George Washington Advises Donald Trump and Team - Make America Humble Again with Andrew Bibb, Founder Project Pietas bölümünün tam dökümü

00:04:21.687 So today we are going to explore the virtue based underpinning of 00:04:21.687 --> 00:04:24.147 America's founding with Andrew r Bibb. 00:04:24.297 --> 00:04:27.117 He's the founder of Project Pist. 00:04:27.117 --> 00:04:28.167 Did I say it correctly, Andrew? 00:04:28.987 --> 00:04:32.107 Andrew Bibb: It varies, but Pietas is the one I've landed on. 00:04:32.547 --> 00:04:33.387 Giancarlo Newsome: Okay. 00:04:33.387 --> 00:04:34.047 Pietas, that sounds better. 00:04:34.057 --> 00:04:34.657 Andrew Bibb: Yeah. 00:04:34.737 --> 00:04:36.657 Giancarlo Newsome: That sounds more Grandier. 00:04:36.837 --> 00:04:37.317 Thanks. 00:04:37.397 --> 00:04:37.787 Sorry. 00:04:37.817 --> 00:04:38.867 Pietas team. 00:04:38.897 --> 00:04:39.347 Okay. 00:04:39.647 --> 00:04:44.337 The I've, if you've watched a podcast before, you know that all our guests 00:04:44.337 --> 00:04:46.227 they have one common denominator. 00:04:46.277 --> 00:04:48.587 They have demonstrated being selfless servants. 00:04:48.857 --> 00:04:52.657 I know they all repel when I say that because they know that the moment we 00:04:52.657 --> 00:04:57.217 say that maybe we could be encroaching into pride, but that repelling nature 00:04:57.217 --> 00:05:00.457 is healthy and that I hope you'll see, and I know you'll see that with our 00:05:00.457 --> 00:05:02.137 guests and especially with Andrew today. 00:05:02.627 --> 00:05:05.387 That doesn't mean that they're perfect or that we're perfect, 00:05:05.717 --> 00:05:07.777 neither does whatever we say. 00:05:07.777 --> 00:05:08.497 Today. 00:05:08.527 --> 00:05:10.297 We are open for disagreement. 00:05:10.507 --> 00:05:11.707 Please know that too. 00:05:12.272 --> 00:05:17.612 We feel it's healthy to disagree, even if it's unpleasant, and and that we believe 00:05:17.612 --> 00:05:21.482 one side of empowering humility fitness is learning to listen long enough to 00:05:21.482 --> 00:05:23.462 understand and not necessarily to agree. 00:05:23.942 --> 00:05:26.762 So with that background, I'm thrilled to introduce to you and welcome Andrew 00:05:26.762 --> 00:05:29.012 Bibb to the Empowering Humility Podcast. 00:05:29.042 --> 00:05:30.422 Welcome, Andrew. 00:05:31.247 --> 00:05:31.517 Andrew Bibb: Thank 00:05:31.562 --> 00:05:32.282 Giancarlo Newsome: How are you doing today? 00:05:32.447 --> 00:05:33.437 Andrew Bibb: me, Giancarlo. 00:05:33.487 --> 00:05:35.767 I'm super thrilled to be here. 00:05:35.827 --> 00:05:40.697 I'm always excited and energized to talk to you and at whether 00:05:40.697 --> 00:05:42.227 we're recording or not. 00:05:42.277 --> 00:05:43.777 It's always a fantastic time. 00:05:44.372 --> 00:05:44.492 I, 00:05:44.722 --> 00:05:45.262 Giancarlo Newsome: Awesome. 00:05:45.262 --> 00:05:45.472 Cool. 00:05:45.477 --> 00:05:48.022 I, so I remember you. 00:05:48.502 --> 00:05:49.792 Do you remember how we met? 00:05:50.917 --> 00:05:55.972 Andrew Bibb: I do I published an article I forget which one it was, but it

was 00:05:55.972 --> 00:06:01.852 like back 20, 20, 21, early, early 2020s. 00:06:02.232 --> 00:06:05.292 And you saw it and you reached out on LinkedIn. 00:06:05.292 --> 00:06:07.902 You were like, Hey, I'm, because I was civil affairs at the time of your 00:06:07.902 --> 00:06:13.512 civil affairs in the Army, and you are like, Hey, enjoyed your article. 00:06:13.512 --> 00:06:14.472 We should connect. 00:06:14.522 --> 00:06:18.722 And that was back when you were working on, I pray the app. 00:06:19.382 --> 00:06:23.942 And my projects were like in their first evolution, which now 00:06:23.942 --> 00:06:25.832 we're like at the fourth or fifth. 00:06:26.912 --> 00:06:30.942 So it's been it's been fun kind of being with you as each of our 00:06:30.942 --> 00:06:36.132 respective projects have evolved and now are coming to this convergence 00:06:36.132 --> 00:06:39.702 where we end up looking at the, at producing the same sorts of outcomes. 00:06:40.887 --> 00:06:41.487 Giancarlo Newsome: I love it. 00:06:41.487 --> 00:06:43.327 It's really cool. 00:06:43.327 --> 00:06:47.407 I echo that, that cool journey and excited, likewise. 00:06:47.457 --> 00:06:50.367 And even recently, you sent me this abstract for this book 00:06:50.367 --> 00:06:54.137 you're writing, and the let's see. 00:06:54.137 --> 00:06:56.357 The, your upcoming book is called George Washington. 00:06:56.357 --> 00:06:58.817 John Witherspoon, and The Duty To Defend Liberty. 00:06:59.537 --> 00:07:00.017 Liberty. 00:07:00.977 --> 00:07:06.027 And that the, and these quotes are just, they're just, they 00:07:06.027 --> 00:07:07.317 shook me like in a good way. 00:07:07.317 --> 00:07:08.757 So I'm gonna share them real quick. 00:07:09.507 --> 00:07:13.107 The, this is one is from George Washington, the consideration that 00:07:13.107 --> 00:07:15.177 human happiness and moral duty. 00:07:15.797 --> 00:07:19.547 Are inseparably connected will always continue to prompt me to 00:07:19.547 --> 00:07:23.297 promote the progress of the former by inculcating the practice of the ladder. 00:07:24.107 --> 00:07:26.537 So to promote the progress of the former, that is that human 00:07:26.537 --> 00:07:31.967 happiness is inculcated, is made possible by the practice of the 00:07:31.967 --> 00:07:33.707 ladder, which is moral duty, like. 00:07:33.737 --> 00:07:34.427 Wow. 00:07:34.937 --> 00:07:37.417 And and I think I, I shared with you earlier, and I'll share with the 00:07:37.417 --> 00:07:46.227 team my this concept of duty and I, if I remember correctly pietas is 00:07:46.227 --> 00:07:50.397 the convergence, correct me if I'm wrong, of duty and contentment, right? 00:07:50.937 --> 00:07:51.537 Andrew Bibb: Absolutely. 00:07:51.687 --> 00:07:51.957 Yep. 00:07:53.002 --> 00:07:56.152 Giancarlo Newsome: And what it makes me reflect back on is literally my anchor 00:07:56.152 --> 00:08:05.092 scripture for 2025 was when the disciples were asking, Jesus, aren't you hungry? 00:08:05.212 --> 00:08:10.342 And his response was really interesting in that scripture, his response is, 00:08:10.372 --> 00:08:17.242 my, my bread, my food is doing the will of the father was his duty. 00:08:18.122 --> 00:08:22.562 And now when I do like the Lord's Prayer, every time I pray the portion that 00:08:22.562 --> 00:08:24.852 says, give us this day our daily bread. 00:08:24.852 --> 00:08:26.502 I'm like, sure. 00:08:26.502 --> 00:08:28.302 I think maybe sure. 00:08:28.302 --> 00:08:31.062 He does feed us like the birds of the field and the flowers. 00:08:31.122 --> 00:08:31.692 I get that. 00:08:31.692 --> 00:08:36.752 But I think there's a deeper that other story makes me go. 00:08:36.782 --> 00:08:36.872 Okay. 00:08:36.872 --> 00:08:39.902 I think that daily bread is much more profound than just physical sustenance. 00:08:39.932 --> 00:08:43.142 That part of our sustenance is being part of. 00:08:43.637 --> 00:08:45.617 What he's called us to do. 00:08:46.637 --> 00:08:46.937 I don't know. 00:08:46.937 --> 00:08:48.467 Any thoughts on that, Andrew? 00:08:49.097 --> 00:08:49.637 Andrew Bibb: so 00:08:52.457 --> 00:08:59.267 the idea of virtue the thing that unlocked the concept for me and and really made. 00:09:00.887 --> 00:09:05.717 George Washington's quote makes sense, made that scripture that you just told me 00:09:05.717 --> 00:09:09.377 about makes sense is this idea of a telos. 00:09:09.887 --> 00:09:12.667 It's a, that's a Greek idea or a Greek term. 00:09:12.667 --> 00:09:16.477 And it talks about the, it's the end for which something is purposed, 00:09:16.537 --> 00:09:18.787 the end for which is created. 00:09:19.477 --> 00:09:24.117 So if you got a broom, the purpose of that, the telos of that 00:09:24.117 --> 00:09:27.927 broom is to sweep a good broom. 00:09:27.957 --> 00:09:33.087 A broom that has virtue is one that's good at sweeping, a fish, 00:09:33.117 --> 00:09:35.307 its purpose is to thrive in water. 00:09:35.357 --> 00:09:39.977 The fish that has virtue is that which is best at thriving in the water. 00:09:40.637 --> 00:09:44.867 Humans are at bottom moral beings. 00:09:45.437 --> 00:09:51.197 So virtue is the cultivation of. 00:09:52.112 --> 00:09:58.412 Are in of that morality that we are created to, to live in an alignment with. 00:09:58.792 --> 00:10:05.652 And it's an objective morality and just as a fish is happiest in water, we are 00:10:05.652 --> 00:10:12.552 happiest when we are growing in alignment with the objective moral law that the 00:10:12.552 --> 00:10:15.072 creator is woven through the universe. 00:10:15.207 --> 00:10:18.157 I, and I think we've all experienced this at one point or another. 00:10:18.517 --> 00:10:23.617 When you do something not just nice, but really good for someone you, the 00:10:23.617 --> 00:10:27.667 sense that you get that I, I have done something that is according to 00:10:27.667 --> 00:10:32.887 my highest purpose it's it's a very deep, meaningful sort of happiness. 00:10:32.887 -->

