The Empowering Humility Podcast

Dolores: Welcome to Empowering Humility,
where we're on a mission to promote human

flourishing by restoring humility as
a common denominator in society today.

Let's dive in.

Giancarlo Newsome: Welcome to
the Empowering Humility Podcast.

I'm John Carla Newsom, and I'll
be your host for this podcast.

I'm thrilled to have my friend Andrew
Bibb on, and I almost think Andrew and

like with other guests, like some of
the pre-conversation we, we should just,

as soon as we sign on, just hit record
and maybe have kinda like outtakes.

It was awesome.

So glad you're here and we're gonna have
some, we're gonna have some fun today.

We're gonna step back in time and get
some founding father advice that who

knows, maybe President Trump and team
for President Trump and his team,

but also for us, and I would argue
our founding fathers are not happy.

Like we were just talking Andrew and
I, how we, we've kinda lost our way, I

think, from some of the virtues that were
so important to our founding fathers.

And pile on for the audience here,
the Secretary of War this week just

abolished the army spiritual fitness
guy, which I thought was interesting.

We're both people of
faith empowering humility.

We value people who have different
faiths, so please know that that

we're all on a quest for truth.

And but I think he abolished his
spiritual fitness guide because in,

he mentioned that it only references
God once and like feelings 11 times.

So there's this seriousness
of spirituality.

And virtue that I think we're
all that the world's yearning

for when you look at the depth of
loneliness and mental health issues.

There's something very empty
in the way culture has evolved.

So I'm looking forward for you guys
to hear from Andrew, who is been

studying our founding fathers, and
he makes a simple truths and the

power and benefit of virtue so clear.

I know you guys are gonna be
really best with blessed with him.

So before we get started, let
me introduce the purpose of the

Empowering Humility Podcast.

We explore how technology, especially
AI and Web3 Tech, and I'll let you guys

if you don't know what Web3 is, search
about it and you'll understand why it is.

There's an implicit.

Virtuous goal with Web3 versus web
two, and I'll just leave you that

teaser for you to study on your own.

There's plenty of sources that kind
of describe what Web3 is trying to

do and why we collectively need to
strengthen and achieve Web3 goals.

And we as empowering humility, we
want to encourage the strengthening

of virtue over Vice in public
policy and society and with tech.

So basically we feel the last 20
years, the Web Two Tech has been

exploiting our human weaknesses and
vices for profit and at scale we've

never seen before in human history.

And I think we all have stories of
how it has corrupted our health.

One of the, one of our beliefs is
that we, this elimination of virtue

from freedom disconnects us from
responsibility with freedom, which under

undermines its beauty and its purpose.

I guess Andrew Big, he can speak
like no one else I know on this.

And I think we're gonna get after
what we feel is maybe the root of this

pandemic of loneliness and depression and
even vitriol we see in modern society.

The e Humility app, so
empowering humility.

Humility stands for empowering humility.

We have an app, which we are building,
and we want it to be the first

digital gym for strengthening virtue.

And we hope you'll become a
member of what we're calling a

CrossFit gym because it truly is.

When you embrace humility,
we're not looking at just like

a mental form of humility.

Humility also applies to the, our
physical health, our emotional

health, our relational health.

So imagine going to a gym where you
can strengthen true holistic fitness.

So our mission team is to restore
humility and its incredible benefits

to society At empowering humility.

We believe humility is the root
virtue for human flourishing

in everything good in life.

So today we are going to explore
the virtue based underpinning of

America's founding with Andrew r Bibb.

He's the founder of Project Pist.

Did I say it correctly, Andrew?

Andrew Bibb: It varies, but
Pietas is the one I've landed on.

Giancarlo Newsome: Okay.

Pietas, that sounds better.

Andrew Bibb: Yeah.

Giancarlo Newsome: That
sounds more Grandier.

Thanks.

Sorry.

Pietas team.

Okay.

The I've, if you've watched a podcast
before, you know that all our guests

they have one common denominator.

They have demonstrated
being selfless servants.

I know they all repel when I say that
because they know that the moment we

say that maybe we could be encroaching
into pride, but that repelling nature

is healthy and that I hope you'll see,
and I know you'll see that with our

guests and especially with Andrew today.

That doesn't mean that they're
perfect or that we're perfect,

neither does whatever we say.

Today.

We are open for disagreement.

Please know that too.

We feel it's healthy to disagree, even if
it's unpleasant, and and that we believe

one side of empowering humility fitness
is learning to listen long enough to

understand and not necessarily to agree.

So with that background, I'm thrilled
to introduce to you and welcome Andrew

Bibb to the Empowering Humility Podcast.

Welcome, Andrew.

Andrew Bibb: Thank

Giancarlo Newsome: How
are you doing today?

Andrew Bibb: me, Giancarlo.

I'm super thrilled to be here.

I'm always excited and energized
to talk to you and at whether

we're recording or not.

It's always a fantastic time.

I,

Giancarlo Newsome: Awesome.

Cool.

I, so I remember you.

Do you remember how we met?

