Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Ride the Wave and Keep Your Cool


I had an afterthought for my last post. In the two historical examples I explored, the Protestant Reformation and the movement to abolish slavery, I made two points: In each case, 1) the individuals who were agitating for social change managed to align themselves with historical trends that favored their cause; and 2) ultimately, both movements were only successful after a great deal of very brutal violence.  However, I need to also point out that neither Martin Luther (nor the Reformers), or William Wilberforce (and the Quakers, Moravians and Methodists) had any idea that they were “riding a wave” of history. They did what they thought was right, and their timing happened to be very good. So I suppose that something can be said for taking one’s stand on moral issues, regardless of which way the wind seems to be blowing.

We could examine other historical examples such as Gandhi’s drive for the independence of India, and Martin Luther King, Jr’s work on behalf of civil rights. In all of these examples one can find numerous moments when the historical actors must have felt that all of the forces of history and society were against them. Both Gandhi and King are great examples of patience and persistence in the face of opposition. I must also point out that both men were assassinated for their efforts. 

My overriding point, however, is that rage is a poor motivator for bringing about social change. With the possible exception of Luther, the other charismatic leaders were not primarily motivated by anger or rage. Luther did exhibit a good bit of anger and even rage increasingly over his lifetime. It might be argued that his anger against the Pope and against anyone who opposed him might have done more harm than good in his cause to liberate the conscience of the individual from the tyranny of the ecclesiastical domination. Gandhi actually called off his movement on several occasions when his followers became worked up into a rage against the British resulting in violence (of course, they were reacting to British violence such as the Amritsar massacre). On two occasions he fasted until his followers stopped their angry agitation and desisted from all violence. He and King both understood that anger leads to rage, which leads to violence which then provokes a corresponding backlash of reactionary violence. He who lives by the sword will die by the sword. Gandhi reportedly once said that following a policy of “an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.”

Anger is normally experienced as a secondary emotion. The primary emotion is usually hurt, frustration or disappointed expectations. Outrage can also result from injustice. Anger is a useful emotion in the same way that pain is useful; it is an early warning system that something is wrong and needs to be addressed. As long as we use anger to help us reflect on what is wrong and to take constructive steps to resolve it, it is useful. However, when anger becomes destructive (or self-destructive), it is no longer useful and it becomes self-defeating.

We can use anger to hurt others, which almost always provokes an angry response from the other. We can also push it down in repression, or push it aside in denial and then it becomes self-destructive. When anger lingers in the soul unresolved, it becomes corrupted and begins to accumulate more anger. Picture a snow ball rolling down a hill and becoming increasingly larger. Anger turns into rage, and rage turns into some kind of violence. Then all will suffer.

There are many reasons to be angry in contemporary American society. The factory worker who used to make $25 per hour building cars, but now works for $9 or $10 an hour at Walmart may be angry at globalization, or angry at immigrants. The unemployed and underemployed are angry. Working class people are angry with what they perceive as elite snobbery and insensitivity. The political elites become angry when their privilege and power becomes threatened. Many are angry to see the frequency with which innocent young black men are gunned down. Political partisans are angry at the results of elections, or the sense that the system is rigged against them. Many are angry at the media on both ends of the spectrum. Perhaps most of the public is angry at the apparent dysfunction of Congress and our political system. People are angry about the cost of health care or its unavailability. Others are angry about rising taxes. In this kind of situation unstable individuals become dangerous powder kegs awaiting a spark to light their fuse. Daily infusions of partisan anger on radio talk shows or 24/7 cable news programs feed the anger and inject it with steroids. 

What happens when the collective level of frustration, pain and disappointed expectations in society reaches a critical level? Can an entire society experience rage? There are ample examples scattered through history and around the globe of societies that have degenerated into violence, genocide and brutality.  What happens when individuals with years of bottled up rage reach a triggering point and resort to mindless and irrational violence with guns, knives or even with automobiles? Can social rage become demonic? How do we resist becoming sucked into the vortex of anger, frustration, and rage? How can we call for fundamental change in our society when we ourselves are taken over by toxic emotions that threaten violence against our neighbor?

These are questions that we need to ask ourselves in our current situation. What would Gandhi do in our present level of agitation? Are there any favorable historical trends or waves with which we need to align ourselves currently? And how do we keep our ‘equanimity’ or peace of mind in the midst of the storm?   

I suggest that there is ancient wisdom in the traditions of the Hebrew prophets, the teaching of the 'Middle Way' of the Buddha, the Sermon on the Mount of Jesus the Prince of Peace, the Greek Stoics and even more recent examples such as Gandhi and King that can illuminate a path forward, and open a way of reason, love and courage to face the challenge of our times.

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