Why a Society of Little Gods Cannot Hold Together

Why Richard P. Weigand

 

A society cannot survive if every person is his own god.

That may sound dramatic.

But it is the plain result of radical self-authority.

If every person defines truth for himself, defines freedom for himself, defines harm for himself, defines morality for himself, and defines reality for himself, then shared life becomes almost impossible.

People may still live near each other.

But they no longer live under the same moral roof.

The Modern Promise

Modern culture often tells the individual:

Define yourself.

Choose your truth.

Follow your feelings.

Reject limits.

Question all authority.

Live by your own meaning.

This sounds like freedom.

It sounds brave, independent, and humane.

But there is a problem.

A person can be his own final authority only if he lives alone.

The moment he lives with others, his self-will meets someone else’s self-will.

Then what happens?

Collision

If one person says, “My truth,” and another says, “My truth,” there must still be some way to decide what is real.

If one person says, “My freedom,” and another says, “My safety,” there must still be some way to settle the conflict.

If one person says, “I am harmed,” and another says, “I only told the truth,” there must still be some standard.

Without a shared standard, there is only collision.

The strongest personality wins.

Or the loudest group wins.

Or the institution steps in and decides.

That is not freedom.

That is unmanaged conflict followed by management.

Freedom Without Shared Limits

Freedom requires limits.

That is not a contradiction.

It is the condition that makes freedom possible.

A driver is free to travel because everyone agrees, at least roughly, to stay on the correct side of the road. If every driver defines the rules for himself, no one is free for long.

The road becomes dangerous.

The same is true of society.

Freedom requires shared meanings, shared standards, and shared consequences.

Without those, liberty becomes collision.

Then collision becomes control.

The Child as Little God

A child naturally begins life at the center of his own world.

He wants what he wants.

He cries when frustrated.

He resists limits.

He does not yet understand duty, patience, restraint, or the needs of others.

That is why he must be formed.

A child who is never taught limits does not become free.

He becomes demanding.

If his feelings are treated as final, if his wants are treated as rights, if his discomfort is treated as harm, he learns to rule the room.

But a child who rules the room is not strong.

He is unprepared for the world outside it.

The Adult Version

Adults can become little gods too.

An adult may say:

No one can judge me.

No one can define me.

No one can correct me.

No one can tell me what is true.

No one can impose consequences on me.

This sounds like independence.

But it is often immaturity with adult vocabulary.

The adult version of the spoiled child is more dangerous because he has more power. He can use institutions, language, law, media, and moral accusation to defend his self-will.

He does not merely say, “I want.”

He says, “Justice requires it.”

The Collapse of Duty

A society of little gods loses duty.

Duty means there is something I owe beyond myself.

I owe truth.

I owe care.

I owe restraint.

I owe work.

I owe loyalty.

I owe protection to children.

I owe respect to the order that protects me.

But if the self is highest, duty becomes optional.

Duty is kept only when it matches desire.

Marriage weakens.

Parenting weakens.

Citizenship weakens.

Law weakens.

Promises weaken.

The self remains.

The bonds thin out.

The Rise of Offense

A society of little gods also becomes easily offended.

Why?

Because each person treats his own inner world as sacred.

His identity is sacred.

His feelings are sacred.

His preferences are sacred.

His narrative is sacred.

If another person challenges him, the challenge feels like violation.

Disagreement becomes harm.

Correction becomes attack.

Limits become oppression.

Consequences become cruelty.

This makes public life exhausting.

Everyone is sovereign.

Everyone is fragile.

Everyone demands respect.

Fewer people accept correction.

The Need for a Higher Standard

A society needs something above the individual.

Not necessarily the same religious language for everyone.

But something.

Truth.

Natural law.

Conscience.

Duty.

Justice.

Reality.

The good of children.

The common good.

The wisdom of the ages.

A shared moral order.

Something must stand above personal will.

If nothing stands above the self, the self becomes god.

And a society of little gods cannot hold together.

The Strange Result

Here is the strange result.

The more people insist on being their own highest authority, the more outside authority grows.

When families cannot form children, schools and agencies step in.

When people cannot govern appetite, regulation expands.

When speech cannot handle disagreement, administrators manage language.

When citizens cannot accept law, enforcement becomes heavier or more selective.

When people cannot live by shared standards, institutions create rules for every situation.

Radical individual authority does not end authority.

It invites management.

Who Gains?

At first, the individual seems to gain.

He escapes limits.

He avoids judgment.

He rejects correction.

He defines himself.

But over time, he loses the protection of a shared moral order.

Then institutions gain.

The state gains.

Experts gain.

Therapeutic systems gain.

Administrators gain.

Technology platforms gain.

Whoever manages the conflicts gains power.

The individual was promised liberation.

He gets supervision.

The Pattern

This is the pattern behind many modern changes.

Truth becomes narrative.

Freedom becomes self-will.

Harm becomes discomfort.

Safety becomes comfort.

Compassion removes consequences.

Authority becomes oppression.

Law becomes accusation.

Then shared agreement weakens.

Once shared agreement weakens, people no longer settle disputes by common standards.

They appeal to power.

The old order is called oppressive.

The new order calls itself care.

But it is still order.

It is just less visible and more managed.

Recovering the Person

The cure is not to crush the individual.

The cure is to restore the person.

A person is not a god.

But he is not meat either.

He is a moral being. He has dignity, reason, conscience, responsibility, and the ability to choose.

He needs freedom, but not self-will.

He needs compassion, but not rescue from all consequence.

He needs authority, but not domination.

He needs truth, not merely narrative.

He needs limits, not because he is worthless, but because he is capable of becoming better.

That is the difference.

Recovering Society

A society can hold together only when people agree that something stands above personal will.

Truth must stand above narrative.

Law must stand above convenience.

Duty must stand above appetite.

Children must stand above adult self-expression.

The common good must stand above private impulse.

Consequences must stand above excuse.

Without that, society becomes a crowd of competing selves.

Each person demands authority.

No one accepts order.

Then management arrives to do what self-government could not.

A society of little gods cannot hold together.

A society of responsible persons can.

 

Related Reading

The Redefinition of Man
Propaganda by Redefinition
The Shared Agreement That Makes Society Possible
When Freedom Becomes Self-Will
When Authority Becomes Oppression
When Truth Becomes Narrative
When Consequences Disappear
Responsibility and Freedom