Andrew Bibb: I do I published an article
I forget which one it was, but it was

like back 20, 20, 21, early, early 2020s.

And you saw it and you
reached out on LinkedIn.

You were like, Hey, I'm, because I
was civil affairs at the time of your

civil affairs in the Army, and you
are like, Hey, enjoyed your article.

We should connect.

And that was back when you were
working on, I pray the app.

And my projects were like in
their first evolution, which now

we're like at the fourth or fifth.

So it's been it's been fun kind
of being with you as each of our

respective projects have evolved and
now are coming to this convergence

where we end up looking at the, at
producing the same sorts of outcomes.

Giancarlo Newsome: I love it.

It's really cool.

I echo that, that cool
journey and excited, likewise.

And even recently, you sent
me this abstract for this book

you're writing, and the let's see.

The, your upcoming book is
called George Washington.

John Witherspoon, and The
Duty To Defend Liberty.

Liberty.

And that the, and these quotes
are just, they're just, they

shook me like in a good way.

So I'm gonna share them real quick.

The, this is one is from George
Washington, the consideration that

human happiness and moral duty.

Are inseparably connected will
always continue to prompt me to

promote the progress of the former by
inculcating the practice of the ladder.

So to promote the progress of
the former, that is that human

happiness is inculcated, is made
possible by the practice of the

ladder, which is moral duty, like.

Wow.

And and I think I, I shared with
you earlier, and I'll share with the

team my this concept of duty and I,
if I remember correctly pietas is

the convergence, correct me if I'm
wrong, of duty and contentment, right?

Andrew Bibb: Absolutely.

Yep.

Giancarlo Newsome: And what it makes me
reflect back on is literally my anchor

scripture for 2025 was when the disciples
were asking, Jesus, aren't you hungry?

And his response was really interesting
in that scripture, his response is,

my, my bread, my food is doing the
will of the father was his duty.

And now when I do like the Lord's Prayer,
every time I pray the portion that

says, give us this day our daily bread.

I'm like, sure.

I think maybe sure.

He does feed us like the birds
of the field and the flowers.

I get that.

But I think there's a deeper
that other story makes me go.

Okay.

I think that daily bread is much more
profound than just physical sustenance.

That part of our sustenance
is being part of.

What he's called us to do.

I don't know.

Any thoughts on that, Andrew?

Andrew Bibb: so

the idea of virtue the thing that unlocked
the concept for me and and really made.

George Washington's quote makes sense,
made that scripture that you just told me

about makes sense is this idea of a telos.

It's a, that's a Greek
idea or a Greek term.

And it talks about the, it's the
end for which something is purposed,

the end for which is created.

So if you got a broom, the
purpose of that, the telos of that

broom is to sweep a good broom.

A broom that has virtue is one
that's good at sweeping, a fish,

its purpose is to thrive in water.

The fish that has virtue is that which
is best at thriving in the water.

Humans are at bottom moral beings.

So virtue is the cultivation of.

Are in of that morality that we are
created to, to live in an alignment with.

And it's an objective morality and just
as a fish is happiest in water, we are

happiest when we are growing in alignment
with the objective moral law that the

creator is woven through the universe.

I, and I think we've all experienced
this at one point or another.

When you do something not just nice,
but really good for someone you, the

sense that you get that I, I have
done something that is according to

my highest purpose it's it's a very
deep, meaningful sort of happiness.

It's not this kind of fleeting pleasure.

Sort of thing.

And I think I've been experiencing
that more now than I have at any

other time in my life with my
now two and a half year old son.

When just, when I see him

something simple, like when I, when
he tells his mom thank you of his own

accord, like without my prompting,
there's a deep sense of fulfillment

there because that's something
that I've been working with him on.

It's something that it's
good to do to show gratitude.

And when he takes that and owns it
for himself without my prompting

that's, that is the joy of living
according to our moral purpose.

It's just it's that fulfillment
that comes with what's with aligning

with what's best in our nature.

So that's where I see
George Washington's quote.

I, it makes complete sense.

Happiness is only possible with virtue
and where the scripture that you, you

mentioned makes sense because the creator
is the one who a, has woven woven the

moral law throughout the fabric of reality
and given us as human beings a conscience

with which to perceive that moral reality.

And really his will is for us to
live in accordance and to grow into

what's best about our moral nature.

That is utterly sustaining.

Giancarlo Newsome: Yeah, it's yeah, I,
you really just gave refresh the profound

importance of like even parenting, right?

Where you like our creator has conveyed
a moral a, a moral, kind of wind for us

to hear and listen that, that he wants us
to convey to, to bring good to his design

of the world that we do that through our
children and that you even in perfect

parents, have a special love that I think
is the creator's love for their children.

But yeah and another quote too, I'll
let you drill in on that was great.

That the other thing too, you also
brought up, that wrote down earlier,

I loved how you described this moral
law as a map, not a can and a can't.

So I'll come back to the and maybe you
can weave it into this second quote from

Benjamin Franklin, which is just powerful.

Only a virtuous people
are capable of freedom.

So a map.

