Truth Over Tyranny.2: Biblical wisdom for defeating the Technocrats.
These are my insights for defeating the Transhumanist Technocracy movement, based on the teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (the Rav,) of blessed memory, on the weekly Bible portion.
The giving of the Torah to the Jews at Mount Sinai is described in Parashat Yitro. It was a momentous occasion, not just for the Jewish People but for every People on Earth. After all, the gift of Torah provides all humanity with a blueprint for building a nation-state society, that is based on preserving God-given freedoms.
This blueprint, these guidelines and rules, are distilled from every part of the Revelation process:
- The preparation for receiving the Torah.
- The declaration of the Ten Commandments.
- And the subsequent forty years, in which the Torah’s application was taught to the entire People.
And, the mission of learning how to live according to God’s Torah — of living in God’s world — continues to this very day.
All aspects of life are covered in this mission: cultural, political, social, economic, mental, and physical. But our mindset is central, because how we think about things does influence how we manage them. And, within mindset, our conception of time is key, because that conception determines the importance we give to each and every moment, day, year, and lifetime that our People is given in which to carry out our mission.
In his commentary on the giving of the Torah to the Jews, the Rav emphasizes this very lesson. Understanding the particular conception of time that God wants humanity to have, was essential to the People’s preparation for the Revelation, and is just as essential to the People’s preparation for their mission today.
The Rav starts with this Torah text, in which God designated a specific point in time, by which the entire Jewish People must be ready for Him to speak to them:
“And they shall be prepared for the third day…” (Shemot 19.11).
The Rav shows us how this instruction carried a lesson for not just receiving the Torah, but for finding purpose in life, for all people:
“Judaism is very sensitive to the flux of time. God’s rendezvous with man occurred at an appointed time. Be ready!
“This is the command of Judaism. Each moment of conscious existence is a divine gift out of which the summons to the service of God emerges.
“Judaism believes that each person has a fixed place in creation. If I find myself thrust in the here and now, it is because God thinks that I can act here and now efficiently. If I had been born one hundred years ago or if I would come into this world a century later, my contribution as a servant would be nil. God wills me to act right here and now.
“I anticipate the future with trepidation and anxiety, because it is the time in which I may act and serve. Every fraction of the infinite stream of time becomes precious.”
~ Chumash HaRav, Vol Shemot, p 161.
I would add this:
Many freedom fighters, today, feel we live in a special time — that the world is, right now, heading toward a great reckoning. This could be true, but it is hard to say for sure. There is so much to consider.
One thing I do know is that this time, right now, will become more and more special as each one us makes his or her own life special. As we each realize our unique role in this war to defeat the technocracy, we each can act and serve in that role. Each of us was born in this time, right now, because God knows we can efficiently serve, in this time, right now.
Be ready!