Late last week I was slowly walking by my bookshelves. Twice a month I take this slow stroll. I look at the titles and I look at the shape of the books. I walk slowly as I am listening. Is a book calling to me? Last week a book I purchased in 1985 called to me; I have savored this book a number of times since then. ‘The Habits of the Heart’ was written by five folks, the lead author is the one often cited (Robert Bellah); generally, when cited it is ‘Robert Bellah, et al.’ [The other four, by the by: Richard Madsen, William Sullivan, Ann Swidler and Steven Tipton]
‘The Habits of the Heart’ present us with a stimulating, challenging and disturbing foray into what they call the ‘first language’ of our culture (The United States); this first language is the language of ‘individualism.’ They also remind us of our ‘older language,’ our ‘second language’ that lies, mostly dormant waiting to be nurtured back into a healthy life. This second language is the language of ‘community.’
Each of these languages is rooted in a first and second metaphor. The first, which is currently one of our dominant metaphors, is ‘individualism’ and the second, again the one lying dormant, is ‘community.’ Each metaphor contains, words, symbols, mental models, additional metaphors, questions, deep tacit assumptions, and behaviors. In many ways they have evolved to be more conflictual with one -another rather than complementary; they have evolved into ‘either-or’ rather than ‘both-and.’ ‘Collaboration-between’ has been replaced with ‘Competition-between.’ Rather than a paradox to be embraced, Individualism-Community has become a polarity.
The purpose of these metaphors has been to help us (citizens of the United States) seek and then find and express our personal and collective identities and to support us as we seek meaning and fulfillment in our lives. The ‘second metaphor and language’ was alive and well prior to the Industrial Revolution. The ‘first metaphor and language’ took over center-stage once we integrated the mechanical metaphor into our culture and made it the capstone that supports us (you might remember, gentle reader that prior to the Industrial Revolution in our country we were predominantly an agrarian culture – an organic, communal culture).
In the current predominant first language of individualism, people are seen and experienced as detached (how many of us know our next door neighbors); people live as if they are in competition with one another – we are competing for ‘individual rights’ and ‘individual freedoms.’ We seek to be ‘free from’ and to be ‘free to’ (see Eric Fromm’s ‘Escape from Freedom’ and ‘Man for Himself’). We see ourselves as free to define our rights as we see fit. We believe we are free to pursue our individual rights and are restrained only by the negotiated agreements we have with other individuals (commonly known as the ‘social contract’).
The second language of community is a bit different. Within community persons are seen as interdependently connected to one another (a ‘both-and’ view); persons are believed to be ‘naturally’ cooperative rather than ‘naturally’ competitive;’ persons are believed to be endowed with ‘dignity’ and ‘relationships’ are the tap roots which nurture the community and the individuals. This second language (and second metaphor) is ‘obvious’ in all ancient wisdom traditions and in our own republican roots.
Bellah, et al. believe individualism is a threat to our existence as a ‘free people’ and they call for a revival of community; this, they believe is our best hope for our survival – perhaps it is our only hope. They see community as a ‘necessary good’ and as a standard by which we might evaluate our behavior; it is ‘the best’ way for we humans to live for we are, by nature, communal beings.