Tag Archives: Rick Perry

“Good” and “Bad” Shame

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Theodore Roethke with his poem, “Dolour” capture so poignantly the prison that shame can create for us.  He captures the daily grind of routine, devoid of spontaneity and spirit, which Emerson had reference to when he bemoaned that, “Most men live lives of quiet desperation.”  For desperation is what ensues in spiritual deprivation, which always leads to addictions such as drugs, alcohol, ideology, (including religious ideology), and consumerism:

I have known the inexorable sadness of pencils,
Neat in their boxes, dolor of pad and paper weight,
All the misery of manilla folders and mucilage,
Desolation in immaculate public places,
Lonely reception room, lavatory, switchboard,
The unalterable pathos of basin and pitcher,
Ritual of multigraph, paper-clip, comma,
Endless duplication of lives and objects.
And I have seen dust from the walls of institutions,
Finer than flour, alive, more dangerous than silica,
Sift, almost invisible, through long afternoons of tedium,
Dropping a fine film on nails and delicate eyebrows,
Glazing the pale hair, the duplicate grey standard faces. 

Healthy shame is necessary as it can nudge us into the tribe we are born into, teaching us to “make nice” in the interest of group coherence.  We then respect rules of decorum, civility, respect for each other, and even agreed upon ruses that have an important function in making the tribe cohere.  But toxic shame often steps in and these necessary “rules” are forced upon children, sometimes with subtle and often not so subtle brutality so that the whole tribe is force-marched toward some unknown end, driven only by the force of habit etched deeply in the old brain.

Toxic shame breeds a tribe/nation of automatons who are readily manipulated by the power structure which controls the reins of the economy and government. And in the modern world, particularly in present day America, we find ourselves enthralled by a demagogue who in less than two weeks could further squash dissent and allow him to continue his assault on traditional American values, including those that we like to describe as “Judeo-Christian.”  People who are shamed into submission lack the capacity for critical thought; critical thinking would evoke in their heart the experience that Rick Perry suffered in 2011 during a debate, an excruciating spasm of self-awareness, when he realized he had made an ass of himself and had to utter the famous word, “Oops.”  It is very hard to admit “oops” when you are shame-bound as you just cannot admit having made a mistake.  (Now how Rick Perry did it, I don’t have an explanation.  But it did speak well of him!)  We make asses of ourselves, much more often than we are willing to admit, and when it happens it is redemptive if we can say…perhaps, merely…”oops.”  Oh, if Trump could just learn this simple word!

Here is a list of my blogs.  I invite you to check out the other two sometime.

https://anerrantbaptistpreacher.wordpress.com/

https://literarylew.wordpress.com/

https://theonlytruthinpolitics.wordpress.com/

 

Shakespeare on Hypocrisy

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Shakespeare does it again! Just when I’m taking comfort, so luxuriously ensconced in my humility, he punctures my bubble:

When love begins to sicken and decay,
It useth an enforcèd ceremony.
There are no tricks in plain and simple faith.
But hollow men, like horses hot at hand,
Make gallant show and promise of their mettle.

Ever caught yourself being full of yourself? Ever caught yourself being pious and righteous? Ever caught yourself doing so “like horses hot at hand”? What an incredible image this is. I can see the huge horses, snorting and pawing the air, announcing, “Hey, everyone! I’m here. Look at me.”

Now in fairness to myself, I am not as guilty of this as in my youth but it still happens. Then “mindfulness” will visit me in (spite of myself), and the sting of conscience will prick me. Then, suddenly humbled by self-awareness, I will utter the famous word of Texas Governor Rick Perry, “Oops!” For I have been caught looking foolishly full of myself.

“Hollow men” wear their faith for show. In another play, Shakespeare said of them, “With devotions visage and pious action, they do sugar o’er the devil himself.” They often mean well and are often only of guilty of immaturity. But they do great harm. I think the televangelists are a good example of this “horses hot at hand” type of faith. These fellows are usually performance artists and prey on an unlearned audience, one that lacks the gift of a discriminating ear.

