heidi chronicles: There are FOUR lights

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

There are FOUR lights

In this episode, Picard admits that in the end, torture prevailed. He would have been willing to say anything, but, even worse, he had come to see five lights, despite knowing the truth that there were only four. Oppression warps reality and our own ability to perceive the truth. It is the presence of the rescue team that allows him to issue the iconic line.

What is being offered to Picard is particularly appealing to me: a life of comfort, with time to pursue philosophy. This offer -- and the ability to withhold it-- is what corrupts the lizard brain to comply with the oppressor.

While survival may, in fact, be insufficient, it must also be safeguarded at all costs. What does this mean for the creation of a just society?

1. Loyalty.
2. Forbearance: self-control towards others.
3. Hardihood.
4. Generosity: not just a simple matter of giving away what one has, but "Largitas in a man caused him to set no store on greed or gifts, and to have nothing but contempt for bribes."
5. Benevolence. The Davidic ethic: It is the strongest quality of the preudomme - benevolence of the strong toward the weak.
6. Honor: honor is achieved by living up to the ideal of the preudomme and pursuing the qualities and behavior listed above.

7. Championship: everywhere and always be the champion of the Right and the Good against Injustice and Evil.

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