Transforming our reality cannot be achieved through superficial or patchwork reforms, nor by merely altering the outward appearance of institutions. Real transformation requires changing the entrenched rules and structures that produce corruption, decline, and degradation, and adopting new ethical and spiritual principles that “push the Nation along the path of creation, construction, overcoming difficulties, and excelling in the struggle of life.”[1] Such principles can emerge only from a genuine national renaissance—one that becomes the emblem of a new life advancing toward the lofty aspirations to which millions of souls yearn. In this sense, Saadeh affirms that the Renaissance “is the departure from decay, conflict, and doubt toward clarity, lucidity, confidence, certainty, and action with a clear will and sincere resolve.”[2]
Transforming our afflicted reality cannot come through deceptive promises from abroad, but only through a genuine and constructive renaissance project that springs from within our society—from our inner selves and our own living spirit. This project must rebuild character upon a sound doctrine, cleanse society of corruption, chaos, and moral decay, renew the features of our communal life, and lay the foundations of a modern, democratic, and secular state.
We hold that no true and revitalizing renaissance can be achieved without adopting a new direction in thought—namely, a scientific and practical mode of thinking grounded in logic, the truths of science, and the creative, voluntary, existence-shaping power of reason. Reason is the creative and generative force; it is the foundation and key to enlightenment. The societal mind is the Nation’s true power, its path to progress and flourishing.
[1] Antun Saadeh, Complete Works, Volume 8 (1948–1949), “The Nation Wants a Renaissance, Not a Patchwork Fix.”
[2] Antun Sa´adeh, Al-Muhadarat al-'Ashr (The Ten Lectures) 1948, Beirut, 1976, p. 16.
