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1-Page Summary of The Right Side of History
Overview
People living in Western societies have a lot of privileges, including the ability to live comfortably and having freedom. However, there seems to be a lot of anger among people who seem unhappy. Why is that? There are two main reasons for this: first, some people don’t agree with the direction that society is going in; second, they feel like their views aren’t being heard by those in charge. This leads to tension between opposing groups and makes them dislike each other even more than before. The author believes that this problem can be solved if we all try harder to understand one another’s opinions instead of dismissing others’ ideas as wrong or evil simply because they’re different from our own views.
Many people seem to have a negative view of the West. But, in reality, it has done a lot of good things for the world. In this passage, key points are made about how Western civilization is based on moral purpose and scientific discovery.
The author reminds us that the West’s success is built on two main pillars: Jerusalem, which refers to the Bible, and Athens, which refers to ancient Greek philosophers. He also argues that societies are not successful if they stray from these two philosophical legacies.
The Bible played a major role in the development of human equality and free will. True happiness is based on moral purpose, as opposed to pleasure or wealth. The French Revolution was a disaster because it destroyed order and created chaos.
Big Idea #1: True happiness is derived not from pleasure but from moral purpose.
Many Americans are unhappy with their lives. They don’t think the future will be better than today.
People today are very despondent. We think of happiness as pleasure, but the Bible and philosophers tell us that true happiness comes from leading a moral life.
The Hebrew Bible teaches that happiness is living the right way in accordance with God’s will. It also says to rejoice in the purpose that God has given humans. As Solomon said, there’s nothing better for a person than to rejoice in his work, because that’s what he was made for. Similarly, Aristotle and other philosophers of Athens defined happiness as living a good life by fulfilling one’s purpose. A good watch tells time; similarly, a human being lives well if it uses reason correctly and explores the world around him or her.
The Bible and the Athenian philosophers both agree that happiness comes from living a good life. For Christians, this means serving God with joy. For atheists, it’s about following reason and moral duty to pursue truth. This may sound like hard work, but it will unlock true meaning in life.
Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl argued that those who saw no purpose in life were quickly lost. Those caught up in the events of WWII had to learn that what mattered was not what they expected from life, but rather what life expected of them.
We now understand that there is a correlation between happiness and moral purpose. We can see how this works in practice with an example of someone who has both.
Big Idea #2: To reject the Judeo-Christian basis of Western civilization is to reject the concepts of progress, equality and free will.
In ancient Egypt, rulers were considered to be sons of the sun god Ra. In Rome, emperors were worshiped as gods until 14 CE when Emperor Augustus was declared a god upon his death.
For a long time, people thought that some humans were better than others. Sons of Ra were divine and had the power to determine their own destinies. This was accepted by everyone else as well because they didn’t have any other choice; it was what the gods wanted them to believe. It wasn’t until the Bible came out that we started thinking about equality between all humans, not just rulers like Pharaohs or Pharoahs. The Bible says: “God created man in his image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). All human beings are equal because they’re made by God in his image.