00:10:34.777 It's not this kind of fleeting pleasure. 00:10:35.107 --> 00:10:36.067 Sort of thing. 00:10:36.327 --> 00:10:40.997 And I think I've been experiencing that more now than I have at any 00:10:40.997 --> 00:10:44.727 other time in my life with my now two and a half year old son. 00:10:45.237 --> 00:10:49.017 When just, when I see him 00:10:51.597 --> 00:10:56.487 something simple, like when I, when he tells his mom thank you of his own 00:10:56.487 --> 00:11:01.787 accord, like without my prompting, there's a deep sense of fulfillment 00:11:01.787 --> 00:11:05.117 there because that's something that I've been working with him on. 00:11:05.477 --> 00:11:08.147 It's something that it's good to do to show gratitude. 00:11:08.237 --> 00:11:12.077 And when he takes that and owns it for himself without my prompting 00:11:12.497 --> 00:11:16.427 that's, that is the joy of living according to our moral purpose. 00:11:16.427 --> 00:11:20.727 It's just it's that fulfillment that comes with what's with aligning 00:11:20.727 --> 00:11:22.377 with what's best in our nature. 00:11:23.122 --> 00:11:25.782 So that's where I see George Washington's quote. 00:11:25.782 --> 00:11:27.492 I, it makes complete sense. 00:11:27.522 --> 00:11:31.662 Happiness is only possible with virtue and where the scripture that you, you 00:11:31.662 --> 00:11:39.412 mentioned makes sense because the creator is the one who a, has woven woven the 00:11:39.412 --> 00:11:45.502 moral law throughout the fabric of reality and given us as human beings a conscience 00:11:45.802 --> 00:11:49.132 with which to perceive that moral reality. 00:11:49.742 --> 00:11:54.802 And really his will is for us to live in accordance and to grow into 00:11:54.802 --> 00:11:57.382 what's best about our moral nature. 00:11:57.772 --> 00:11:59.392 That is utterly sustaining. 00:12:00.697 --> 00:12:06.057 Giancarlo Newsome: Yeah, it's yeah, I, you really just gave refresh the profound 00:12:07.357 --> 00:12:09.907 importance of like even parenting, right? 00:12:10.157 --> 00:12:16.607 Where you like our creator has conveyed a moral a, a moral, kind of wind for us 00:12:16.607 --> 00:12:22.727 to hear and listen that, that he wants us to convey to, to bring good to his design 00:12:22.727 --> 00:12:28.627 of the world that we do that through our children and that you even in perfect 00:12:28.627 --> 00:12:34.597 parents, have a special love that I think is the creator's love for their children. 00:12:34.597 --> 00:12:38.047 But yeah and another quote too, I'll let you drill in on that was great. 00:12:38.077 --> 00:12:41.227 That the other thing too, you also brought up, that wrote down earlier, 00:12:41.887 --> 00:12:49.207 I loved how you described this moral law as a map, not a can and a can't. 00:12:49.687 --> 00:12:53.237 So I'll come back to the and maybe you can weave it into this second quote from 00:12:53.237 --> 00:12:55.307 Benjamin Franklin, which is just powerful. 00:12:55.897 --> 00:12:58.807 Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. 00:13:00.427 --> 00:13:01.807 So a map. 00:13:02.557 --> 00:13:04.777 Doesn't sound like chains. 00:13:05.377 --> 00:13:09.607 A map allows for freedom, cans and cants when you reduce 00:13:09.607 --> 00:13:12.007 moral law to cans and cants. 00:13:12.487 --> 00:13:15.537 That doesn't, that sounds not a map. 00:13:15.587 --> 00:13:17.062 That doesn't sound very free. 00:13:17.422 --> 00:13:21.802 So maybe expand on your thought for how moral law is a map. 00:13:21.877 --> 00:13:23.182 I, I love that concept. 00:13:24.572 --> 00:13:28.127 Andrew Bibb: It, the whenever I think about different kinds of goods. 00:13:28.997 --> 00:13:30.667 I think about my siblings. 00:13:30.727 --> 00:13:35.647 So I'm the oldest of five and we are all very different. 00:13:35.977 --> 00:13:46.647 But we're, we all have our imperfections, but we are all very keen on cultivating 00:13:47.247 --> 00:13:50.307 our conscience, cultivating virtue, and trying to become the best 00:13:50.307 --> 00:13:51.807 version of ourselves that we can. 00:13:52.857 --> 00:13:58.317 So some, there's it's a big map, that map of morality. 00:13:58.517 --> 00:14:01.457 My, I have one brother who's very artistic. 00:14:01.457 --> 00:14:02.957 He's a recording artist. 00:14:02.987 --> 00:14:08.437 He his ability to weave just different tones and sounds together 00:14:08.437 --> 00:14:11.437 is different than everything, anything I've ever heard anywhere. 00:14:12.097 --> 00:14:16.047 I've got another brother who is a, he's an officer in the 82nd Airborne 00:14:16.357 --> 00:14:21.007 scores, maxes out the fitness tests, without breaking a sweat. 00:14:21.367 --> 00:14:26.777 He's, ranger, jump master all the stuff completely different than my 00:14:26.777 --> 00:14:30.657 brother than my other brother has gone a completely different route on 00:14:30.657 --> 00:14:33.537 the map, but he's still on the map. 00:14:33.837 --> 00:14:38.137 So they both still clinging to the values of do unto others as 00:14:38.137 --> 00:14:39.457 you would have them do unto you. 00:14:40.027 --> 00:14:41.047 That is common. 00:14:41.077 --> 00:14:44.977 That is a feature of the map that does not change, but their individual 00:14:44.977 --> 00:14:48.217 talents and interests have led them in completely different directions. 00:14:48.217 --> 00:14:52.767 So that's how I view morality is it is a map for us to become the 00:14:52.767 --> 00:14:56.097 best version of ourselves that the creator has created us to be. 00:14:57.057 --> 00:14:58.527 So there's two aspects to that. 00:14:58.557 --> 00:15:03.087 There's the map and then there's the compass. 00:15:03.177 --> 00:15:05.367 So the map is the moral law itself. 00:15:05.367 --> 00:15:07.167 The compass is our conscience. 00:15:08.322 --> 00:15:13.292 Now we can either cultivate that conscience or we can numb it to 00:15:13.292 --> 00:15:15.812 where it has no voice in our life. 00:15:16.282 -->

00:15:22.162 And that's really decisive on whether or not we follow that map and and get to that 00:15:22.282 --> 00:15:25.222 TLOs that the creator has created for us. 00:15:25.222 --> 00:15:28.552 Get to that fulfillment of our potential 00:15:30.502 --> 00:15:32.152 Giancarlo Newsome: So tlo, how do you spell that? 00:15:33.712 --> 00:15:35.722 Andrew Bibb: T-E-L-O-S. 00:15:36.172 --> 00:15:36.682 Giancarlo Newsome: TE. 00:15:36.712 --> 00:15:36.952 Okay. 00:15:36.952 --> 00:15:37.492 I put an H 00:15:37.492 --> 00:15:39.922 Andrew Bibb: yeah, so if you hear your terms like teleology 00:15:39.922 --> 00:15:41.352 and that's the root word of it. 00:15:42.792 --> 00:15:46.992 And it's, it goes back to, the term itself goes back before him, but 00:15:47.292 --> 00:15:49.272 Aristotle really brought it to the fore. 00:15:49.572 --> 00:15:51.252 There's four kinds of causes. 00:15:52.207 --> 00:15:57.017 And the TLOs is the end for which something exists. 00:15:57.107 --> 00:15:59.987 The purpose really latched onto that. 00:16:00.067 --> 00:16:01.807 It's, it completely reframes. 00:16:02.047 --> 00:16:06.577 That's what makes morality not just a bunch of can't dos. 00:16:06.797 --> 00:16:07.702 That's it. 00:16:08.242 --> 00:16:12.832 Seeing its role in us achieving our telos, our full potential is 00:16:12.832 --> 00:16:15.562 what makes it really attractive. 00:16:16.997 --> 00:16:19.697 Giancarlo Newsome: We, I, we shared something earlier in common that, 00:16:20.387 --> 00:16:27.127 and I think this is where what we are saying I hope will be healing and and 00:16:27.127 --> 00:16:33.037 liberating for our audience is that secular culture and there's the massive 00:16:33.037 --> 00:16:38.557 industry that wants to keep us focused on our pathologies or on our problems. 