Balancing Universal and Independent Values

“A people perishes when it confuses its duty with duty in general.” Nietzsche

Traditionalism in religion, and even many modern liberals, emphasize service to present man as he is, and attack or forget the idea of progress, that is, those who believe man has a goal beyond present man. These values need to be balanced even though they are different values with different virtues. This relates to universal and independent values, with traditionalists and modern liberals weighted on the side of universal values, even though universalism is at the farthest reaches of human nature and human bonding.

I do agree with universalism, unlike many nationalists, in the sense that the same stars shine down on all men, as all men are activated by the same Spirit-Will To Godhood. This is a central argument against universal dictatorship and imperialism by any one group. But universalism has to be balanced with the affirmation of independent, distinctive people. Duties to a particular group are not the same as duties to a different group.

This is why I agree with those who want to see distinctive, individual states within the United States, protected (as the Constitution intended) by a federalism much lighter than what we now have. Bio-social psychologist Raymond Cattell constanltly emphasized that to keep evolution, creativity and advancement going we need competitive inter-group agreements, we do not need modern day Genghis Khans or modern globalist dictators.

Our highest goal is to evolve to Godhood, and we do so in evolutionary ways that relate to real human nature, in variety, distinctiveness and cooperative competition. Human beings are capable of this behavior because it is most natural.