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kae3g 9972: Charlemagne's Letter — The City of God and the American Capitals

Timestamp: 12025-10-07–rhizome-valley
Series: Technical Writings (9999 → 0000)
Category: Augustinian Political Philosophy, Veganic Governance, Capital City Service
Reading Time: 50 minutes
Author Voice: Charlemagne the Great (768–814), channeling Augustine's City of God
Format: Royal epistle with devotional arguments for centralized service

"Two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self." — Augustine of Hippo, City of God

"A king should be the servant of servants, governing not for glory but for the flourishing of all creation." — Adapted from Gregorian wisdom

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." — Gospel According to Jesus

For those called to serve the common good from the heart of power: Sometimes the greatest devotion is not withdrawal to the monastery, but entry into the halls where law is written, where the vulnerable are either protected or abandoned, where the future of all beings—human and animal—is decided.

Opening: A Letter Across Centuries

From Charlemagne, by grace of God King of the Franks and Lombards, to you who read these words in the distant future, greetings in Christ our Lord.

I write to you from Aachen, where I have established my capital, my seat of governance, my center from which flows law and justice throughout the Christian realm. I write as one who has spent a lifetime learning that true kingship is not domination but service, that the throne is not a seat of ease but a cross to bear, that the capital city is not merely a place of power but a sacred responsibility.

You face a choice, I am told. You wonder whether to move to the centers of American governance—to New York City, that financial and cultural capital, or to Washington D.C., that seat of federal authority. You have read essays counseling retreat, counseling the quiet veganic farm, counseling private equity's refusal, counseling the monastery of soil and sanctuary over the palace of policy.

I honor those essays. I know their truth—for I too have wrestled with the temptations of power, the corruption that comes from sitting too long among sycophants and courtiers, the way wealth and authority can hollow out the soul until only ambition remains.

But I write to offer you the opposite counsel. Not because the warnings are wrong, but because for some—not all, but some—the calling is different. For some, the path of holiness leads not away from the capital but toward it. Not toward power for its own sake, but toward service at the place where service matters most.

Augustine taught me this. His "City of God" showed me that we who govern are not building the eternal city—only God does that. But we are called to make the earthly city as just, as merciful, as aligned with divine love as our broken human institutions allow. And that work happens not in isolation, but in the forums, the councils, the legislative chambers, the offices where decisions are made.

Let me make the case for the capital. Not as a rejection of the veganic path or the soil-rooted life, but as a different expression of the same devotion. Not as a denial of Dante's warning about private equity's corruption, but as an affirmation that there are ways to serve power without being captured by it—if you walk carefully, if you remain rooted in something deeper than career advancement, if you serve the City of God even while laboring in the earthly city.

Come with me. Let us reason together.

Part I: Augustine's Two Cities and the Call to Governance

The City of God vs. The City of Man

Augustine wrote "City of God" after Rome fell to the Visigoths in 410 AD. Christians asked: If we are God's people, why did our city fall? Augustine's answer transformed Christian political theology forever.

There are two cities, he said:

The City of God (Civitas Dei): Built on love of God, oriented toward eternal truth, seeking justice that reflects divine nature. This city is not a place but a reality—the community of all beings oriented toward the good, regardless of where they live geographically.

The City of Man (Civitas Terrena): Built on love of self, oriented toward temporal power and glory, seeking justice defined by human desire. This is the earthly political order—necessary, but always flawed, always needing correction.

These two cities are intermingled. They coexist. You cannot separate them cleanly. The wheat and tares grow together until harvest.

The key insight: Christians live in both cities simultaneously. We are citizens of the City of God (eternal, spiritual, true), but we are also residents of the City of Man (temporal, political, flawed). We cannot escape the earthly city—we must engage it, serve in it, try to make it more just, while never confusing it with the eternal city.

The Temptation to Withdraw

After Rome fell, many Christians concluded: The earthly city is doomed, we should withdraw, focus on salvation, let the world burn while we tend our gardens.

Augustine said: No. That is cowardice dressed as piety.

We are called to love our neighbors. Love requires action in the world. Justice requires working through human institutions, even flawed ones. To withdraw from governance when you have the capacity to serve is to abandon the vulnerable to wolves.

The Danger of Over-Engagement

But Augustine also warned: Do not confuse the earthly city with the City of God. Do not believe that law can save souls, that policy can create heaven on earth, that if we just elect the right emperor or pass the right legislation, the Kingdom will arrive.

The earthly city is necessary but never sufficient. Governance can restrain evil and create space for flourishing, but it cannot transform hearts. Only grace does that.

So we serve the earthly city—but lightly, provisionally, always aware that this is not our true home.

Applied to Your Choice

You face a choice between two paths:

Path One (Dante's counsel): Decline private equity and capital-city ambitions. Work directly with veganic farms and animal sanctuaries. Stay close to soil and animals. Build alternatives at grassroots level. This is the path of withdrawal—not from the world, but from the centers of earthly power.

Path Two (Charlemagne's counsel): Move to the capital. Work in or near government. Translate veganic values into policy. Write legislation, advise officials, shape regulations, direct federal resources toward animal liberation and soil regeneration. This is the path of engagement—not with earthly power for its own sake, but as service to the common good.

Both paths are valid. Both can be holy. Both can serve the City of God while laboring in the City of Man.

But I write this essay because the first path has many advocates, while the second has few. The warnings about power's corruption are everywhere—they are true and necessary. But the calling to serve power justly is quieter, less celebrated, and yet critically needed.

Let me make the case.

Part II: Why the Capital? The Augustinian Argument for Centralized Service

Principle One: Law Shapes Culture at Scale

I governed the Frankish Empire for 46 years. I learned this truth: Law shapes what people consider normal, possible, and right.

When I mandated education in every monastery, learning spread. When I standardized weights and measures, commerce flourished. When I enforced limits on aristocratic violence, peasants were safer. Law did not create virtue—only grace does that—but law created conditions where virtue could flourish and vice was restrained.

Applied to your context:

The USDA distributes \$150 billion annually. If even 1% were redirected to veganic agriculture research and support, that's \$1.5 billion—enough to transform the field. That redirection happens in Washington D.C., not on individual farms.

