Primary Institutional Wisdom is a belief which is part of our society, and has been for centuries - indeed probably for millennia. It is the assumption that authority lies with institutions and not with individual persons.
At its most fundamental, it is the assumption that spiritual goodness is primarily to be found in that human institution The Church or Religion ("the" Church or Religion that we personally believe to have such authority) - and individual spiritual goodness is derivative from that Church or Religion.
That is the default and thought-habit, and long has been - and it is something which is hard to escape.
The alternative assumption is that ultimate authority, including spiritual goodness, is primarily to be found in an individual person.
This means all institutions - all possible institutions - are secondary in authority and goodness...
And that institutional authority, truth, goodness etc. is primarily and ultimately (albeit not exclusively) derivative of the individuals from-which an institution is composed.
I believe that ultimate authority - and therefore necessarily ultimate responsibility - resides in the individual person.
And I believe it to be false to knowledge and experience, hence dishonest, to assert (and pretend to believe) that ultimate authority, truth, goodness etc is located in any institution.
That this dishonest falsehood is so common I therefore put down to wrong motivations - fear, laziness, shirking, and other sinful motivations that require to be acknowledged and repented.
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NOTE: I also believe that things have changed over recent human generations, and that in the past (the more anciently, the more this was the case) it was not possible mentally or spiritually to separate the individual from the group in the way that now seems almost unavoidable to many people. And that therefore (in the past) it did not make sense (i.e. it was not humanly comprehensible) to ask whether authority resided in the individual or the group. Now it does make sense, and therefore the question is honestly unavoidable, and demands an answer.
"That this dishonest falsehood is so common I therefore put down to wrong motivations - fear, laziness, shirking, and other sinful motivations that require to be acknowledged and repented."
ReplyDeleteThat's what it all comes down to, doesn't it? Of course, those who assert that ultimate goodness resides primarily in institutions will claim that such assertions exemplify virtue, wisdom, and humility, which in my mind, only compounds the sinful motivations.
The events of 2020-21 should have clarified this business about ultimate goodness and authority within institutions. Unfortunately, it hasn't. Even worse, it has prompted many to double down on Primary Institutional Wisdom.
@Frank - I used the harsh words deliberately, because everybody knows that they are making personal discernments very frequently - and most are being dishonest (with themselves, as well as other people) about what this means for the group-based value systems they espouse.
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