Thursday, October 6, 2016

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.



2 comments:

  1. Another great blog, Tim, and it ties in so nicely with next month's article on free will! I've long been of two minds about the issue of nonconformity. My HS sophomore English teacher was a huge Emerson & Thoreau fan. I latched onto that philosophy because I had based much of my life around doing things simply because other people weren't. I suppose it was a combination of nonconformity and the thought that "well, someone has to do it..." I almost started on oboe in 4th grade simply because no one else was playing it (I opted for sax only because I found out later that day it was my mom's favorite instrument.) I've made several lifelong friends in the same way, and I couldn't believe the rest of the world didn't see how caring and "simpatico" (my 100-year-old aunt's favorite word) they were. I even try to instill some of these values in my kids. I remind them in the mornings before school that they are children of God; that they are destined for great things; that peer pressure works both ways, and it's within their power to exert positive peer pressure on the people around them.

    But I also went to a Catholic school, and even when my faith waned for a while, I still went to church and youth activities because it made things smoother at home. I played in a nationally-competitive HS marching band. Your band doesn't get to be that good without some level of conformity. Then I joined the military. The military, of course, would tell you that conformity is a good thing. The military actually values creativity, new ideas, and free thought more than you'd think; but when the time comes to follow instructions, you do so without hesitation and without complaint, and you give 100%. Things certainly get done much more efficiently in this manner. The colonists didn't defeat the British military with an army of free thinkers who questioned George Washington's every move. Some level of conformity is required of us even to get along in this life. It's at such a basic level - laws, routines, even speaking the same language - that we take it for granted. True nonconformity is scary, and not necessarily desirable. If a true nonconformist happened to have an M-16 in his car and flew into a rage when a fellow driver cut him off, what would he do? Taken to it's logical conclusion, I think a real conformist would resemble someone more like John Wayne Gacy or Jim Jones than Emerson or Thoreau.

    In any case, at some level the word nonconformity loses its meaning. Thinking I was clever in High School, I once asked my aforementioned English teacher: "So, if we're to follow Emerson to the letter, than we're not supposed to conform to what anyone tells us to do... including Emerson?" I don't remember what his response was. :-) Said another way, I'd often turn my nose up at high school and college hipsters who always thought themselves so original and say that "these people call themselves 'nonconformists' because they look, dress, talk, and act just like all their other nonconformist friends."

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  2. I had the same thought when I watched "Dead Poet Society" Robin William's character (Mr. Keating) was trying to get them to question the authority of the author of the book, but the boys were just trading one authority for another - they were obeying Keating. It was only the one boy (Nuanda), who later "exercised his right NOT to walk" who truly caught on to being his own man. BTW, THAT is why the story needed Nuanda to get kicked out. If he had been in the classroom at the end, HE would have been the first to rebel. With him gone, it gave the other lad (Ethan Hawke) the opportunity to take a stand (literally).

    Finally, I remember once two 12 years old bullies appearing on a talk show. The host was aghast at what thy did - - but they just calmly answered, "Yep - that's what I enjoy doing." A true nonconformist is dangerous. Judges 25:21 describes anarchy, "everyone did what was right in their own eyes."

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