I was on a website called The Imaginative Conservative, reading an article about Bach which had nothing to do with politics or social issues, when out of curiosity I clicked on a link to another article on a very different subject.
I read this, inspired by a book they were reviewing: 'As liberalism progresses, it is the victim of the success of its internal contradictions. It contains its own conditions to fail, for which there is no "fix"'
And I thought, there is a reason for those contradictions.
Liberalism is not meant to create a stable order that stays the same.
It is meant to provide the conditions for society to grow.
I will not fail.
But to not fail, it needs to continue to expand, to continue to grow.
It will only fail if it fails to change. learn, and expand in complexity.
Liberalism is meant to help society learn.
Western civilization is a very young civilization.
1300 years ago, in the year 723 before the time of Charlemagne, it did not even exist yet.
There were farmers left over from the decline of a Rome that yet still lived further east, where its capital still lives today as Istanbul.
And after it rose, it was isolated, far from the roads to over half of Asia and most of Africa.
Two thousand and three hundred years ago, Indian and Chinese civilization were already far older than that.
Had been around for well over 1300 years, since before 2000 BC, and had produced sages like The Buddha.
Had had a chance to learn, under far more ideal conditions that western Europe ever had, from the even older civilizations of the middle east and the ancient Mediterranean, where Egypt reached a level of artistic sophistocation equal to anything Europe ever produced and a spiritual maturity far beyond Europe in 1910 2,000 years before The Buddha in the time of the Pyramids.
The West is young- and, until recently, isolated, far on the other side of the world without even a way to reach India and China in their own ships or caravans without sailing all around Africa first.
With youthful prejudices of ignorance which prevented us from learning from Egypt's unfallen world, the world of Baghdad.
We were willing to take up science from Baghdad- but not wisdom. Not spiritual wisdom.
The West is young. Isolated.
The West exists in a very small world of ideas.
Liberalism is trying to expand that world.
To expand society to learn and understand more complex things.
To expand until we can truly understand, and not only understand but follow, Plato, The Buddha, Confucius, and the true teachings of Christ, which few in the west have ever truly understood.
Liberalism is not meant to work unless it is expanding.
It is meant to expand until we reach a mature understanding of Plato and Confucius, The Buddha and Muhammed.
And then the stability will come from The Buddha, Plato and Confucius, not from Liberalism.
Liberalism does not need to be fixed.
It only needs to expand.
For Liberalism was meant to create the right conditions for society to learn, and grow, and expand.
The only alternative is to remain stuck in that old, tiny colonialist place forever.
Which is something that I, for one, cannot accept.
For I have seen what lies beyond, in the world of Plato and The Buddha.
And it is beautiful. And wonderful. Wonderful beyond belief.
And I don't want to miss out.
We need to grow.
And that is what Liberalism is for.
God loves you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson