Smaller Common Goods

Until recently, the concept of the common good was always something that mystified me. I often heard that it was something governments should aim at, but whenever I asked for an explanation of what exactly the common good was, the only two examples I received were peace and truth. Peace because when a nation is at peace, every citizen shares it as a good. No particular citizen is more safe from foreign invasion than any other. All share it equally. Truth is a common good because it is not diminished when shared. If I have a hamburger, the only way for me to share it with you is to give up some of my portion. This is why hamburgers are a private and not a common good. On the other hand, something like 2+2=4 can be shared with as many people as we please, and nobody has the truth of it any less. In fact, the opposite is usually true. In sharing a truth, we usually come to grasp it more fully ourselves. As good as these two examples were, I was still left unsure of how I might work toward the common good in my day-to-day life. 

As a result of listening to New Polity’s series The Politics of Tyranny, I’ve been able to find greater clarity about the common good by better understanding its opposite, tyranny. St. Thomas defines tyranny as “rule for self-gain.” I know what it is like to live in a tyrannical spirit, making my own good the most important thing. In these moments, I am focused on getting my way, even at the expense of others. Instead of ruling for self-gain, a just ruler orders things toward the good of his community. In the last Good Leaven Letter, we marveled at the fact that we participate in Christ’s kingship. Each of us has been given a sphere of influence as a domain to rule. We can rule as tyrants, focused on how to order things for maximum benefit to ourselves. We can also rule as just kings, taking care to order the circumstances of our lives for the good of our communities.

In communities of friendship, ruling for the common good is not the annihilation of one’s own good. Aristotle says that a friend is another self whose good becomes our own. This is why the goods of individuals in communities of friendship are often experienced as common goods. When my wife and I watch a show together, I love hearing her laugh and we both enjoy the experience more than if we watched the show individually. In my work as a career counselor, it is very different when I show up to conversations with students as something to get through vs. being deeply present to their person and caring about their good. When I serve students in this latter spirit, I often experience the goods they are working toward as something I want for them. Their good becomes a common good that we both rally around, and by some divine magic, I also find my work more meaningful and rewarding.

This week, I invite you to consider: 

In the ordinary circumstances of my life, where do I show up as a tyrant, primarily focused on my own self-gain? What would it look like for me to rule as a just king instead? What common goods that I could work toward might be lying in plain sight? What would happen if I gradually expanded the spirit of the common good in the realm in which I ruled?

God bless,
Dan