day no. 16,235: societies are saved by sacrifice

"Perhaps the most dangerous by-product of the Age of Intellect is the unconscious growth of the idea that the human brain can solve the problems of the world. Even on the low level of practical affairs this is patently untrue. Any small human activity, the local bowls club or the ladies’ luncheon club, requires for its survival a measure of self-sacrifice and service on the part of the members. In a wider national sphere, the survival of the nation depends basically on the loyalty and self-sacrifice of the citizens. The impression that the situation can be saved by mental cleverness, without unselfishness or human self-dedication, can only lead to collapse." -- Sir John Glubb, The Fates of Empires

Societies are saved by sacrifice. Knowledge puffs up if it is not poured out. It inflates the skull if it doesn't infiltrate it's fingers. God has so woven the Gospel into every aspect of the world, that nothing can be accomplished outside of sacrifice and resurrection. This power is foreshadowed and revealed in everything. In other words, many of our problems are not the result of ignorance, but arrogance. Our issues, therefore, cannot be solved by academics. Cleverness cannot help us out of the crisis it caused. Our faith in our intellect causes suffering and our faith in our intellect to relieve our sufferings only compounds them.

"Perhaps it is not the intellectualism which destroys the spirit of self-sacrifice—the least we can say is that the two, intellectualism and the loss of a sense of duty, appear simultaneously in the life-story of the nation.  Indeed it often appears in individuals, that the head and the heart are natural rivals. The brilliant but cynical intellectual appears at the opposite end of the spectrum from the emotional self-sacrifice of the hero or the martyr. Yet there are times when the perhaps unsophisticated self-dedication of the hero is more essential than the sarcasms of the clever." -- Sir John Glubb, The Fates of Empires

The smarter we are the less loyal we often become. As our intellectual muscles grow our spiritual muscles often atrophy. It doesn't have to be this way, but it often is this way. The confidence obtained by scienticism corrodes the sense of obligation. The more you feel like you know, the less you will feel duty-bound to do anything about it. And on the rare occasions that you do, it will likely only be motivated by a prideful assertion that the world needs to be exposed to your insights, not for their sake mind you, but to prevent yourself from being robbed of the glory you deserve.