What our society suffers from most
today is the absence of consensus about what it and life in it ought to be. Such
consensus cannot be gained from society’s present stage, or from fantasies about
what it ought to be. For that the present is too close and too diversified, and
the future too uncertain, to make believable claims about it. A consensus in the
present hence can be achieved only through a shared understanding of the past,
as Homer’s epics informed those who lived centuries later what it meant to be
Greek, and by what images and ideals they were to live their lives and organize
their societies.
Most societies derive consensus from a long
history, a language all their own, a common religion, common ancestry. The myths
by which they live are based on all of these, But the United States is a country
of immigrants, coming from a great variety of nations. Lately, it has been
emphasized that an asocial, narcissistic personality has become characteristic
of Americans, and that it is this type of personality that makes for the lack of
well-being, because it prevents us from achieving consensus that would
counteract a tendency to withdraw into private worlds. In his study of
narcissism, Christopher Lasch says that modem man, "tortured by
self-consciousness, turns to new therapies not to free himself of his personal
worries but to find meaning and purpose in life, to find something to live for".
There is widespread distress because national morale has declined, and we have
lost an earlier sense of national vision and purpose.
Contrary
to rigid religions or political beliefs, as ate found in totalitarian societies,
our culture is one of great individual differences, at least in principle and in
theory. But this leads to disunity, even chaos. Americans believe in the value
of diversity, but just because ours is a society based on individual diversity,
it needs consensus about some dominating ideas more than societies based on
uniform origin of their citizens. Hence, if we are to have consensus, it must be
based on a myth--a vision--about a common experience, a conquest that made us
Americans, as the myth about the conquest of Troy formed the Greeks. Only a
common myth can offer relief from the fear that life is without meaning or
purpose. Myths permit us to examine our place in the world by comparing it to a
shared idea. Myths are shared fantasies that form the tie that binds the
individual to other members of his group. Such myths help to ward off feelings
of isolation, guilt, anxiety, and purposelessness --in short, they combat
isolation and the breakdown of social standards and
values. |
