I am Jack's Slightly Indulgent Blog Post

I'm just still gloating over the fact I wrote a paper predominantly about Chuck Palahniuk's "Fight Club" and I got 100 on it. You don't really have to read it. I just wanted it documented somewhere.

Spring Semester is kicking my ass. And I feel as though several dramatic life changes have occurred in the past month alone. But hey, shenanigans abound, and life is on the whole pretty magnificent. Maybe at some point when I am not so exhausted I have lost control of my basic motor skills I'll document the life and times of the brobot oracle in greater depth. Until then, here's just another reason I never want to be an English major again. I have way too much fun with this stuff; I would hate it if anyone made me take it seriously.

Hugs,

MAnDers

P.S. I feel as though I must say I hate a lot of the fluffy flowery Christianese jargon I put in this paper, but you must remember it was for a class and we aims to please here at the Manders Paper Mill. 
P.P.S. I like to think opening with a FIF quote makes up for all that.

Group Mentality Vs. Individuality: Finding Yourself in the Crowd

   
                            

“Knowing what has made us free; unity not uniformity.” -Five Iron Frenzy

Community is an essential aspect of the human existence. We were not created to be alone. Even our Creator God exists in triune community with Himself. Christians coexisting in community and fellowship with one another is the only way to successfully further citizenship in God’s kingdom. For a community to increase, a community first has to exist. Regardless of one’s religious affiliation, being involved in some form of community benefits the individual and can cause one to grow and mature in ways not possible in isolation. Scholars such as Martin Luther King, Jr., C.S. Lewis and Robert D. Putnam have written extensively on various concepts involving community. All three of these men have drawn the conclusion that although the benefits are irreplaceable and may outweigh the risks, the community is a flawed machine with the potential to damage the individual and the group as a whole. These flaws come from the communities themselves and the individuals that create them. Either way, a distinction must be made between communal decisions and a “herd mentality.” Sometimes, the individual must rise up against the group. It is important to gain identity from community, not lose your identity to it.
    In Chuck Palahniuk’s debut bestselling novel “Fight Club,” the main character, Jack, spends the first act of his narrative going to a different kind of cancer support group every night of the week. His only condition is insomnia, but he believes experiencing the suffering of others will make himself feel better about his life. Examples this extreme may not be prominent in America today, but in Robert D. Putnam’s article, “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital” he describes the way genuine participation of the individual in community acts and decisions has diminished considerably. Like Jack, the modern individual seeks first to benefit themselves, and may use support groups or Bible studies or PTA meetings as a source of personal salvation before participating in them as an avenue to benefit the greater good. This paradigm can be damaging to the structure and wellbeing of a group as well as the integrity of the individual.    
    Along this same line of thinking, people are less likely to participate in political or social actions such as voting than they were ten years ago. The national government no longer seems applicable to personal everyday life. Many individuals and even certain communities no longer trust the government or the media. People are hesitant to try to change a status quo they do not fully understand, especially if they do not think they will personally benefit from the change.
    Putnam defines social capital as the fruits of social organization “such as networks, norms and social trust that facilitate...mutual benefit” (Putnam, 148).  One might think the largest amount of social capital could be found within churches. “Indeed, by many measures America continues to be...an astonishingly “churched” society” (Putnam, 150). Yet even in the Christian community, the true values of intimacy and fellowship and accountability are at stake due to the individual’s changing views of community and what it means to have social capital. Membership numbers may be booming, but in the midst of mailing lists and attendance sheets, the true bond between people is lost. Prayer chains and Skype sermons are a sorry replacement for face to face fellowship. Putnam sums up this argument with the chilling conclusion: “They root for the same team and they share some of the same interests, but they are unaware of each other’s existence. Their ties, in short, are to common symbols, common leaders, and perhaps common ideals, but not to one another” (Putnam, 153). Without correct participation and commitment from individuals, a greater community, one that mirrors God’s example, cannot stand.