00:16:38.737 --> 00:16:39.187 Right? 00:16:40.267 --> 00:16:46.867 And the, I think when there's so much money to be made on, like these 00:16:46.867 --> 00:16:52.387 weaknesses, these failures, these pathologies that you lose sight. 00:16:53.092 --> 00:16:58.282 Or even insecurities of that telos of that calling, which is, and I 00:16:58.282 --> 00:17:02.517 remember a friend of mine was going through a really horrible very 00:17:02.517 --> 00:17:09.332 difficult divorce and estrangement that a dear friend, he's stay busy. 00:17:09.782 --> 00:17:13.082 But I think his, the quiet message there implicitly, kinda what you're 00:17:13.177 --> 00:17:14.812 saying is focus on your telos. 00:17:14.812 --> 00:17:15.592 What's your duty? 00:17:16.042 --> 00:17:17.962 And go, that's your north star. 00:17:18.442 --> 00:17:20.812 And he said, sure, we have, we need to deal with challenge, 00:17:20.812 --> 00:17:21.862 we need to deal with problems. 00:17:21.862 --> 00:17:23.482 But that's not our reason. 00:17:24.082 --> 00:17:26.032 A ette, a reason to be. 00:17:26.662 --> 00:17:30.682 And I, and if you felt open to share with the audience, like how 00:17:30.802 --> 00:17:34.042 this concept of duty also helped you, I think that might be cool. 00:17:36.072 --> 00:17:38.157 Andrew Bibb: Yeah and we were talking a little bit before. 00:17:38.237 --> 00:17:38.357 Giancarlo Newsome: I. 00:17:39.207 --> 00:17:44.167 Andrew Bibb: I am very openly, I've talked about it publicly before, 00:17:44.227 --> 00:17:48.737 but I'm what I call a non-practicing alcoholic a recovering alcoholic. 00:17:48.797 --> 00:17:51.397 It's been it's coming up on seven years now. 00:17:52.417 --> 00:17:57.337 And it, like so many who finally decided to get sober, it was a, it was an event. 00:17:58.412 --> 00:18:03.957 A significantly bad binge that finally made me realize that I've got a problem. 00:18:03.957 --> 00:18:04.947 I need to get some help. 00:18:05.277 --> 00:18:08.227 Which incidentally you met you mentioned the overhaul of the 00:18:08.227 --> 00:18:09.667 chaplaincy at the beginning. 00:18:10.007 --> 00:18:14.027 It, this was one of the many times the chaplain was the 00:18:14.027 --> 00:18:15.377 person I went to for help. 00:18:15.587 --> 00:18:18.557 So I was I was in a very bad place. 00:18:18.977 --> 00:18:23.137 I went I could barely think straight, but I knew I could think straight 00:18:23.137 --> 00:18:25.597 enough to find the chaplain's office and that's where this 00:18:25.597 --> 00:18:26.977 whole journey of sobriety happens. 00:18:26.977 --> 00:18:31.087 So chaplains always will always have a very special place in my heart. 00:18:31.897 --> 00:18:36.167 But as I progressed through this sobriety journey I was in several 00:18:36.167 --> 00:18:41.577 support groups and which are, were great for helping get me started. 00:18:42.177 --> 00:18:45.957 One of the problems I ran into, and I, they're not all like this just happened 00:18:45.957 --> 00:18:48.237 to be the ones that were available to me. 00:18:49.857 --> 00:18:56.067 It's, it got to the point where we were focused so much on the problem of 00:18:56.067 --> 00:19:01.827 drinking and just constantly recounting, how bad it was and, we could have died 00:19:01.827 --> 00:19:03.487 or, we lost our families and jobs. 00:19:03.487 --> 00:19:06.397 That it just, I keep going through that stories that I felt 00:19:06.397 --> 00:19:11.707 like I was losing sight of the purpose for which I was sober. 00:19:12.157 --> 00:19:17.277 So I, we, I didn't embrace sobriety just to stop drinking, like I enjoyed drinking. 00:19:17.337 --> 00:19:20.037 That was fun, it, the reason I quit was that. 00:19:20.457 --> 00:19:26.767 Drinking was getting in the way of something more fulfilling and more 00:19:26.827 --> 00:19:28.837 meaningful to me as a human being. 00:19:28.897 --> 00:19:34.697 That purpose to be the best husband and father I could be the best 00:19:34.697 --> 00:19:36.707 soldier and officer that I can be. 00:19:36.977 --> 00:19:41.597 Not to be known as it, but to know deep down in my conscience 00:19:41.597 --> 00:19:45.647 that I was fulfilling the purpose that I was created

for. 00:19:45.947 --> 00:19:47.507 Drinking was getting in the way of that. 00:19:48.797 --> 00:19:52.457 So one of the reasons that's one of the big reasons that I decided to 00:19:52.457 --> 00:19:55.877 start Project Pietas was to have. 00:19:56.447 --> 00:19:59.957 NA air quotes support group. 00:20:00.007 --> 00:20:04.457 Not just for addicts, but for anyone who wanted to do to cultivate duty 00:20:04.457 --> 00:20:08.477 and contentment in community, to be able to do so with the focus around 00:20:08.687 --> 00:20:13.907 our purpose, our TLOs, rather than the focus being on the problem. 00:20:14.427 --> 00:20:16.857 Because to me, that's just so much more fulfilling. 00:20:17.007 --> 00:20:18.147 Our lives are short. 00:20:18.567 --> 00:20:21.357 We need to spend it on the things that are truly fulfilling and 00:20:21.357 --> 00:20:23.607 meaningful and that's the idea. 00:20:24.807 --> 00:20:25.617 Giancarlo Newsome: I love that. 00:20:25.617 --> 00:20:31.937 That is the I think, for our audience, the we should, you were blessed in 00:20:31.937 --> 00:20:36.797 that you had that type of advisors that helped you see that outlet. 00:20:37.317 --> 00:20:43.147 They didn't try to get you to focus and spend all your time on, on the problem. 00:20:43.817 --> 00:20:48.337 The and I think in some respects, the silver lining of like alcoholism, 00:20:48.367 --> 00:20:54.127 the, it's a tangible it's tangible the source of the addiction. 00:20:54.177 --> 00:20:54.397 Andrew Bibb: Yes. 00:20:54.452 --> 00:20:59.042 Giancarlo Newsome: think in other addictions if you're in a dysfunctional, 00:20:59.402 --> 00:21:00.812 it's usually codependent relationship. 00:21:00.812 --> 00:21:03.642 It's harder, it's not, how do you work on that? 00:21:03.972 --> 00:21:07.932 But even then, this is where I'd say, we, the, and it is nice, there's 00:21:07.932 --> 00:21:11.592 this kind of awakening of therapy culture to know that as you visit 00:21:11.592 --> 00:21:16.227 a priest, a pastor which I strongly recommend by the way, over secular 00:21:16.227 --> 00:21:21.597 therapist just because they implicitly should answer to a higher power. 00:21:22.547 --> 00:21:23.867 Andrew Bibb: There's accountability there. 00:21:24.462 --> 00:21:24.732 Giancarlo Newsome: Yeah. 00:21:24.732 --> 00:21:27.892 That, that if you're dealing with a secular therapist their highest 00:21:27.892 --> 00:21:29.087 authority is between their ears. 00:21:29.792 --> 00:21:36.472 And as in many cases, a lot of people go into therapy to try to, and again 00:21:36.472 --> 00:21:40.672 I'm all about learning from our mistakes and our own trauma, but sometimes 00:21:40.672 --> 00:21:45.932 we can it, we can be healed from our own trauma and pay it forward. 00:21:46.202 --> 00:21:47.537 Andrew Bibb: But yes, very much yeah. 00:21:48.087 --> 00:21:49.377 Giancarlo Newsome: So Go ahead, sorry. 00:21:49.797 --> 00:21:52.377 Andrew Bibb: No and one of the things I'm very grateful for was 00:21:53.217 --> 00:21:56.667 starting on this sobriety journey before I started having kids. 00:21:56.907 --> 00:22:02.217 It's never too late to start that journey, but I consider myself very blessed that 00:22:02.267 --> 00:22:06.287 I'm in a position to pass on the lessons from that without having to expose 00:22:06.287 --> 00:22:08.847 my kids to to, to the trauma of it. 00:22:09.912 --> 00:22:10.422 Giancarlo Newsome: Exactly. 00:22:10.422 --> 00:22:10.932 Congrats. 00:22:10.932 --> 00:22:11.682 That's awesome. 00:22:11.682 --> 00:22:15.992 And I think I appreciate you being open and sharing and it's always, 00:22:16.502 --> 00:22:20.772 it'll be fun and having to see how maybe, a podcast like this could be 00:22:20.822 --> 00:22:24.962 that encouragement that saves a man or a woman or a family or a marriage. 00:22:24.992 --> 00:22:29.552 And I think we're all in this interesting thing called Life Together. 00:22:29.582 --> 00:22:33.932 And so maybe drilling in here a little bit, I'm really grateful that you're 00:22:33.932 --> 00:22:38.432 joining myself and another Liberty University student to co-author a paper 00:22:38.432 --> 00:22:41.822 for the upcoming Liberty University Spring Public Policy Conference. 