The Three Temptations and the Three Concepts
This set of mental models will not resemble any typical political science class. I’m combining political philosophy with spirituality to navigate some difficulties that we have with human nature. Clearly, the founders believed that human nature was a mix of both good and bad. Contrary to modern progressive thought, many also believed that human nature doesn’t change—it doesn’t progress to being better than in the past. Each individual must decide to embrace good or evil (service or harmfulness) according to the exercise of personal choice.
To begin, let’s consider the definitions by the Oxford Dictionary:
Philosophy: a particular set or system of beliefs resulting from the search for knowledge about life and the universe
Spirituality: the quality of being connected with religion or the human spirit
As four of the greatest teachers to ever walk the earth, Buddha, Socrates, Jesus, and St. Thomas Aquinas have left interesting legacies from which certain lessons may be drawn. None of the first three recorded their own lessons personally, but each influenced thousands of years of human history. Aquinas left some rich writings to ponder. Let’s begin with painting the human nature problem from a story that is told about Jesus. In invoking Jesus first, I quote Thomas Jefferson:
To the corruptions of Christianity I am opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian in the sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference to all others.1
The Three Temptations
Prior to beginning his public ministry as a teacher, Jesus retired to the wilderness to collect himself and prepare himself. It is understood that he had been fasting for a prolonged period of time and was weak and hungry when his temptations began.
First, the challenge comes to him to “tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”2 I’ll interpret this as a temptation of economic power to satisfy physical appetite—the choice to use unusual power in an unvirtuous way to satisfy physical need after a long period of fasting.
Second, Jesus found himself at the high point of the temple. He was tempted to jump off with this thought in mind, “[God] will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.”3 I’ll interpret this as a temptation of personal identity—proving to oneself or to the world something special or unique about one’s individual identity.
Third, Jesus found himself on a very high mountain overlooking all the kingdoms of the world. If he would relinquish his sovereignty, he would receive the power to rule them all. I’ll interpret this as a temptation of political power—the ability to control others to one’s own liking.
As the goal of this pitchbook is to launch a system of gathering, channeling, and influencing political power in modern society, we need to explicitly call out the human risks before us—before the journey has fully commenced. There will be temptations to use political organizations and elected office for self-enrichment at the expense of others in society. There will be temptations to seek the limelight, the news spot, and the fame that comes with high offices. Even more challenging, there will be the temptation to play identity politics—to prove who we are by what virtue signal we make within the crowd. And of course, there will be the temptation to abuse power for personal satisfaction or to reward those whom we favor at the expense of others whom we don’t. All of these temptations must be jettisoned by those who wish to build a new political movement to reboot America and bridge deep divides. Again, do-the-right-thing-in-every-moment must be the constant refrain for securing and protecting the rights and liberties of all American citizens.
The Three Concepts
There are three concepts that will help a new political movement fulfill the intentions for which it is being formed. The three concepts embrace timeless wisdom as follows: learn to pursue The Higher Way, learn to pursue The Middle Way, and learn to pursue The Natural Way.
Jesus clearly stated that he brought The Higher Way. The scribes and Pharisees prided themselves on strict adherence to the Law of Moses. In his various teachings, Jesus expands the letter and spirit of the laws then in existence. Ultimately, he focuses attention on the two highest laws he offered—love for the Divine and love for others (including proper self-love). By focusing on simple, higher-order principles, the endless codes could be put aside. Do you know how many statutory laws and regulatory codes we have in the United States? Go look it up.
The Buddha, being a master at meditation, enlightened the world to see the importance of The Middle Way. By balancing “striving with determination” with “observation based on equanimity”, the right posture for mental activity can be achieved. Striving is key to understanding options, opportunities, possibilities, and boundaries. Observation entails nonjudgmental thinking, openness of awareness, and processing reality with reason free from passion stirred up by outside forces or threats. The Middle Way in politics will mean a refined judgment is brought to bear on complex topics that yield compromise for the common good.
St. Thomas Aquinas, a medieval Roman Catholic scholar, absorbed the political philosophy of Aristotle and merged it with his Christian faith. In doing so, he believed that a just ruler or government must work for the "common good" of all. Aquinas came to think that one should believe only what is self-evident or obvious (e.g., human beings use reason) or can be deduced from self-evident propositions (e.g., human reason can discover some truth). He arrived at a personal conclusion that there were four types of law: Eternal Law (from God), Divine Law (from the Bible), Natural Law (from the light of reason), and Human Law (laws made for the common good enforced by a ruler or government).