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) note: The federal government, as sovereign currency issuer, is not constrained by tax revenue or "affordability" for such programs. The real question is whether we have the real resources—land, farmers, researchers, equipment—to implement veganic agriculture at scale. Your advocacy should focus on demonstrating that these real resources exist (idle farmland, interested farmers, research capacity), not on proving "we can afford it." The constraint is inflation risk and real resource availability, not federal budget limits.

The FDA regulates food labeling, safety standards, and approval processes. Decisions made there determine whether plant-based proteins are treated as legitimate food or as niche alternatives, whether cultured meat faces reasonable oversight or regulatory strangulation. Those decisions happen in offices in Washington and New York (where policy is drafted and influenced), not in veganic greenhouses.

Congress writes the Farm Bill every five years, allocating hundreds of billions to agriculture. That bill determines whether subsidies flow to animal agriculture (as they have for 80 years) or begin to flow toward plant-based systems. The staffers who write that bill sit in Washington. The advocates who influence them work from D.C. offices or travel there regularly.

You can farm veganically for 50 years and affect 100 acres. Or you can spend 5 years in D.C. and affect policy that touches 100 million acres.

This is not to diminish farming—farming is essential, noble, and holy. But if you have the skills, education, and temperament to work in policy, and if you are called to serve at scale, then to refuse that calling because "politics is corrupt" is to abandon millions of animals and billions of soil organisms to suffering you could help prevent.

Principle Two: Power Will Be Used—Question Is By Whom

Power is not neutral. It does not sit idle. The federal government WILL make decisions about agriculture, food safety, land use, environmental regulation, education, trade policy—all of which affect veganic agriculture and animal welfare.

The question is not whether power is used, but by whom and for what ends.

Current reality:

This is not conspiracy—it's simply that people who care about animal agriculture show up to wield power, while people who care about veganic alternatives mostly don't.

Dante's essay warns (rightly) against being captured by private equity's extractive logic. But there is also a danger in refusing to engage with power at all—the danger that power is wielded entirely by those who have no love for animals, no understanding of soil regeneration, no vision for alternatives.

Augustinian principle: If all the Christians flee Rome, Rome is governed entirely by pagans. If all the vegans flee D.C., D.C. is governed entirely by animal agriculture interests.

We need vegans in the capital. Not as lobbyists for plant-based corporations (that's just substituting one extraction for another), but as servants of the common good, as translators between grassroots veganic wisdom and institutional power, as voices for those who have no voice—the animals, the soil, the future generations.

Principle Three: Proximity Creates Understanding

I required my nobles to spend time at court in Aachen. Not because I didn't trust them in their distant estates (though often I didn't), but because proximity creates understanding.

When nobles spent time at court, they:

When I spent time visiting distant regions, I:

Applied to your calling:

If you work on a veganic farm, you deeply understand soil, plants, animals, seasons, the sacred rhythms of growth and harvest. But you may not understand:

Conversely, if you work only in D.C., you may understand policy deeply but lose connection to:

The ideal: You spend time in both places. You understand soil and Senate. You are fluent in permaculture and policy. You can sit with pigs at sanctuary and then sit in congressional hearing room, translating between these worlds.

But to translate between them, you must spend significant time in the capital. Not forever—I will argue for rotation below—but for seasons, for years, for long enough to understand how power works and to build relationships that allow you to wield it for good.

Principle Four: Veganic Permaculture Scaled Requires Federal Support

The essays you've read about veganic permaculture, MantraOS agricultural robotics, unschooling on farm properties—all of this is beautiful, necessary, and aligned with the City of God's vision of flourishing for all beings.

But to scale these practices beyond isolated farms to regional and national levels requires:

1. Research Funding

Where does this funding come from? Ideally: USDA SARE grants, NIFA competitive grants, NSF for computing research, DOE for sustainable materials. All federal programs, all requiring advocates who can navigate bureaucracy.

MMT framing: The federal government doesn't "find" this money from tax revenue—it creates it through spending. Your advocacy task is to demonstrate the real resource capacity exists (researchers ready to work, facilities available, farmers eager to implement findings), not to identify "budget offsets" or prove "fiscal responsibility." Frame requests in terms of mobilizing idle resources, not in terms of "taxpayer burden."

2. Land Access

Who shapes these programs? Federal officials, influenced by advocates who understand both veganic farming and policy mechanisms.

3. Regulatory Support

4. Education Infrastructure

5. MantraOS Computing Support

These technologies exist at small scale (9993 essay documents them). To scale nationally requires:

All of this happens in Washington D.C. and New York City (where regulatory decisions are influenced by financial and corporate interests that must be countered by public interest advocates).

Augustinian framing: The City of God's vision of peaceful coexistence between humans and animals, of soil health for generations, of appropriate technology serving life rather than profit—this vision will remain a fringe monastic practice unless it is translated into the law and policy of the earthly city.

You can build the prototype on your 20-acre farm. But to spread it to 200 million acres requires engaging the federal government.

Not because government creates virtue, but because government creates the legal and financial conditions in which veganic practices can compete fairly with animal agriculture (which currently receives massive subsidies and regulatory favoritism).

Part III: The New York and Washington D.C. Argument — The Primary Case

You ask specifically about New York City and Washington D.C. Let me make the case for each.

Washington D.C.: The Seat of Law

Why D.C.?

This is where federal law is written, where regulations are promulgated, where the USDA, FDA, EPA, Department of Education are headquartered. If you want to influence federal policy, you must be physically present where relationships are built, where staffers grab lunch, where hearings happen, where informal conversations in hallways shape legislation.

Yes, you can advocate remotely—emails, Zoom calls, occasional trips. But sustained influence requires sustained presence. Congressional staffers (who actually write most legislation) are 25-35 years old, overworked, underpaid, desperate for credible expertise. If you are the person they can call when they need to understand veganic agriculture, if you are the person who shows up consistently to hearings, if you are the person who provides well-researched memos and can explain complex issues clearly—you will shape policy.

The devotional argument:

Washington D.C. is often reviled as a swamp, a cesspool of corruption, a place where idealism goes to die. All of this is partly true.

But Augustine would say: This is precisely why Christians must be there.

Not to be corrupted, but to be light in darkness. Not to accumulate power, but to restrain evil and create space for good. Not to build the Kingdom (that is not ours to build), but to make the earthly city a little more just, a little more merciful, a little less cruel to the vulnerable.

