Conformity and Choice: Three Great Quotes

 Hope College alum A.J. Muste, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the Apostle Paul share something in common.  Each says something significant about conformity.

 Born in the Netherlands and raised in Grand Rapids, A.J. Muste, advisor to Martin Luther King Jr., was heralded by Time magazine as “the Number One U.S. pacifist.”  At Hope College he played baseball, was captain of the basketball team, and graduated valedictorian in 1905.  He then taught at Northwestern College for a year, and upon graduating from New Brunswick Seminary was ordained into the (then) Dutch Reformed Church.

Muste’s deep knowledge of and dedication to the scripture that he had studied since a child led him to question whether its teaching could be reconciled with the carnage that began with World War I. These questions led to a life of searching and activism, which included spending eight days in jail at age 74 for climbing over a 5 ft fence into a missile construction site.

So with that as a brief backdrop, you will appreciate his answer when asked by a reporter, “Do you really think that you are going to change the policies of this country be standing out here alone at night in front of the White House with a candle?”  Muste replied, “Oh, I don’t do this to change the country. I do this so the country won’t change me.”

As with all great quotes, that one speaks for itself.

Let’s compare it with one from another activist with the same steely look in his eye: Ralph Waldo Emerson.  In his 1841 essay, “Self-Reliance,” Emerson penned,  “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members.”

What do these powerful statements have in common? Emerson and Muste agree that we are easily shaped and controlled by the world around us. We are like jagged, sharp-edged stones put into a polishing machine. Whenever a stone bumps up against another, each looses a bit of its edge. Eventually they smooth out and form a surface and shape resembling the others. In many ways they become more beautiful and useful, but at the cost of losing some of their own individuality.

On a Jimmy Kimmel Live show last month, an apparent Apple I-phone salesman claimed to be offering passersby the new I-phone 7. He took their current I-phone, explained that he was transferring the content onto a new I-phone 7, gave them the “new” phone, and then asked how they liked it. Actually, he had just put their old phone in another case. The fooled I-phone users loved the “new“ one - lighter, brighter, better resolution, better sound. Several enthusiastically paid $50 for the upgrade. 

I'd be laughing at them, but once with friends at college one smelled the cola in his glass, grimaced, and passed it around to several others who had the same reaction. When it came to me, I did the same - something about it smelled funny. They all burst out laughing – there was nothing wrong with the cola.  No way to weasel out of that one - I was the fool.  Amazing how easily we conform to expectations and adopt others’ behavior.

So what’s the answer? Do we coast through life passively assuming the thoughts, values, habits and life styles of others, conforming to society’s expectations?  Or should we resolutely and intentionally try to maintain our own individuality?  Would we really want to spend time with someone who had successfully rejected all attempts to make him/her behave like others? Likely it would not be a pleasant experience.

This is where the Apostle Paul comes in. In his letter to the church in Rome, he encouraged them, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind . . . “

Paul reminds us that we can do more than just barrier off the world’s corrupting influence.  We can also actively choose what will positively transform our lives, making us into better people.   This power of self-reflection and moral choice giving us a hand in our own destiny may be uniquely human. Indeed, John Steinbeck’s masterpiece, “East of Eden,” is built on the Hebrew word “timshel“ meaning “thou mayest.”  At the genesis of humankind, God exhorts Cain, “thou mayest rule over sin.”

All of this a good reminder:  we not only have the freedom to be individuals, we also have the power to choose the good. What a privilege. What a responsibility.