Hope so: Roland Carn on a notion that goes deeper than optimism

‘We are all called to resist this overwhelming “warrior” culture.’

I’m getting worried by the pattern that I see.

The pandemic and the war in Ukraine show how the world economy is an interdependent system. The refugee crisis and the inability of the UK and the USA to deliver promised help to Ukraine shows the disastrous inadequacy of our bureaucratic systems. Meanwhile, social corruption threatens the moral basis of our society, from the Trump administration (and the January insurrection) to Downing Street (with ‘Partygate’, and attempts to limit legal aid and the right to protest, and to reject the international human rights court). I have a sense of self-serving medieval war-lords re-emerging in our modern, technological, democratic world, in new sophisticated guises.

‘Warrior’ cultures and worldviews are usually defended and justified as somehow ‘natural’. And perhaps a study of the evolution of life and human society does show there is a thread of self-serving aggression. But there is a more ancient thread of cooperation, beginning with atoms joining into molecules through multi-cellular organisms, and evolving to human societies.

It’s easy to complain, to criticise, moan and blame the establishment. Much has changed and improved in human society, especially in recent centuries and decades. For all their faults and failings we have a parliamentary democracy, a legal system of justice, a bureaucratic civil service, a health care system, an education system, an economic system, a monetary system, religious tolerance, human rights, and so on. It is plain stupid to throw these away in the destruction of a war or revolution, for a problematic, single-issue change or personal aggrandisement.

The age-old ‘warrior’ worldview also surfaces in our modern democracy as bullying, lying, economic deprivation or information hiding. These behaviours are endemic even down to our small local groups.

This culture is overwhelming. What hope is there for survival or a better world? Is there hope of a practical alternative?
The best and ultimate safeguard against inner corruption and threat is the truth – the whole truth and nothing but the truth. There is an embryonic alternative economy in the humanitarian aid system. There is an embryonic political cooperative system in space and in the Antarctic. There is a truth system in the scientific community, and an information flow system on the internet. The hope is to integrate them into a planet-wide system that balances self-interest of the ‘warriors’ with creative cooperative communities.

But is this a real hope? Quakers have 370 years of experience with finding the truth and changing our society for the better. Our achievements in Britain, in cooperation with others, include religious tolerance, conscientious objection, humanitarian aid, integrity in business, votes for women, minority rights, same-sex marriage, and much more. Our method for doing all this is in our system of governance, organisation, management and cooperation. This is built on a process of discerning what is right in a system of communicative self-managed circles.

This method is in stark contrast to the widespread ‘warrior’ culture, but it is not an either/choice. There is a spectrum of methods between the two, and it is a matter of building what is most appropriate for a particular situation.

Quakers’ task is to package our business method and process of discernment for a general audience. We could begin by promoting its application in the workplace, and in small local groups.

Wars and political struggles in the last century have shown that a small committed group can successfully engage with overwhelming force. In the last three years we have seen how the guerrilla strategy of Extinction Rebellion has moved the complex issue of climate change, and its threat to extinguish human life, up the political, scientific, technical and social agendas.

Quiet diplomacy, as practised by Friends, is another hope. Begun by Sydney Bailey at William Penn House, it is now flourishing in Brussels, Geneva and the United Nations in New York. It brings together people of power and influence to work on specific issues.

This diplomacy is an effective guerilla strategy, but few of us have the deep wisdom to be called to this diplomatic service. Is there hope for the rest of us?

Quakerism is a way not a notion. Love is a way of living – a way through fun, trauma, conflict and challenges (yes, and romance too). It’s a phoenix arising wisely and courageously from the ashes of mistakes and setbacks. It’s a personal, face-to-face way of transformation that a Quaker can facilitate.

In a guerrilla strategy, the best way forward is to resist and check the warrior behaviours where they are not appropriate, in small face-to-face groups on a moment-to-moment basis. Think of the workplace, where we spend as much as a third of our days. It’s the time and place to deal with bullying, lying, and group manipulation. Here we can engage with people who have a warrior worldview. Culture and governance change will follow from the group’s growing experience and insight.

My hope is that living the Quaker business method is the hope of the world. We are all called to resist this overwhelming ‘warrior’ culture. We do this in small ways, moment to moment, in face-to-face meetings, in places where we work.

As Henry David Thoreau wrote (albeit in the gendered language of the nineteenth century), ‘If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings.’

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Comments

On ‘a spectrum of methods ... building what is most appropriate for a particular situation’ we already have ‘sociocracy’ (https://www.sociocracyforall.org/sociocracy amongst many sources), developed from our way of doing business by none other than Betty Cadbury (daughter of George of Woodbrooke and chocolate) and her husband Kees Boeke in the Netherlands in the 1930s - https://www.sociocracy.info/first-implementation-of-sociocracy.
One thing not mentioned about ‘warrior’ cultures is that they are always male (The Amazons is a Greek myth used to actually reinforce patriarchy - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/05/mary-beard-women-and-power-review-modern-feminist-classic). Until we get rid of gendered language and prioritize caring the ‘warrior’ culture will always prevail. Not the ‘warrior’ version of ‘care’ which is something that we do to people and the environment, but ‘feminine care’ as mutual support - https://ethicsofcare.org.
The ‘care’ that hopes for an outcome where care will no longer be needed and we can live together free and equal.

By GordonF on 23rd September 2022 - 12:32

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