If we think that history is just one masochistic endless cycle after another, there seems little point to living. But if we think time is moving towards an inevitable destiny, then we should figure out what the end times look like. If we believe that the trajectory is moving downhill into a pit of destruction, again, there seems to be little point in trying. But if you think civilisation is moving uphill and progressively, then we should make sure we are on the side of the angels. The question of perfection presents a tougher choice on what to do as we await the final progressive day in history: will utopia come from passively believing that God will take care of us or agressively striving to rebuild the world on one’s efforts only?
A middle ground has to be struck between the religious fanatics and the rabid secularists – we should diligently work at perfecting the world, but we must not risk the pitfall of believing that imprect human beings and human institutions can complete the work. Utopian communes generally failed because they put too much trust on the power of society and collective wisdom to make things right. Such misplaces faith in a human system – be it in guardian-dictators, impractical academics, out-of-touch bureaucrats, impersonal computers, idealistic activists or self-righteous theocrats – usually leads to over-regulation and the implementation of a well-intended but crushing conformity over the lives of the people. Sadly, such “utopian” communes can last for decades before follwers admit they were in the wrong to believe in the first place. The Emperor’s New Clothes is a child’s tale with an adult lesson: sometimes our desperation to believe that we can create something beautiful and superior causes us to willingly blind ourselves to the naked, ugly truth.
What all of us need is a healthy does of credible utopianism or grounded idealism if you will, and not one based on glib oratory or vague platitudes. And that comes only with genuine humility. the ability to constantly know how imperfect you are, to not think of yourself more highly than you ought, to thus love our neighbours as we love ourselves – is what makes idealism tender, truthful and ultimately, actually workable.
But if humility is the answer to making utopias happen, how do we remind ourselves to constantly stay that way? It is second nature for us to think highly of ourselves and think of our own needs and our own goodness first. Though secularists may cringe, that is precisely where the Abrahamic faiths’ concept of perfection rings most true. We can only stay humble when we have before our minds and hearts, all the time, a standard infinitely higher, far nobler and far more powerful than ourselves. By establishing this standard in the form of an impossibly holy and powerful God, the faithful believe we would be awed into making much less of our puny human selves and our efforts. For if it is by grace that we are saved, through faith and not by our works, none of us would be able to boast. However, since not all of us profess to such faith, the struggle to make sense of our utopian ambitions will continue.
So the imperfect cannot create the perfect. But they can certainly put their faith in a perfect Something that can. Be it divine being or abstract force, the ultimate test is whether it proves both good enough to do the perfecting work and powerful enough to enable the imperfect to be part of that work. Then and only then, would we begin to be actually ready – in heart and in hand – to do whatever it takes to help usher in that one ultimate utopia that will put to shame all other pretenders forevermore.
- Extracted from Broader Perspectives, Issue 8 (09/2008), Feature Article “Heaven is (Not) a Place on Earth”.