Doesn't sound like chains.

A map allows for freedom,
cans and cants when you reduce

moral law to cans and cants.

That doesn't, that sounds not a map.

That doesn't sound very free.

So maybe expand on your thought
for how moral law is a map.

I, I love that concept.

Andrew Bibb: It, the whenever I
think about different kinds of goods.

I think about my siblings.

So I'm the oldest of five and
we are all very different.

But we're, we all have our imperfections,
but we are all very keen on cultivating

our conscience, cultivating virtue,
and trying to become the best

version of ourselves that we can.

So some, there's it's a big
map, that map of morality.

My, I have one brother
who's very artistic.

He's a recording artist.

He his ability to weave just
different tones and sounds together

is different than everything,
anything I've ever heard anywhere.

I've got another brother who is a,
he's an officer in the 82nd Airborne

scores, maxes out the fitness
tests, without breaking a sweat.

He's, ranger, jump master all the
stuff completely different than my

brother than my other brother has
gone a completely different route on

the map, but he's still on the map.

So they both still clinging to
the values of do unto others as

you would have them do unto you.

That is common.

That is a feature of the map that
does not change, but their individual

talents and interests have led them
in completely different directions.

So that's how I view morality is
it is a map for us to become the

best version of ourselves that
the creator has created us to be.

So there's two aspects to that.

There's the map and then
there's the compass.

So the map is the moral law itself.

The compass is our conscience.

Now we can either cultivate that
conscience or we can numb it to

where it has no voice in our life.

And that's really decisive on whether or
not we follow that map and and get to that

TLOs that the creator has created for us.

Get to that fulfillment of our potential

Giancarlo Newsome: So tlo,
how do you spell that?

Andrew Bibb: T-E-L-O-S.

Giancarlo Newsome: TE.

Okay.

I put an H

Andrew Bibb: yeah, so if you
hear your terms like teleology

and that's the root word of it.

And it's, it goes back to, the term
itself goes back before him, but

Aristotle really brought it to the fore.

There's four kinds of causes.

And the TLOs is the end
for which something exists.

The purpose really latched onto that.

It's, it completely reframes.

That's what makes morality
not just a bunch of can't dos.

That's it.

Seeing its role in us achieving
our telos, our full potential is

what makes it really attractive.

Giancarlo Newsome: We, I, we shared
something earlier in common that,

and I think this is where what we are
saying I hope will be healing and and

liberating for our audience is that
secular culture and there's the massive

industry that wants to keep us focused
on our pathologies or on our problems.

Right?

And the, I think when there's so
much money to be made on, like these

weaknesses, these failures, these
pathologies that you lose sight.

Or even insecurities of that telos
of that calling, which is, and I

remember a friend of mine was going
through a really horrible very

difficult divorce and estrangement
that a dear friend, he's stay busy.

But I think his, the quiet message
there implicitly, kinda what you're

saying is focus on your telos.

What's your duty?

And go, that's your north star.

And he said, sure, we have, we
need to deal with challenge,

we need to deal with problems.

But that's not our reason.

A ette, a reason to be.

And I, and if you felt open to
share with the audience, like how

this concept of duty also helped
you, I think that might be cool.

Andrew Bibb: Yeah and we were
talking a little bit before.

Giancarlo Newsome: I.

Andrew Bibb: I am very openly, I've
talked about it publicly before,

but I'm what I call a non-practicing
alcoholic a recovering alcoholic.

It's been it's coming
up on seven years now.

And it, like so many who finally decided
to get sober, it was a, it was an event.

A significantly bad binge that finally
made me realize that I've got a problem.

I need to get some help.

Which incidentally you met you
mentioned the overhaul of the

chaplaincy at the beginning.

It, this was one of the many
times the chaplain was the

person I went to for help.

So I was I was in a very bad place.

I went I could barely think straight,
but I knew I could think straight

enough to find the chaplain's
office and that's where this

whole journey of sobriety happens.

So chaplains always will always have
a very special place in my heart.

But as I progressed through this
sobriety journey I was in several

support groups and which are, were
great for helping get me started.

One of the problems I ran into, and I,
they're not all like this just happened

to be the ones that were available to me.

It's, it got to the point where we
were focused so much on the problem of

drinking and just constantly recounting,
how bad it was and, we could have died

or, we lost our families and jobs.

That it just, I keep going
through that stories that I felt

like I was losing sight of the
purpose for which I was sober.

So I, we, I didn't embrace sobriety just
to stop drinking, like I enjoyed drinking.

That was fun, it, the
reason I quit was that.

Drinking was getting in the way of
something more fulfilling and more

meaningful to me as a human being.

That purpose to be the best husband
and father I could be the best

soldier and officer that I can be.

Not to be known as it, but to
know deep down in my conscience

that I was fulfilling the
purpose that I was created for.

Drinking was getting in the way of that.

So one of the reasons that's one of
the big reasons that I decided to

start Project Pietas was to have.

NA air quotes support group.

