It’s 2024, and while politics dominates the landscape, I can’t help but feel that everything looks a little too familiar, as a student of history. People are still stuck in binary choices, forced into boxes—political, religious, or otherwise—and made to believe that salvation, whether divine or political, will come from somewhere outside of themselves. Voltaire, my favorite witty troublemaker of the Enlightenment, would probably have a field day with today’s world. His critiques of religious and political authority still hit home because, as much as we’d like to think we’ve evolved, the same fear-based systems remain intact, with tweaks to make the old feel new again.
But there is a way forward. If we can cultivate individual authenticity and reject the tired old tactic of fear-based control, maybe we can find a new path—one where we, and not some larger-than-life figure, determine our own meaning.
Authentic Leadership: It’s About Influence, Not Control
Here’s the thing about authentic leadership: it’s not about control. It’s not about mandating how people should think, feel, or believe. An authentic leader—whether in religion, politics, or business—is someone who knows how to empower individuals, not imprison them. They understand that true leadership means wanting what’s best for everyone, not just what’s best for their personal agenda.
Voltaire railed against ecclesiastical power for this exact reason. The Church in his time wasn’t about helping people find their spiritual truth—it was about enforcing one version of the truth and punishing anyone who dared step out of line. Sound familiar? Just look at today’s political leaders. Many of them, regardless of which side they’re on, sell us fear and control under the guise of “helping” or “saving” us.
But no one is going to save you. Unless, of course, it’s yourself—or your neighbors. Authentic leadership isn’t about saving people. It’s about empowering them to save themselves. When leaders start forcing their beliefs onto others, they’re looking for control, not influence.
Fear: The Oldest Trick in the Book
Fear has always been the greatest tool of control, and Voltaire knew it well. Religion has historically used the fear of hell, divine wrath, or eternal punishment to keep people in line. Today’s politics? No different. Every election cycle, we’re told that if we don’t vote for this candidate, society will crumble, and life as we know it will descend into chaos.
But how much of this fear is real, and how much of it is just a tool to keep us from thinking for ourselves?
Fear-based morality—whether from religion or politics—stifles individual thought and prevents authentic growth. And when people are afraid, they stop questioning. Fear keeps us from asking the important questions: Why are we allowing these systems to control us? Are we capable of finding our own answers? Spoiler alert: we are.
Voltaire pushed for reason, for intellectual engagement, for calling out the absurdities of control. And so should we. If you want to know how much of your thinking is based on fear, just ask yourself: If you weren’t scared of judgment, would you still believe what you believe?
Where’s the Salonnierès When You Need Them?
During the Enlightenment, salons were the heart of intellectual life. Run by women (salonnières), these gatherings were where the bold and the brilliant came together to discuss philosophy, science, and politics. Imagine a time when conversations weren’t about who’s right and who’s wrong, but about pushing boundaries, questioning the status quo, and, dare I say it, having fun while doing it.
We need modern salons. We need more spaces—whether online or in person—where people can engage in open discourse without fear of judgment or polarization. And no, your Aunt Karen’s Facebook rant doesn’t count as discourse. That’s fear tossed into the void. We need actual intellectual spaces where diverse voices are heard and where people are encouraged to think critically.
TikTok is arguably one of the closest things we have to a modern salon. Sure, it’s full of cat videos and other entertaining nonsense, but there are also communities where people engage in meaningful, often mind-blowing conversations. Who knew that a platform famous for its memes would be fostering genuine intellectual debate? Maybe it’s time for all of us to step off the hamster wheel of daily distractions and engage in some good, old-fashioned intellectual discourse. Starting with ourselves.
Finding Meaning in a World Beyond Heaven (or Hell)
For some, religion offers comfort. Suffer now, be rewarded later (*major terms and conditions apply). For atheists, the narrative can be equally bleak—suffer now, die later, and that’s that. So nothing really matters.
Neither of these perspectives is particularly appealing to me. If I’m just biding my time on Earth until I either go to hell or get buried six feet under, what’s the point?
This is where Eastern philosophy has some answers. Living in the present. Living for your own conscience. Living to cause no harm and to evolve as a person. Voltaire and the Enlightenment thinkers believed in living a life of reason, not fear. Instead of waiting for heaven, why not make life meaningful now? Why not lean into the idea that you can create heaven on Earth? No religious dogma necessary?
Voltaire would probably roll his eyes at today’s heaven-and-hell narrative. It’s incredibly asinine. But here we are. Why live in fear of eternal damnation or the finality of death when you can live fully in the present? Meaning (for now, which is our only referenc) is found in our actions, in our growth, and in how we impact the collective.
Forget waiting for some divine or political judgment—we are the ones creating our reality, right here, right now.
A New Enlightenment? Yes, Please. (Invite Me!)
Look, we live in a polarized world. It’s hard to even start a conversation about certain topics without hitting a wall of judgment or fear. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. Just as Voltaire and his contemporaries pushed for intellectual freedom in their time, we need to do the same now.
Platforms like TED Talks, the Intellectual Dark Web, and even TikTok are fostering open conversations. They’re offering spaces for people to question, to engage, and to think beyond the constraints of traditional institutions. It’s up to us to keep this momentum going—to challenge the status quo and foster a new kind of intellectual collective.
The more we empower people to think critically and live authentically, the closer we get to a new Enlightenment. And the best part? We don’t have to wait for a leader or a God to deliver us there at some nebulous future point. We can do it ourselves. And we can do it now.
So, are we ready to create our own modern-day salons? Are we ready to lead by example, to engage in thoughtful, meaningful discourse, and to live authentically? I’d like to think we are. The opportunity is here. It’s just a matter of whether we’ll take it…the future of humanity still rests of the same things it rested on when Voltaire wrote his thoughts down, hundreds of years ago.