For us to understand American culture, we need to understand the ideology or philosophy behind it… To do this, we must first look at the origin of the prevailing culture; then analyze its meaning, morality, and existential and experiential implications. Such an approach will enable us to reach our destination…. a perspective on American culture.
Julian Marias, the Spanish scholar said: “The United State is one of the creations of history, like Rome or the Spanish Empire, realities which we enthusiastically study and understand today… It is being created before our very eyes, at an accelerated rate that allows us to observe it within our lifetime, or even in less than a lifetime… Is this not an intellectually exciting spectacle? Has there been a greater social and historical experiment available for man’s contemplation in many centuries?”
Marias is right. Whatever else may be said of it, it truly is one of the most notable creations of history, born out of the amalgam of an enriching diversity. That is why millions come here to make it their home, notwithstanding its flaws and weaknesses.
We derived our philosophical categories from the Greeks; the Romans gave us many of our legal categories; the Hebrews provided a base for our moral categories; and the English gave us our language and the principle of a representative government.
Let us take a cursory look at one of the cultures that molded our early soul:Greece. In Grecian culture we may well see our own reflection, for while recognizing the grandeur of its legitimate glory, we must resist the temptation of being enamored by the image. It was a glory that was ultimately destroyed by a colossal moral blind spot.
If the 18th century can be pictured as the intellectual looking in the mirror and becoming entranced by his own reflection — like Narcissus of myth — the 19th century at its conclusion can be portrayed as one looking toward the horizon and being wooed by the mirage of pragmatism. The philosophy of doing whatever works deceived many into a world view that could not sustain itself experientially.
While technology was blazing the trail for humanity, Charles Darwin was unveiling humanity’s primordial past. Scientific inquiry was elbowing its way into becoming the sole interpreter of the past and the sufficient hope for the future. Confidence in humanity increases as confidence in God’s creative power decreases. Marxism, avowedly atheistic and politically repressive, was spawned at this time, dehumanizing millions in its wake. Paradoxically, while espousing atheism, Karl Marx had a thorough understanding of the human capacity for destructive self-centeredness, thus ensuring that the worker would not be whisked off in a whirlwind of technological gains. He called for the employer and employee to coexist equally in a classless society. How pathetic was his utopian zeal, for it unwittingly served as the philosophical womb that birthed some of history’s most dastardly criminals of the likes of Joseph Stalin…
Artistic liberty coupled with technological capacity produced a modern-day Greece fashioned with American ingenuity. The old America had the mind to sift through these strengths and harness them, but the new America now finds itself without a point of reference. Purpose and performance have been severed so that performance is now judged in the free-fall zone of an artistic vacuum, totally unsecured by the safety net of human essence.
As America grew and waxed stronger, the belief that was once rejected — that man is the measure of all things — is now espoused. The once-held conviction of the fallen nature of man is rejected, and in every sense of the term, a major conflict for cultural control has begun to emerge.
The increase in scientific knowledge and the existentialist and relativistic philosophy that accompanied it; the shifting focus of intellectual life to a secular expertise; the rise of consumer culture; the struggle of a harried church to cope… all these (and other) factors prepared the way for the engineering of the masses’ mind set. The perilous blunder made was the assumption that the intellectuals always arrive at cultural deductions by virtue of open minds and scholarly objectivity. But not surprisingly, these groups always bring an agenda of their own, and their motivation is often anything but pristine. As demagogic as these intellectuals might be, the worst and most despicable offenders are the religious leaders, especially the pastors, because they are expert at baiting the hook to take advantage of their unsuspecting audience.
If humanity is the measure of all things, and chance is our God, then robbery, murder, rape, sodomy, and child molestation are nothing more or less than humans worshiping their maker. For when there is no reference point by which to distinguish right from wrong, it becomes easy to wipe out a set or group of individuals without feelings of guilt or remorse
It was Viktor Frankl who said…
“If we present man with a concept of man which is not true, we may well corrupt him. When we present him as an automaton of reflexes, as a mind machine, as a bundle of instincts, as a pawn of drive and reactions, as a mere product of heredity and environment, we feed the nihilism to which modern man is, in any case prone.”
If any progress is to be made, it is imperative that we understand where meaningful dialogue can begin. Too much is at stake and too many lives will be hurt or lost if we are unable to agree even on a starting point.
Every human, regardless of race, gender and physical capability, is unique, special and of higher value than any material possessions.
If we are to make a positive impact on this cold and ruthless world in which we live, we must learn to love in the presence of senseless cruelties. No human has the capacity to sustain such love, for this kind of love transcends our current state of being. This love comes from, or is, the first cause, the creator of all things visible and invisible within our time-space dimension and beyond our time-space dimension. This is God, and God is Love. Trusting and resting in Him as we fight injustice of any kind, makes us strong, calm, resolute and, above all, loving … even in the very face of injustice and cruelty. These may seem weak or trite to some, but the results that they inspire reveal a power that is beyond our imagination or comprehension.
Love is the only flower that survives in the arid wilderness of life…
