The blogosphere is filled with wildly divergent assessments of “events” of the day. And that’s not to say that “events” are not alarming or ripe with potential, but, mortals that we are, bombarded by binary pros and cons, it is often easier to react than to think. Perhaps this is why the great Chinese statesman Sun Yat Sen admonished that “doing is easy and thinking is hard,” and not vice versa.
This is why it is so significant that Pope Leo XIV has revived the work of Renaissance thinker Nicholas of Cusa, specifically, “On Learned Ignorance,” and the idea that “hope” lies in the unseen domain, in the hearts and minds of human beings. The Pope has brought to millions of church faithful the challenge of heavy ideas respecting the relationship between Man and God, and between Man and the created universe, which Lyndon LaRouche defined as the fundamental principle of human economy. It is no accident that LaRouche’s widow, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, is a Cusa scholar, and is striving now to unify the diverse threads of the international peace movement with her enlightened understanding of Cusa’s “coincidence of opposites.”
All thinking people are challenged today by the gulf between the statements of U.S. President Donald Trump, in regard to his expressed belief that he is the “Peace President” (having ended 7 or 8 wars, he claims) and the deadly results of his actions, such as the killing of unknown people on allegedly “Venezuelan” boats, the ongoing Ukraine/Russia proxy war, and the Gaza “Ceasefire” which Israel violates with impunity. We bear witness to a massive genocide unfolding in Sudan, horrific suffering in Haiti, and millions of Americans experiencing homelessness within the United States. Now the “Peace President” has announced his plans to resume testing of deadly nuclear weapons, jeopardizing the health and security of all. Does this mean that President Trump is just a callous liar? Does he know what’s going on? Is he being misbriefed, or losing his mind, or both? Does it matter?
When confronted with this situation, it is necessary to take a step back, or a leap up, as Zepp-LaRouche would suggest, to a higher domain where we can contemplate a longer arc of history and reflect on the dynamic of the progress of mankind as a whole, and on the beauty and goodness of creation, which will not tolerate actions that violate its principles.
Somehow, with all of its flaws, mankind has managed to grow to exceed 8 billion people on this planet. This requires an embrace of scientific discoveries and inventions by society as a whole, and a willingness to function as a society, and not a bunch of random, discrete hard balls. If you look at images from cities all over the world, from each continent, you will see people driving cars, riding buses, turning on lights at night, yes, there are cities which don’t have electricity 24/7, and don’t have sufficient clean water, but none of this would have been possible if everyone just walked into the desert, jungle, forest, or field, and decided to fend for himself or herself.
The American Revolution was an inflection point for a break with the entropic colonial order of the world—an order which may be rightly called “satanic” because it rejects the principles of growth and creation that are evident in the development of the biosphere and human progress. The colonial system does not create anything new, but seeks only to loot and deplete what already exists, and as such will always collapse of its own weight.
Within just 100 years of the founding of the American Republic, the American people enjoyed the highest standard of living in the world, and celebrated their achievements, despite a bloody British-instigated “Civil War,” at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.
Ten million people came from far corners of the Earth to tour the magnificent exhibits and see the massive Corliss Centennial Steam Engine, which powered all of the machines in Machinery Hall. Russian scientist Dmitry Mendeleyev was among the guests, and Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro II, the first foreign head of state to visit the revolutionary republic, tested Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone.
However, this was not an isolationist display of “American greatness,” but included displays of scientific and cultural contributions from nearly 40 other nations, and structures were erected representing 11 other nations’ contributions to human progress.
In fact, both leading into and coming out of the exposition with greater vigor was an international conspiracy to uplift the status of mankind as a whole, which drove the British imperialists quite mad, and led ultimately to World War I, and later World War II.
Now, the torch of development and progress has been picked up by leaders in the Global South, and they are not going to give up their dedication to progress, despite the bullying and pressure from the billionaire elites who think that they still run the world.
Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping think and act from the standpoint of the long arc of history, and refuse to be provoked into ill-conceived adventures. Despite reckless statements and actions from American and European leaders, Russia is steadily advancing toward its repeatedly stated unchanging objectives in Ukraine. President Xi is not going to squander the wellbeing of the Chinese people to make a “deal” with a puerile American President, but he will not make a scene or do anything to humiliate that President either. The door remains open to collaboration.
On this 250th anniversary of the founding of the American Republic, we could give a great gift to the people of the world, in returning to the sacred principle of the equality of Man, and acknowledging that our young nation was able to excel because of the contributions of geniuses from China to Persia, and even London, who made fundamental discoveries of scientific principle that contributed to the success of our republic. Nicholas of Cusa was one of them.