    Community is confusing. It is easy for one to lose themselves in a group bigger than they are. Another reason the individual may attempt to join a certain community is to find a sense of belonging or of being in “the in crowd.” C. S. Lewis wrote about this in his address, “The Inner Ring.” God created us to worship Him. Humans are wired to desire something bigger than themselves. Lewis captured this concept as he described the way our lives are dominated by the desires “to be inside the local Ring and the terror of being left outside” (Lewis, 96-97). His work on the subject parallels Putnam’s thoughts regarding the selfishness plaguing communities and expounds upon the cause as to why. The desire to belong is in of itself not a bad thing. The trouble begins when one has to give up their values or parts of their individuality in order to be accepted by a larger group. The members of Jack’s Assault Committee started to get out of his control and he got so caught up in operations he did not fully understand that he literally lost his own sense of self. Especially when it comes to Christian communities, an individual should not have to lose their sense of self or be forced to ignore their conscience in order to “belong.” When it comes to most of the “Inner Rings” Lewis describes, it is far better to be rejected than surrender your integrity for a community composed solely of individuals seeking to improve their own lives and no one else’s.
    Martin Luther King, Jr. also spoke about the dangers of the herd mentality. Community is necessary. But it is also necessary to overthrow or at least change the mindset of the community if it is behaving in an immoral way. While he was in Birmingham Jail, King wrote a letter to various white churches in the area who were doing nothing to stop the racism and segregation happening right under their noses. He accused the churches of doing nothing because it was simply the “right” thing to do. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (King, 166) was his mantra, as he detailed a more global sense of community than either Putnam or Lewis. He touched more on how the Christian sense of community should be. We belong not solely to a certain race or gender or denomination; we are all citizens of the kingdom of God. Above all else, God’s community is the one to follow, regardless of the consequences or rejections one may face from worldly rings, even those that exist in the church.
    “I am not going to say that the existence of Inner Rings is an evil. It is certainly unavoidable...it is (in itself) a good thing that personal friendship should grow up between those who work together” (Lewis, 98). Neither Lewis, Putnam, King, or even Mr. Palahniuk ever say community is a wholly bad idea and the practice should be dropped altogether. It is not impossible to flourish under the wing of a larger community. Indeed, Lewis makes the statement, “It is necessary, and perhaps it is not a necessary evil. But the desire which draws us into Inner Rings is another matter” (Lewis, 99). Parents take their children to play groups and to preschools in order to establish a sense of community within them from the get-go so they are more likely to lead adjusted and more fulfilled lives. Home schooled kids have co-ops where they can still interact with their peers and start to build up their social capital. These are both practical and often successful ways communities benefit the individual and the greater group. Some parents homeschool their children in order to shield them from the wrong kinds of community, but this practice can do more harm than good, because children have less opportunity to make decisions for themselves. Individuals will search for some form of community no matter what their circumstances. “The desire which draws us into Inner Rings is another matter.” It’s hard to figure out, especially in my generation, where you are supposed to fit. An individual can search and strive for years to enter the “inner ring” and still be met with failure, misery, and the complete loss of self. I think Putnam, Lewis, and King would all agree that the ideal community is one based on unity and equality, not uniformity and sacrifice of self.
     Relationships are not easy. It is important to look to the divine community, our triune God, as the perfect example of coexistence. Each aspect of God’s character has its own separate function, but it is all for a common goal with no dissension or struggle. The body of Christ, the church, should mirror this example. We are united by the same goals and the same salvation, but that does not make us clones or robots with no sense of self or individuality. We were not created to be alone. We were also not created to be one organism with no differences. Jack’s alter ego, Tyler Durden, had a lot to say on the concept of community. He did not believe anyone was unique or better than anyone else. Through the lens of Christianity, Mr. Durden is wrong about a lot of things, but there is truth to be found in his doctrine: “You're not how much money you've got in the bank.  You're not your job.  You're not your family, and you're not who you tell yourself..You're not your name...You're not your problems...You're not your age...You are not your hopes” (Palahniuk, 143). We are not defined by what we have or what clique or group we belong to. We are defined by God’s love for us and the new life we have in Him. The only Inner Ring we need to worry about is God’s Kingdom. It is about solidarity, not sameness. It is about unity, not uniformity.



WORKS CITED

Authors, Various. Created and Called for Community. Acton, MA: XanEdu Publishing, Inc., 2010. Print.

Lewis, C. S.. The weight of glory, and other addresses . New York: Macmillan Co., 1949. Print.

Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight Club . New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1996. Print.

So there you have it. If you made it this far, congratulations, and also thank you for humoring me.

Now, listen to this.

it was so simple in the moonlight