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“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott

“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott

Category: Disenchantment

Thoughts on Disenchantment

George 0 Comments

Not too surprisingly, my post “Life in a Disenchanted Age” did not appear to generate much interest. Perhaps there was some passing interest, but because of the subject matter, it was not something to elicit serious interest. After all, disenchantment is probably not high on our list of things to be concerned about. But I am not deterred in my assertion:

Living in a disenchanted age is the most significant challenge  we face in seeking a relationship with God.

If you are seeking a relationship with God or struggling with your relationship with Him, understanding disenchantment , according to my premise, is important. What I hope to accomplish through this and subsequent posts is some understanding as to why I would make such an assertion. That process will inherently provide opportunity reassess my conclusions.

Let me start with some clarifications. Living in a disenchanted age does not mean there is nothing enchanted about our world and life experiences. Few would deny the existence of a spiritual realm / reality. Disenchantment is the default for the western worldview. As a result of the belief that only human agency or scientific law can function for us as causal forces, enchantment becomes irrelevant… fairy tales, or at its best, entertainment. As entertainment, enchantment is no small matter. Disney, super-heroes, sci-fi, zombies, et al , testify to an inherent human connection with an enchanted world. Likewise, for religion, faith, spirituality, mystery. However, in a disenchanted age enchantment is only a momentary diversion from reality. All that stuff is nice, but we all know that when it comes time to “cut bait or fish”… “if it is to be it is up to me”.
If my day to day reality is disenchanted, the implications to my life are profound. I do not want to live a life that is less than the full human experience.
There is much to think about.

Some years ago, in the midst of a serious spiritual struggle, God spoke to me through a song. In the light of this discussion, It was about my disenchanted life and it inadequacy to answer the question, “Who am I?”.

THe Logical Song – Supertramp

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful
A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical
And all the birds in the trees, well they’d be singing so happily
Oh joyfully, playfully watching me
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible
Logical, oh responsible, practical
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable
Oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical There are times when all the world’s asleep
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man
Won’t you please, please tell me what we’ve learned
I know it sounds absurd
Please tell me who I am I said, watch what you say or they’ll be calling you a radical
Liberal, oh fanatical, criminal
Won’t you sign up your name, we’d like to feel you’re Acceptable
Respectable, oh presentable, a vegetable!
Oh, take it take it yeah But at night, when all the world’s asleep
The questions run so deep
For such a simple man
Won’t you please tell me what we’ve learned
I know it sounds absurd
Please tell me who I am, who I am, who I am, who I am
‘Cause I was feeling so logical
D-d-digital
One, two, three, five
Oh, oh, oh, oh
It’s getting unbelievable

Life in a Disenchanted World

George 1 Comment

n my last post, “Who Needs Mary Poppins?”I introduced the subject of disenchantment and its relationship to recent personal circumstances. That experience, coupled with the current challenge at our church to have a Deep and Wide relationship with God, has generated considerable thoughts and questions.

Let me begin with my conclusion:

Living in a disenchanted age is the most significant challenge  we face in seeking a relationship with God.

As I write that conclusion, I am struggling with describing a disenchanted age as “most significant”  rather than “a significant”. At this point, I am sticking with “most significant”, understanding that my continued study may change my opinion.

Disenchanted World

Relying primarily on Richard Beck’s posts regarding disenchantment and his references to Charles Taylor’s book “The Secular Age”, my understand regarding a disenchanted world is as follows:

In the enchanted age (>500 years ago) the world had a vertical, spiritual dimension. Human events intermingled with spirits, God, and magic. Over the last 500 years this vertical/spiritual dimension has collapsed, as a result, the world has become disenchanted.

In today’s disenchanted world, only human agency or scientific law can function for us as causal forces. As Taylor notes we now live in an immanent age. Only the flat, horizontal dimension exists for us.

Taylor notes that there are two major symptoms marking the transition from enchantment to disenchantment. First, is the collapse of the vertical, spiritual dimension, leaving only the flat, horizontal dimension.

The second symptom of disenchantment is the rise of the buffered self. In the enchanted age the self was at the crossroads of a great deal of spiritual traffic. Spells, demons, or God could penetrate the boundaries of the self. During the enchanted age the self was porous. But in an immanent age the walls of the self become firmer and clearer. The self becomes isolated and closed in upon itself. That is the buffered self.In the face of this “flatness” we struggle to find depth without recourse to the transcendent.

Beck point out two of the rebellions against the immanent order noted by Taylor. First, there is what Taylor calls “the Romantic protest,” the attempt of romantics of all eras to find a dimension of depth in communion with Nature and Eros. 

A different kind of rebellion against the immanent is to find depth by turning inward and going “deeper” into the self. We live in an age of interiority, where the dimension of depth is found by tunneling into the core of the human psyche. We find meaning in being true to ourselves, living by an ethic of autonomy and authenticity. During the enchanted age guidance was sought externally; depth of meaning was gained via transcendence. By contrast, in an immanent age I gain depth by going “inside” and consulting the inner light of “my true self.” Either way, internally or externally, a dimension of depth is created. The virtues of each approach can be, and are, debated. It is the need and desire for depth that is noteworthy.

With disenchantment we have lost a sense of depth. As Taylor notes, “There is a generalized sense in our culture that with the eclipse of the transcendent, something may have been lost.”