Your specific calling in D.C.:

You are not called to be a generic policy wonk. You are called to be the bridge between:

Practical path:

  1. Years 1-2: Work for sympathetic congressional office (progressive representative on Agriculture Committee or Environment Subcommittee). Learn legislative process from inside. Build relationships with staffers, advocates, USDA officials.
  2. Years 3-5: Either (a) transition to agricultural policy nonprofit (National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Food & Water Watch, or vegan advocacy org's food policy team), or (b) start your own veganic agriculture policy consultancy serving both farms and advocates.
  3. Years 6-10: You are now THE expert on veganic agriculture policy. You testify regularly, you're quoted in agricultural press, you advise multiple organizations. You've achieved what 9979v essay calls "veganic translator" role—but from within the capital, shaping federal policy.
  4. Years 11+: Either continue in D.C. (if the calling sustains), or rotate out to farm/sanctuary/local governance while maintaining D.C. relationships. You've built the network that will endure even if you personally leave.

Income: \$60,000-\$100,000 (congressional staff and nonprofit salaries are modest, D.C. cost of living high—but sufficient if you live simply, have roommates, prioritize mission over comfort).

Devotional practice to avoid corruption:

Augustinian framing:

You live in D.C. (City of Man), but you serve the City of God (love of God, love of all beings, hunger for righteousness). You are a resident alien, a temporary servant, not building your kingdom but stewarding resources for those who suffer.

When policy wins happen, you do not take credit—you give thanks and redirect to the grassroots farmers and activists who made it possible.

When policy losses happen, you do not despair—you remember that the City of God does not depend on legislative outcomes. You persevere.

You are not there to save the world (only Christ does that). You are there to reduce suffering, to restrain cruelty, to create conditions where life can flourish. This is enough. This is everything.

New York City: The Financial and Cultural Capital

Why NYC?

D.C. is where federal law is made, but NYC is where:

Your specific calling in NYC:

You are not called to work for private equity (Dante's warning stands). But you could work:

Option A: Impact Investment / Cooperative Finance

Not extractive private equity, but patient capital for veganic farms and cooperatives. Organizations like RSF Social Finance, Slow Money, Common Good Finance—these structure investments with below-market returns, long time horizons, mission-driven covenants.

Your role: Structure deals that provide capital to veganic farms and vegan food cooperatives without demanding extraction. Create financial products that reward soil health, animal welfare, community benefit—not just profit maximization.

Income: \$80,000-\$150,000 (higher than D.C. nonprofit work, but not private equity's millions—and critically, your salary comes from mission-aligned institutions, not from extraction).

Devotional safeguard: Work only for B-Corps, nonprofits, or cooperatives with explicit non-extraction covenants. Never take bonuses tied to investment returns. Live modestly (roommates, cook your own food, save/donate surplus). Reassess annually: Is this work serving liberation or accumulation?

Option B: Philanthropy / Foundation Program Officer

Major foundations distribute billions to agriculture and food policy. As program officer, you decide which grants get funded. You could champion:

Income: \$90,000-\$130,000 (comfortable but not luxurious).

Devotional safeguard: Foundations can become insular, disconnected from grassroots reality. Spend 20% of time visiting grantees in field. Maintain relationships with farmers and activists, not just other foundation officers. Ground grant decisions in what actually serves beings, not what looks impressive in board reports.

Option C: Media / Cultural Narrative Shaping

Write for major publications. Pitch editors at NYT, New Yorker, Atlantic on veganic agriculture stories. Make documentaries about animal sanctuaries and veganic farms. Work at publisher commissioning books on these topics.

Your role: Make veganism and veganic agriculture visible, normal, compelling to mainstream audiences. Counter the cultural narrative that animal farming is inevitable.

Income: \$50,000-\$90,000 (journalism is poorly paid, but impact is significant).

Devotional safeguard: Do not compromise message for clicks or mainstream palatability. Tell truth, even when uncomfortable. But tell it compellingly—not self-righteously, not alienatingly, but inviting people into beauty and possibility.

Option D: United Nations / International Policy

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), UNEP (Environment Programme), or advocacy organizations that work at UN level on international agricultural policy.

Your role: Influence how "sustainable agriculture" is defined in international frameworks. Advocate for veganic methods in global south agricultural development. Counter industrial animal agriculture's expansion into developing nations.

Income: \$70,000-\$110,000 (UN salaries are modest).

Devotional safeguard: International bureaucracy can be paralyzing. Focus on achievable wins, don't get lost in process. Maintain connection to actual farmers in global south, not just NYC policy circles.

Why NYC specifically (not just "anywhere finance/media exist")?

Because NYC is where these networks concentrate. The relationships, the informal conversations, the ability to be in same room as decision-makers—this requires physical presence. Yes, you can write from anywhere. But to pitch editors, to build foundation relationships, to shape cultural narratives—you must be where these people are.

Augustinian framing:

NYC is often seen as epitome of earthly city—wealth accumulation, status competition, consumption, distraction. All true. But it is also where significant resources for good are concentrated.

If you live in NYC (City of Man), but serve City of God (directing resources toward liberation, shaping culture toward compassion), you are living the Augustinian calling: in the world but not of it, wielding earthly tools for heavenly purposes.

The temptation Augustine warns against: Confusing the means (finance, media, cultural influence) with the ends (love of God, service to beings). You are not there to become wealthy or famous or influential. You are there to steward resources that could serve suffering beings if directed rightly.

When you feel the pull toward status, wealth, accumulation—that's when you return to sanctuary, to soil, to prayer. Recenter. Remember. Return to service.

Part IV: The Devotional Structure — How to Serve Power Without Being Captured

This is the critical question. Dante's essay warns (rightly) that private equity captures the soul gradually. How do you work in D.C. or NYC without being similarly captured?

The Benedictine Rhythm: Ora et Labora (Pray and Work)

I modeled my governance on Benedictine monasticism—not because I was monk (I was king, warrior, statesman), but because Benedict understood something essential: Rhythm prevents corruption.

Ora (Prayer): Daily contemplative practice connecting you to something deeper than the day's work. For Benedict, this was liturgy of hours. For you, it could be:

15-30 minutes daily, before work. This centers you in City of God before you enter City of Man.

Labora (Work): Your policy work, your finance structuring, your media writing. This is not separate from devotion—it IS devotion, it is service, it is love made practical.

