A plea for passionate moderates
What this world needs is a good sense of balance
Things fall apart; the
center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world; …
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
– W.B. Yeats ("The Second Coming")
The anger and destruction let loose this month in Indonesia is a present-day reminder that the cycles of history are constantly turning. Dynasties prosper and decline. Nations rise and fall. Civilizations come and go. And always there is uncertainty, frequently turmoil, at the point of change.
In Indonesia, an unbalanced political order is being toppled by an outbreak of anarchy as a season of chaos ushers in necessary change. Such change only became possible when a critical mass of the population put their support behind those who have been pushing hard for a long time. The centre must be brought along, sometimes against its inclinations, and always against its inertia.
Earlier this century (1921) W.B. Yeats described a danger present in times of great transition, when unsavory aspects of human nature are unleashed and good is washed indiscriminately away with the bad. The poet was deeply troubled that humanity’s baser elements would seize the moment while the truly noble languished in disarray and detachment.
The violent political turmoil of Asia seems very distant to North Americans, but we too are in the midst of significant social change, a reconfiguration marked both by "culture wars" and indifference. At the brink of a new millennium a new order is beginning to unfold. Activists and artists are already sketching its shape.
Perhaps no artist better captures the ethos of the North American century than the recently-deceased Frank Sinatra. Since the 82-year-old singer died, the airwaves have reverberated with his dulcet tones. And the most common selection by far is his anthem to the cult of individualism–a message that serves also as his epitaph–"I Did It My Way."
In many ways, Sinatra typifies our culture’s drift away from a social consensus into a multitude of narrowly-defined directions. Both his life and lyrics echo the biblical refrain that describes times of social disintegration–when everyone does what is right in his or her own eyes. Tellingly, Sinatra’s signature song is increasingly requested for use at secular funerals.
And always prominent in these fluid times are activists. Like sheep dogs yapping and nipping around the fringes of the herd, their fervent passion for new approaches to particular issues correct and redirect the existing order. This is work for extremists, people whose clear sense of calling in one area is strong enough to persist against the general inertia.
A.W. Tozer once observed that "Persons with a certain type of mentality think only in extremes; they can never achieve perspective on anything, but see everything so close as to miss entirely the corrective benefits of distance…. Their fire is not large, but by holding it always on one fine point they manage to generate a surprising amount of heat, only at that one point."
I have come reluctantly to the conclusion that activists–along with their aggravating imbalances–are necessary, if only because people who normally operate on an even keel so often lack the passion to exert their influence. But what we really need are activists who are both well-balanced and eager to engage the world–reflective, not impulsive; proactive, not reactive.
Vigor and conviction
What we need are passionate moderates–people prepared to present and defend common-sense positions with vigor and conviction; people ready to resist the fragmenting pull of the poles and reconstitute the centre; people sensitive to and fascinated by the complexity of things. Our society needs well-rounded and grounded Christians eager to live out the full implications of the gospel with courage, enthusiasm, devotion and zeal.
And what should they be passionate about? What are the critical points to balance? The Old Testament prophet Micah provides the answer in its most basic terms. "And what does the Lord require of you?" he asks, "but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God" (6:8).
We need energetic activists, women and men committed to creating and upholding laws and practices consistent with the moral nature of the universe. We need public advocates who reflect the nature of our God–"merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love." We need people who are patient and compassionate especially towards those with whom they are in conflict; people willing to seek more vigorously the distortions and shortcomings in their own vision of things than in those they may be seeking to overcome.
Without more of these people, I fear, things will fall apart.
Doug
Koop
Editor
