When he quoted Tolkien, my heart stopped. This passage might provide you with a suggestion on how to live a virtuous life:

"The twentieth-century Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien, in the words of a protagonist in one of his novels, described our responsibility in this way: “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.” [187] The civilization of love will not arise from a single or spectacular gesture, but from the sum total of small and steadfast acts of fidelity that serve as a bulwark against dehumanization."

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bradrn 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I am immediately reminded of my favourite quote from the Jewish book Pirkei Avot (‘Ethics of the Fathers’):

> It is not your duty to finish the work [of perfecting the world], but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.

[https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.2.16?ven=english|Mishnah...]

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jfengel 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I grew up Jewish. I have lost my faith, but that quote is still fundamental to how I see my place in the world.

	▲	kuerbel an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I'm an atheist but I really like: >Therefore man was created single in the world to teach that for anybody who destroys a single life it is counted as if he destroyed an entire world, and for anybody who preserves a single life it is counted as if he preserved an entire world. (Directly from the Mishna in the Talmud Yerushalmi)

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redfloatplane 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That is a really beautiful passage, thank you for sharing - I hadn't made it to that section yet and still haven't. I'm still reflecting on the stuff in the opening!

> If we focus only on contingencies, we risk letting the succession of emergencies dictate the direction of our path. We are living through a rapid phase of transition, a “change of era,” in which — while some are vying for the future of new technologies and others dedicate themselves to reflecting on the matter — most people are watching and waiting, observing from afar and merely hoping for the best. For this very reason, crucial questions impose themselves on our conscience and can no longer be avoided: Where are we going? Toward what goal do we wish to orient ourselves? What direction should we choose as a people and as a human community?

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simonw an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I wondered if that was the Pope's way of throwing shade at Palantir and Peter Thiel.

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zimpenfish 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> When he quoted Tolkien, my heart stopped.

I wonder if meeting Colbert played any part in that.

	▲	wowoc 29 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I doubt it, there is a much simpler explanation: virtually all English-speaking Catholics dig Tolkien.

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lordgrenville 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."

	▲	svieira 30 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> Certainly, the decisive turning points in world history are substantially co-determined by souls whom no history book ever mentions. And we will only find out about those souls to whom we owe the decisive turning points in our personal lives on the day when all that is hidden is revealed. Edith Stine

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oulipo2 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Sure. And this is what everyday people do. And this is why CEOs and billionaires refuse to do (doing their fair share), and freeride on the people's work and dedication