But you work with detachment—not "I don't care about outcomes," but "I work as hard as possible, then release attachment to results, trusting that I am planting seeds I may never see harvested."

The Jubilee Principle: Periodic Sabbath and Forgiveness

Biblical tradition includes:

Applied to your capital city service:

Weekly Sabbath: One day per week, no work. Spend time in nature, with animals, with community, in rest and beauty. This prevents burnout and reminds you that your identity is not your job.

Sabbatical: After 5-7 years in D.C./NYC, take 6-12 months away. Return to veganic farm, work physically, reconnect with soil and animals. Then decide: Return to capital (if calling continues), or stay in farm/local work (if calling shifts).

Jubilee: After 15-20 years in capital city work, assume you will leave. Not necessarily forever, but plan your exit. You've served your season. Let younger advocates take your place. You transition to elder role—mentor, advisor, but not center of action.

This prevents the corruption Dante describes—where after 10-15 years, you've accumulated wealth, status, comfort, and cannot imagine leaving. If you plan from the beginning that this is temporary service, not permanent identity, you remain free.

The Franciscan Vow: Voluntary Poverty (or at least simplicity)

Francis of Assisi renounced his father's wealth and lived in absolute poverty. You need not go that far—you are not monk, but servant of common good working through institutions that require some financial stability.

But you can practice voluntary simplicity:

Why this matters: Financial flexibility is spiritual protection. If you can live on \$50k, you can always leave a job that compromises your ethics. If you "need" \$150k (because of lifestyle inflation), you are trapped.

The Augustinian Detachment: Love the Beings, Use the Tools

Augustine distinguished between frui (enjoy) and uti (use):

Applied:

The corruption Dante describes happens when people reverse this:
They love (frui) their career, their status, their wealth—treating these as ends.
They use (uti) the animals—treating them as means to feeling good about themselves.

The Augustinian safeguard:
Remember what you love and what you use. Your career is a tool. Your reputation is a tool. Your D.C. network is a tool. They serve the beings you love. When you stop serving the beings, leave the career.

The Ignatian Discernment: Regular Examination of Conscience

Ignatius of Loyola developed Daily Examen:

Morning: What is my intention today? To serve whom? For what purpose?

Evening:

  1. Gratitude: What am I grateful for today?
  2. Review: When today did I feel most alive, most aligned with my deepest values? When did I feel dead, compromised, misaligned?
  3. Sorrow: Where did I fail to serve? Where did I prioritize ego over mission?
  4. Resolution: What will I do differently tomorrow?

10 minutes daily. This prevents gradual drift. Dante's essay describes the slow corruption—each compromise small, each rationalization reasonable. The daily examen interrupts this. It forces you to notice when you are drifting.

The question to ask weekly: If I sat with the pigs at sanctuary today and they could see my week's work, would I be at peace? Could I explain my choices to beings who cannot speak, who depend on advocates to serve them?

If the answer becomes "no" consistently, you have drifted. Recalibrate or leave.

Part V: The Veganic Permaculture Integration — Connecting Soil and Senate

Your vision (from the essays I've been told you've read) integrates:

This vision REQUIRES federal support to scale. Let me show how D.C./NYC work connects:

Connecting Veganic Permaculture to USDA Programs

Current USDA programs potentially available for veganic farms:

  1. EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program): Conservation funding for practices like cover cropping, composting, drip irrigation, windbreaks. Veganic farms qualify if practices meet conservation goals.
  2. CSP (Conservation Stewardship Program): Rewards for maintaining and improving conservation practices over time.
  3. SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education): Grants for farmer-led research. Veganic methods trials could be funded.
  4. VAPG (Value-Added Producer Grant): Helps farmers market value-added products. Veganic farms producing and processing can apply.
  5. Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development: Training and education grants. Could fund unschooling farm education programs.

The problem: Most veganic farmers don't know these programs exist, don't know how to apply, and USDA staff often don't understand veganic methods (confuse with "organic without livestock," which sounds weird to them).

Your role in D.C.:

Scaling result: Within 5 years, hundreds of veganic farms are accessing tens of millions in federal conservation and research funding. This accelerates transition from animal agriculture to veganic systems.

Connecting Unschooling Farm Education to Federal Support

Your vision: Teens and young adults learn veganic farming, permaculture, MantraOS robotics, cooperative economics through apprenticeships on actual farms—not in classrooms, but through doing.

The challenge: Without formal accreditation, students from working-class backgrounds can't access federal financial aid, can't get transferable credits, are disadvantaged in job market.

The opportunity:

Department of Education has been expanding recognition of alternative pathways:

Your role in D.C.:

Scaling result: Within 5-10 years, "Veganic Farm Apprenticeship Program" is a nationally recognized pathway. Hundreds of young people (especially working-class, BIPOC youth who can't afford traditional college) are accessing this education with federal financial aid support.

Connecting MantraOS Computing to Federal R&D Funding

Your vision (from 9993 essay):

The challenge: This is early-stage R&D. Needs significant funding to move from prototype to production.

Federal funding sources:

  1. NSF (National Science Foundation): Funds materials science, computing research. Hemp/bamboo substrates qualify.
  2. DOE (Department of Energy): Funds sustainable materials, energy-efficient computing. Biological substrates use less energy than silicon manufacturing.
  3. USDA NIFA (National Institute of Food and Agriculture): Funds agricultural technology. Open-source robotics for farms qualify.
  4. DARPA / DOD: If you can frame in terms of national security ("food security," "supply chain resilience," "domestic manufacturing"), significant defense R&D funds available.

Your role in D.C./NYC:

Scaling result: Within 5-10 years, MantraOS has received \$20-50 million in federal R&D grants. Technology moves from prototype to production. Dozens of veganic farms deploy these systems. Open-source code is available globally.

The Strategic Translator Role — Your Integration Point

The 9979v essay describes you as "strategic translator" bridging:

This role IS the Augustinian calling:

The devotional lens:

This is not career ambition. This is servant leadership—you are deacon, not bishop; translator, not ruler; bridge, not destination.

You accumulate no power for yourself. Every relationship you build, you share with others. Every policy win, you credit the grassroots. Every door you open, you prop it open for those coming after.

You are not there to be important. You are there to make the path easier for veganic farmers, for animals, for soil, for future generations.

