The Wisdom-Power Dialectic

This chapter returns to the Jesusian serpent-dove dialectic and elaborates it in terms of the shared contemporary equivalent Shaw and Ricoeur utilize extensively: the wisdom-power dialectic. The emphasis falls on the age-old conflict between the latter that has plagued humankind since scriveners began to record history. Put simply, wisdom without power is impotent to do the good, while power without wisdom is inimical to doing the good. Dark events in recent memory attest to the horrendous costs incurred if we fail to keep these elemental energies in equilibrium: two dreadful world wars of unprecedented lethality, the latter including a Holocaust and eviscerating atomic bombings, coupled with a multitude of sundry outrages against the person. Could anything else prove more demonstrative? To promote the good life, humans must find a productive way of synthesizing these frequently dueling factors dialectically so that they cooperate harmoniously in the interest of securing global wellbeing. Otherwise, the species and the planet will remain in peril indefinitely. If such troubling trends continue unabated, our precarious hold on existence may end abruptly, sooner rather than later. In thus connection, the chapter also begins a dialogue about perhaps the most perplexing enigma of all: the existence of that which ought not be but is—evil. It offers no definitive response to the enigma but opens a space for spirituality to fill the void constructively.