Truth Over Tyranny: Biblical wisdom for defeating the Technocrats.
These are my insights for defeating the Transhumanist Technocracy movement, based on the teachings of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, on the weekly Bible portion.
Over the past few years, multitudes of people have taken a stand for freedom and against Technocrat imperialism. “Ordinary” men and women the world over have taken the extraordinary step to resist the tyranny of local school boards, professional associations, and numerous state and federal government agencies. In a world clamoring for conformity, they have chosen to assert their individuality. They have become leaders in their own way, on their own turf — at the grass roots.
These Freedom Fighters pay a heavy price for not “going along, to get along” with government mandates. They get cancelled, censored, and banned. They get threatened, sued, and arrested. Their families, businesses, and careers suffer. Yet the more the “collective” demands compliance, the more they demand the right to be themselves — to do what is right.
From where do they get the courage to be “different,” to buck the trend? One major source is the Biblical heritage of Western civilization. It is a Biblical tradition to refuse to worship power, and to challenge the power icons of the day. In his commentary on Parashat Lech Lecha called “The Courage not to Conform,” Rabbi Jonathan Sacks shows us how the Patriarch Abraham set the standard for this “grass-roots resistance” that is as relevant today as it was in ancient times.
https://www.rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/lech-lecha/the-courage-not-to-conform/
Rabbis Sacks begins by emphasizing that leaders do not conform for the sake of conforming:
“Leaders lead. That does not mean to say that they do not follow. But what they follow is different from what most people follow. They don’t conform for the sake of conforming. They don’t do what others do merely because others are doing it. They follow an inner voice, a call. They have a vision, not of what is, but of what might be. They think outside the box. They march to a different tune.”
The Patriarch Abraham was called upon to lead humanity to not just a different, but a better way of life than what the status quo demanded:
“Never was this more dramatically signalled than in the first words of God to Abraham, the words that set Jewish history in motion: ‘Leave your land, your birthplace and your father’s house and go to the land that I will show you.’ (Gen. 12:1)
“Why? Because people do conform. They adopt the standards and absorb the culture of the time and place in which they live – ‘your land.’ At a deeper level, they are influenced by friends and neighbours – ‘your birthplace.’ More deeply still they are shaped by their parents, and the family in which they grew up – ‘your father’s house.’
“I want you, says God to Abraham, to be different. Not for the sake of being different, but for the sake of starting something new: a religion that will not worship power and the symbols of power – for that is what idols really were and are. I want you, said God, to ‘teach your children and your household afterward to follow the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just’” (Gen. 18:19).
Essentially, he was leading the way to building a society in which political power was continually challenged:
“We make a mistake when we think of idols in terms of their physical appearance – statues, figurines, icons. In that sense they belong to the ancient times we have long outgrown. The way to think of idols is in terms of what they represent. They symbolise power. That is what Ra was for the Egyptians, Baal for the Canaanites, Chemosh for the Moabites, Zeus for the Greeks, and what missiles and bombs are for terrorists and rogue states today.
“Power allows us to rule over others without their consent. As the Greek historian Thucydides put it: ‘The strong do what they wish and the weak suffer what they must.’ Judaism is a sustained critique of power. That is the conclusion I have reached after a lifetime of studying our sacred texts. It is about how a nation can be formed on the basis of shared commitment and collective responsibility. It is about how to construct a society that honours the human person as the image and likeness of God. It is about a vision, never fully realised but never abandoned, of a world based on justice and compassion, in which ‘They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea’” (Isaiah 11:9).
It is true leadership, not power, that influences people:
“Abraham is without doubt the most influential person who ever lived. Today he is claimed as the spiritual ancestor of 2.3 billion Christians, 1.8 billion Muslims and 14 million Jews, more than half the people alive today. Yet he ruled no empire, commanded no great army, performed no miracles and proclaimed no prophecy. He is the supreme example in all of history of influence without power.
“Why? Because he was prepared to be different. As the Sages say, he was called ha-ivri, ‘the Hebrew,’ because ‘all the world was on one side (be-ever echad) and he was on the other’. Leadership, as every leader knows, can be lonely. Yet you continue to do what you have to do because you know that the majority is not always right and conventional wisdom is not always wise. Dead fish go with the flow. Live fish swim against the current. So it is with conscience and courage. So it is with the children of Abraham. They are prepared to challenge the idols of the age.”
I would add this:
I do not find it surprising that many of the Freedom Fighters of today are committed Jews and Christians. They do not have to be Biblical scholars to be nourished and guided by our Biblical heritage, and advocate for freedom and righteousness.
Similarly — and sadly — non-believers are the chief engineers and executors of the tyranny of the Technocracy. Many of them are even Jews and Christians who have adopted the false transhumanist religion.
They have lost their way. They claim power, because they have no influence. They demand conformity, because they show no leadership. Today’s Freedom Fighters know this, and have the courage to do what they know is right, following in the footsteps of our Patriarch Abraham.