00:22:42.362 --> 00:22:47.282 And we're, the title of our paper is Restoring Humility to Liberty, the 00:22:47.282 --> 00:22:54.032 Missing Foundation in Mental Health Church, complicity in the AI Tech Cabal. 00:22:54.872 --> 00:22:58.982 We've not really done a deep dive on restoring humility to lead liberty. 00:22:59.552 --> 00:23:03.402 And while the title of this podcast is George Washington's advice to President 00:23:03.402 --> 00:23:07.392 Trump and his team, I believe that through your great study, this will 00:23:07.392 --> 00:23:09.282 also be great advice for all of us. 00:23:09.702 --> 00:23:16.012 We we've covered with, in our podcast with Rabbi Slowmo Slackin how kind 00:23:16.012 --> 00:23:18.202 of the mental health mal incentive. 00:23:18.752 --> 00:23:22.972 We also discussed the decline of the church and humility 00:23:22.972 --> 00:23:23.962 in the hollowing of all. 00:23:24.892 --> 00:23:29.932 We also have another podcast where we talked about countering AI with ai, the 00:23:29.932 --> 00:23:31.702 power of humility in tech and stress. 00:23:32.362 --> 00:23:36.082 But what about the foundations of just humility and just general 00:23:36.082 --> 00:23:37.402 and liberty in our founding? 00:23:37.482 --> 00:23:39.912 How do you think George Washington, John Witherspoon, and other 00:23:39.912 --> 00:23:41.382 founding fathers would advise us? 00:23:41.382 --> 00:23:44.232 What if they just showed up on the podcast, George Washington, 00:23:44.232 --> 00:23:49.572 John Witherspoon what do you feel would be their their top of mind 00:23:49.572 --> 00:23:54.072 guidance to us President Trump, his team to say, guys, you okay? 00:23:54.072 --> 00:23:56.022 You're prioritizing merit and competency. 00:23:56.022 -->

00:23:57.102 That's good, right? 00:23:57.102 --> 00:24:00.342 Real truth, but let's double down on virtue. 00:24:00.342 --> 00:24:03.762 What are you, what would give us some references and some sources 00:24:03.762 --> 00:24:05.982 of what comes to mind is what you think they would tell us. 00:24:07.977 --> 00:24:12.397 Andrew Bibb: Yeah it's interesting going through as I was writing the book, it 00:24:12.397 --> 00:24:18.467 started out with looking at the, kind of the intersection of strategy and policy. 00:24:18.587 --> 00:24:22.637 As Witherspoon and Washington, we navigating the American 00:24:22.637 --> 00:24:23.777 War for Independence. 00:24:24.647 --> 00:24:31.827 It was, but going directly to the primary sources, witherspoon's lectures sermons, 00:24:32.157 --> 00:24:35.427 Washington's letters, and general orders. 00:24:36.207 --> 00:24:43.387 They changed my focus as I was writing the book from this big strategy policy, 00:24:43.387 --> 00:24:49.877 a little bit impersonal slant to a virtue oriented narrative because that's 00:24:49.877 --> 00:24:52.067 what they were always talking about. 00:24:53.287 --> 00:24:59.237 Washington and Witherspoon saw virtue and the moral law at the bottom of all of it. 00:24:59.267 --> 00:25:05.597 And a quote that's particularly succinct and illustrative is by Witherspoon, this 00:25:05.597 --> 00:25:08.057 is in his lectures on moral philosophy. 00:25:08.507 --> 00:25:11.177 He says, he's talking about political law. 00:25:11.397 --> 00:25:16.107 And properly speaking, he says, political law is the authority of 00:25:16.107 --> 00:25:19.137 any society stamped on moral duty. 00:25:20.547 --> 00:25:27.657 So properly political law is, it starts with an understanding of the 00:25:27.657 --> 00:25:31.737 moral, our moral nature, and the moral nature of the world that we live in. 00:25:32.097 --> 00:25:41.667 And letting that guide political law rather than trying to force a particular 00:25:41.667 --> 00:25:43.617 morality through political law. 00:25:44.727 --> 00:25:45.027 So 00:25:45.217 --> 00:25:47.767 And what's the what does humility have to do with this? 00:25:47.767 --> 00:25:49.687 Humility is everything. 00:25:49.687 --> 00:25:57.077 Because if I'm gonna let moral law it generate political law, then I have 00:25:57.107 --> 00:26:03.337 to get myself on the out of the way and be ready to understand what the 00:26:03.337 --> 00:26:06.757 moral law is, what our moral nature is. 00:26:07.567 --> 00:26:11.577 The gateway for that kind of understanding is humility, because if 00:26:11.577 --> 00:26:16.087 you think about a tyrannical society it comes from a place of pride. 00:26:16.087 --> 00:26:21.447 It comes from a place of, I know best my ways are are 00:26:21.567 --> 00:26:23.637 right because they're my ways. 00:26:24.247 --> 00:26:29.497 You see this in all the great tyrants throughout history, whether it was CAEs. 00:26:30.532 --> 00:26:38.992 Or Stalin or Hitler or Mao any area you look

at a tyrant says my way is the right 00:26:38.992 --> 00:26:40.942 way because I have the power to do it. 00:26:41.632 --> 00:26:47.662 The complete opposite of that is the humility that our founders had 00:26:47.752 --> 00:26:54.442 to make their ideas subservient to the objective moral law that's woven 00:26:54.442 --> 00:26:56.722 throughout the fabric of reality. 00:26:57.772 --> 00:26:59.872 So humility is the starting place for that. 00:27:00.142 --> 00:27:05.362 It gets me out of the way and gets me ready to understand what that 00:27:05.362 --> 00:27:07.012 objective moral law looks like. 00:27:08.152 --> 00:27:12.222 Witherspoon he that comes through that understanding, comes through the 00:27:12.222 --> 00:27:17.862 cultivation of conscience, which is the, allows us to perceive that moral reality. 00:27:18.042 --> 00:27:19.992 And he says that comes through three ways. 00:27:19.992 --> 00:27:23.442 We cultivate our conscience through three avenues. 00:27:23.712 --> 00:27:24.402 Reason. 00:27:25.017 --> 00:27:27.597 Revelation and experience. 00:27:27.987 --> 00:27:34.797 So that's his three legged stool on, on, on building and understanding necessary 00:27:34.917 --> 00:27:39.507 necessary for society to be virtuous. 00:27:40.257 --> 00:27:42.387 Those three ways are how we cultivate virtue. 00:27:42.787 --> 00:27:51.447 To your point about Web3 technology, I think that if we can weave those three 00:27:52.077 --> 00:27:57.597 stools into how, into the architecture of how we develop that technology, 00:27:57.927 --> 00:28:02.257 that'll help funnel us toward using it for the cultivation of virtue. 00:28:03.832 --> 00:28:04.162 Giancarlo Newsome: Wow. 00:28:04.262 --> 00:28:04.892 That's awesome. 00:28:04.892 --> 00:28:10.207 You, this reminds me of you, you share with me that George Washington, this may 00:28:10.207 --> 00:28:15.167 sound prideful for us to throw this, to bring this up, but like you mentioned that 00:28:15.197 --> 00:28:18.767 he was exploring staying up a university. 00:28:18.812 --> 00:28:26.282 F that was priority foundation was a university for virtue and like basically 00:28:26.282 --> 00:28:30.967 creating a, an academic framework, like we wanna build a tech framework. 00:28:31.267 --> 00:28:33.457 He tell us a little more about that. 00:28:33.457 --> 00:28:33.757 Like that. 00:28:33.757 --> 00:28:34.537 I never heard that. 00:28:34.537 --> 00:28:35.527 That sounds really cool. 00:28:35.527 --> 00:28:37.027 Was Witherspoon involved in that? 00:28:37.962 --> 00:28:40.992 Andrew Bibb: So Witherspoon was probably the model for that. 00:28:41.112 --> 00:28:45.772 He was president of Princeton throughout the Revolutionary War, and 00:28:45.822 --> 00:28:49.282 that's how he and Washington really started to connect and interact. 00:28:49.602 --> 00:28:56.542 And, washington started to develop this great respect for Witherspoon as a thinker 00:28:56.542 --> 00:28:59.152 and an educator above anything else. 00:28:59.182 --> 00:29:03.682 And he doesn't explicitly say it, but taking what he says about Witherspoon 00:29:03.682 --> 00:29:07.282 and taking what he says about in National University you can see in 00:29:07.282 --> 00:29:12.592 his idea of a national university what Witherspoon was doing at Princeton. 00:29:12.962 --> 00:29:15.692 So I think there's somewhere in there Witherspoon was the model 00:29:15.692 --> 00:29:19.352 for what Washington wanted to do, which is real, really cool. 00:29:19.462 --> 00:29:24.592 Anyone who wants to see how Washington wove all these ideas 00:29:24.592 --> 00:29:28.422 together should read his farewell address and you just Google it. 00:29:28.452 --> 00:29:31.962 George Washington fa farewell address, he talks about the national university. 00:29:31.962 --> 00:29:37.652 He talks about the fact that a free society can't thrive or even survive 00:29:37.652 --> 00:29:40.292 without morality and religious principle. 00:29:41.147 --> 00:29:44.327 Packages all that up really nicely in his farewell address. 00:29:44.837 --> 00:29:49.817 But he wanted to start a national university that cultivated 00:29:49.817 --> 00:29:53.677 the sciences and the arts with virtue as its cornerstone. 00:29:54.197 --> 00:30:00.287 His idea was to bring up a cohort of statesmen who were capable of 00:30:00.287 --> 00:30:07.757 leading a free society and educating that society to govern itself. 00:30:08.627 --> 00:30:12.127 The beauty of the environment that the founders were working in 00:30:12.517 --> 00:30:15.867 was and I wanna make sure to be clear, there was crime back then. 00:30:15.927 --> 00:30:20.247 There was, immorality, there were, there was obviously slavery. 00:30:20.817 --> 00:30:26.417 But given all that or despite all that they didn't, the founding 00:30:26.417 --> 00:30:28.157 generation didn't have to. 00:30:28.892 --> 00:30:37.062 Have to produce a lot of law because the moral standards that 00:30:37.062 --> 00:30:40.542 the people themselves were holding themselves to were beyond what any 00:30:40.542 --> 00:30:42.582 political law would require of them. 00:30:43.242 --> 00:30:46.632 That's why they, that's why it was so free, so unrestrained because people 00:30:46.662 --> 00:30:49.152 were already governing themselves. 00:30:49.572 --> 00:30:54.112 So that's what George Washington wanted to continue to cultivate 00:30:54.112 --> 00:30:55.552 with his national university. 00:30:55.702 --> 00:31:01.592 National University is this where people are out running the government 00:31:01.592 --> 00:31:07.172 in the good that they do, so the government doesn't even try to keep up. 00:31:08.202 --> 00:31:09.342 Giancarlo Newsome: It doesn't have to keep up. 00:31:09.372 --> 00:31:11.022 So like, how cool would it be? 00:31:11.022 --> 00:31:14.772 Like if we, we create a national movement of strengthening humility, 00:31:14.772 --> 00:31:16.332 I say a global movement, right? 00:31:16.902 --> 00:31:19.182 We can reduce laws, reduce

regulations. 00:31:19.182 --> 00:31:21.222 We stop trying and everyone knows it. 00:31:21.282 --> 00:31:25.272 It's it's one of these truths that people like no, in the vertical, but 00:31:25.272 --> 00:31:26.412 we don't know what to do about it. 00:31:26.412 --> 00:31:28.842 Is that you can't legislate morality, which is true. 00:31:29.142 --> 00:31:32.962 And how you and I love this concept of you think about it 00:31:32.962 --> 00:31:35.452 governance of a free people. 00:31:36.532 --> 00:31:43.542 That if we don't strengthen our moral foundation, we end up in 00:31:43.542 --> 00:31:49.032 effect becoming regulated by maybe, it's we become over regulated. 00:31:49.032 --> 00:31:52.102 And I think here's an interesting question for you. 00:31:53.357 --> 00:31:57.537 I've heard this concept that people say, some people say some 00:31:57.537 --> 00:32:00.717 people like to be ruled, right? 00:32:01.057 --> 00:32:06.217 It, could it be true that if I can just bend the knee to 00:32:06.217 --> 00:32:08.287 a tyrant, to a king, right? 00:32:08.397 --> 00:32:12.567 It's easier than me having to be maybe virtuous. 00:32:12.567 --> 00:32:13.617 Is that is am I? 00:32:13.617 --> 00:32:15.117 Is that crazy? 00:32:15.117 --> 00:32:15.687 Talk. 00:32:15.897 --> 00:32:17.517 Andrew Bibb: No, I think you're absolutely right. 00:32:17.517 --> 00:32:25.407 I think if we're looking for a life of comfort and security and just surviving 00:32:25.437 --> 00:32:30.437 in, in kind of the in a way that's, that we're not disrupted, that's just Yeah. 00:32:30.467 --> 00:32:31.157 Comfortable. 00:32:31.517 --> 00:32:35.997 I actually think a beneficent tyranny is the way to go. 00:32:36.527 --> 00:32:39.467 Because our needs are met. 00:32:39.717 --> 00:32:43.317 There's, don't need a whole lot except to be distracted. 00:32:44.257 --> 00:32:50.317 Entertained, which, that's the a, a tyrant would be more than capable of that. 00:32:51.832 --> 00:32:57.772 If we want to live a life of meaning, of deep human moral fulfillment 00:32:58.122 --> 00:32:59.292 that is not the way to go. 00:33:00.222 --> 00:33:07.272 Because doing our duty, living out virtue, even learning to be 00:33:07.272 --> 00:33:14.532 content requires hardship and free. 00:33:14.532 --> 00:33:18.042 What freedom does is it doesn't take away that hardship, is it? 00:33:18.282 --> 00:33:22.272 It provides the environment for that hardship to be productive. 00:33:23.802 --> 00:33:29.187 So I think we, as a society I hate talking about we as a society 'cause 00:33:29.187 --> 00:33:35.477 there's not a lot I can do about that, but me as a person, me and my family me 00:33:35.477 --> 00:33:40.307 and my community, we have to decide are we more interested in being comfortable 00:33:40.457 --> 00:33:42.767 or are we more interested in living? 00:33:43.607 --> 00:33:48.557 Meaningful human lives where we achieve our full potential, where we 00:33:48.557 --> 00:33:56.487 are pursuing our Telos despite the hardship, 'cause freedom isn't easy. 00:33:56.667 --> 00:34:01.587 Cultivating pietas isn't easy, but it is worth it. 00:34:02.662 --> 00:34:03.522 That's the difference. 00:34:04.377 --> 00:34:07.437 Giancarlo Newsome: Wow, that small, it's a small but enormous nuance. 00:34:07.487 --> 00:34:11.652 You're giving flashbacks of we talked about what and we've spoken about it, 00:34:11.652 --> 00:34:13.122 like the complicity of the church. 00:34:13.152 --> 00:34:18.152 You think about the we talked about how we can be very comfortable just 00:34:18.152 --> 00:34:22.412 stopping at as a Christian, the salvation in Christ and miss the telos, right? 00:34:22.652 --> 00:34:23.382 We make it all about us. 00:34:24.377 --> 00:34:29.327 But I think that also sets us up to, to face potentially that scripture 00:34:29.327 --> 00:34:31.907 where Jesus says, you did all these things in my name and I never knew you. 00:34:32.837 --> 00:34:38.607 Where, you could check all the boxes accept the altar call, accept salvation. 00:34:39.117 --> 00:34:43.857 And if you never knew that the purpose was to fulfill your tea loss, your 00:34:43.857 --> 00:34:49.537 calling, then I think that's, that could be a dangerous place to be. 00:34:50.027 --> 00:34:56.557 And I think, for those who are Christians, I think the duty I feel 00:34:56.587 --> 00:35:01.817 and this is a call to the Christians in, in, in our audiences I'm very 00:35:01.817 --> 00:35:05.837 grateful for the hospitals that were built a hundred years ago by the church. 00:35:05.897 --> 00:35:09.017 The outreach, the tech they developed in terms of even like worship. 00:35:09.527 --> 00:35:10.907 And I'm like when. 00:35:11.447 --> 00:35:17.007 But now I don't, if I had a dollar for every entrepreneur that wanted to do, 00:35:17.037 --> 00:35:22.707 like you were saying, do meaningful work in their community that were frankly 00:35:22.707 --> 00:35:25.357 pushed away from their church I'd be rich. 00:35:25.787 --> 00:35:26.567 And I really 00:35:28.617 --> 00:35:32.867 it's a weird, it's a weird obsession or love we've found. 00:35:32.867 --> 00:35:36.197 And maybe just the teachings and the comfort of the 00:35:36.197 --> 00:35:38.897 gospel and not the duty and. 00:35:39.977 --> 00:35:40.307 Andrew Bibb: Yeah. 00:35:40.362 --> 00:35:41.322 I think you're right. 00:35:41.322 --> 00:35:49.232 And I think so I one of the things I've been struggling with this idea of duty in 00:35:49.232 --> 00:35:55.582 community is a healthy community is when that will help you as the individual, as 00:35:55.582 --> 00:35:58.732 part of the community find your purpose. 00:35:58.832 --> 00:36:02.152 What are you good at, what are your interests how can we help you 00:36:02.152 --> 00:36:06.352 develop those and cultivate those for the good of the community? 00:36:06.592 --> 00:36:10.062 'Cause then you get that individual fulfillment, but you also get 00:36:10.062 --> 00:36:11.562 something that benefits the community.

