October 3, 2007
I'M NOT SURE I quite understand the idea of masochism. I suppose that in a very competitive environment of piety and sacrifice, it was natural for a character like Pier Damiani (1007-1072) to write a tract called De laude flagellorum in an attempt to outdo his rivals, or for St. Dominic (1170-1221) to wake himself up three times a night to "whip himself with an iron chain: once for himself, once for the sinners in the world, and one for the sinners who are suffering in purgatory." Meanwhile, in order to emulate the vigil of Jesus, one Benevenuta of Bojanis bathed her eyes in vinegar in order to prevent sleep, which was already disrupted by the hard beds and the constant calls to prayer. St. Theresa of Avila died of thirst, and she habitually shoved sticks down her throat to make herself throw up, while St. Veronica Giuliani (1660-1727) used her tongue to lick her cloister clean.
It is hard to know what was really going through the minds of these people, but it seems that Christianity is nothing more than a cult of suffering, and a way of exalting the pathetic misery in which most people - "the meek" - were condemned to live. The realities of human existence guaranteed its success. Unable to achieve anything, the vast majority of the population instead sought to express themselves through abnegation. Nietzsche criticized Christianity for eroding the ancient values of courage and self-fulfillment, but with a few exceptions, most of the aristocrats continued to do what they always did, marrying and conquering and siring bastards, and paying off the church for forgiveness. The theory preached abstinence and poverty, and meanwhile, the princelings and barons - as men are naturally inclined to do - continued to grab the women and the spoils. Christianity began as a revolutionary force, but like other ideologies, it became a crazy ideological support mechanism for an unjust political system, which many schismatics came to realize. Mainstream Christianity preached political quietism, rendering onto Caesar what should thereby be rendered, and the various heretical attempts to return to the example of Jesus - and force leaders to live up to the masochistic principles that surrounded him - naturally failed. The Cathars, persecuted by the Catholic Church, were an extreme example. Marriage was forbidden. They fasted for three days a week and even deprived sick new-born babies of milk. These lunatics did have an effect, however. According to the New Dictionary of the History of Ideas, "the intensification of Catholic asceticism since the twelfth century was, to a large extent, a reaction to these practices, an attempt, in other words, to outdo these heretical dualists."
But I am fascinated by the idea that people seek glory in whatever circumstances, and in whatever cultural milieu, outdoing their peers in whatever measure they can find, be it wealth, piety, suffering or violence. Steven Pinker explains in The Language Instinct that the rise in gun violence and vengeance killing in black ghettos in the United States is precisely because humans are genetically hard-wired to seek "respect" and "honour". In societies that lie beyond the reach of law enforcement, and where opportunities for advancement have been restricted, individuals are likely to be quicker to turn to crime, and quicker to take offense. When one acknowledges that black communities in the US are more violent than white ones, it isn't to say that African Americans are somehow more predisposed to violence, but that any community creates its own route towards glory. Without an adequate social environment, and no guarantee that the legal system can protect property rights, glory-seeking humans are naturally more inclined to use violence because "their reputation on the streets is their only claim to status."
Now what's left for relatively prosperous post-Christian societies? Maybe it is the idea that glory can be achieved by democratic means, through reality TV or lottery jackpots. The dream of undeserved greatness makes mediocrity a little more worth living. But what a struggle it is, each one of us programmed to strive for some kind of greatness or glory and quite unable to fulfill it. The theme throughout Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is the idea of the American dream, and the belief that any man from the humblest of circumstances can aspire to the highest significance. Keeping open those routes to glory - however remote they are - is crucial to the survival of any political system. A big part of the propaganda of any regime is the example of the everyman, the model worker, the lowly farmer, exerting himself and reaching the highest peak of social regard. Lei Feng was a very important propaganda icon for the Chinese Communists because his example showed that fame and glory could be achieved through slave-like sacrifice to the ideals of the Party. It is no accident that McDonalds, for example, regularly rewards its staff members with titles like "worker of the week" in a hapless attempt to make such low-status drudgery a bit more tolerable.
