Society A has been engineered and maximized by its leaders to reap as much profit as possible (for themselves) from the citizens.
Society B is engineered and maximized by its leaders to promote the maturation of its individuals in virtue and in just dealings.
Society A is built around the idea that money, power, pride, and pleasure (for the leaders) are the most valuable things, where Society B values things like virtue, authenticity, love, truth, and justice.
The one set of leaders seeks to exploit the masses for all it can get out of them―winning at the expense of others. The other set seeks to inspire as many as possible to build their own winning lives, and is content with the philosophy, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” They are not upset to see other people thrive. For them, it is not a competition.
In Society A, there’s only so much room for leaders, because there’s only so much wealth and power to go around, and sharing is not one of the fundamental values. In contrast to that, however, Society B has endless room for virtuous leaders, because its leaders simply see after themselves, and then try to help others do the same. In Society B, to be a great leader is to be a great follower of the principles of the Society, and vice versa. It has a win/win “economy” in this way, where the economy of Society A is fundamentally a win/lose economy that enriches the leaders at expense of the rest.
Society B tends not to grow very large, because, statistically speaking, not very many people will find it worth investing in themselves to become people of high character. Meanwhile, Society A simply must be large. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be worth the effort for the leaders to run it. Typically, a Society B runs as a sub-society within a Society A, with the Society B people doing what they can within their circles to promote authenticity and maturity. And ironically, the Society A leaders will benefit to some extent from having Society B people active within their Society A, because the Society B people tend to spruce things up somewhat at their own expense.
This phenomenon is so prevalent that it makes possible one of the most effective frauds in history: the running of a Society A in the guise of something resembling a Society B. It seems to provide some level of cover for the tyrants and scoundrels, while also serving to flatter those among the populace who hope they can avoid any necessity of becoming wholly good. But while this may seem a fortunate symbiosis between the two cultures, it is tenuous, at best, for the philosophical foundations of each culture are quiet different, and authentic Society B people will tell the truth about the evils of Society A and the harm is does to the masses. It’s to the advantage of Society A leaders, therefore, to get rid of the most authentic and outspoken of these philosophical opponents, and to replace them whenever possible with compromised stand-ins, who will try to carry on some level of good work without going so far as to trigger any wide-spread movement that’s all-in for goodness and authenticity―and more particularly, that’s not all-out opposed to fraud, deceit, and injustice.
The greatest tool of the Society A leader, therefore, is the Society B impostor. And such impostors are everywhere, in practically every institution, keeping the appearance of goodness alive, while denying goodness its rightful full quarter. Those very institutions are branded as good and honorable, and it is widely supposed that they are themselves veritable wellsprings of good people, but in reality, the few highly-authentic people one may happen to find in such institutions have not become good because of the institution, but in spite of it. That is to say, it has not happened as the result of the institution’s ideals being carried out in the person, but as the result of the person having adopted internal ideals that are better than the compromised ideals in which the institution so commonly trades. And the tenure of such people in such institutions is typically tenuous and troubled, as we might well expect from such a scenario, since their philosophies don’t really match.
This seems to be what time it is in our world, and it seems to have been the “normal” mode of things for quite a lot of generations. The old saying, caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”) is still sage advice in this day and age, for not all is what it seems.
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
Jesus. Mathew 7:15-20. NIV.
7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
1 John 3:7-10. NIV.
Authentic Society B people are frequently at odds with the Society A institutions they find themselves in. They were all born into a Society A world, even if they were fortunate enough to have been born into families that lean more toward a Society B life. It’s a choice. And if it’s being made authentically, it’s never over. It’s never satisfied. There is always more to be learned, more to be accomplished, more needs to be met, for as long as the Society B person is alive in this Society A world.
And when he is done here, he will go on to discover that while this Society A world may be the first world one comes to in life, it is not the first world in importance. He will discover in person that the small and fleeting Society B on Earth had been inspired by the eternal society of God in Heaven. He will discover in uncertain terms that:
“…the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Jesus. Matthew 20:16. NIV.
He will discover a whole society of people who have become what he had aspired to be. And he’ll realize that it’s a permanent society, and not a transient one. And he’ll discover that there are no Society A people among them. And it will take him a long time to get used to the peace of a world in which the clamor of Society A is gone.
This is the promise of the Bible for the Society B people―for those who were willing to go “last” here on Earth―to put the needs of others before their own―to content themselves with being what they were designed to be, and not to build empires for themselves while they are here.