00:36:11.562 --> 00:36:12.312 Everyone wins. 00:36:12.312 --> 00:36:13.452 Why wouldn't you wanna do that? 00:36:14.232 --> 00:36:15.802 One of the, I think. 00:36:17.352 --> 00:36:22.322 The problems I've seen in the church is they are very interested in 00:36:22.322 --> 00:36:25.082 talents such as, can you play guitar? 00:36:25.142 --> 00:36:25.922 Can you sing? 00:36:26.162 --> 00:36:29.452 Not so much are you good with numbers? 00:36:29.482 --> 00:36:31.342 Are you mechanically inclined? 00:36:31.372 --> 00:36:33.262 Are the less artistic stuff. 00:36:33.512 --> 00:36:39.742 And I think there's a huge opportunity for us to broaden the talents and 00:36:39.742 --> 00:36:43.702 the interests that we care about as a church to really find where, 00:36:43.707 --> 00:36:47.942 what is that untapped talent that's just sitting within the body? 00:36:48.452 --> 00:36:52.952 Where are the needs that those talents can are designed to meet? 00:36:53.012 --> 00:36:54.782 And how do we make that connection? 00:36:55.382 --> 00:36:59.502 I think we need to broaden it out beyond can you play keyboard? 00:37:01.857 --> 00:37:04.017 Giancarlo Newsome: I, yeah, I, you brought up the scripture 00:37:04.017 --> 00:37:06.237 earlier is Ephesians two 12, right? 00:37:06.807 --> 00:37:08.187 Like I kinda, you, you 00:37:08.267 --> 00:37:08.447 Andrew Bibb: yeah. 00:37:08.447 --> 00:37:09.197 Two 10. 00:37:10.112 --> 00:37:13.142 Giancarlo Newsome: oh two 10, where back kind of that telos where, 00:37:13.262 --> 00:37:14.942 okay, what's the purpose of our. 00:37:15.812 --> 00:37:18.122 Creation and salvation, right? 00:37:18.152 --> 00:37:23.312 Is to do good works, not just talk or play the keyboard, right? 00:37:23.312 --> 00:37:24.752 Is to actually convert. 00:37:25.182 --> 00:37:26.562 And I love the concept too. 00:37:26.562 --> 00:37:27.642 I'm really excited. 00:37:27.642 --> 00:37:30.692 There's I think called solving the world's biggest problems. 00:37:30.692 --> 00:37:34.322 It's like an outshoot of the faith-driven investor community 00:37:34.742 --> 00:37:40.747 where they they, I can tell they really want to help the Christian 00:37:40.747 --> 00:37:43.872 Church be a faith with good works. 00:37:44.052 --> 00:37:47.352 I, and again, that, that fulfillment of duty, I think is 00:37:47.352 --> 00:37:50.102 just it puts it in second place. 00:37:50.102 --> 00:37:51.062 Our issues, right? 00:37:51.062 --> 00:37:53.222 Our relational issues, we need to deal with 'em. 00:37:53.522 --> 00:37:59.552 But if you, if we can be encouraged by the beautiful fulfillment that someone's. 00:37:59.942 --> 00:38:04.252 Fulfilling in their duty to be a baker or to be the broom and Sure. 00:38:04.252 --> 00:38:04.492 Okay. 00:38:04.492 --> 00:38:10.532 Sometimes Hey sister you can you'll be a better baker if you can deal with this if 00:38:10.532 --> 00:38:14.372 you don't have these health issues because you're, you've got this other bad habit. 00:38:14.402 --> 00:38:16.472 And encourage them in their calling. 00:38:16.572 --> 00:38:18.192 But I, any thoughts? 00:38:18.987 --> 00:38:19.277 Andrew Bibb: Yeah. 00:38:19.417 --> 00:38:25.552 And so lemme back up because you mentioned the verse, I'd like to read it. 00:38:25.972 --> 00:38:30.142 So Ephesians two 10, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus 00:38:30.142 --> 00:38:33.682 for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 00:38:34.132 --> 00:38:36.792 So I my issue with with sort of the. 00:38:37.752 --> 00:38:41.412 Some of the recovery groups that I was in it almost maps on very nicely 00:38:41.412 --> 00:38:42.792 to what we're talking about here. 00:38:43.332 --> 00:38:49.362 No one here is saying that good works save us, that we are acknowledging 00:38:49.812 --> 00:38:54.452 our helplessness and the only thing that saves us is the sacrifice of 00:38:54.452 --> 00:38:56.882 Christ and his resurrection, period. 00:38:58.082 --> 00:39:04.052 But if I keep going back to how bad things were before Christ had saved me 00:39:04.362 --> 00:39:09.517 it's the same thing as me talking about how bad, how awful being an alcoholic 00:39:09.652 --> 00:39:12.802 was, rather than remembering that. 00:39:13.897 --> 00:39:15.757 I'm not sober just to be sober. 00:39:15.787 --> 00:39:18.487 I'm sober for a bigger purpose. 00:39:18.727 --> 00:39:22.027 I'm not saved by Christ just to be saved. 00:39:22.177 --> 00:39:24.667 I am saved for a bigger purpose. 00:39:24.757 --> 00:39:28.237 And that's what Paul is outlining here in this verse, for the good works that God 00:39:28.297 --> 00:39:33.667 prepared beforehand, before we are saved, that are the purpose why we are saved. 00:39:33.727 --> 00:39:37.207 Just coming back to that, it's it. 00:39:37.207 --> 00:39:41.557 We are saved to, to become everything he created us to be. 00:39:42.017 --> 00:39:42.527 That is it. 00:39:42.527 --> 00:39:44.357 We can't just stop at the doorway. 00:39:44.537 --> 00:39:46.697 Let's go in and explore the mansion, 00:39:46.907 --> 00:39:47.197 Giancarlo Newsome: yeah. 00:39:47.202 --> 00:39:47.622 Yeah. 00:39:47.622 --> 00:39:48.162 I love it. 00:39:48.162 --> 00:39:50.532 That's, and that's I love the way you're framing it. 00:39:50.532 --> 00:39:55.392 That's his moral law, that if we can just, and I love the kind of, 00:39:55.392 --> 00:39:58.782 you said a roadmap and then the consciousness is like a compass, because 00:39:58.782 --> 00:40:00.042 you gotta tune into that compass. 00:40:00.042 --> 00:40:01.632 Don't let anyone shut that down. 00:40:01.952 --> 00:40:02.462 And I think 00:40:03.702 --> 00:40:03.992 Andrew Bibb: Yeah. 00:40:04.042 --> 00:40:08.272 Giancarlo Newsome: How do people why do you think people shut down that compass? 00:40:10.522 --> 00:40:10.942 Andrew Bibb: I 00:40:13.522 --> 00:40:15.382 shame is a big one. 00:40:15.592 --> 00:40:16.042 I think. 00:40:16.312 --> 00:40:22.642 I had to I felt shame about my drinking for

years which got me 00:40:22.642 --> 00:40:25.522 into that cycle where I would drink to, to drown out the shame. 00:40:25.522 --> 00:40:30.892 And, so I think our conscience pricks us and it tells us something is wrong. 00:40:32.072 --> 00:40:35.792 The wrong way to respond to that is to try to numb the conscience. 00:40:35.852 --> 00:40:37.742 And I think that's what we do a lot. 00:40:37.792 --> 00:40:41.092 We, it's uncomfortable when we're pricked by our conscience, 00:40:41.332 --> 00:40:42.952 so we just try to shut it out. 00:40:43.612 --> 00:40:44.062 Really 00:40:44.112 --> 00:40:45.732 Giancarlo Newsome: before we, or we surround ourselves 00:40:45.732 --> 00:40:47.142 with people who will numb it, 00:40:48.042 --> 00:40:49.422 Andrew Bibb: Yeah, absolutely. 00:40:49.512 --> 00:40:49.872 Yep. 00:40:50.442 --> 00:40:50.592 Giancarlo Newsome: Yeah. 00:40:50.897 --> 00:40:53.747 Andrew Bibb: It when when we realize that the purpose of the conscience 00:40:53.747 --> 00:40:57.707 isn't to torment us, it's to let us know that there's a problem and that 00:40:57.737 --> 00:40:59.477 there is a solution to the problem. 00:40:59.787 --> 00:41:02.217 I think that's when we start to see conscience as our 00:41:02.217 --> 00:41:04.077 ally rather than our enemy. 00:41:04.467 --> 00:41:07.227 But as long as we see it as our enemy, we're gonna try to shut it down. 00:41:08.577 --> 00:41:08.877 Giancarlo Newsome: Yeah. 00:41:09.027 --> 00:41:09.327 Yeah. 00:41:10.287 --> 00:41:10.917 That's awesome. 00:41:10.977 --> 00:41:12.267 Hey, so on. 00:41:12.357 --> 00:41:14.487 So what is your hope? 00:41:14.817 --> 00:41:19.647 So to bring us back to the tech world, what are your hopes, ideas or efforts 00:41:20.487 --> 00:41:23.747 to see AI or Web3 technologies help? 00:41:24.417 --> 00:41:26.667 And again, I, there's, I you're awesome. 00:41:26.697 --> 00:41:30.967 You handle some really hard big questions and the purpose isn't for 00:41:30.967 --> 00:41:32.047 either of us to have the answers. 00:41:32.047 --> 00:41:36.207 Hopefully our audience also will reflect and think deep and grow and 00:41:36.207 --> 00:41:41.257 embrace their compass, embrace their calling and, for all of us, not just 00:41:41.257 --> 00:41:46.247 you, but all of us listening, let's think about how, we, there's, our goal 00:41:46.247 --> 00:41:50.087 with humility is that we will activate other technologies to think about, 00:41:50.087 --> 00:41:55.457 okay, hey, there are gyms or different types of equipment that help us work, 00:41:55.457 --> 00:41:57.887 strengthen different physical body parts. 