In his two volume book, Democracy
in America, around 1835, Alexis
de Tocqueville made the following statement,
“Individualism at first only dams the
spring of public virtues, but in the long run it attacks and destroys all the
others too and finally merges in egoism.” As one observes the current
climate in our country, one can see the prophetic nature of de Tocqueville’s
observation. The impact of egoism can be seen on multiple levels in our
society. It can be seen in individuals and “I did it my way.” It continues in
familial and collegial turmoil and an increasingly abrasive way people interact
with each other. It also expresses itself in greedy business practices and in government
squabbling, backbiting and gridlock. And that is only scratching the surface.
The question is, “Where will
this path take us, if we take it all the way to the end?” Is there any way our
society can change course? Is the Church capable of being a corrective? If so,
how? If not, why?
Was de Tocqueville right?
Have we arrived at egoism?
What are your thoughts?
For more information and practical
projects you can do to discover the make-up of the complex culture in your
community, I would refer you to: Kauffman,
J. Timothy. Reconnecting the Church:
Finding Our Place in Complex Culture. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris, 2010. It can be purchased at Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, the iBooks
Store, and Xlibris.com; it is also in Kindle and Nook format. Check it out.
3 comments:
De Tocqueville was an astute observer and recorder of the American character. I think he was right in describing the effects of individualism. I defer to you about the effect religion has or could have on how we have arrived at egoism. I see a country where people live relatively isolated lives in that they live, go to school and work in environments of people similar to them. If you are upper middle class you have no experience with living in a community that includes lower income individuals. Your school reflects your community so you go to school with people with similar values and in similar circumstances as you. Communities are more transient now than ever before so you can live in a sub-division and hardly ever interact with your next door neighbor who could be the second or third person to live there since you moved in. A psychologist at the University of Colorado was a consultant to the board of a local hospital. The board was discussing buying a second helicopter. The consultant looked out the window and asked the board who lived in the row houses across the street. They didn't know so he asked them to go on a field trip the next day. They arrived at the hospital and got into buses provided to them. The buses then ;proceeded to go across the street and stopped. He said they needed to get to know their neighbors and find out what their needs were so the hospital-which was a community hospital tasked with the job of meeting the health needs (in the broadest sense of physical, social and psychological health) of the community-could make an informed decision whether a second helicopter was the most important need in the community. On an individual level I have observed physicians who are generally upper middle class try to convince a patient who is lower income to do something like take your medicine or follow your diet so you will live a longer healthier life. The patient might be dealing with not having enough food to feed the family this week so isn't as future oriented as the physician which leads to non-compliance with the physicians advice and frustation on the part of the physician because the patient is not following his advice. Perhaps your congregation consists of individuals who are more alike than different so they have no experience with people in circumstances different than theirs. When they encounter those whose priorities are different they may see them as having values inferior to theirs and they are stereotyped in a negative way. I have heard of work done around the book The 7 Questions of Socrates which has given a sense of community to those who lead isolated lives. Maybe religion can be a vehicle for us to find a sense of community by first getting to know our community.
Great point, g100. That was a poignant illustration. Isolation and the resulting lack of understanding of the needs of those outside our own experience is a very important piece in the egoism of our day. Its effects can be seen everywhere--even in D.C. :-)
Thank you for taking the time to comment.
I forgot to comment on your suggestion about religion perhaps being a vehicle to help find a sense of community.
This entire blog is dedicated to arousing in the Church the desire to become connected and do the ministry of Jesus where they are. It seems to me that the Church needs not only to get in a bus and drive across the street to observe, it needs to get out of the bus and begin to build relationships with and begin in a small way to meet the needs of the people in their communities.
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