Probably the most obnoxious feature of many American conservatives is that they think they own morality and ethics. My grandmother was a Soviet Communist; but she was at least as ethical, responsible and hard-working as any American conservative.
Many of these people also think that they own family values. In fact most of the world practices family values. And this has been the case for a lot longer than there has been America.
My story is an unusual one. I spent the first 12 years of my life in the Soviet Union, and I strongly believed in what they were teaching. When I came to America that got taken apart, and I had to look long, far and hard for a functional ethical structure. A person whose ethical structure has been taken apart is left without an ethical structure, at which point he starts to act like a psychopath. So for me, finding a valid ethical structure has been a necessity and a lifelong quest.
I have gone to all sorts of unlikely places. Astrology, psychology, economics, Hindu mysticism, Taoism, Wicca, Ayn Rand, Romanticism, Christianity, you name it. My story is similar to those of the hippies. These were people whose conscience got taken apart through intellectual inquiry, and they had to look in all sorts of places for a more informed conscience. In the process they acquired knowledge that has been used to extend and enhance the civilization; and the wisdom that they acquired has been used to enhance the practice and understanding of many things, including both Christianity and psychology.
It has been noted that people from Eastern Europe make good Christians. That is because they are used to strongly believing in things; and people who strongly believe in one thing will just as strongly believe in something else if they realize that it is right. I have a naturally fanatical temperament; but for me finding something to strongly believe in has been a challenge. That is because I’ve been exposed to all sorts of conflicting worldviews, and it is hard to make sense of them all.
So we have Bono saying, “I’d join a movement if there was one I could believe in, I would break bread and wine if there was a church I could receive it.” Finding something to believe in a world where everyone is influencing everyone else can in fact be a challenge. One person makes a convincing case for one belief; another person makes a convincing case for another. When Scott Lasch said that my generation was at sea, the reason is that we are living in a world where everyone is influencing everyone else. And that makes things to believe in hard to find.
The promise I’ve made to myself when I was younger was that, whatever I investigate, I will make the best of. So I am examining and combining different sets of beliefs. I no longer believe in Communism; but I’ve definitely seen real wisdom in any number of paths.
One thing is for sure. Both the materialist fundamentalists who think that religion and spirituality is for the stupid and the religious fundamentalists who think that the only wisdom is in the Bible and that everything else is of the Satan are wrong. What these people really do is disconnect themselves from vast bodies of wisdom – the first from religious and spiritual paths, the second from science and other forms of religion and spirituality. There are many religious and spiritual people who are smart, and there are many non-Christians who are good people.
Once again, I am someone whose conscience got taken apart. And I’ve had to look in all sorts of places for a replacement. In the process I have come up with all sorts of original thought. And I hope that this thought be useful to other people.