Family is the basic unit of civilization. That's our starting premise.
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| What did we do on our summer vacation? Hung out with grandkids. |
We’re in a series on the values of civilization, which are
to value God, life, family, truth, and property ownership. The earlier parts of
this series include:
Today we begin talking about family.
God and family are taking larger places than the others,
simply because they are the values undergirding all. Our rights either come
from God—they do—or they are extended by earthly government and repealed at
will by government. If you’re subject to the whims of government, whose views
and powers change according to the opinion of whoever has power, you’re under
tyranny. But if you have rights granted by God, government’s role is either to
protect them or use unrighteous dominion to try to deprive human beings of
those God-given rights.
Next to God in importance is family, because this basic unit
of society is how we transfer all the values from generation to generation.
The first six parts of this series drew from the Spherical Model website article "Civilization vs. Savagery." Family is big enough to have
its own separate article, “Family Is the Basic Unit of Civilization.”
Today we’ll cover the basic introduction, which is why
family is important. It’s both a micro-civilization in itself, when it’s fully
functional, and it’s a way to perpetuate civilization. And then, more on family values in the next post.
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Civilized societies value family as the most important and
basic unit of governance. Alternatively, a hallmark of totalitarian regimes,
which are savage, is the replacement of the family with the state.
Totalitarianism resents loyalty to any societal unit other than itself. And it
is this absolute weakness that will always prevent a totalitarian state from
offering true Civilization as you’d find it in a free strong-family society.
This is particularly important to know for people living in a
sub-civilized society. As long as families are allowed to live among themselves
(children are under the care of their own parents), it is possible to have a
civilized society that is just one family in size. Then, if that family can
find additional similarly civilized families to associate with, their society
grows. If it could grow to the size of a village or township, all the better.
The goal of the founding fathers was to have that civilization spread through
the United States (and if that experiment worked, have other sovereign states
adopt the plan). But a family doesn’t have to wait until the world changes; the
family can live the laws of civilization and enjoy many of the benefits, at least
within the walls of the home.
Families have the responsibility to safeguard women and
children for the greatest benefit of both current and future generations.
Families provide food, shelter, clothing, education, spiritual guidance, and
training in how to live a civilized life in a civilized society. Elderly are
honored for their wisdom. Youth are honored for their potential. Women are
honored for giving and nurturing life, among their other abilities. Men are
honored for providing and protecting, among their other abilities. Families are
the main economic force, as well as the very means whereby civilization can
perpetuate. Civilized societies therefore protect The Family as sacred.
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| Mr. Spherical Model, has been doing dad work for more than three decades so far |
A hallmark of civilized society is the importance of marriage
as the only acceptable place for sexual relations. Every society that decides
to try devaluing fidelity in marriage eventually (and often quickly) sinks into
decadence. Sex within marriage not only provides offspring, it cements the bond
between the two parents, so that the child will grow in a home of love and
protection and guidance. No other situation is even remotely as beneficial for
a child.
Humans being mortal, there will be incidents where some
children will be raised without both parents. Ideally, there should never be
divorce (a necessary evil in response to decidedly uncivilized behavior). But
there will be death, which is inevitable. Nevertheless, in a healthy, peaceful
society the abundance of intact, healthy families can help compensate for the
few homes that don’t have the child’s two living parents.
It is probably possible to quantify what percentage
constitutes a critical mass of functional families that can compensate for a
smaller percentage of problem homes without an undue toll on civilization. But,
in general, the more family health, the more civilized the society.
Over the years, on the blog, I covered some of the benefits
of fathers and mothers, and families, often close to Father’s Day and Mother’s Day, plus a
few other times. It has added up.
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| This little guy is about to turn seven already. |
· The Good Part, May 8, 2013
Just to sum up today, here’s a quote for fathers and one for
mothers:
Imagine a world in which every lonely, confused
adult going down the wrong road had had a dad that filled the role—maybe not
perfectly, but with love, tenderness, and an unending will for the child’s life
to go well. Not all the world’s problems would be solved; people still have
free will, so some will just choose badly. But so many more will know what a
good choice looks like. The holes in so many children’s hearts would be filled,
and ready to pass that love along.
—(quoting myself from “Being a Dad.”)
If you were the grand designer,
and you wanted to place certain people in charge of protecting, preserving, and
passing along the ideas of civilization, for the happiness and well-being of
all, you would design individuals with passion, who would pass along those
ideas out of love to their young charges, believing that happiness in the
present and future for those young charges was more important than any personal
concerns. You couldn’t hire such caregivers. You couldn’t assign an institution
to do it. You would have to create—mothers. Indeed, that is what the Grand
Designer did.
—(quoting myself from “The Motherhood Study.”)
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