Not just for addicts, but for anyone
who wanted to do to cultivate duty

and contentment in community, to be
able to do so with the focus around

our purpose, our TLOs, rather than
the focus being on the problem.

Because to me, that's just
so much more fulfilling.

Our lives are short.

We need to spend it on the things
that are truly fulfilling and

meaningful and that's the idea.

Giancarlo Newsome: I love that.

That is the I think, for our audience,
the we should, you were blessed in

that you had that type of advisors
that helped you see that outlet.

They didn't try to get you to focus and
spend all your time on, on the problem.

The and I think in some respects,
the silver lining of like alcoholism,

the, it's a tangible it's tangible
the source of the addiction.

Andrew Bibb: Yes.

Giancarlo Newsome: think in other
addictions if you're in a dysfunctional,

it's usually codependent relationship.

It's harder, it's not,
how do you work on that?

But even then, this is where I'd
say, we, the, and it is nice, there's

this kind of awakening of therapy
culture to know that as you visit

a priest, a pastor which I strongly
recommend by the way, over secular

therapist just because they implicitly
should answer to a higher power.

Andrew Bibb: There's accountability there.

Giancarlo Newsome: Yeah.

That, that if you're dealing with
a secular therapist their highest

authority is between their ears.

And as in many cases, a lot of people
go into therapy to try to, and again

I'm all about learning from our mistakes
and our own trauma, but sometimes

we can it, we can be healed from
our own trauma and pay it forward.

Andrew Bibb: But yes, very much yeah.

Giancarlo Newsome: So Go ahead, sorry.

Andrew Bibb: No and one of the
things I'm very grateful for was

starting on this sobriety journey
before I started having kids.

It's never too late to start that journey,
but I consider myself very blessed that

I'm in a position to pass on the lessons
from that without having to expose

my kids to to, to the trauma of it.

Giancarlo Newsome: Exactly.

Congrats.

That's awesome.

And I think I appreciate you being
open and sharing and it's always,

it'll be fun and having to see how
maybe, a podcast like this could be

that encouragement that saves a man
or a woman or a family or a marriage.

And I think we're all in this
interesting thing called Life Together.

And so maybe drilling in here a little
bit, I'm really grateful that you're

joining myself and another Liberty
University student to co-author a paper

for the upcoming Liberty University
Spring Public Policy Conference.

And we're, the title of our paper is
Restoring Humility to Liberty, the

Missing Foundation in Mental Health
Church, complicity in the AI Tech Cabal.

We've not really done a deep dive on
restoring humility to lead liberty.

And while the title of this podcast is
George Washington's advice to President

Trump and his team, I believe that
through your great study, this will

also be great advice for all of us.

We we've covered with, in our podcast
with Rabbi Slowmo Slackin how kind

of the mental health mal incentive.

We also discussed the decline
of the church and humility

in the hollowing of all.

We also have another podcast where we
talked about countering AI with ai, the

power of humility in tech and stress.

But what about the foundations
of just humility and just general

and liberty in our founding?

How do you think George Washington,
John Witherspoon, and other

founding fathers would advise us?

What if they just showed up on
the podcast, George Washington,

John Witherspoon what do you feel
would be their their top of mind

guidance to us President Trump,
his team to say, guys, you okay?

You're prioritizing merit and competency.

That's good, right?

Real truth, but let's
double down on virtue.

What are you, what would give us
some references and some sources

of what comes to mind is what
you think they would tell us.

Andrew Bibb: Yeah it's interesting going
through as I was writing the book, it

started out with looking at the, kind of
the intersection of strategy and policy.

As Witherspoon and Washington,
we navigating the American

War for Independence.

It was, but going directly to the primary
sources, witherspoon's lectures sermons,

Washington's letters, and general orders.

They changed my focus as I was writing
the book from this big strategy policy,

a little bit impersonal slant to a
virtue oriented narrative because that's

what they were always talking about.

Washington and Witherspoon saw virtue and
the moral law at the bottom of all of it.

And a quote that's particularly succinct
and illustrative is by Witherspoon, this

is in his lectures on moral philosophy.

He says, he's talking about political law.

And properly speaking, he says,
political law is the authority of

any society stamped on moral duty.

So properly political law is, it
starts with an understanding of the

moral, our moral nature, and the moral
nature of the world that we live in.

And letting that guide political law
rather than trying to force a particular

morality through political law.

So

And what's the what does
humility have to do with this?

Humility is everything.

Because if I'm gonna let moral law it
generate political law, then I have

to get myself on the out of the way
and be ready to understand what the

moral law is, what our moral nature is.

The gateway for that kind of
understanding is humility, because if

you think about a tyrannical society
it comes from a place of pride.

It comes from a place of,
I know best my ways are are

right because they're my ways.

You see this in all the great tyrants
throughout history, whether it was CAEs.

Or Stalin or Hitler or Mao any area you
look at a tyrant says my way is the right

way because I have the power to do it.

The complete opposite of that is
the humility that our founders had

to make their ideas subservient to
the objective moral law that's woven

throughout the fabric of reality.

So humility is the
starting place for that.

