Global Consensus and a Unifying Vision: A 21st Century Solution to Materialism, Individualism, and Selfishness

I read a book a few years ago called The Story of B by Daniel Quinn. It emphasized the fact that vision is far more important that any particular theory, policy prescription, or program. It made me think--we could talk at length using development jargon, but unless we have some unifying vision, then all programming is really just window dressing. For the 21st century, the critical issue is just that—a lack of unifying vision or mythology.

This is especially true in relation to our existence on this planet. Historically, religion has played a social role by promoting values and norms that enable societies to function without tearing apart internally. Whether we are talking about a village shaman or the Pope, one function of religion is to provide moral instruction. Over the last century, however, one dominant vision has taken hold—a cancerous, myopic sense of materialism and selfishness. We even have a school of thought where greed is actually good. Traditionally, the role of religion was to balance out societies by recapitalizing social capital that was depleted by the drives of self-interest. Yet we have shifted away from this, towards a doctrine of individualism and materialism.

So what does the formation of this unifying vision require us to do? First of all, it asks us to be tolerant. It requires us to possess a sense of shared belonging to the same tribe as well as an understanding that religions are cultural processes. They are much like languages—different tribes and regions developed different languages, but the information being communicated was universal.

Therefore, to create global consensus and tackle the environmental, ecological, and political crises facing humanity, we need to move beyond literal understandings of ancient text and begin to forge a unifying vision based on the meaning rather than the narrative.

The Road Most Taken: LeBron James and the Individualist Construct

Listening to the fiasco of the televised “Decision” of LeBron James to play in Miami and the ensuing debate concerning the virtues of his choice provides a fascinating opportunity to dissect the philosophical strands that comprise the tapestry of contemporary American thought. There are two schools of thought in judging his choice to leave his hometown club in the backwaters of Ohio for the brighter lights and sultry nights of South Beach.

On the one hand, there are a number of people who question the virtue of LeBron’s decision to abandon both his hometown and his team for his own pursuit of wealth, fame, and status. The opposing view, dominant outside of Ohio, is that LeBron made a rational and moral choice because he was looking after his own best interest, which, in the end, represents the true American way.

Now, what I find interesting is how this discussion reflects the evolution of the philosophical and spiritual constructs of modern America. A significant difference between the religious practices of indigenous nations and modern Christianity is that, for tribal peoples, one’s relationship with the divinity is as a community, not as an individual. Contemporary North American theology, in contrast, talks a great deal about personal salvation and one’s relationship with God. Because many view LeBron’s decision as a “sinful” act, it is fruitful to look at different views of sin.

We can understand sin in a Christian sense—something a person does which goes against their culture’s understanding of God’s will or community law. Native spirituality, however, is practically void of any concept of sin. Instead, what is viewed as important is the maintenance of the tribe; the survival of the group. Therefore, there is no abstract, intellectual process to assess the value of an act. If it hurts the tribe or disrupts the harmony, it is bad. Furthermore, in a tribal society, one does not achieve for personal glory, but rather to further the interest of the group. Skills, abilities, and talents are deemed worthy only to the extent that they propel forward the lives of the entire collective nation.

What I find most fascinating with my interactions with communities that still maintain the tribal worldview is that one’s own life only has meaning within the context of their relationships with others in the community. In the indigenous cultures of the Southwestern United States, there are a number of rite of passage ceremonies for females that provide insight into the acculturation and socialization process of a tribal worldview. In one ritual, a young woman, just after her first menstruation, will have a weeklong initiation ceremony in which she is sequestered from the community for four days. She will walk for an entire day in one direction of the compass points, then return back to prepare an immense loaf of bread made from corn. She engages in a very laborious act to prepare sufficient bread to feed everyone in the community that entails many days of baking over a hardwood fire. During this time, different community members bring gifts of ceremonial attire and accouterments. When it’s time for the feast, she will emerge clothed entirely in these gifts—a symbolic showing of how her identity is drawn from membership in the community. She feeds the community while not consuming a single crumb for herself, again underlining the teaching that she exists not to further herself, but to benefit the community.

It is difficult to assess that LeBron’s actions were immoral when the dominant theology of the United States preaches individualism and personal salvation. Philosophically, it’s interesting to question whether commentators who applauded LeBron’s narcissistic choice would then encourage him to play for the Chinese national team if they were able to entice him before the next Olympics.

What I’m getting at here is the sense of group—because the U.S. is one constructed largely of immigrants, because very few people have ties to a community, and because many nuclear families split to live in different regions—there are no strong kinship, tribal, or clan affiliations with a place. This is relevant for development studies because we frequently witness the same dynamic. On the one hand, you have North American faith groups who believe they are furthering God’s will by preaching a gospel of narcissism and self-absorption. Then, you have development agencies promoting a survivalist economic agenda that fosters competition versus collaboration. We frequently see nurses, doctors, and community organizers who abandon their communities after receiving a subsidized education that was intended to enable them to serve their people. There are also community leaders who increasingly manipulate the system for their own benefit rather than the transformation of their group. This underscores the significance of civic virtue, cultural context, and moral instruction in the transformational development approach.

To criticize LeBron James’s decisions is to criticize the American way, the Protestant Church, and the capitalist economy. When we travel to foreign lands to engage in a transformational process, we must be prepared to leave behind arrogant notions of cultural superiority. We must be prepared to reflect on our own value systems and not impose dysfunction in the guise of progress.

Brujeria at the Beach

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Virginia Beach with Lupe and the kids and was reminded by Lupe just how shallow our lives can be as Westerners.

We were on the beach, the kids were swimming in the ocean, and we had packed all the necessary accoutrements: boogie boards, hummus, pistachios, etc. The deepest thought I had that day was thinking of a response to Brian’s question of, “If we swam across the ocean, where exactly would we land?”

Then I looked over at Lupe, who was performing some brujeria, or Spanish witchcraft. When I asked her what she was doing, she replied that, as a child, whenever her family went to the beach and someone went in the water, her grandmother would pray to the ocean, give her thanks, ask for permission to enter, and ask her to be gentle and protecting.

This made me reflect on the idea that we just jump in that same water without any deeper connection to the planet. Lupe’s little rituals underscore the sacredness of our planet, of relationships and family time; of life. They are like a compass point keeping you on track. We even see it now, as the Gulf oil spill rages on—causing conflicting sentiment over using petroleum products for transportation to and from the beach.