The fog of fear

May you live in interesting times. (alleged ancient curse)
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What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:36)

In the Declaration of Independence, the founders cited three rights: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. One might reasonably assume from the list they intended "the greatest of these is life." But is there anything more important than life?

We usually ask that question as regards the prospect of waging war. John Stuart Mill put the dilemma succinctly in a quote I've always appreciated:

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

But does holding something more important than our own personal safety always involve donning a uniform? Can it not also mean we say some actions, ostensibly to preserve life (like surrendering to enslavement, for example), are actually more heinous than the loss of life?

And so we come to it: the idea of torture to prevent terrorist attack. The public sways between ignoring the global contest now underway, and paying rapt attention when it intrudes on their reality. In those latter moments, it all seems so clear: these evil people, who eagerly murder others in the name of their agenda, deserve no mercy if the means exist to extract from them information that may protect us. They routinely inflict pain for no apparent cause. Why, then, should we refrain from inflicting pain for a purpose?

We often jeer those who are so afraid of death they would rather live in oppression and slavery. "Live free or die," is our challenge to such people. But what if people have become so afraid of death they are willing to exchange their very humanity for the privilege of breathing air? That is one of the ultimate cruelties of war--that even those who enter it for just causes soon find themselves descending to levels of injustice and barbarity they never would have thought possible. We willingly forget the ends do not justify the means--each must independently measure up to the standard of worthiness. The jihadis say they love death more than we love life. That may be debatable. Without examining who we are becoming, though, our love of life may lead us to sacrifice far more than Osama's disciples could ever imagine. Socrates said the unexamined life is not worth living. Fear, however, is the enemy of thought and examination.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)