To use still another notion from Shakespeare, these “hollow men” have hearts that are “bronzed over” by “damned custom” so that it is “proof and bulwark against sense.” Yes, the heart has been replaced by “damn custom” or these aforementioned cognitions, the pious jargon, so that the heart itself is “proof and bulwark” against “sense” or “feeling.” Thus the heart is empty of feeling and the person living merely in the grasp of the conceptual is a “hollow man” and must make “gallant show and promise of their mettle.”

For, the “plain and simple faith” that Jesus spoke of is not available to them, the faith that Jesus had in mind when he spoke of the need of coming to him with the faith of little children. I now work often with little children and their sweet little hearts are just overflowing with faith—faith in mommy and daddy, faith in their teachers, faith in their budding notions of “god”, faith in the world they are exploring, and even faith in an old substitute teacher like me! It is beautiful to see their simple trust. This is the “simple faith” that Shakespeare had in mind and the faith that Jesus calls us to.

But, oh, it is so much easier to just rely on what we are accustomed to, those “well worth words and ready phrases that build comfortable walls against the wilderness,” even if they are the “Christian” variety!

Narcissim and arrogance of GOP

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Newt Gingrich recently declared that his nomination for the GOP nomination was certain. I’m just appalled at his brazen arrogance but that kind of chutzpa has a definite place in the contemporary Republican party. We all have flashes of narcissism in which we are too sure of ourselves but usually we self-monitor and do not announce our childish whim, realizing that we appear arrogant and over-confident. We have the whim but on some level we immediately pause and say to ourselves, “Now how would this sound to others?”

There is another example from a GOP debate in September. Health care for the indigent was being discussed and Ron Paul was asked about the issue. Wolf Blitzer posed the question to Paul, “What do you tell a guy who is sick, goes into a coma and doesn’t have health insurance? Who pays for his coverage? Are you saying society should just let him die?” Immediately someone from the Tea Party audience yelled, “Yeah” and that was immediately followed by another “yeah” and then thunderous applause. The candidates were silent for a moment, realizing that the crowd response was really awkward.

Now, I would think that the Tea Party crowd would have realized just how awkward it would appear to applaud and cheer for the hypothetical death of another human being. But “self-monitoring” is not their strong suit and they burst into applause. It was kind of like an earlier debate when the crowd cheered that Rick Perry’s state, Texas, was “leading the league” in executions.

Praise for Republicans

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I actually feel some sympathy for Rick Perry re his memory lapse in last night’s debate.  He really screwed up and embarrassed himself and probably knows that this was the death-knell of his campaign.  But I cringe when someone humiliates himself anywhere, especially in a national forum.  I commend him for acknowledging this even then, with his “oops” comment, and even later when he admitted, “I stepped in it.”  (I like that course image as we all know what “it” was that he stepped in.)  And I’m impressed that he didn’t trot out the usual political refrain, “Well, I certainly was amiss on that occasion,”  and which point they trot out their talking points, prefaced with, “But, here is my central message…..”  He didn’t do that.   Well, at least he has not of yet.  I personally hope that he drops out, returns to Texas, looks seriously into his campaign and the issues that it brought to the surface, that he will delve more deeply into his faith and explore that faith more fully, and then will resurface to engage meaningfully…and hopefully with more humility…in the rest of his life.

And, yes, even a word of praise for Michelle Bachman, though I grimace at the prospect of praising this very simple, not-ready-for-primetime woman.  But I like her idea of imposing a tax liability on that 50% of the population who pay no income taxes each year, perhaps even $10.00.  And, yes, this responsibility could cost them a “happy meal” or two, or even better yet a couple of packs of cigarettes.  But, it would help impose reality on them and I fear that with the “welfare state” we do create a false reality for many.  Now, of course, there would have to be exceptions.  There are those who could not afford even $10.00 and do not have even the luxury of a “happy meal” or cigarettes.

God, I hope I don’t rot in hell for offering even the faintest praise for this appalling political character!  But I must always remember, “Even a blind pig finds a walnut eve now and then.”