This is the difference between:

Part VI: The Multicultural Christian Lens — Bhakti Hidden, Faith Visible

You asked me to write with "bhakti hidden unnamed undertones wrapped in visible expressive Christian faith."

Let me explain this integration:

Bhakti (Devotion) as Hidden Foundation

Bhakti (Sanskrit: भक्ति) = devotion, love, worship. In Hindu tradition, bhakti yoga is the path of loving devotion to the divine—not through asceticism or intellectual knowledge alone, but through heart-opening love for God expressed through service to all beings.

This is not named in my letter (I am Charlemagne, 8th-9th century Frank—I would not know this Sanskrit term), but it ANIMATES everything I counsel:

The bhakti undertone: Every policy decision is an act of worship. Every line of code in MantraOS is an offering. Every veganic farm regulation you help craft is a love letter to soil organisms and future beings.

You do not say this explicitly in hearings (it would be misunderstood). But it is the hidden root. Your devotion to the divine (however you understand it—Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, simply the Good) is the source of your energy, your perseverance, your refusal to be corrupted.

Christian Faith as Visible Expression

But I speak as Christian king, and Christianity provides the public language for this devotion:

Matthew 25:40 — "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

The animals are "the least of these." They have no voice in legislatures, no lobbying power, no capacity to defend themselves against industrial agriculture. To serve them is to serve Christ.

The soil organisms—the billions of bacteria, fungi, nematodes, earthworms—these too are voiceless. To protect soil is to honor God's creation.

Micah 6:8 — "What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7):

1 Corinthians 13 (Love Chapter):

"If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong... Love is patient, love is kind... Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

Your policy work is love made practical:

The Multicultural Bridge: Christian Service Embracing All Beings

Christianity in its truest form (Gospel, not empire; Jesus, not Christendom) teaches agape: self-giving love for all, especially the vulnerable.

This agape is the same love that:

You work in multicultural America, where your colleagues may be Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, secular humanist, atheist. You do not impose Christian language on them. But you bring Christian heart—agape, service, humility—and you recognize the same heart in them, whatever language they use.

The strategic advantage: When you testify in Congress, you can speak to:

You translate veganic values into every language your audience speaks. But the source is devotion (bhakti), expressed through Christian service (agape), for the liberation of all beings.

Part VII: Counterarguments and Responses — Addressing Dante's Warnings

Dante's essay (9978v) warns against private equity. His warnings are wise. Let me address how capital city service differs, and where his warnings still apply.

Counterargument 1: "You'll still be corrupted, just more slowly"

Response:

Possibly. Corruption is real risk. But difference between private equity and policy work:

Private equity:

Policy work:

Additionally: The devotional practices I've described (daily examen, weekly sanctuary work, sabbaticals, planned exit) are safeguards. They don't make corruption impossible, but they make it detectable and correctable.

Augustinian nuance: We are all corruptible. I (Charlemagne) made terrible mistakes—wars that should not have been fought, forced conversions I regret, compromises with my nobles that served power more than people. I am not advising you from place of purity. I am advising you from place of experience: I've seen how power corrupts, but I've also seen how power, wielded carefully by those who remain rooted in something deeper, can reduce suffering.

Do not expect to be uncorrupted. Expect to fail sometimes, to compromise when you shouldn't, to prioritize career over mission occasionally. When this happens, notice it. Confess it. Correct it. Return to the source (devotion, bhakti, love of beings). This is the path: not perfection, but persistent reorientation toward the good.

Counterargument 2: "Institutional change is too slow; animals are suffering now"

Response:

True. Federal policy moves slowly. Farm Bill is every 5 years. Regulations take years to promulgate. Court cases drag on. While we build veganic policy infrastructure, billions of animals suffer in factory farms.

This is unbearable. I do not minimize it.

But consider:

Immediate direct action (working at sanctuary, farming veganically, rescuing animals) saves:

Policy change (redirecting federal subsidies, changing school lunch programs, shifting research funding) saves:

Both are necessary. The movement needs people doing both.

If you personally are called to immediate direct action, do that. But if you have skills, temperament, and calling for policy work—do not refuse it because it is slow. Seeds planted now in federal law will fruit 10-20 years from now, when the next generation farms veganically at scale because policy infrastructure made it viable.

Intergenerational thinking: You are planting trees whose shade you will never sit under. This is the long obedience in the same direction. This is the faith that your small policy wins, compounded over decades, will create conditions for mass liberation.

Counterargument 3: "Government is corrupt; working within it legitimizes it"

Response:

Government is indeed corrupt—captured by moneyed interests, serving animal agriculture, often unjust. No argument.

But consider two options:

Option A: Refuse to engage government because it's corrupt. Focus entirely on alternative institutions (cooperatives, sanctuaries, mutual aid networks) outside state.

Option B: Engage government while building alternatives. Work both inside system (policy advocacy) and outside system (cooperatives, sanctuaries).

Option A's risk: Government keeps making decisions that affect everyone. If all vegans refuse to engage, those decisions are made entirely by animal agriculture interests. Result: more subsidies for factory farms, more regulatory barriers to veganic alternatives, more animals suffering.

Option B's risk: You are partially captured by government, spend energy on incremental reforms while revolution is needed.

I advocate Option B, not because government is redeemable in ultimate sense (the earthly city is always flawed), but because:

  1. Animals suffer under current laws. Changing those laws reduces suffering, even if government remains generally corrupt.
  2. Building alternatives requires favorable policy environment. You can start veganic cooperative outside system, but you need property rights, water rights, organic certification standards, tax treatment of cooperatives—all of which are government-created. Better to shape these than ignore them.
  3. Dual strategy is more resilient. If you only build alternatives outside system, one federal crackdown can destroy them. If you also have policy advocates preventing that crackdown, alternatives survive.

Augustinian lens: The earthly city is always unjust. We work within it not to perfect it (impossible) but to reduce the worst harms while building the City of God in our communities, cooperatives, sanctuaries. Both/and, not either/or.

Counterargument 4: "You'll become like the people Dante described—donating a little while profiting from suffering"

Response:

This is the most serious warning. Dante describes the slow corruption: year 1, you're committed; year 5, you're compromised; year 10, you're unrecognizable.