00:41:58.397 --> 00:42:03.777 What have, any top of mind thought as to things, ways you've seen 00:42:03.777 --> 00:42:05.967 tech use to restore virtue? 00:42:06.017 --> 00:42:10.157 Or, I know I know I'm really grateful for your help with the humility, but I 00:42:10.317 --> 00:42:13.877 Reason why I'm like, I really don't know a lot of tech, so it's okay to say, there's, 00:42:13.877 --> 00:42:16.277 Andrew Bibb: it makes me think about the tech that I do know. 00:42:16.337 --> 00:42:20.887 On my phone I'm as susceptible to anyone else's, to the brain rot apps 00:42:20.917 --> 00:42:25.537 or content and, so what I have to do, and it's still a work in progress, 00:42:25.537 --> 00:42:33.007 is I have to tailor my, my my app and my smartphone experience to try to 00:42:33.007 --> 00:42:34.717 nudge me in the direction of virtue. 00:42:34.717 --> 00:42:37.807 I need to have my reading apps front and center. 00:42:37.807 --> 00:42:42.527 So I will open up a book on virtue rather than go straight to scrolling. 00:42:42.527 --> 00:42:47.207 Even in my social apps, I need to be following accounts that are feeding 00:42:47.207 --> 00:42:52.837 me quotes by, Cicero or John Adams or Seneca, or, Boethius rather than. 00:42:53.932 --> 00:42:57.172 What the front page Bush is, which is the latest, political spat, 00:42:57.232 --> 00:42:59.002 which I'm just not interested in. 00:42:59.482 --> 00:43:04.042 So it's a matter of, there takes a lot of tailoring to, to set yourself 00:43:04.042 --> 00:43:07.732 up for success in the cultivation of virtue when it comes to tech. 00:43:08.032 --> 00:43:11.842 What I am most excited for, and I don't even know what this looks like yet, but 00:43:11.842 --> 00:43:17.242 with something like eHumility where that is already baked in from the ground floor, 00:43:17.332 --> 00:43:22.312 where virtue is the purpose for which it exists in the first place to where 00:43:22.372 --> 00:43:27.062 I, that can be the first widget on my phone, just taking up the whole screen. 00:43:27.312 --> 00:43:31.992 So when I'm, just impulse clicking, that's what I click on and what I 00:43:31.992 --> 00:43:37.142 get is encouragement from a fellow user or is this passage from CS Lewis 00:43:37.142 --> 00:43:38.792 that is just gonna rock my world. 00:43:38.972 --> 00:43:41.502 It's that's, I think it really comes down to attention. 00:43:43.297 --> 00:43:49.382 We become what we pay attention to over the course of time and consistently. 00:43:49.982 --> 00:43:56.282 So if we can get our attention on those things, that, that nourish 00:43:56.282 --> 00:43:58.682 the soul rather than rot the brain. 00:43:59.802 --> 00:44:03.962 That's the beauty of this of what can technology can do for us. 00:44:05.357 --> 00:44:07.837 Giancarlo Newsome: I, it's a great way to wrap us up. 00:44:08.037 --> 00:44:10.467 I, the attention economy and, the. 00:44:11.752 --> 00:44:16.102 I appreciate, you're basically invoking personal disciplines to manage 00:44:16.102 --> 00:44:19.432 your digital world in your phone. 00:44:19.882 --> 00:44:23.262 And as another buddy of mine who's on the podcast, Scott Fitzgerald mentioned 00:44:23.262 --> 00:44:30.242 is it is these tools, these phones I got one, two because we're an app, we have 00:44:30.242 --> 00:44:32.282 to test phones, but it's horrible, right? 00:44:35.672 --> 00:44:40.112

They're wired and I was reading they're wired to steal our attention and even 00:44:40.112 --> 00:44:44.822 with our children, I was like, it's 11 billion with a BI forgot that I 00:44:44.822 --> 00:44:49.802 was reading that is, is being spent on active marketing to our children. 00:44:50.372 --> 00:44:52.102 And yeah like you're right. 00:44:52.102 --> 00:44:56.302 Our attention, we will either nourish the soul or rot the brain 00:44:56.827 --> 00:44:57.047 Andrew Bibb: Yep. 00:44:57.112 --> 00:44:58.222 Giancarlo Newsome: and, yeah. 00:44:58.407 --> 00:45:03.292 I think you summarized that well, to wrap up, we always like to ask our guests, do 00:45:03.292 --> 00:45:08.017 you you, you pointed this direction, but do you have a favorite daily habit of 00:45:08.017 --> 00:45:12.662 humility that you like to practice or that you aspire to, that you would recommend? 00:45:13.827 --> 00:45:14.217 Andrew Bibb: I do. 00:45:14.317 --> 00:45:20.242 So I have, I, we, I talked about how I tried to tailor my digital experience. 00:45:20.322 --> 00:45:25.722 When I'm driving to work, I have I'm a big audio book guy I'll have modern 00:45:25.722 --> 00:45:29.982 authors really who are writing a lot about history, kinda like intellectual 00:45:29.982 --> 00:45:31.602 history, exploring these ideas. 00:45:31.602 --> 00:45:36.822 I've got like Boas and Seneca and CS Lewis that I, Epictetus that 00:45:36.822 --> 00:45:40.702 I could just throw on, can do some virtu cultivation on the go. 00:45:40.702 --> 00:45:45.552 But the thing that has been probably most impactful in my life is packing 00:45:46.422 --> 00:45:48.432 everything I aspire to in a prayer. 00:45:49.012 --> 00:45:50.632 It's, I call it the Pietas prayer. 00:45:50.842 --> 00:45:56.452 And it goes, almighty, God help me to do my duty and be content to understand 00:45:56.482 --> 00:46:02.692 meaningfully and act courageously and to live free in pursuit of what is good. 00:46:03.442 --> 00:46:06.582 So I pray this with my two and a half year old every night, and he's getting 00:46:06.582 --> 00:46:10.262 really good at sometimes he'll say, he, I love the way he says, do my duty. 00:46:10.262 --> 00:46:11.012 He says Dewey. 00:46:11.552 --> 00:46:12.992 It's absolutely adorable. 00:46:13.332 --> 00:46:17.912 But aside from that I'm constantly re returning to this prayer throughout 00:46:17.912 --> 00:46:22.592 the day, and very often I find myself just settling on a part. 00:46:22.592 --> 00:46:28.102 And very often that part is help me to be content and just marinating in that 00:46:28.102 --> 00:46:31.952 part and asking for for that contentment. 00:46:32.102 --> 00:46:36.037 Which isn't lethargy if it's tied to duty it's resignation to the 00:46:36.037 --> 00:46:37.897 will of God as we pursue our duty. 00:46:38.257 --> 00:46:40.677 But this prayer is a it's a roadmap for me. 00:46:40.677 --> 00:46:42.807 It's a constant request. 00:46:42.837 --> 00:46:46.467 And it's really, it's become a bit of a, in that compass 00:46:46.467 --> 00:46:48.687 a north seeking arrow for me. 00:46:48.787 --> 00:46:50.347 This is what I want to become. 00:46:50.647 --> 00:46:52.537 Only the creator can get me there. 00:46:52.807 --> 00:46:53.377 Giancarlo Newsome: I love it. 00:46:53.617 --> 00:46:54.127 I love it. 00:46:54.222 --> 00:46:58.242 The I similarly I'd love, we'll share that prayer if we do in the notes. 00:46:58.242 --> 00:47:00.612 I'll try to make sure that we get that prayer. 00:47:01.012 --> 00:47:03.777 The Lord's Prayer is one I'm I do frequently. 00:47:04.297 --> 00:47:06.727 And again, now that you know that each time I say our 00:47:06.757 --> 00:47:08.977 daily bread, I'm thinking duty 00:47:09.507 --> 00:47:09.797 Andrew Bibb: Yeah. 00:47:09.917 --> 00:47:13.467 Giancarlo Newsome: And on earth as it is in heaven, that's like contentment. 00:47:13.527 --> 00:47:16.017 Just to double down on that commitment, story even this week 00:47:16.017 --> 00:47:17.157 to pay forward a little bit. 00:47:17.757 --> 00:47:22.857 I think when we're excited, we're in that flow, state of duty, having fun. 00:47:22.857 --> 00:47:26.937 I think every now and then, even if we feel like we, we can see we're 00:47:26.937 --> 00:47:30.327 part of a bigger purpose, sometimes be overwhelming, where we start thinking, 00:47:30.327 --> 00:47:35.457 taking on more than maybe is ours to take on or like to today or yesterday. 00:47:35.457 --> 00:47:37.917 I was like, there was so much information. 00:47:38.637 --> 00:47:40.677 That is important to, to, to a duty. 00:47:40.677 --> 00:47:41.517 I'm called to that. 00:47:41.517 --> 00:47:44.127 I'm like, I'm not keeping up, wasn't keeping up with you. 00:47:44.177 --> 00:47:48.177 I'm like, I think that contentment to know, look, I'm to be at peace with, 00:47:48.297 --> 00:47:53.697 do our best, be as efficient discipline as possible, but that it's impossible. 00:47:53.727 --> 00:47:56.757 Let's not it's impossible for us to download. 00:47:56.917 --> 00:48:01.987 We don't have to take the carry the burden of the world or the tasking 00:48:01.987 --> 00:48:03.127 of the duty all on our shoulders. 00:48:03.127 --> 00:48:07.277 I think there's a, it can, you can erode that contentment 00:48:07.277 --> 00:48:09.067 with without maybe discernment. 00:48:09.427 --> 00:48:10.297 Does that make sense? 00:48:10.552 --> 00:48:12.442 Andrew Bibb: Do we have time just for just a quick anecdote. 00:48:13.507 --> 00:48:14.137 Giancarlo Newsome: Yeah, sure. 00:48:14.137 --> 00:48:14.797 Of course. 00:48:15.337 --> 00:48:16.207 Andrew Bibb: George Washington. 00:48:16.207 --> 00:48:18.907 There are only two, two surviving letters from George 00:48:18.907 --> 00:48:20.467 Washington to Martha Washington. 00:48:20.867 --> 00:48:22.877 She burned, she tried to get rid of them all. 00:48:22.937 --> 00:48:24.647 These two got stuck in a dresser. 00:48:24.677 --> 00:48:26.567 One of her relatives found it after she died. 00:48:26.567

