A Great Awakening or Genuine Indifference?
On the previous post, a couple of people mentioned having a sense that a spiritual awakening is underway. Several days ago, I read a Jim Wallis post on his God’s Politics blog where he says the same while promoting his recent book on a clip that includes references to the civil rights movement. I questioned Wallis' Awakening concept – in particular, his idea that this is happening on a large scale – in a comment to his post that I’ve slightly revised as follows:
Not God’s Politics
From what I can see, there is religiosity on the one hand and authentic religion/spirituality on the other. The first is borrowed and proves either superficial or perverted - used for egoistic purposes. The second connects to first-hand experience and gives a person tremendous motivation and purpose, which is what my own book is about.
My book isn't directly about politics. That said, to me it looks as if the key political problem in America is that moneyed interests - large corporations and wealthy individuals - have essentially taken over our government. It's done via how we finance political campaigns - large contributions that have been protected since 76 as "free speech" – and by massive lobbying efforts.
First, do you also see this as the cornerstone of the politically problematic in America? Second, if so, how do you get people excited about this issue? It's a more abstract thing than watching fire hoses turned on peaceful protesters. Finally, if it were possible to get people marching in the streets over the role of big money in politics, would it matter, or has it reached a point where the hold of big business on the branches of government is too tight?
Sleeping the Dream
Do you see evidence for a Great Awakening in America, or anywhere else on earth? In America, in general, I seem to see what I would describe as a Great Materialism, a Genuine Indifference, and a Great Self Satisfaction among people who are “doing well” –and an aspiration to material excess among those who are not. We know, for example, that green branding isn’t going to convince God or nature. We know that we can label fixing it so the rich get richer “free markets” instead of “trickle-down economics” and that either way, poor children will continue to receive substandard educations. And yet the cost to our own descendants and the wider world of continuing to market image over substance is acceptable to us so long as we personally can continue living in comfort, convenience, and the everlasting hope of Luxury.
I’d say that the American Dream needs a massive overall in the direction of Martin Luther King’s. As long as our dream remains the narrow Dream of Getting Stuff, then we continue in our sleep to dig the grave of our grandchildren’s prospects. I wouldn’t call this an awakening and I wouldn’t call it the “pursuit of happiness.”
Not God’s Politics
From what I can see, there is religiosity on the one hand and authentic religion/spirituality on the other. The first is borrowed and proves either superficial or perverted - used for egoistic purposes. The second connects to first-hand experience and gives a person tremendous motivation and purpose, which is what my own book is about.
My book isn't directly about politics. That said, to me it looks as if the key political problem in America is that moneyed interests - large corporations and wealthy individuals - have essentially taken over our government. It's done via how we finance political campaigns - large contributions that have been protected since 76 as "free speech" – and by massive lobbying efforts.
First, do you also see this as the cornerstone of the politically problematic in America? Second, if so, how do you get people excited about this issue? It's a more abstract thing than watching fire hoses turned on peaceful protesters. Finally, if it were possible to get people marching in the streets over the role of big money in politics, would it matter, or has it reached a point where the hold of big business on the branches of government is too tight?
Sleeping the Dream
Do you see evidence for a Great Awakening in America, or anywhere else on earth? In America, in general, I seem to see what I would describe as a Great Materialism, a Genuine Indifference, and a Great Self Satisfaction among people who are “doing well” –and an aspiration to material excess among those who are not. We know, for example, that green branding isn’t going to convince God or nature. We know that we can label fixing it so the rich get richer “free markets” instead of “trickle-down economics” and that either way, poor children will continue to receive substandard educations. And yet the cost to our own descendants and the wider world of continuing to market image over substance is acceptable to us so long as we personally can continue living in comfort, convenience, and the everlasting hope of Luxury.
I’d say that the American Dream needs a massive overall in the direction of Martin Luther King’s. As long as our dream remains the narrow Dream of Getting Stuff, then we continue in our sleep to dig the grave of our grandchildren’s prospects. I wouldn’t call this an awakening and I wouldn’t call it the “pursuit of happiness.”
Posted by Paul at 10:35 AM Permalink
34 Comments:
In excess, the Taoist's find the birth of its opposite...or better still, complement. Would we know we advocate “less”, if there were not someone advocating “more”?
So, I'll be the patient one in the corner. Observant of the circumstances that pervade the whole. Shaping events as they arrive. It may appear as indifference. Yet, I find it very powerful. And, very spiritual. Just a different expression.
Is there "evidence for a Great Awakening in America, or anywhere else on earth?" Speaking for the place I know, the United Kingdom, no. There is a shifting of the culture towards a paternalistic government and media, so that there is an orchestrated public awareness of all sorts of issues and even a consensus (near enough) but it is not an awakening, certainly not a spiritual one from within.
As an outsider I can think things which may be unthinkable to Americans: that the American Dream may be coming to an end; that the States may be edging towards moral and economic collapse - nothing sudden, but long-drawn-out; hastened by the revenge of the Earth or other inhabitants for its greed. Empires have their ends and rather than prop up the greatness which they cannot bear to lose, it would be more gracious and beneficial all round if America were to melt its differences, join the rest of the world, especially the Third World; unite in a global consciousness and realise it has nothing else to give that the world needs any more.
gollygee: As a member of the same generation, you are not solitary in your view. I used to think I was, too... but that is changing.
vincent: My general feeling about this is that the things you are able to see and hear across the pond, compared to the average daily lives of folks here would be much the same comparison people here might draw about those in the UK. Britain's Queen, Blair, Brown, Winehouse, et all are likely not a fair representation of the folks going about their daily lives. As such, the faces and actions seen from far away are similarly not the culture ocurring in the vast majority of our population.
It is safe to say that the upper eschelon of corporate America drive American "policy," and not the silenced masses. I would argue that there is truly an awakening occuring, or rather being enabled, by the advent of uncensored social interaction via online forums and blogs.
While this is just my own view, it is something I do believe. As Christ said: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven ... no one can serve two masters."
Tim
Taking things as they come and being calmly observant isn’t my idea of indifference either. I see such peace, and also real passion for the good of the greater whole, as integrated when we’re at our best, even if they sound paradoxical.
One thing that has changed over time is our technological power. For this reason, if there isn’t something like a “great awakening” to catch up with that, to my mind it calls into question the long term viability of our species.
GOLLYGEE: That’s good to know, and certainly there are subgroups of one kind of another that one can look to and find encouragement. As you say, whether it’s more widespread than that is hard to say.
VINCENT: “Orchestrated public awareness” – I like that phrase, which certainly applies in this country too. Half a dozen multimedia conglomerates put out almost everything in terms of books, music, entertainment – even toys. Suddenly, I don’t know, this is a dated example, but everything is, say, all about the Titanic – the book, the movie, the author interviews, the television series, the game, the music video, the bathtub toy.
I’ve definitely thought the unthinkable, so has my mom – chances are that lots of Americans have. Guess it’s more like unmentionable – so I’m glad you brought it up! I think it’s better to say things out loud.
Somewhere I remember seeing the twentieth century described as “the American century.” I think it’s a safe bet they won’t be calling the 21st century “the second American century.” That could actually be a good thing for everyone – if the US government starts to behave like a cooperating member of the global community instead of a “superpower” and learns to respond again to the basic needs of its own citizens on matters like education, poverty, the environment, and health care.
If instead it goes on with a system of cowboy-style leadership and a government representing less the people and more the narrow interests of the most powerful business lobbies, it’s conceivable that things could go very wrong here.
TIM: On your reply to Vincent, I know what you mean. Seems as though in cultural terms, the loudest voices – those coming from politics and entertainment – tend to sound less enlightenened these days than the voices of ordinary citizens.
"I would argue that there is truly an awakening occurring, or rather being enabled, by the advent of uncensored social interaction via online forums and blogs."
Yes, the medium is here to enable the awakening, but as you hint, this is not the same as the awakening itself. The social interaction is uncensored but it is mostly reactive and not revolutionary in content. I don't mean revolutionary in terms of French or Russian versions - a seizing of political power. I am referring to true independence of thought, like Nietzsche in his time - or even Nietzsche in our time!
It can come though. It will be people power. The reason it is not happening now? Let me put it in an image.
The people are the guard-dogs of justice. But the thieves come armed with juicy steaks laced with soporific drugs. When the dogs bark excitedly, it is for their fair share of the doctored steak. They are so befuddled, they think this is the justice they are there for.
Well, it's as if the Bible reads to both of them. 'Course, it would have been a lot better if they hadn't attempted to put so many of man's laws in,too.
And, speaking of late....
I just got around to reading the letters to the editor in an old Newsweek and right smack in the middle of it, there be you!
'Course, I realize it may have been the Canadian Chancellor (emperor? king? whatever...)
It was a comment about the written debate over GOD/no god, and your comment was the well balanced piece in the middle of some atheist/religious right wingers.
As for when the awakening will become a tangible force? I tend to lean toward the book of Revelation's prophecy - it will come at the last moments of this "new society", and likely too late for most of the masses.
Paul, thanks, and it's encouraging that someone such as yourself understands my intent. Obviously, media conglomerates are on the side of undue affluence - take for example that every major media outlet spews the same things at the same time, i.e. Britney Spears, Natalee Holloway, writers' strike, stock markets, mortgage crisis... there is hardly a voice for folks who are truly being journalists these days. Regurgitation seems to be what makes a journalist succcessful. However, much like the spiritual awakening I see, the advent of Internet resources is hedging a shift in the journalistic realm (i.e. the public fight against AT&T's move to voluntarily censor the data traveling over their wires, even though AT&T lobbied for the legislation which makes them innocent of the content end-users push across their networks... btw, the EU, as vincent may be aware, is taking strides to shoot down these arguments by the entertainment industry of removing "anonymity" and "free speech" from the Internet). While I generally embrace the "cowboy" international policy of "kick their arses before they can come here and kick ours", I loathe the fact that such decisions are based on corporate interests instead of true personal philosophy (you can see a post I put up about the latest State of the Union speech here).
I may just be a whack-job conspiracy theorist, but I really believe (see previous links) that universal, uncensored access to the Internet is feared by corporate interests... for the sole reason that I mentioned about it enabling spiritual and/or social awakening (or as vincent said, a "revolution" of sorts).
Tim
VINCENT: Good analogy and question.
DON I, I’ll take a look –
BONEMAN: Yes, that guy keeps making use of my name. I suppose he probably did have it first.
TIM: My enthusiasm/concern for the internet runs in the same channels as yours; thank you for the links.
Amen!
The natural order says that the poor man gets driven by the desire for material stuff and the wealthy man goes in search of higher things, experiencing the saturation of the ability of material things to provide satisfaction.
A poor man getting hooked on to jealousies is as damaging a presence as a rich man locked on to anxieties regarding his wealth. Unfortunately, most of the times, this is what a patron of social conscience generally achieves when he tries to act as a champion of the underdog.
The basic point we should clarify in our mind is this: “If material stuff is not to be considered as important, then all talks about rich and poor is also redundant. And if material stuff is important then it is better to allow nature to have its way.”
Sub-prime lending always leads to recession in the long run.
CARRIE W: Sometimes I wonder if people in education don’t have an advantage when it comes to imagining the future of other lives with genuine concern. Speaking personally, I do think that working with children for twenty three years has helped make the fact that everyone on earth is a renter and not an owner real to me.
AVGW: To me it seems that if anything, jealousy over material things is more prevalent among the well to do than the poor or those wanting to help them. People concerned with poverty want to see the poor gain access to real necessities like safe drinking water, adequate nutrition, and basic medical care, not luxury goods.
That for me is the key distinction – between the material goods that we need for sustenance and health, and the mindless craving for material superabundance at the expense of the larger world. Wanting material things like reliable food and water is different from the feeling of having to have a wider TV screen - I see these two kinds of desire as springing from different sources.
Keshi.
Just click on my name to reach there directly.
Kathyrn Long's book, "The Revival of 1858-9" might be an interesting comparision as she questions the "real changes" that came out of that "businessman's revival." (it's been a while since I read it, but I remember she questioned the changes that really occured).
GAUTAMI, thanks, and also for all the new blog links to check out –
SAGE: I think another thing that makes Wallis’ Great Awakening idea problematic is that I believe that what originally came to be called “The Great Awakening” in America was a label given to that period in retrospect by historians. So to maintain that right now a second Great Awakening has begun is to attempt to write history concurrently with its unfolding, which sounds hard...
I do, however, like what I’ve read about his thoughts concerning the kind of awakening that needs to happen if the US is to begin addressing its problems.
I think that society run by money isn't only here in America - science fiction has long predicted a global rule of corporations :-) Given human nature, I'm not sure what can be done about it .... self interest is incredibly hard to overcome.
Unfortunately the whole system is set up to allow the conglomerates and their lobbyists to manipulate the inner workings of the government.
Even though WW2 jettisoned the economy out of the depression, Eisenhower's warning about the Military Industrial Complex fell on deaf ears. Vietnam had the opposite effect and so has Iraq.
Since the collpase of the high risk mortgage debacle became apparent the dominos are all lined up and ready to go...hard times usually stir the voters and this year will not be an exception.
There is an awakening of sorts but I watched 60 minutes last night and there was a chilling interview. A machinist lost his job and his house but he was still going to vote Republican because he is against abortion. HUH?
There is still a huge disconnect within the political process in your country because there isn't a real separation of church and state.
I also watched a doc on MLKjr and still shudder at the thought that we are only 2 generations away from that segregation. I hope that there is a new era in the works and that 51% of the people embrace it.
As for 'is there an awakening?' I doubt it. History wails about the same things we are in tears over today. Socrates worried because the young were interested in 'stuff' not their souls. Again and again humans attack, kill everyone, salt the fields.
I don't think it's about Americans. I think its about power both in degrees and absolute power. In the US corporations have more legal rights than humans, and they behave even more badly than individuals with too much power.
How do people become so alienated from the world around them? Why are we divorced from the earth; living in our heads instead of in our hearts, bodys, souls?
CRYSTAL: Each generation as seeing a big spiritual awakening taking place… the hopefulness of youth… I could see that, and certainly do remember the short-lived “Age of Aquarius.”
The hopefulness and idealism of youth, though a cliché, seems to have a lot of truth to it. Then maybe every new generation of adults basically beats that quality out of itself by how adults treat other adults. Or perhaps more precisely, only a certain percentage of youth have those idealistic qualities but then lose them as they go on into adulthood to learn that the majority never took any of that as seriously as they did. So most end up playing by the larger prevailing norms.
While corruption by money isn’t unique to the US, it seems to me that we’re a glaring example in a lot of ways at the present time. For example, to me it’s a national disgrace that the number one polluter on the face of the planet and number one consumer of resources, far from leading on the environment, has been dragging its heels now for decades.
Human nature and self interest… An interesting point about that is that self interest in the sense of caring about one’s individual life or small group more than for the greater good, the longer term and the larger world, now actually works against our self interest as a species.
HOMOESCAPEONS: “…there was a chilling interview. A machinist lost his job and his house but he was still going to vote Republican because he is against abortion.”
Funny you should mention that, because speaking of chilling… On NPR a couple weeks ago, I heard an author discuss his research into just how the “pro-life” position became a central political issue for the religious right. He cited a particular conference call where a group of right wing political organizers brain stormed around what issue would best mobilize large numbers of evangelicals and that’s what they came up with. Prior to the fabrication of this issue – in 1980, I believe it was – it wasn’t even high up on the list of things that conservative Christians cited as major for them.
Talk about shrewd. It was tailor made to appeal to an emotionalism around all things “baby,” today even including stem cells, that apparently short-circuits the brain cells of large numbers of adults who, ever since, have been unable to distinguish “potential for human life” from “human life” or see that with the line “Thou shall not kill,” Moses was probably –just my personal guess here – writing about post-natal humans and not birth control methods, cows in India, pushing wildlife into extinction, or, I don’t know, the death of dreams, languages, the death of a salesman...
HAYDEN: “How do people become so alienated from the world around them? Why are we divorced from the earth; living in our heads instead of in our hearts, bodys, souls?”
So eloquent… Unless this changes, it seems to me that we call the long-term viability of our species into question.
Just as you suggest, it’s a human problem and not a particularly American one. At this particular time in history, considering the power and prestige this nation has enjoyed, we’re just a highly conspicuous example.
The plague of jealousy spreads among the poor when a patron of the underdog comes along and makes them conscious about their depravities and paints the rich as the villain. They harp on the theme of distributive justice dousing the fire that makes the productive forces come alive.
The essentials like safe drinking water, medical care etcetera are necessary for everyone. If there is not enough of these stuff it is a problem of inadequate abundance. And abundance is to be created by augmenting the productive forces.
The concern with quality is an energizing force. The connoisseur who insists on luxury of the highest order is actually fuelling the economic engine that is puffing hard to create abundance through technology and innovation. He is to be treated with respect and not to be seen as an enemy of society.
A patron of the underdog – he may be a communist, fundamentalist or a missionary – ignites the jealousies of the poor to mobilize them as a force. Some of them may be motivated by noble calls and some may be motivated by their own personal agendas. The hatred arising out of jealousies is easier to generate and propagate than love. But like wild fire its energies are only destructive and it cannot be harnessed for any real productive use.
In Hindu religion ‘cow’ is a holy symbol. A ‘cow’ is a fit gift even to a Brahmin who is at the top of the old social hierarchy. And harming a cow is one of the cardinal sins. The cow stands for a ‘process’ in an abstract form. The message is: ‘Respect the processes. Don’t get distracted by the products’.
I can't say that to me the solution looks like it would come simply from generating greater abundance. The US is rich enough, but we have homeless people literally dying in the streets and many who have to neglect their health because they can't afford care and end up in emergency rooms after there's a crisis.
I sure don't have the answer on poverty. But I have trouble seeing how the answer, or at least the way to ameliorate it, doesn't include redistribution of wealth in some form - not along the lines of a one party state, but along the lines of measures that industrialized countries already take so that working taxpayers help buffer people against problems like old age and disability. For one reason or another, there will always be people who can't do well by themselves financially. Without redistributing wealth in certain ways, they're left in very bad shape.
I'd imagine that rich people/industrialists are just people - some highly responsible, most morally middling, and some criminal. Those inclined to criminality can do a lot of harm in the sort of deregulated environment that's been increasingly legislated over the last 30 years in the US - more accurately, an economic environment that's been re-regulated in favor of the wealthy. Those behind Enron, our home mortgage and other recent white collar scandals, have hurt a lot more people than the same number of muggers!
The passing reference to all the kind of things that Moses obviously was not referring to, including sacred cows, was an irony directed at the notion that the Bible takes a stand one way or another on abortion.
I could spend quite some time on this topic, but will try to refrain. To summarize, every child is born with hope and idealism. I think you very correctly pointed out that adults rob them of that quite early (even for noble causes such as "responsibility"). I think the larger view is that societies rob themselves of this hopeful idealism, in order to keep the sheep in the flock... not only might the sheep be lost if they strayed, but they may just go off and start their own herd. Then, to whom does that herd belong? A herd of sheep can't be it's own, can it? That sounds too "natural?"
That's a very simple metaphor of what I believe happens on a greater social scale between leaders and the "led."
Regarding the other issues may be my over-assertion is perhaps an indication of my own confusions.
‘Responsibility’ is the keyword. It is true that irresponsible rich men have enormous power to do harm. But then as for many viral fevers there is a self-limiting factor. Ultimately even for their pranks they need the system to be kept alive. The power of the rich is highly conditional. And a stable system will eventually convert even the poverties of the poor into market opportunities.
It is true that the underdog has very little power to do harm. But when somebody tries to organize them under any flag whatsoever the mobilized power is not associated with responsibility. It works purely in the plane of emotions and flares up in all directions at random. It has no respect for systems as by the very nature of its origin it is against established patterns. Whole nations perish under the influence of such of power. And the germs of that power seeps in through practical concessions that seems innocuous at the start. That is what frightens me.
When we imagine there are two types of people – the rich people and the poor people – we are deviating from ‘the process’. Actually there is only one type of people. Division is the root cause of all troubles.
When it comes to politics, given the realities of human nature, I like the balance of powers concept and don’t like to see government exerting too much control over business or business over-influencing government. Over the last 30 years, the latter situation has developed in the US.
If the latter happens to be true then by working on the assumption that business lobby is the root cause of problem may make matters worse, not better.
Or…did you mean manipulators exercising undue influence. That is different. The manipulators have many hands each a mile long. They range of their operations stretch from capitalism to socialism…from materialism to spirituality…from self centered systems to altruism….Even the noblest of causes are not immune from their claws. Manipulation is the source of all corruptions. May the focus should be on marginalizing the manipulator everywhere. Healthy balance of power is possible only when manipulation cease to be a profitable business.
The holy cow and ‘ten commandments’… we shall reserve them for our reflections. Some ideas lose their beauty when exposed to discussions.
I first became aware of the undue influence of business on government when I had my health insurance overrule my doctors in denying payment for treatment covered by my policy. It was my introduction to the subject - discovering the power of the insurance industry and the unwillingness of my state legislature to enact reforms. I was one of several people asked to testify at my state capital. One couple had lost their three year old son when their insurance refused to pay for the medications that would have saved his life.
With the knowledge I'd gained to that point of how my insurance actually operated - for example, the fraudulent nature of their supposed "appeals process" - I got to hear first hand the "spin" that their spokespeople put on the sorts of things they do and see how malleable the legislators were in their hands.
Health insurance is one example; while I know much less about other areas, I've heard and enough to feel certain, for example, that the oil industry is behind US inaction on the environment.
I have heard a lot about the nexus between the medical system and insurance in America. It leads to denial of medication as well as unwanted medication and unwanted tests. The situation is further compounded by the general propensity in US to sue for negligence. The Indian medical system was patterned more on the UK practices, but now it is slowly drifting towards the American pattern. You can find such system distortions everywhere in the world. The people in the poor African nations are no better than the wealthy Western nations.
Staying outside the boundaries of US there is one question which we keep asking. What happened to the tempering power of the Great American Enterprise to maintain the American systems within limits of stability? At the macro level what is apparent is that emotional issues and populism are overriding the sane counsel of the enterprising individuals who keep the US busy.
Barring the local discomforts Idi Amin is at best an international joke. But an American President yielding to emotions creates an international crisis.
As I understand it, insurance companies in the US exaggerate the risk of doctors being sued for malpractice. (As to the insurance companies themselves, they’re effectively beyond the law.) State medical societies, for example, to which most or all doctors belong, often receive commissions from malpractice insurers for selling malpractice insurance to the doctors who belong to their organizations, incentivizing them to misinform their doctors about the level of risk.
From what I’ve seen and experienced, successfully suing anyone here is mainly about having more money than the other guy. Also, it’s so complicated and time/energy consuming that litigation often just isn’t a viable option for a sick person and his or her family.
I haven’t updated the following site for a while and it’s probably more information than you want, but nothing has changed for the better since I put it up: www.hmoappeals.com.
As for politics, I think what’s developed is an imbalance between big business and government. Starring with the Reagan years, large industries have become increasingly self regulating, influencing and even literally helping to write the regulations that affect them by way of financing political campaigns and their resulting access to political leaders. This has included continual adjustments in tax law that have resulted in working and middle class people paying higher and higher percentages of their income in taxes, while wealthy individuals and large corporations pay decreasing percentages.
So I don’t see sanity as residing in business leaders more than in other groups of people. What I think has made America successful in the past is free enterprise with sufficient government oversight and regulation.
On Bush, he isn’t smart – that much is clear. But the people he surrounded himself with are smart enough. This makes not only their misguidedness, but their gross incompetence on foreign policy, hard to fathom. Whatever their motives and agenda have been, which clearly never had a thing to do with a grand, sublime passion for “Iraqi freedom,” as the invasion was called, they bungled the job – even if you went along with their “preemptive war” notion to begin with, which I sure didn’t.
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