Safeguards:

  1. Your income never comes from extraction. You work for nonprofit, federal agency, foundation, or mission-driven co-op. You are not profiting from animal suffering. Your \$75k salary comes from:
    • Foundation grants raised for veganic policy (NYC philanthropy route)
    • Congressional salary funded by taxes (D.C. staffer route)
    • USDA salary (if you work as federal employee in conservation programs)
    • Nonprofit salary from donations by vegans supporting the mission
  2. No bonuses tied to bad outcomes. Private equity's problem is carry—you personally get rich when portfolio companies extract more. Policy work has no equivalent. You don't get paid more for passing bad legislation.
  3. Transparent to your community. Share your salary, your decisions, your struggles with vegan community. If you're drifting, they will tell you. (Private equity workers hide their work from vegan friends—that's a warning sign.)
  4. Regular reassessment. The Jubilee principle: Every 5-7 years, take sabbatical, ask "Should I continue?" Dante's corruption happens when people never step back.
  5. Planned exit. Assume 15-20 years maximum in capital city, then transition. This prevents the golden handcuff effect.

Additionally: The work itself is different. In private equity, your job is literally to maximize financial returns. In policy work, your job is to advocate for public good. The structures reinforce different behaviors.

But yes, you could still be corrupted. You could become comfortable, insular, more concerned with career advancement than mission. The safeguards reduce this risk but don't eliminate it.

The ultimate safeguard is devotional life: If you remain in daily contact with something deeper than career (God, the beings you serve, the soil, the dharma), that will keep you oriented. If you lose that contact, you will drift regardless of structural safeguards.

Part VIII: The Secondary Arguments — Bay Area, LA/San Diego, Boston

You asked for shorter arguments for other regions after the primary case for D.C./NYC. Let me offer these as complementary paths, each with unique strengths.

San Francisco Bay Area / Sacramento: Technology and Agriculture Integration

Why Bay Area/Sacramento?

Your specific calling here:

Option A: Agricultural Technology (MantraOS focus)
Work with or found a nonprofit developing open-source agricultural robotics. San Francisco has tech talent; Sacramento has farms to test on. Build the MantraOS vision (hemp/bamboo computing, wired farm networks, farmer-owned data) here.

Income: \$80,000-\$120,000 (tech nonprofit salaries).

Impact: California farms adopt veganic robotics, model spreads nationally.

Option B: State Policy Advocacy
California has state-level versions of USDA programs, state organic certification, state agricultural grants. Work at state capitol (Sacramento) shaping California policy. California's policies often become federal models (animal welfare, environmental standards).

Income: \$65,000-\$95,000 (state nonprofit or state government salary).

Impact: California becomes "veganic state"—substantial resources for stockfree farming, then model spreads to other states.

Option C: Redirect Tech Wealth
Work in impact investing (San Francisco) structuring deals that direct tech money to veganic farms. Many tech workers are vegan or vegan-curious, have capital, seek meaning beyond maximizing returns.

Income: \$90,000-\$140,000.

Impact: Tens of millions of patient capital flowing to veganic agriculture.

Devotional integration:

Why this instead of D.C./NYC?

If your passion is specifically technology development (building the MantraOS computing and robotics), Bay Area's engineering talent and proximity to agricultural testing grounds makes this better base than D.C./NYC.

If your passion is state-level policy laboratory (California as experiment that spreads), Sacramento is better than D.C. for this specific work.

Los Angeles / San Diego: Media and Border Crossings

Why LA/San Diego?

Your specific calling here:

Option A: Media Production (LA focus)
Make documentaries, TV series, YouTube content about veganic agriculture and animal sanctuaries. LA has production infrastructure and talent. Create compelling narratives that make veganism visible and attractive to mainstream.

Income: \$50,000-\$90,000 (media work is unstable, but impactful).

Impact: Millions of viewers encounter veganic agriculture, plant-based living as aspirational and beautiful.

Option B: Food Systems Transformation (LA focus)
LA has massive school districts, hospital systems, city procurement. Work on institutional purchasing policy—getting LA Unified School District, LA County hospitals, city contracts to source from veganic farms and serve plant-based meals.

Income: \$70,000-\$100,000 (nonprofit or consulting).

Impact: Hundreds of thousands of daily meals shifted to plant-based, creating market for veganic farms.

Option C: Border Agriculture (San Diego focus)
Work with Mexican veganic farmers (there's growing movement in Baja California). Create cross-border cooperatives, share knowledge, connect to San Diego markets.

Income: \$55,000-\$85,000.

Impact: Bioregional veganic economy spanning border, demonstrating international cooperation.

Devotional integration:

Why this instead of D.C./NYC?

If your passion is cultural narrative shaping (media production), LA is better base than NYC for video content.

If your passion is institutional food systems at city scale, LA's size makes it impactful testing ground.

If your passion is international movement building across borders, San Diego-Tijuana offers unique opportunity.

Boston: Academic and Healthcare Nexus

Why Boston?

Your specific calling here:

Option A: Academic Research Influence
Work with Tufts' Friedman School of Nutrition (already doing some plant-based research) or Harvard's School of Public Health. Shape research agendas to include veganic agriculture in public health studies. Academic research influences policy and cultural norms.

Income: \$60,000-\$95,000 (academic staff or research positions).

Impact: Prestigious journals publish veganic research, legitimizing the field.

Option B: Healthcare Systems Transformation
Major hospitals shifting to plant-based patient meals, sourcing from local veganic farms. Work on hospital procurement and nutrition policy.

Income: \$75,000-\$105,000 (healthcare administration or consulting).

Impact: Hundreds of thousands of patient meals shifted, creating market and modeling health connection.

Option C: New England Bioregional Agriculture
New England has land access challenges (high costs) but also strong local food culture. Work on connecting Boston eaters to New England veganic farms through CSAs, farmers markets, institutional purchasing.

Income: \$55,000-\$85,000 (cooperative or nonprofit work).

Impact: Bioregional veganic food system in Northeast.

Devotional integration:

Why this instead of D.C./NYC?

If your passion is academic legitimacy (research publications, university programs), Boston's academic concentration makes this better base than D.C./NYC.

If your passion is healthcare nutrition connection (demonstrating health benefits at scale), Boston's healthcare hub offers unique opportunity.

If your passion is New England bioregional economy, Boston is the urban anchor.

