I get a kick out of political discussion of self rule as an option. After studying history for many years including monarchies, clans or tribes, dictatorships (benign and otherwise); after living under a representative democracy and a one-party controlled third world government and after raising three teenagers in a Catholic family immersed in a pagan culture I’ve come to the belief that self rule is the only rule there is.
That’s right – self rule is IT!
Governments rule with the consent of the governed or there is chaos. For any group of humans the ability to live in an orderly way begins with the ability to control ONESELF. A person must develop self discipline along with the development of his/her will.
What is the will? It is the only thing I have that I can offer to God. Can a person offer God his good looks or intelligence or the strength of his body? Yes, of course but only in the way that he chooses to use them, because they are all primarily gifts that the Father has given to that individual. The only real gift that we give freely to God is our will. This free will is the essential ingredient for the possibility for love.
Let me explain. When my children were little I was a very affectionate mother and I would frequently ask them for hugs and kisses which they very generously and happily gave me. One day while I was washing dishes and my mind was focused on my own eccentric thoughts my daughter ran up to me and hugged me around my knee and looked up into my face and said very intently and happily, “I love you so much, Mommy.” I actually felt my heart melt. This love given with no request, spontaneously, because she felt it, could only be given because she was free not to love me. This is what the Lord of the universe seeks. He doesn’t need our love. He is complete in Himself. He IS love. But He gives us the opportunity too choose to be like Him in loving Him and each other – or not. Or not.
As our children grew it was love and the respect that grows from love (the recognition that our children are really God’s children and we are answerable to Him for how we raise and care for His children) that made it possible for the governed to give their consent to our authority. Seeing that we obeyed a higher authority ourselves showed them a modeling for obedience that encouraged them when obedience was hard. Obedience is almost always hard.
I am 5 years older than my husband and much more verbal. In fact one day I overheard my 2 year old in the next room making a peculiar sort of sound pattern. I turned off the dish water and stood quietly while I listened to high pitched repetition of “Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na (then a low guttural) Nuh Nuh…Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na …Nuh Nuh. I thought this was very peculiar and peeked around the door to investigate. She had the mommy doll in her right hand (long, long squeally na na) then the Daddy doll’s turn (two gruff Nuh Nuh’s). How embarrassing! How revealing!
This same daughter approached me when she was about three and had gotten the understanding that age gave increased status and said, “Why do you listen to Daddy? You’re older than him and you’re smarted than him. (That was and is debatable). I said, “I obey Daddy because God asked me to and I like to make God happy. You are a very smart girl and for the rest of your life you are probably never going to have a boss who is smarter than you but you will have to obey your boss because God wants us to obey authority in everything that is not bad. That means that sometimes your boss will be wrong about the best way to do something or he may choose a project that isn’t smart but that is OK to obey. But if he asks you to do something that is wrong you must disobey to obey God Who is the big boss over everybody.
I also obey Daddy because it easier to learn how to do something if you can watch someone else do it. Obedience is very hard to do especially for me so I practice it a lot so you can see someone doing it.”
As they grew and I watched them “practicing” obedience I became more and more aware that their compliance with our rules and wishes was a GIFT. Authority is hard to hold and impose - placing boundaries and walls on behaviors and then moving those boundaries constantly wider as the strength to self govern increases in the young humans we guide. But if they don’t learn to self rule they will never really grow.
I was counseling once with the mother of a ten year old boy who could not bring herself to put any limits on his behavior at all. He was bright and handsome and she was besotted with him to the point that he was becoming a real barbarian. She had come to me at the urging of her husband who was banned from any interaction with the son that required limits and was slowly being pushed completely out of the child’s life. I told her that for the son to succeed in life he had to learn to obey. She said she just couldn’t stand to see him sad or disappointed or frustrated. I told her, “He will learn to obey from someone in this world. If it’s not you and your husband it will be a boot camp sergeant or a prison guard. I think it would be a gentler, kinder experience from you but he will learn it easy or hard or spend the rest of his life in prison. Which would you prefer?” They are still in process but there is reason to hope that things are curing up.
In terms of whole populations there must be self rule for a civilization to exist. First there must be the rule of the self THEN the rule of the people by the people either by electoral process or by the acceptance of an authority that will do even if that authority is just barely acceptable. No one rules without the consent of the governed. No one is governable unless they have personal self rule.
