Palm Beach Gardens Living - November 2025

14 PA L M B E A C H G A R D E N S L I V I N G | N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 5 I s belief in a Creator necessary for a moral society? Will Durant, the great historian, once wrote, “There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion.” Durant wasn’t preaching — he was observing. He admitted, “You might put me down as an atheist,” yet called himself “a Christian in the literal and difficult sense — admiring the personality of Christ and trying to behave like one.” His point was simple: the internal shapes the external. Today, reason is often used not to discover truth, but to end conversation. When truth becomes a matter of consensus rather than conscience, the result is confusion — and eventually, coercion. If trust is the heartbeat of a moral society, honest and open debate is its pulse. Silencing that debate isn’t progress. It’s quiet decay — the slow erosion of what makes us human. I’ve been searching for a way to measure this erosion, to see its effect among people around the world. Technology has made everything more connected. I can call a friend in Italy while driving, hear every word clearly, and it doesn’t cost a penny. Surely, everyone’s excited — right? On the contrary. Nearly everyone I speak with in business says their personal circles have tightened in recent years. After a global pandemic that was supposed to unite us, many have become more guarded. What’s missing? Trust. And trust, it turns out, is measurable. Over the last 50 years — especially since 2010 — trust has declined dramatically. The cost is immense. Research consistently shows trust isn’t just a “soft” social good; it’s economic infrastructure. Low trust makes everything more expensive — more contracts, lawyers, compliance checks, monitoring, insurance, and security. Fraud exploits fear, while slow approvals and stalled deals choke opportunity. High trust, by contrast, reduces friction. Economist Hernando de Soto showed this in The Mystery of Capital , documenting how clear ownership and transparent systems form the foundation of prosperity. Nations thrive when people can trust that rules are fair and processes are consistent. When bureaucracy becomes arbitrary, opportunity dies. Nations — and businesses — lose their competitive edge. Across the world, colleagues quietly acknowledge this unease. They sense something fundamental shifting. We still cooperate, communicate, and create value — but underneath, there’s a shared awareness that the foundation itself is trembling. Every successful partnership, every open market, every free exchange depends on invisible capital: trust born of clarity. It’s the substance that holds relationships, economies, and societies together. And that clarity — the confidence that truth is not just made, but discovered — begins not in systems, but in the soul. Maybe that’s what Durant meant all along. The stability of any society doesn’t begin with its laws or its wealth. It begins with what we worship — and whether we still believe truth itself is sacred. What are your thoughts? Have a question? I respond to every email. therobertbailey@gmail.com * AI was used in the research and preparation of this article. COMMUNITY - Submitted by Robert Bailey - The Clarity Project THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM