The story of the Tortoise and the Hare tells of a race between a swift but arrogant hare and a slow but persistent tortoise; the hare, overconfident, takes a nap during the race, allowing the tortoise to plod steadily onward and win. This fable, which emphasizes the moral that “slow and steady wins the race,” was written by the ancient Greek storyteller Aesop. The exact date of its composition is uncertain, but Aesop is believed to have lived around 620–564 BC.
In a sterile video call, under the watchful eyes of a state-appointed supervisor, we sought to connect deeper with my wife’s daughter and give her a piece of timeless wisdom. We shared with her the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. It’s a simple fable, one told for millennia to teach a profound lesson: that perseverance, focus, and steady progress ultimately triumph over reckless, arrogant speed. It was a message of inner strength, a tool for her to carry in her heart, reminding her that her own consistent effort and character are what matter most. We were parenting, using the age-old language of metaphor to build not just her mind, but her soul. Little did we know that this simple fable would become the perfect, ironic encapsulation of our entire experience with the Dutch state—a moment of true synchronicity.
Material reductionism is the philosophical position that all phenomena, including consciousness and the mind, can be entirely explained in terms of physical matter and its interactions. It denies the existence of anything beyond the material world, reducing complex realities to mere mechanical or chemical processes.
The reaction from the state’s agent was as swift as it was baffling. To a mind that sees the world only in flat, material terms, a parable is not a lesson in virtue; it is a secret code. We were immediately accused of passing clandestine messages, of being untrustworthy conspirators. The deeper meaning, the very heart of the story, was not just missed—it was actively reduced to a vulgar, reductionist suspicion. In their world, there is no depth, only surface; no wisdom, only data; no virtue, only compliance. They could not comprehend the message, so they condemned the messengers.
Socrates, the Athenian philosopher, was tried in 399 BC on charges of impiety against the gods of the city and corrupting the youth of Athens through his teachings and method of questioning. He defended himself by arguing that his philosophical inquiries were a service to the city, but the jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Socrates accepted this verdict with remarkable composure, refusing offers to escape and instead drinking hemlock, thus becoming a martyr for free thought and philosophical integrity.
This chasm of understanding brings to mind the words of Socrates: “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.” We stood on one side, armed with reason and the loving intention to cultivate a deep inner character in our children. On the other stood the agents of the state, armed with ignorance and the brute force of their position. Like the Athenian court that condemned Socrates for “corrupting the youth,” they saw the introduction of deep, critical thought as a threat. History, of course, does not remember the Athenian bureaucrats favorably. It remembers the philosopher who died for the principle that an unexamined life is not worth living.
Punitive force focuses on punishment and retribution against an offender to enforce compliance through fear and suffering. Restorative force, in contrast, aims to repair harm, reconcile relationships, and rehabilitate the offender by addressing the root causes of the conflict.
This hostile ignorance is not passive; it is an aggressive and punitive force. It is the defensive rage of a limited intellect confronting a more expansive one. Much like in the prophetic film “Idiocracy”, where the intelligent are mocked and attacked by a populace unable to comprehend them, the state’s agents reacted to our depth with anger and physical aggression. Their gears ground, and smoke came out of their ears because they could not process a reality beyond their rigid, superficial rulebook, what they kept referring to as their “protocols”. Twisting our words into something sinister was not just a misunderstanding; it was a strategy. By painting us as villains, they could “win” the encounter, granting themselves a fleeting feeling of superiority over the “smart people” they fundamentally failed to understand.
“Do not give what is holy to dogs,* or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces. ~Matthew 7:6 (USCCB)
For a time, we attempted to engage them with reason, just as we initially attempted to engage with her narcissistic ex husband, which is what ultimately led to this absurd trial. We tried to hold rational conversations, to explain our principles and intentions, believing that dialogue was possible. It soon became a farcical exercise, a clear case of throwing “pearls before swine.” The parable of the swine, who trample precious pearls underfoot and then turn to attack the one who offered them, perfectly captures the futility of offering wisdom to those who are determined to defile it. At that point, we ceased communication. Not out of defeat, but out of a rational refusal to participate in a process where truth is irrelevant and force is the only currency.
Their reaction laid bare a fundamental truth about the nature of their power. “Violence is the surrender of intellect,” and when their intellect failed to engage with ours, they immediately fell back on the only tool they truly possessed: coercion. They demonstrated that their authority was not earned through moral respect or the consent of the governed, but was merely an illusion maintained by the threat of force. A government that cannot or will not engage in reason has no moral claim to authority; it is simply the biggest gang in the territory, ruling by intimidation rather than by right.
Metaphors, allegories, and parables are the language of inner development. They are not external rules to be memorized, but seeds of wisdom planted to help an individual cultivate their own internal compass. A person guided by an internal sense of truth and morality is resilient, autonomous, and whole. This is the antithesis of what a controlling, bureaucratic state desires. It wants compliant citizens who follow external rulebooks without question, not sovereign individuals who think for themselves and possess the moral clarity to judge their own actions, or even the actions of the state itself.
John Locke’s law of reason refers to a universal moral code discoverable through rational thought, guiding individuals towards understanding principles of justice, cooperation, and self-preservation. It’s essentially a natural law accessible to all capable of logical reasoning, independent of divine revelation or societal dictates.
This conflict reveals a deep and irreconcilable divide between morality and the arbitrary decrees of the state. When agents of the law act without reason, fairness, or a commitment to objective justice, their actions are no longer legitimate. They become mere enforcers of a power structure that has abandoned its moral foundation. As the empirical philosopher John Locke articulated, when a governing body breaks the trust of the people and seeks to exercise absolute, arbitrary power, it forfeits its right to be obeyed. The people are then absolved and left to the common refuge against force and violence—the law of reason.
There is an old legal maxim that speaks directly to this reality: “Legibus sumptis desinentibus, lege nature utendum est.” It means, “When laws imposed by the state fail, we must act by the law of nature.” When the system of man proves itself to be corrupt, irrational, or unjust, one has not only the right, but the moral duty, to revert to a higher law—the law of reason, of individual rights, and of self-preservation. Our allegiance is to truth and morality, not to the hollow dictates of a system that punishes depth and rewards superficiality.
In the end, the judgment of history is all that matters. The state may win temporary battles with its force, its regulations, and its armies of unthinking functionaries. But it is the individual armed with reason, the parent teaching virtue, and the philosopher seeking truth who wins the war for the human soul. The ignorant may wield power for a time, but knowledge is eternal. Like the tortoise, we will continue on our steady, principled path, knowing that the shallow arrogance of the hare is, and always has been, destined to fail.
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