ourselves to be a bit of a heel were we to ignore them. And we would feel good about ourselves if we did lend a hand. I think rather it is the claim of the other titan that, if we were to deny one completely, would be the most likely candidate.
On Monday I will attempt what I think may be the harder task of defending the necessity of the proclamation of Liberty, the claim that “You are Your own.”
*Laissez Fair - Translates to, “Let do” and is a form of economics centered on the idea that freedom of action should have no form of government (or moral social convention) above it to curb its excesses, both on the individual level and the level of the corporation. At its most basic, it is the claim that commerce based around free exchange of goods is all that is needed to ensure a prosperous and happy society.
** A few other Recommendations – Blade runner is a cinematic adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and the first one, while quite strange, is certainly worth a watch. If you enjoy Ayn Rand and video games, I would highly recommend Bioshock which borrows heavily from Rand’s works. It is a slightly horror style game so take that into account. Or if the idea of the corporate dystopia is interesting to you, and you like a good cyberpunk setting, try the video game Deus Ex, or of you prefer something older I have heard wonderful things about system shock.