What, exactly, has been lost? Generally, in a disenchanted age we have more difficulty with issues of meaning: “Almost every action of ours has a point; we’re trying to get to work, or to find a place to buy a bottle of milk after hours. But we can stop and ask why we’re doing these things, and that points us beyond to the significance of these significances. The issue may arise for us in a crisis, where we feel that what has been orienting our life up to now lacks real value, weight…A crucial feature of the malaise of immanence is the sense that all these answers are fragile, or uncertain; that a moment may come, where we no longer feel that our chosen path is compelling, or cannot justify it to ourselves or others. There is a fragility of meaning…”

Because of this void of meaning, “…day to day life… is emptied of deeper resonance, is dry, flat; the things which surround us are dead, ugly, empty; and the way we organize them, shape them, in order to live has not meaning, beauty, depth, sense.”  We now experience “a terrible flatness in the everyday.”

In the face of this “flatness” we struggle to find depth without recourse to the transcendent.

It is obvious that this post has not addressed directly my conclusion that living in a disenchanted age is the most significant challenge we face in seeking a relationship with God.

My intent has been to establish some definition of a disenchanted age. Subsequent posts will, hopefully, make the connection clearer. 

Who Needs Mary Poppins?

George 1 Comment

The past eight weeks, perhaps, have been some of the most difficult days of our marriage. They have been filled with loss, both anticipated and unexpected. We have struggled with grief and guilt, sorrow and pain, the depths of which have been magnified by the ” joyous” Christmas season.  There has been no absence of care and concern, prayers and condolences, for which we are truly grateful. We know we will survive. Our trust in God has suffered deep tremors but remains intact.

So what is the deal with Mary Poppins?

On Christmas Day, with family and friends we went see the movie “Return of Mary Poppins”. Mostly to be with loved ones, we tagged along. Surprisingly to me, the theater was full and we got the full impact of the big screen on the third row from the front. The movie is a redux with beautiful and talented actors. As I became immersed in the fantastical story, music and dancing, it was as if I was being transported  to a place of wonder and magic, a welcome refuge from grief and sorrow. I was experiencing a balm for my soul that I do not understand or expect but, strangely, yearn for.

I have given considerable thought to that experience. Why and how did it speak to my grief and sorrow? Why has my grief been so persistent when there is such hope and reassurance in my deeply held faith in God? Why did that Mary Poppins movie provide  a balm that my faith and fellow believers didn’t? I’m certain that I do not have satisfactory answers to those and many other questions, but I believe I have some glimpses that have put me on a path to deeper understanding.  It begins with disenchantment.

Coincidentally, or maybe not so coincidentally, the subject of disenchantment has surfaced in in my reading and listening as of late

Most of what I will share in the rest of this post is derived from a blogposts by Richard Beck. I would encourage you to read it before proceeding.We live in an age of disenchantment.

In his book The Secular Age Charles Taylor discusses the transitions that have occurred in Western societies over the last 500 years. The world in 1500 was experienced very differently our world in 2000. Specifically, we have moved from an enchanted age to a disenchanted age. Taylor notes that there are two major symptoms marking the transition from enchantment to disenchantment.

First, in the enchanted age the world had a vertical, spiritual dimension. Human events intermingled with spirits, God, and magic. But over the last 500 years this vertical/spiritual dimension has collapsed. The world has become disenchanted. Nowadays, only human agency or scientific law can function for us as causal forces. As Taylor notes we now live in an immanent age. Only the flat, horizontal dimension exists for us
The second symptom of disenchantment is the rise of the buffered self. In the enchanted age the self was at the crossroads of a great deal of spiritual traffic. Spells, demons, or God could penetrate the boundaries of the self. During the enchanted age the self was porous. But in an immanent age the walls of the self become firmer and clearer. The self becomes isolated and closed in upon itself. This is the buffered self.
Although many things were gained with disenchantment, there now exists a certain malaise with immanence and the buffered self.With disenchantment we have lost a sense of depth.As Taylor notes,”There is a generalized sense in our culture that with the eclipse of the transcendent, something may have been lost.”

Thinking about Beck’s reflections on Charles Taylor’s  understandings of  disenchantment, my experience with “Return of Mary Poppins” begins to make more sense. My life is more about disenchantment than enchantment.

The disenchanted life is lived on a horizontal plane, where preeminent values are utility and efficiency.  There is an absence of depth to life, which creates a nagging sense of undefined dissatisfaction. One’s sense of self is diminished, feeling like just one thing among other things. Mostly, disenchantment is running in the background of our lives , subtlety but surely molding our day to day attitudes and experiences. To hear someone who, by all accounts enjoys a good life, proclaim their “life is a struggle” betrays the influence of disenchantment.

What most reveals disenchantment in our life is the occurrence of crisis. It is in the context of crisis that the question of meaning predominates: Why?, What’s the point? What does this mean? et al. It is in crisis that we begin to understand the loss we have sensed but have been unable to define, namely meaning and purpose. The great difficulty of disenchantment is issues of meaning.

Meaning in life comes from transcending the horizontal plane of a disenchanted existence. What that transcendence is, is a question to be addressed more broadly in future posts. But, for the immediate questions regarding my Mary Poppins experience, here is what I think.

The balm I experienced with Mary Poppins was a brief, albeit, timely antidote to my grief and sorrow which had been untempered by the shallow depth of daily existence. As Richard Beck observed, “…the sharp sting of lamentation edges us back toward enchantment…”. In those few moments I was reminded that there is more to life than the meager offerings of our disenchanted existence. Mary Poppins took me to a higher plane enabling me to gain better perspective on my current circumstances. For that I am grateful.

Who need Mary Poppins?  Everyone does!

Afterword:
I assume that those who read this will have many of the same questions that I have had as I wrote this. Really, is Mary Poppins all we need? What about God, faith, religion, therapy, yoga, meditation, et al?
No Mary Poppins is not the answer. What my encounter with Mary Poppins created is questions, not answers. The idea of disenchantment/ enchantment represents another intersection on my journey which provides opportunity for deeper understanding of the meaning and purpose of my life. It is my my hope that readers will find a similar challenge.