It gets me out of the way and gets
me ready to understand what that

objective moral law looks like.

Witherspoon he that comes through
that understanding, comes through the

cultivation of conscience, which is the,
allows us to perceive that moral reality.

And he says that comes through three ways.

We cultivate our conscience
through three avenues.

Reason.

Revelation and experience.

So that's his three legged stool on, on,
on building and understanding necessary

necessary for society to be virtuous.

Those three ways are
how we cultivate virtue.

To your point about Web3 technology, I
think that if we can weave those three

stools into how, into the architecture
of how we develop that technology,

that'll help funnel us toward using
it for the cultivation of virtue.

Giancarlo Newsome: Wow.

That's awesome.

You, this reminds me of you, you share
with me that George Washington, this may

sound prideful for us to throw this, to
bring this up, but like you mentioned that

he was exploring staying up a university.

F that was priority foundation was a
university for virtue and like basically

creating a, an academic framework,
like we wanna build a tech framework.

He tell us a little more about that.

Like that.

I never heard that.

That sounds really cool.

Was Witherspoon involved in that?

Andrew Bibb: So Witherspoon was
probably the model for that.

He was president of Princeton
throughout the Revolutionary War, and

that's how he and Washington really
started to connect and interact.

And, washington started to develop this
great respect for Witherspoon as a thinker

and an educator above anything else.

And he doesn't explicitly say it, but
taking what he says about Witherspoon

and taking what he says about in
National University you can see in

his idea of a national university what
Witherspoon was doing at Princeton.

So I think there's somewhere in
there Witherspoon was the model

for what Washington wanted to
do, which is real, really cool.

Anyone who wants to see how
Washington wove all these ideas

together should read his farewell
address and you just Google it.

George Washington fa farewell address,
he talks about the national university.

He talks about the fact that a free
society can't thrive or even survive

without morality and religious principle.

Packages all that up really
nicely in his farewell address.

But he wanted to start a national
university that cultivated

the sciences and the arts with
virtue as its cornerstone.

His idea was to bring up a cohort
of statesmen who were capable of

leading a free society and educating
that society to govern itself.

The beauty of the environment
that the founders were working in

was and I wanna make sure to be
clear, there was crime back then.

There was, immorality, there
were, there was obviously slavery.

But given all that or despite all
that they didn't, the founding

generation didn't have to.

Have to produce a lot of law
because the moral standards that

the people themselves were holding
themselves to were beyond what any

political law would require of them.

That's why they, that's why it was so
free, so unrestrained because people

were already governing themselves.

So that's what George Washington
wanted to continue to cultivate

with his national university.

National University is this where
people are out running the government

in the good that they do, so the
government doesn't even try to keep up.

Giancarlo Newsome: It
doesn't have to keep up.

So like, how cool would it be?

Like if we, we create a national
movement of strengthening humility,

I say a global movement, right?

We can reduce laws, reduce regulations.

We stop trying and everyone knows it.

It's it's one of these truths that
people like no, in the vertical, but

we don't know what to do about it.

Is that you can't legislate
morality, which is true.

And how you and I love this
concept of you think about it

governance of a free people.

That if we don't strengthen our
moral foundation, we end up in

effect becoming regulated by maybe,
it's we become over regulated.

And I think here's an
interesting question for you.

I've heard this concept that
people say, some people say some

people like to be ruled, right?

It, could it be true that if
I can just bend the knee to

a tyrant, to a king, right?

It's easier than me having
to be maybe virtuous.

Is that is am I?

Is that crazy?

Talk.

Andrew Bibb: No, I think
you're absolutely right.

I think if we're looking for a life of
comfort and security and just surviving

in, in kind of the in a way that's, that
we're not disrupted, that's just Yeah.

Comfortable.

I actually think a beneficent
tyranny is the way to go.

Because our needs are met.

There's, don't need a whole
lot except to be distracted.

Entertained, which, that's the a, a
tyrant would be more than capable of that.

If we want to live a life of meaning,
of deep human moral fulfillment

that is not the way to go.

Because doing our duty, living
out virtue, even learning to be

content requires hardship and free.

What freedom does is it doesn't
take away that hardship, is it?

It provides the environment for
that hardship to be productive.

So I think we, as a society I hate
talking about we as a society 'cause

there's not a lot I can do about that,
but me as a person, me and my family me

and my community, we have to decide are
we more interested in being comfortable

or are we more interested in living?

Meaningful human lives where we
achieve our full potential, where we

are pursuing our Telos despite the
hardship, 'cause freedom isn't easy.

Cultivating pietas isn't
easy, but it is worth it.

That's the difference.

Giancarlo Newsome: Wow, that small,
it's a small but enormous nuance.

You're giving flashbacks of we talked
about what and we've spoken about it,

like the complicity of the church.

You think about the we talked about
how we can be very comfortable just

stopping at as a Christian, the salvation
in Christ and miss the telos, right?

We make it all about us.

But I think that also sets us up to,
to face potentially that scripture

where Jesus says, you did all these
things in my name and I never knew you.