--> 00:48:28.217 So these are the two letters that we have. 00:48:28.637 --> 00:48:33.137 Both are the first two letters that he wrote to her after he was 00:48:33.197 --> 00:48:37.037 appointed as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in 1775. 00:48:37.877 --> 00:48:42.227 The content of these letters is the best the best. 00:48:43.757 --> 00:48:48.257 Illustration of the cooperation of duty and contentment that I've ever seen. 00:48:48.767 --> 00:48:50.267 'cause and humility, by the way. 00:48:50.687 --> 00:48:54.167 So he talk, he starts by talking about, I don't think I'm up for this. 00:48:54.167 --> 00:48:57.707 I'm not capable of leading this army to victory over the British. 00:48:58.017 --> 00:49:01.077 They should have picked someone else that's, I just don't have the 00:49:01.077 --> 00:49:02.487 experience, the skillset for this. 00:49:03.117 --> 00:49:07.737 He then he goes on to say, but it's my moral duty to say, yes, my country 00:49:07.737 --> 00:49:09.147 is set that they need this from me. 00:49:09.457 --> 00:49:10.777 It's my moral duty. 00:49:11.617 --> 00:49:15.727 And then he close, he closes off with, regardless of what 00:49:15.727 --> 00:49:21.637 happens, I've, basically, it's, it, I'm resigned to Providence. 00:49:21.877 --> 00:49:24.847 What Providence wants to happen will happen, and that's 00:49:24.847 --> 00:49:26.497 where I'm gonna find my peace. 00:49:26.947 --> 00:49:27.787 Just in, and he's 00:49:27.877 --> 00:49:28.732 Giancarlo Newsome: no lethargy. 00:49:28.867 --> 00:49:30.127 There's no abdication. 00:49:30.127 --> 00:49:34.147 There's no he's not, yeah, he's not saying because it's so much. 00:49:34.147 --> 00:49:35.427 Then I'll just half. 00:49:35.427 --> 00:49:35.817 But it, 00:49:35.817 --> 00:49:38.037 Andrew Bibb: and this isn't like a public speech or, he's 00:49:38.037 --> 00:49:39.237 not campaigning for anything. 00:49:39.447 --> 00:49:44.217 This is a letter to his wife in probably the rawest moment of his life. 00:49:44.397 --> 00:49:48.167 And this is, that's where we see like just the full heart of the man. 00:49:48.167 --> 00:49:49.067 It is just so beautiful. 00:49:49.127 --> 00:49:51.877 And I really think those letters were saved for a reason. 00:49:51.907 --> 00:49:53.797 So we could digest that lesson. 00:49:54.772 --> 00:49:55.912 Giancarlo Newsome: That is so awesome. 00:49:55.912 --> 00:49:57.592 Thanks for paying that forward. 00:49:57.952 --> 00:49:59.542 Thanks for sharing your experience. 00:49:59.572 --> 00:50:03.262 And I think our founding fathers were amazing guys. 00:50:03.262 --> 00:50:07.672 Thanks for bringing them forward and I think, I really hope our country will 00:50:07.672 --> 00:50:10.372 restore the that, that humble foundation. 00:50:10.402 --> 00:50:15.192 'cause I really, I think if we relax and kinda like you said, chill from all 00:50:15.192 --> 00:50:21.242 the political just stuff, and that and recognize that the beauty of the founding 00:50:21.242

--> 00:50:25.242 of America that brought the greatest prosperity and it was decentralized, 00:50:25.242 --> 00:50:26.682 hopeful, and it's getting highly central. 00:50:26.682 --> 00:50:30.312 But let's say that with Bitcoin and other technologies we restored decentralization 00:50:30.312 --> 00:50:33.622 of prosperity and opportunity that'll happen through humility. 00:50:34.042 --> 00:50:39.002 And, you're, restoring us to those founders who were in a unique place 00:50:39.002 --> 00:50:41.882 and time, just like all of us, and they fulfilled a duty just like we 00:50:41.882 --> 00:50:46.862 all are, that we might get another wave of prosperity and opportunity 00:50:46.862 --> 00:50:48.392 and joy and human flourishing. 00:50:48.392 --> 00:50:52.232 That they brought about, that we can reverse this decline of mental health 00:50:52.282 --> 00:50:55.642 and decline of human flourishing that we're all suffering through right now. 00:50:56.542 --> 00:51:02.052 But so if people wanna learn more about your work, so it's project pietas.com 00:51:02.202 --> 00:51:02.592 right? 00:51:02.657 --> 00:51:03.237 Andrew Bibb: That's it. 00:51:03.282 --> 00:51:03.702 Yeah. 00:51:04.287 --> 00:51:04.617 Giancarlo Newsome: Okay. 00:51:04.617 --> 00:51:07.827 Project P-I-E-T-A s.com. 00:51:08.337 --> 00:51:12.817 And then also team, please don't forget to follow or smash our subscribe bell 00:51:12.817 --> 00:51:14.287 to the Empowering Humility Podcast. 00:51:14.287 --> 00:51:16.657 Please share it with friends, give us feedback. 00:51:16.657 --> 00:51:17.587 We love feedback. 00:51:18.097 --> 00:51:22.347 And I think this is fun, the f your discipline of regular 00:51:22.617 --> 00:51:24.297 prayer and your own prayer. 00:51:24.357 --> 00:51:26.287 The Pieto prayer echoes. 00:51:26.287 --> 00:51:29.647 I wanted to announce that we will be starting what we're calling e 00:51:29.647 --> 00:51:34.477 Humility Group CrossFit and what this is, and our first team is 00:51:34.477 --> 00:51:36.247 gonna be called the Noon Grit Team. 00:51:36.337 --> 00:51:40.027 So it's gonna be starting every weekday on the East coast at noon. 00:51:40.297 --> 00:51:42.397 We will take 15 minutes to work out together. 00:51:42.397 --> 00:51:45.337 When we say work out, basically that just means opening the 00:51:45.337 --> 00:51:48.367 app and we will share a tip. 00:51:48.937 --> 00:51:52.087 We'll receive one point of feedback 'cause we want to continuously improve 00:51:52.087 --> 00:51:53.527 to make the strength and virtue. 00:51:53.887 --> 00:51:56.197 And then the rest of the time is just our own quiet time. 00:51:56.197 --> 00:51:59.407 We're just all together at the same time, working through, reviewing our 00:51:59.407 --> 00:52:03.197 prayers, maybe creating a journal entry and creating this kind of 00:52:03.197 --> 00:52:06.767 battle rather than kinda like CrossFit to work on our holistic fitness. 00:52:07.177 --> 00:52:13.567 So if you are interested to join that CrossFit workout, just email us at Sharon, 00:52:13.597 --> 00:52:17.647 S-H-A-R-O-N, at empowering humility.com. 00:52:17.887 --> 00:52:19.357 And anyone is welcome. 00:52:19.387 --> 00:52:20.917 It'll be at noon eastern. 00:52:20.917 --> 00:52:24.487 And then hopefully we'll expand these CrossFit groups and we'll build 00:52:24.567 --> 00:52:26.187 these CrossFit teams for virtue. 00:52:26.187 --> 00:52:29.397 So Andrew, I really appreciate you for joining us. 00:52:29.427 --> 00:52:32.337 Thank you for being such a great example of empowering humility 00:52:32.337 --> 00:52:35.517 and sharing the heroic wisdom and humility of our founding fathers. 00:52:35.517 --> 00:52:36.717 You've been a true blessing. 00:52:37.117 --> 00:52:37.777 Thank you so much. 00:52:38.732 --> 00:52:40.972 Andrew Bibb: Thanks so much for having me on and this every time 00:52:40.972 --> 00:52:45.112 I'm with you I'm energized to to go again, even e even harder. 00:52:45.322 --> 00:52:46.552 So I appreciate you 00:52:46.982 --> 00:52:47.472 Giancarlo Newsome: Awesome. 00:52:47.977 --> 00:52:48.667 God bless you, brother. 00:52:48.667 --> 00:52:49.237 Thank you, sir.