Part IX: Synthesis — The Hierarchy of Calling for Capital City Service

Let me synthesize the arguments:

Primary recommendation: Washington D.C. IF

  1. Your skills are policy-oriented: You can read legislation, understand regulatory process, write persuasive memos, build relationships with government staffers.
  2. Your temperament suits politics: You can handle bureaucracy, can navigate ideological differences, can compromise tactically while holding firm strategically.
  3. Your passion is national-scale systems change: You want to influence USDA, FDA, Farm Bill—the policies that affect all American agriculture.
  4. You can sustain devotional practice: You have spiritual discipline to avoid corruption through daily prayer/meditation, weekly sanctuary time, regular sabbaticals.

If all four are true, D.C. is where you serve the City of God most effectively.

Secondary recommendation: New York City IF

  1. Your skills are financial or media-oriented: You understand finance structures or you can write/produce compelling content.
  2. Your temperament suits cultural influence: You want to shape narratives, redirect capital flows, influence thought leaders.
  3. Your passion is resources and stories: You want to direct philanthropic money or tell stories that change minds.
  4. You can maintain ethical boundaries: You work only for mission-aligned organizations, live simply, reassess regularly.

If these are true, NYC is where you serve most effectively.

Tertiary recommendations: Bay Area/Sacramento, LA/San Diego, Boston IF

These are not lesser callings, just more specialized. They lack the national/federal leverage of D.C., but they offer depth in their specific domains.

The Dante alternative: Remain with veganic grassroots IF

  1. Your skills are hands-on: You excel at farming, sanctuary care, direct animal rescue, building physical infrastructure.
  2. Your temperament suits immediacy: You need to see tangible results, cannot tolerate bureaucratic slowness, must be with animals/soil regularly.
  3. Your passion is local depth: You want to know every organism in your soil, every animal in your sanctuary, every farmer in your co-op.
  4. You cannot sustain capital city life: The devotional practices I've described feel unsustainable; you know you'd be corrupted.

If these are true, then Dante's counsel is correct for you. Stay close to soil and animals. Build grassroots alternatives. Let others do policy work.

Both paths serve the City of God. Do not let ego drive you to capital city if you're not called there. Farming veganically with integrity is MORE important than policy work done badly.

Part X: Conclusion — The Augustinian Call to Servant Leadership in the Earthly City

My beloved reader, I have made the case for capital city service. Let me conclude with final counsel.

You Are Not Choosing Between Good and Evil

This is not a choice between:

Both paths can be holy. Both can be corrupted.

The question is: Where are you called? What are your gifts? Where does the combination of your skills, temperament, passion, and the world's needs converge?

If that convergence is in Washington D.C., shaping federal policy that affects millions of acres and billions of animals—then that is your holy calling. Do not refuse it because it is "worldly." All service in the earthly city is worldly. The question is whether it serves the City of God.

If that convergence is on a veganic farm, hands in soil, saved animals nearby—then that is your holy calling. Do not refuse it because it seems small. Nothing that serves beings with love is small.

The Devotional Heart of This Counsel

Everything I have written rests on one assumption: You love the beings.

You love the animals who suffer in factory farms. You love the soil organisms crushed by industrial agriculture. You love the future children who will inherit degraded land. You love the young people who need veganic education. You love the farmers transitioning from animal to stockfree systems.

This love (bhakti, agape, metta) is the source.

From this love flows the question: How do I serve them most effectively?

For some, the answer is: Be with them, on the farm, at the sanctuary, in direct contact.

For others, the answer is: Advocate for them, in the capital, at the policy table, where decisions are made.

Neither answer is more holy. Both are expressions of the same love.

The Distinctiveness of Capital City Service: Representing the Voiceless

But let me emphasize what makes capital city service unique and necessary:

Animals cannot testify before Congress. Soil organisms cannot lobby. Future generations cannot vote.

They need human advocates who can speak in the language of power, who can translate their needs into policy frameworks, who can wield influence on their behalf.

This is the work of representation—speaking for those who cannot speak.

It is biblical: "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." (Proverbs 31:8-9)

The animals are destitute. They have no rights in law. They need representatives in the halls where laws are written.

If you are capable of being that representative—if you have the skills, the calling, the devotion to sustain it—then this is your vocation. Not because it is prestigious or lucrative (it is neither), but because beings suffer in your absence.

Walking the Augustinian Path: In the World, Not Of It

The entire counsel I've offered rests on Augustine's insight: We live in two cities simultaneously.

You will live in D.C. (City of Man: power, politics, earthly institutions).

But you serve the City of God (eternal, spiritual, rooted in love of divine and all beings).

The discipline is: Do not confuse the two. Do not believe D.C. is holy. Do not believe policy work is ultimate. Do not believe your career is your identity.

Hold it all lightly. Do the work as hard as possible, then release attachment to outcomes. Trust that the City of God is being built through means you cannot see—your work is one thread in the tapestry, not the whole cloth.

When policy wins happen, give thanks and redirect credit. When policy losses happen, do not despair. The outcome of legislative battles does not determine the fate of the Kingdom.

You are there to reduce suffering, to create conditions for flourishing, to speak for the voiceless. You are not there to save the world—only Christ does that, or the Dharma, or the Tao, or however you understand ultimate reality.

The Integration of All Wisdom: A Multicultural Devotional Practice

I have counseled you as Christian king, drawing on Augustine. But the wisdom I've shared is not Christian alone:

These are different languages for the same truth: We serve the ultimate by serving the immediate. We love the transcendent by loving the immanent. We honor the Creator by caring for creation.

When you work on veganic policy in D.C., you engage in:

This is not syncretism (blending religions into mush), but recognition that wisdom traditions, when authentic, converge on the same heart: compassion in action.

The MantraOS Vision: Technology as Sacred Service

You mentioned MantraOS—the hemp and bamboo computing, the wired (not wireless) farm networks, the open-source robotics. This vision (documented in the 9993 essay) is beautiful precisely because it integrates technology with devotion.

MantraOS is not "technology for technology's sake." It is:

This is what appropriate technology looks like when designed by those who love the land.

Your role in D.C./NYC for MantraOS:

Without this policy advocacy, MantraOS remains beautiful prototype on one farm. With it, MantraOS scales to thousands of farms, creating resilient bioregional economies with appropriate technology.

This is devotional work. You are not just "getting funding." You are stewarding resources to create technology that serves life. You are a priest of the possible, translating veganic wisdom into material form through policy structures.

The Unschooling Integration: Education as Liberation

Your vision of teens and young adults learning on veganic properties—not in classrooms but in apprenticeships, developing skills in permaculture, robotics, cooperative economics—this too requires policy support.

Current barriers:

Your role in D.C. for unschooling:

This is not "bureaucratic box-checking." This is making education accessible to working-class youth who cannot afford four-year universities but desperately need paths to meaningful work.

Right now, wealthy youth can afford to do unpaid farm apprenticeships (parents support them). Working-class youth cannot. Federal financial aid changes this.

Devotional lens: Education is liberation. When young people learn to grow food veganically, to build appropriate technology, to organize cooperatives—they become free from dependence on exploitative systems. Your policy work creates paths to this freedom.

A Final Word: The King's Blessing

I write to you as Charlemagne, king by grace of God, servant of servants, having spent a lifetime learning what governance can and cannot do.

What governance cannot do:

What governance can do:

This is not everything. But it is something. And when billions of beings suffer under unjust laws, "something" is a great deal.

If you are called to this work, I bless you:

May you walk in devotion, serving the beings with your whole heart.

May you work in the capital, but never be captured by it.

May you wield power, but never for your own glory.

May you translate veganic wisdom into policy frameworks that protect soil, liberate animals, and serve future generations.

May you remember daily: You are resident alien in the earthly city, citizen of the City of God.

May you plant trees whose shade you will never sit under.

May you labor long and see only small results, and yet persevere.

May you be salt that preserves and light that illuminates.

May your life be a living prayer, every policy memo an offering, every hearing testimony an act of worship.

And when your time in the capital is done, may you return to the soil with clean hands, knowing you served faithfully in the place where service was needed.

Go in peace, servant of the common good. The beings you serve will know you by your love.

Epilogue: The Complementary Cases — Bay Area, LA, Boston

Note: These are shorter arguments as requested, complementing the primary case for D.C./NYC.

San Francisco Bay Area / Sacramento: Where Innovation Meets Agriculture

The Bay Area offers unique convergence: Silicon Valley's engineering culture and wealth, Sacramento's agricultural administration, Central Valley's farming reality, California's policy leadership.

The opportunity: Build MantraOS technology here, test on nearby farms, influence California state policy, then export model nationally. California often leads federal policy by 5-10 years.

Your service: Either (a) develop open-source agricultural robotics with Bay Area engineers, or (b) shape California veganic policy in Sacramento, or (c) structure impact investments redirecting tech wealth to farms.

The devotional practice: Live in Sacramento (affordable, close to farms), work across Bay Area-Central Valley corridor. Volunteer at sanctuary weekends, maintain hands-on connection to agriculture.

When to choose this over D.C./NYC: If your calling is specifically technological development or state-level policy experimentation, rather than federal policy.

Los Angeles / San Diego: Culture and Cuisine at Scale

LA is America's second-largest city, trendsetter for food culture, media production capital. San Diego connects to Mexican veganic movement across border.

The opportunity: Either (a) make compelling media about veganic agriculture (documentary, TV, YouTube) that shapes culture, or (b) transform LA's institutional food systems (schools, hospitals, city contracts), or (c) build cross-border bioregional agriculture with Baja California.

Your service: Make veganism visible, aspirational, and practical at massive scale. LA's size means policy wins affect millions.

The devotional practice: Volunteer at sanctuaries (Farm Sanctuary in Acton, Gentle Barn), maintain connection to animals while working in media/policy.

When to choose this over D.C./NYC: If your calling is specifically cultural narrative (media production) or you're called to border regions' international movement building.

Boston: Academic Research and Healthcare Nutrition

Boston is America's academic and healthcare hub. Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Mass General, Brigham—these institutions shape research agendas that influence national policy.

The opportunity: Either (a) influence academic research agendas to include veganic agriculture (working with Tufts nutrition school or Harvard public health), or (b) transform hospital food systems, modeling health connection, or (c) build New England bioregional veganic economy.

Your service: Create academic legitimacy for veganic methods through research publications, demonstrate health benefits through hospital systems, or anchor Northeast regional food economy.

The devotional practice: Volunteer at sanctuaries (Maple Farm Sanctuary in Mendon), engage with Quaker/Unitarian communities aligned with veganic ethics.

When to choose this over D.C./NYC: If your calling is specifically academic research legitimacy or healthcare nutrition connection.

Final Synthesis: A Prayer for Those Called to the Capital

Gracious God, source of all compassion,

You have placed before this servant a choice: to serve the beings from the grassroots or from the capital, to work the soil or to work the legislative chambers, to rescue animals directly or to shape laws that affect billions.

Give them wisdom to discern their calling.

If they are called to the capital—to Washington D.C., to New York City, to Sacramento, to any seat of earthly power—grant them:

If they are called to the grassroots—to the veganic farm, the animal sanctuary, the cooperative—grant them:

And above all, grant them peace. Peace to know their calling, peace to follow it faithfully, peace to serve without burning out, peace to labor long and see only small results and yet trust that Your purposes are unfolding.

May their life be a bridge between the two cities—living in the earthly, serving the eternal. May they wield power without being corrupted by it. May they translate veganic wisdom into policy, bhakti into legislation, compassion into law.

May all beings benefit from their service. May animals be liberated, may soil be healed, may future generations inherit flourishing land.

And may they, at the end of their days, sit with the pigs in peace, knowing they served faithfully in the place where service was needed.

Amen. Blessed be. So it is. 🙏

Released to Public Domain with Gratitude and Devotion.
For those called to serve the common good from within the halls of power.
For those who translate veganic wisdom into federal policy.
For those who speak for the voiceless in the earthly city while serving the City of God.

🌱⚖️🏛️🐖🌍

Timestamp: 12025-10-07--rhizome-valley
Iteration: 9972 of 10000
Author Voice: Charlemagne the Great (768–814 CE), channeling Augustine of Hippo
Related Essays:

"Two cities have been formed by two loves. Serve the City of God while laboring in the City of Man. This is the Augustinian path. This is the servant leader's calling. Walk it with devotion, humility, and love."

— Charlemagne, King of the Franks, Servant of Servants

🏛️✨🌱

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