Where, you could check all the boxes
accept the altar call, accept salvation.

And if you never knew that the purpose
was to fulfill your tea loss, your

calling, then I think that's, that
could be a dangerous place to be.

And I think, for those who are
Christians, I think the duty I feel

and this is a call to the Christians
in, in, in our audiences I'm very

grateful for the hospitals that were
built a hundred years ago by the church.

The outreach, the tech they developed
in terms of even like worship.

And I'm like when.

But now I don't, if I had a dollar for
every entrepreneur that wanted to do,

like you were saying, do meaningful work
in their community that were frankly

pushed away from their church I'd be rich.

And I really

it's a weird, it's a weird
obsession or love we've found.

And maybe just the teachings
and the comfort of the

gospel and not the duty and.

Andrew Bibb: Yeah.

I think you're right.

And I think so I one of the things I've
been struggling with this idea of duty in

community is a healthy community is when
that will help you as the individual, as

part of the community find your purpose.

What are you good at, what are
your interests how can we help you

develop those and cultivate those
for the good of the community?

'Cause then you get that individual
fulfillment, but you also get

something that benefits the community.

Everyone wins.

Why wouldn't you wanna do that?

One of the, I think.

The problems I've seen in the church
is they are very interested in

talents such as, can you play guitar?

Can you sing?

Not so much are you good with numbers?

Are you mechanically inclined?

Are the less artistic stuff.

And I think there's a huge opportunity
for us to broaden the talents and

the interests that we care about
as a church to really find where,

what is that untapped talent that's
just sitting within the body?

Where are the needs that those
talents can are designed to meet?

And how do we make that connection?

I think we need to broaden it
out beyond can you play keyboard?

Giancarlo Newsome: I, yeah, I,
you brought up the scripture

earlier is Ephesians two 12, right?

Like I kinda, you, you

Andrew Bibb: yeah.

Two 10.

Giancarlo Newsome: oh two 10, where
back kind of that telos where,

okay, what's the purpose of our.

Creation and salvation, right?

Is to do good works, not just
talk or play the keyboard, right?

Is to actually convert.

And I love the concept too.

I'm really excited.

There's I think called solving
the world's biggest problems.

It's like an outshoot of the
faith-driven investor community

where they they, I can tell they
really want to help the Christian

Church be a faith with good works.

I, and again, that, that
fulfillment of duty, I think is

just it puts it in second place.

Our issues, right?

Our relational issues,
we need to deal with 'em.

But if you, if we can be encouraged by
the beautiful fulfillment that someone's.

Fulfilling in their duty to be a
baker or to be the broom and Sure.

Okay.

Sometimes Hey sister you can you'll be a
better baker if you can deal with this if

you don't have these health issues because
you're, you've got this other bad habit.

And encourage them in their calling.

But I, any thoughts?

Andrew Bibb: Yeah.

And so lemme back up because you
mentioned the verse, I'd like to read it.

So Ephesians two 10, we are his
workmanship created in Christ Jesus

for good works, which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them.

So I my issue with with sort of the.

Some of the recovery groups that I
was in it almost maps on very nicely

to what we're talking about here.

No one here is saying that good works
save us, that we are acknowledging

our helplessness and the only thing
that saves us is the sacrifice of

Christ and his resurrection, period.

But if I keep going back to how bad
things were before Christ had saved me

it's the same thing as me talking about
how bad, how awful being an alcoholic

was, rather than remembering that.

I'm not sober just to be sober.

I'm sober for a bigger purpose.

I'm not saved by Christ just to be saved.

I am saved for a bigger purpose.

And that's what Paul is outlining here in
this verse, for the good works that God

prepared beforehand, before we are saved,
that are the purpose why we are saved.

Just coming back to that, it's it.

We are saved to, to become
everything he created us to be.

That is it.

We can't just stop at the doorway.

Let's go in and explore the mansion,

Giancarlo Newsome: yeah.

Yeah.

I love it.

That's, and that's I love
the way you're framing it.

That's his moral law, that if we
can just, and I love the kind of,

you said a roadmap and then the
consciousness is like a compass, because

you gotta tune into that compass.

Don't let anyone shut that down.

And I think

Andrew Bibb: Yeah.

Giancarlo Newsome: How do people why do
you think people shut down that compass?

Andrew Bibb: I

shame is a big one.

I think.

I had to I felt shame about my
drinking for years which got me

into that cycle where I would
drink to, to drown out the shame.

And, so I think our conscience pricks
us and it tells us something is wrong.

The wrong way to respond to that
is to try to numb the conscience.

And I think that's what we do a lot.

We, it's uncomfortable when
we're pricked by our conscience,

so we just try to shut it out.

Really

Giancarlo Newsome: before
we, or we surround ourselves

with people who will numb it,

Andrew Bibb: Yeah, absolutely.

Yep.

Giancarlo Newsome: Yeah.

Andrew Bibb: It when when we realize
that the purpose of the conscience

isn't to torment us, it's to let us
know that there's a problem and that

there is a solution to the problem.

I think that's when we start
to see conscience as our

ally rather than our enemy.

