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Our Ultimate Purpose “…today we are living in an era of the most terrible catastrophes. It seems as though everything that had been transmitted to us were being melted down, and yet there is no convincing sign that a new edifice is in the making.” Karl Jaspers wrote that in 1951. It still applies today. The threat of losing what we once held inviolate is very distressful. Everywhere we look we see a disintegration of honor… which includes a loss of honesty and good intent. Democracy around the world, once proudly held as the highlight of modern civilization, now staggers precipitously – not through accident, but by ugly design. Unruly discontent is tearing down our best institutions with no idea what should replace them. Our safest route would be to build the future step-by-step on a reliably enlightened foundation. That this progress is being diverted suggest that we are not ready. This does not mean ultimate failure. Neither does the social and political pandemonium that accompanies it. These are teachable setbacks. It is hoped that the shock of so much loss, with no viable “edifice” in the ready, will open our eyes to our own unreadiness in order to remedy it. We need truth and unity in order to move forward. Jaspers continued: “We cannot define the ultimate aim of history, but we can posit and aim which is itself a premise for the realization of the highest human potentialities. And that is the unity of mankind.” We don’t need to have all the answers before moving forward. Evolution continues and we are part of it. We always were but only sensed it vaguely, expressing it philosophically or religiously. That the moral workings of conscience are involved suggests that it will be good. Jaspers again: “The way in which man approaches his failure determines what he will become.” Since we don’t know evolution’s unarticulated intent, if it has one, we must rely on the dynamics of reason and conscience that Nature provided. Here we will find, or compose if need be, our purpose and meaning. Chivalry-Now attempts just that. It draws together and interweaves moral insights from history and science into a single composite, appropriate for today. Chivalry-Now respects essential freedom. It does not impose or compel directives in the form of a ready-made ideology. It presents a distinctive rationale to awaken and inspire people to learn from life itself in the form of a personal Quest. This assures that we do not lose our personal uniqueness, but rather purposely develop it as responsible autonomy. There is no established rule or fallible hierarchy to follow. Just people striving for authenticity and creating a better world in the process. We don’t profess to know all the answers. We encourage people to find them by appealing to our best instincts. That is our ultimate purpose.
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