The founders of our nation believed in the concept of natural law, “the laws of nature and of Nature’s God”, as mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. For this reason, we discuss having the right to enjoy the blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That which is observable, reasonable, and comfortable for humanity leads toward the uncovering of natural laws that guide our human lawmaking efforts in The Natural Way. Human laws that conflict with natural laws create problems for individuals and society. When such occurs, the case for civil disobedience becomes the protection of human conscience in the face of unjust abuse of enforcement power.
Socrates provided several things to ponder. He believed “the unexamined life is not worth living.” First, “Intelligent individuals learn from everything and everyone; average people, from their experiences. The stupid already have all the answers.” Or this one, “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” That sounds like common sense for our political times. And lastly this one, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
Appeal to Our Better Angels
To summarize:
We should expect to be tempted by economic power… we must tread carefully along The Higher Way to generate healthy outcomes for all participants in society. We must take care to avoid extreme outcomes that don’t serve broad goals for society. Capitalism doesn’t work equally for everybody, but it tends to create the greatest surpluses for all to enjoy.
We should expect to be tempted by the use of political power… executive power (including prerogative), legislative power, and judicial power, so we must tread carefully along The Middle Way, for it is written… “He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”4 (Thomas Paine)
We should expect to be tempted by identity politics… we must tread carefully along The Natural Way, where no harm is intended to others and where passions do not inflame prejudice. As Richard Sennett penned in “The Foreigner: Two Essays on Exile”, “You have the strongest identity when you aren't aware you 'have' it; you just are it. That is, you are most yourself when you are least aware of it.”5 We must reject the modern penchant for dividing ourselves and others into oppositional identity groups.
By keeping these three concepts in mind for national deliberations regarding public policy, we hope to employ The Higher Way (pulling toward uplifting ideals that evidence a love for all of humanity), The Middle Way (avoiding extremes by making compromises), and The Natural Way (observable and comfortable rules for society best adapted to local circumstance) in efforts to guide American politics toward the common good as circumstances dictate societal needs and issues.
The inability to correctly address the corruption that can occur through economic greed, identity mismanagement, and political power tends to lead to discouragement, disillusionment, and despair. When times get tough, failure to address the societal outcomes flowing from the three temptations manifests in widespread feelings of being left penniless, paranoid, panicked, and powerless. We can do better!
Final thought: There is always a Higher Way, a Middle Way, or a Natural Way that is better than the low way, which is characterized by violence, assault, revenge, sabotage, or depravity, as well as the more universal and constant common challenges of greed, unhealthy and divisive pride, and abuse of power.
Notes for new readers:
The Common Sense Papers are an offering by Common Sense 250, which proposes a method to realign the two-party system with the creation of a new political superstructure that circumvents the current dysfunctional duopoly. The goal is to heal political divisions and reboot the American political system for an effective federal government. If the movement can gain appeal, a call to crowdfund the project may occur in 2024. Subscribe for free with an email to follow along.
The tabs on the top of the Substack page can bring you to earlier essays that spell out key political issues. Common Sense Paper No. 1, No. 2, No. 4, and No. 5 can help anyone get up to speed on the project.
Common Sense 250 is exploring the launch of a podcast this fall for those who want to listen to the political strategy but don’t have time to read. Subscribe and watch for an email announcement.
Steven Rabb, The Founders' Speech to a Nation in Crisis (Atlanta: Liberty For All Publishers, 2020) 33.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Matthew 4:3.
Ibid., Matthew 4:6.
Thomas Paine, Dissertation on First-Principles of Government (1795), ECCO Text Creation Partnership, http://name.umdl.umich.edu/004809392.0001.000 (accessed October 11, 2023).
“Quotes from the Foreigner: Two Essays on Exile.” Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/16077224-the-foreigner-two-essays-on-exile (accessed October 11, 2023).
I really love this one, Joe. Thank you for the insights on Christianity.
https://open.substack.com/pub/howardswitzer/p/a-biblical-approach-to-economic-justice?r=28dd4&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web