But as long as we see it as our enemy,
we're gonna try to shut it down.

Giancarlo Newsome: Yeah.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

Hey, so on.

So what is your hope?

So to bring us back to the tech world,
what are your hopes, ideas or efforts

to see AI or Web3 technologies help?

And again, I, there's, I you're awesome.

You handle some really hard big
questions and the purpose isn't for

either of us to have the answers.

Hopefully our audience also will
reflect and think deep and grow and

embrace their compass, embrace their
calling and, for all of us, not just

you, but all of us listening, let's
think about how, we, there's, our goal

with humility is that we will activate
other technologies to think about,

okay, hey, there are gyms or different
types of equipment that help us work,

strengthen different physical body parts.

What have, any top of mind thought
as to things, ways you've seen

tech use to restore virtue?

Or, I know I know I'm really grateful
for your help with the humility, but I

Reason why I'm like, I really don't know a
lot of tech, so it's okay to say, there's,

Andrew Bibb: it makes me think
about the tech that I do know.

On my phone I'm as susceptible to
anyone else's, to the brain rot apps

or content and, so what I have to do,
and it's still a work in progress,

is I have to tailor my, my my app and
my smartphone experience to try to

nudge me in the direction of virtue.

I need to have my reading
apps front and center.

So I will open up a book on virtue
rather than go straight to scrolling.

Even in my social apps, I need to be
following accounts that are feeding

me quotes by, Cicero or John Adams
or Seneca, or, Boethius rather than.

What the front page Bush is, which
is the latest, political spat,

which I'm just not interested in.

So it's a matter of, there takes a
lot of tailoring to, to set yourself

up for success in the cultivation
of virtue when it comes to tech.

What I am most excited for, and I don't
even know what this looks like yet, but

with something like eHumility where that
is already baked in from the ground floor,

where virtue is the purpose for which
it exists in the first place to where

I, that can be the first widget on my
phone, just taking up the whole screen.

So when I'm, just impulse clicking,
that's what I click on and what I

get is encouragement from a fellow
user or is this passage from CS Lewis

that is just gonna rock my world.

It's that's, I think it really
comes down to attention.

We become what we pay attention to over
the course of time and consistently.

So if we can get our attention on
those things, that, that nourish

the soul rather than rot the brain.

That's the beauty of this of what
can technology can do for us.

Giancarlo Newsome: I, it's
a great way to wrap us up.

I, the attention economy and, the.

I appreciate, you're basically
invoking personal disciplines to manage

your digital world in your phone.

And as another buddy of mine who's on
the podcast, Scott Fitzgerald mentioned

is it is these tools, these phones I got
one, two because we're an app, we have

to test phones, but it's horrible, right?

They're wired and I was reading they're
wired to steal our attention and even

with our children, I was like, it's
11 billion with a BI forgot that I

was reading that is, is being spent
on active marketing to our children.

And yeah like you're right.

Our attention, we will either
nourish the soul or rot the brain

Andrew Bibb: Yep.

Giancarlo Newsome: and, yeah.

I think you summarized that well, to wrap
up, we always like to ask our guests, do

you you, you pointed this direction, but
do you have a favorite daily habit of

humility that you like to practice or that
you aspire to, that you would recommend?

Andrew Bibb: I do.

So I have, I, we, I talked about how I
tried to tailor my digital experience.

When I'm driving to work, I have I'm
a big audio book guy I'll have modern

authors really who are writing a lot
about history, kinda like intellectual

history, exploring these ideas.

I've got like Boas and Seneca and
CS Lewis that I, Epictetus that

I could just throw on, can do
some virtu cultivation on the go.

But the thing that has been probably
most impactful in my life is packing

everything I aspire to in a prayer.

It's, I call it the Pietas prayer.

And it goes, almighty, God help me to
do my duty and be content to understand

meaningfully and act courageously and
to live free in pursuit of what is good.

So I pray this with my two and a half
year old every night, and he's getting

really good at sometimes he'll say,
he, I love the way he says, do my duty.

He says Dewey.

It's absolutely adorable.

But aside from that I'm constantly re
returning to this prayer throughout

the day, and very often I find
myself just settling on a part.

And very often that part is help me to
be content and just marinating in that

part and asking for for that contentment.

Which isn't lethargy if it's tied
to duty it's resignation to the

will of God as we pursue our duty.

But this prayer is a
it's a roadmap for me.

It's a constant request.

And it's really, it's become
a bit of a, in that compass

a north seeking arrow for me.

This is what I want to become.

Only the creator can get me there.

Giancarlo Newsome: I love it.

I love it.

The I similarly I'd love, we'll share
that prayer if we do in the notes.

I'll try to make sure
that we get that prayer.

The Lord's Prayer is
one I'm I do frequently.

And again, now that you know
that each time I say our

daily bread, I'm thinking duty

Andrew Bibb: Yeah.

Giancarlo Newsome: And on earth as it
is in heaven, that's like contentment.

Just to double down on that
commitment, story even this week

to pay forward a little bit.

I think when we're excited, we're in
that flow, state of duty, having fun.

I think every now and then, even if
we feel like we, we can see we're

part of a bigger purpose, sometimes be
overwhelming, where we start thinking,

taking on more than maybe is ours to
take on or like to today or yesterday.

I was like, there was so much information.

That is important to, to, to a duty.

I'm called to that.

I'm like, I'm not keeping up,
wasn't keeping up with you.

I'm like, I think that contentment to
know, look, I'm to be at peace with,

do our best, be as efficient discipline
as possible, but that it's impossible.

Let's not it's impossible
for us to download.

We don't have to take the carry the
burden of the world or the tasking

of the duty all on our shoulders.

I think there's a, it can,
you can erode that contentment

with without maybe discernment.

Does that make sense?

Andrew Bibb: Do we have time
just for just a quick anecdote.

Giancarlo Newsome: Yeah, sure.

Of course.

Andrew Bibb: George Washington.

There are only two, two
surviving letters from George

Washington to Martha Washington.

She burned, she tried
to get rid of them all.

These two got stuck in a dresser.

One of her relatives
found it after she died.

So these are the two letters that we have.

Both are the first two letters
that he wrote to her after he was

appointed as commander-in-chief
of the Continental Army in 1775.

The content of these letters
is the best the best.

Illustration of the cooperation of duty
and contentment that I've ever seen.

'cause and humility, by the way.

So he talk, he starts by talking
about, I don't think I'm up for this.

I'm not capable of leading this
army to victory over the British.

They should have picked someone
else that's, I just don't have the

experience, the skillset for this.

He then he goes on to say, but it's
my moral duty to say, yes, my country

is set that they need this from me.

It's my moral duty.

And then he close, he closes
off with, regardless of what

happens, I've, basically, it's,
it, I'm resigned to Providence.

What Providence wants to
happen will happen, and that's

where I'm gonna find my peace.

Just in, and he's

Giancarlo Newsome: no lethargy.

There's no abdication.

There's no he's not, yeah, he's
not saying because it's so much.

Then I'll just half.

But it,

Andrew Bibb: and this isn't
like a public speech or, he's

not campaigning for anything.

This is a letter to his wife in
probably the rawest moment of his life.

And this is, that's where we see
like just the full heart of the man.

It is just so beautiful.

And I really think those
letters were saved for a reason.

So we could digest that lesson.

Giancarlo Newsome: That is so awesome.

Thanks for paying that forward.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

And I think our founding
fathers were amazing guys.

Thanks for bringing them forward and I
think, I really hope our country will

restore the that, that humble foundation.

'cause I really, I think if we relax
and kinda like you said, chill from all

the political just stuff, and that and
recognize that the beauty of the founding

of America that brought the greatest
prosperity and it was decentralized,

hopeful, and it's getting highly central.

But let's say that with Bitcoin and other
technologies we restored decentralization

of prosperity and opportunity
that'll happen through humility.

And, you're, restoring us to those
founders who were in a unique place

and time, just like all of us, and
they fulfilled a duty just like we

all are, that we might get another
wave of prosperity and opportunity

and joy and human flourishing.

That they brought about, that we can
reverse this decline of mental health

and decline of human flourishing that
we're all suffering through right now.

But so if people wanna learn more about
your work, so it's project pietas.com

right?

Andrew Bibb: That's it.

Yeah.

Giancarlo Newsome: Okay.

Project P-I-E-T-A s.com.

And then also team, please don't forget
to follow or smash our subscribe bell

to the Empowering Humility Podcast.

Please share it with
friends, give us feedback.

We love feedback.

And I think this is fun, the
f your discipline of regular

prayer and your own prayer.

The Pieto prayer echoes.

I wanted to announce that we will
be starting what we're calling e

Humility Group CrossFit and what
this is, and our first team is

gonna be called the Noon Grit Team.

So it's gonna be starting every
weekday on the East coast at noon.

We will take 15 minutes
to work out together.

When we say work out, basically
that just means opening the

app and we will share a tip.

We'll receive one point of feedback
'cause we want to continuously improve

to make the strength and virtue.

And then the rest of the time
is just our own quiet time.

We're just all together at the same
time, working through, reviewing our

prayers, maybe creating a journal
entry and creating this kind of

battle rather than kinda like CrossFit
to work on our holistic fitness.

So if you are interested to join that
CrossFit workout, just email us at Sharon,

S-H-A-R-O-N, at empowering humility.com.

And anyone is welcome.

It'll be at noon eastern.

And then hopefully we'll expand
these CrossFit groups and we'll build

these CrossFit teams for virtue.

So Andrew, I really
appreciate you for joining us.

Thank you for being such a great
example of empowering humility

and sharing the heroic wisdom and
humility of our founding fathers.

You've been a true blessing.

Thank you so much.

Andrew Bibb: Thanks so much for
having me on and this every time

I'm with you I'm energized to
to go again, even e even harder.

So I appreciate you

Giancarlo Newsome: Awesome.

God bless you, brother.

Thank you, sir.