holier-than thou
....a 10 minute essay on the morning's thoughts. At some point I may actually rewrite this properly. Right now I see many cans of worms, it's just where my brain was at.
So just now I was thinking about holier-than -thou behavior. It started with certain environmentalist and vegan behavior and turned naturally towards the Puritans.
Now this is not to say that the ethics of environmentalism or even veganism are misplaced… Having deferred a dream or two involving sustainable community I chafe with my own complacence on the issue.
No, what I mean is a particular flavor of good behavior and pursuit of ideals.
So one of the major (and now often forgotten) revolutions of Protestantism was the shift from the belief that bargaining (confessing, or flat out paying for) the state of one’s soul was possible. The church (mostly centralized except for the schism) though the Middle ages had become a corrupt money-making institution, selling indulgences and prayers. This was based on the idea that one could negotiate while alive for the state of one’s soul, and even that one’s friends, relatives or paid clergy could do so after your death.
The Protestant reaction to this was the concept of “the elect”. God’s already picked. There is no negotiation. He knows, he decided before you were born. Oddly, this didn’t cause the apathy one might expect. It was a contributor to the protestant work ethic, and the threads of the paradigm it spawned are still with us, especially in America where the Puritans nested.
People were very keen to be perceived as one of the elect, and not to be too close to people who might be going to hell. The appearance of good behavior became very important, but the tricky part is this- not just to other people, but to yourself. You want to convince yourself you’re one of God’s elect too, and if you were, you'd be acting like it right? You worry about it every day, and try to make sure you’re acting like it, in the hopes that you are… because naturally the people who are most virtuous are the elect right?
It’s a weird, twisty logic. Of course, now they’ve forgotten about that and Jesus saves, right?
So I was thinking about the holier-than-thou attitude in that light- good behavior, even when no one is around, but for an ulterior motive. One wants to perceive oneself as good, and focuses on that. The contrast is to a person who sees someone in pain, and has to help, or sees a problem and wants to solve it. The desire to nurture, heal, teach, create things of benefit to others, to thwart cruelty, abuse and violation… that’s where I see actual goodness.
In much of the environmentalist, animal rights, vegan, etc. stuff I see Puritans. Crusaders even (mindless charges at the infidel, saying “the right is on our side, we are holy”… my what a comforting feeling. For environmentalism is became (and still is) a fashion- all for the appearance of good behavior. I suppose for the masses to function at all without slaughter, that that drive to appear socially acceptable is nessecary.
It is the line between good behavior and goodness is so hard to track.
It is not that the pursuit of convictions and ideals is wrong, or that I think that all people in such movements are that way. My personal favorite example of someone living his ideals is John Woolman. He was a Colonial Quaker who was responsible for mobilizing the Quakers to become abolitionists as a group, who advocated for learning from the Native Americans rather than slaughtering them, boycotted everything to do with the slave trade, and was the first known recognized animals rights activist in Britain and the United States. This man’s diary shows his daily pain at the ill-treatment of others, and the empathy, coupled with a burning desire to help if it kills him. I have all respect for him and those like him. He went to mad extremes to hold to his values and beliefs (walking the eastern seaboard to educate slave owners about the humanity of their slaves because he didn’t want a slave to have to care for his horse). But always sincerely, even passionately empathetic.
It’s just a delicate line sometimes. Holier-than-thou is an inflated feeling. Purpose, self-respect, certainty… but it’s not the same as “holy” (or rather virtuous when you remove the God-talk). .
Sometime in college I made a distinction between when I was acting like a _____ (fill in blank: healer, martial artist, artist…) and when I was actually being one. It’s an important thing. Insincerity creeps up on us. I am always suspicious of absolutes, even when I agree with the ideas (like sustaining and protecting the environment). It is so easy to focus on the image of an ideal, even of oneself, than the thing itself, and from there, so easy to become close-minded, contemptuous and limited. This is where wars start. This is where contempt grows and inhibits positive influence.
So just now I was thinking about holier-than -thou behavior. It started with certain environmentalist and vegan behavior and turned naturally towards the Puritans.
Now this is not to say that the ethics of environmentalism or even veganism are misplaced… Having deferred a dream or two involving sustainable community I chafe with my own complacence on the issue.
No, what I mean is a particular flavor of good behavior and pursuit of ideals.
So one of the major (and now often forgotten) revolutions of Protestantism was the shift from the belief that bargaining (confessing, or flat out paying for) the state of one’s soul was possible. The church (mostly centralized except for the schism) though the Middle ages had become a corrupt money-making institution, selling indulgences and prayers. This was based on the idea that one could negotiate while alive for the state of one’s soul, and even that one’s friends, relatives or paid clergy could do so after your death.
The Protestant reaction to this was the concept of “the elect”. God’s already picked. There is no negotiation. He knows, he decided before you were born. Oddly, this didn’t cause the apathy one might expect. It was a contributor to the protestant work ethic, and the threads of the paradigm it spawned are still with us, especially in America where the Puritans nested.
People were very keen to be perceived as one of the elect, and not to be too close to people who might be going to hell. The appearance of good behavior became very important, but the tricky part is this- not just to other people, but to yourself. You want to convince yourself you’re one of God’s elect too, and if you were, you'd be acting like it right? You worry about it every day, and try to make sure you’re acting like it, in the hopes that you are… because naturally the people who are most virtuous are the elect right?
It’s a weird, twisty logic. Of course, now they’ve forgotten about that and Jesus saves, right?
So I was thinking about the holier-than-thou attitude in that light- good behavior, even when no one is around, but for an ulterior motive. One wants to perceive oneself as good, and focuses on that. The contrast is to a person who sees someone in pain, and has to help, or sees a problem and wants to solve it. The desire to nurture, heal, teach, create things of benefit to others, to thwart cruelty, abuse and violation… that’s where I see actual goodness.
In much of the environmentalist, animal rights, vegan, etc. stuff I see Puritans. Crusaders even (mindless charges at the infidel, saying “the right is on our side, we are holy”… my what a comforting feeling. For environmentalism is became (and still is) a fashion- all for the appearance of good behavior. I suppose for the masses to function at all without slaughter, that that drive to appear socially acceptable is nessecary.
It is the line between good behavior and goodness is so hard to track.
It is not that the pursuit of convictions and ideals is wrong, or that I think that all people in such movements are that way. My personal favorite example of someone living his ideals is John Woolman. He was a Colonial Quaker who was responsible for mobilizing the Quakers to become abolitionists as a group, who advocated for learning from the Native Americans rather than slaughtering them, boycotted everything to do with the slave trade, and was the first known recognized animals rights activist in Britain and the United States. This man’s diary shows his daily pain at the ill-treatment of others, and the empathy, coupled with a burning desire to help if it kills him. I have all respect for him and those like him. He went to mad extremes to hold to his values and beliefs (walking the eastern seaboard to educate slave owners about the humanity of their slaves because he didn’t want a slave to have to care for his horse). But always sincerely, even passionately empathetic.
It’s just a delicate line sometimes. Holier-than-thou is an inflated feeling. Purpose, self-respect, certainty… but it’s not the same as “holy” (or rather virtuous when you remove the God-talk). .
Sometime in college I made a distinction between when I was acting like a _____ (fill in blank: healer, martial artist, artist…) and when I was actually being one. It’s an important thing. Insincerity creeps up on us. I am always suspicious of absolutes, even when I agree with the ideas (like sustaining and protecting the environment). It is so easy to focus on the image of an ideal, even of oneself, than the thing itself, and from there, so easy to become close-minded, contemptuous and limited. This is where wars start. This is where contempt grows and inhibits positive influence.