Graduate 52: Duplicity, Deceitfulness, and Darkness
Thinking deeply about Pirates of the Caribbean has led me in some interesting directions. Specifically, in this entry, I would like to look at the third contemporary-pirate characteristic that I discussed in my last blog entry--the use of deception and manipulation to get ahead.
I suggested that in our current culture, few people are genuinely honest about who they really are. Instead, each hides behind one of various masks. There is not necessarily any sinister intent behind this habit; one may simply wish to fit in with the popular crowd or be accepted. But the result is that people become trapped behind their masks. After enough time has passed, they become no longer free to be who they really are in certain contexts.
Masks may be used in business to ingratiate oneself to the bosses; they may be used in the academic world in order to win the approval of esteemed colleagues. Celebrities take great care to shape their public faces as do politicians. Facades are a huge part of youth culture, where fitting in is everything. And even in our churches and religious communities, expectations can drive people to hide who they really are behind a thin, spotless veneer.
Usually we begin using masks as a way of controlling our circumstances and other people. We may want to be a part of the popular crowd, so we don a certain demeanor, dress, way of speaking, etc. in order to make them like us. But it doesn't take long before that "mask" takes on a life of its own and we lose control of it. If we ever dropped the mask, then they would see what we really are like. Then they might not like us; they might reject us, and then we would be all alone.
--
Dallas Willard describes this process in his book, Renovation of the Heart, in a chapter about transforming the will and character. In a section entitled, "Duplicity, Deceitfulness, and Darkness," (pp. 147-148) he writes, "In a condition of alienation from God, the complexity of the human will moves irresistibly toward duplicity, not just in the harmless sense of "doubleness," but in the sense of deception. This is the result of pretending to feel and think one way while acting in another. Often the deception involved is self-deception. Our pride will constantly trap us between desire and fear. Rather than surrender our desire, we will do what we want but conceal it because of fear of the consequences of being known. And perhaps then we will also try to conceal our fear of our pride. We will try to pretend that there is "nothing going on" at all. / Accordingly, the natural and proper complexity of the will leads those thus living as their own god in their world into ever-deeper layers of deception, and then into darkness, where they cannot even understand themselves and why they do what they do."
"The existentialist portrayal of sincerity as always bogus is in fact a correct picture of the will apart from God, and its emphasis upon the natural complexity of the human will is correct and helpful. That natural complexity is good and God-given. It is an essential part of human greatness. But the deceitfulness and darkness of the heart apart from God is inevitable to those who trust only themselves and so must try to take charge of their life and their world."
"Sad to say, we live in a world where others, including our loved ones as well as the institutions of society and government (and those running them) are with distressing regularity engaged in duplicity, deceitfulness, and darkness. It is a rare individual who does not have people around him or her who cannot be trusted to do what is right when something they desire or fear is involved. How often we have to deal with someone whom we know at the moment to be simply working out how he or she is going to mislead us. Perhaps very few of us could honestly say we are untouched in some way by our own duplicity. Few of us could honestly say that we do not sometimes have to struggle to overcome deceit and darkness, within ourselves as well as around us." (All emphases in the original)
--
An excellent example of this divided view of human nature can be found in a poem, "We are Many," by Pablo Neruda. I was first introduced to this poem in my AP English Literature class (senior year, high school). Interestingly, when I first read it, I was deeply disturbed by its message, but by the end of that year I thought it made a lot of sense. One is left to wonder whether my "greater appreciation" of the poem actually corresponded to "greater personal maturity" or not. Here is the text of "We are Many":
Of the many men whom I am, whom we are,
I cannot settle on a single one.
They are lost to me under the cover of clothing
They have departed for another city.
When everything seems to be set
to show me off as a man of intelligence,
the fool I keep concealed on my person
takes over my talk and occupies my mouth.
On other occasions, I am dozing in the midst
of people of some distinction,
and when I summon my courageous self,
a coward completely unknown to me
swaddles my poor skeleton
in a thousand tiny reservations.
When a stately home bursts into flames,
instead of the fireman I summon,
an arsonist bursts on the scene,
and he is I. There is nothing I can do.
What must I do to distinguish myself?
How can I put myself together?
All the books I read
lionize dazzling hero figures,
brimming with self-assurance.
I die with envy of them;
and, in films where bullets fly on the wind,
I am left in envy of the cowboys,
left admiring even the horses.
But when I call upon my DASHING BEING,
out comes the same OLD LAZY SELF,
and so I never know just WHO I AM,
nor how many I am, nor WHO WE WILL BE BEING.
I would like to be able to touch a bell
and call up my real self, the truly me,
because if I really need my proper self,
I must not allow myself to disappear.
While I am writing, I am far away;
and when I come back, I have already left.
I should like to see if the same thing happens
to other people as it does to me,
to see if as many people are as I am,
and if they seem the same way to themselves.
When this problem has been thoroughly explored,
I am going to school myself so well in things
that, when I try to explain my problems,
I shall speak, not of self, but of geography.
--
Who is the speaker in this poem? The "man of intelligence" or the "fool"? The "courageous self" or the "coward"? The "fireman" or the "arsonist"? Is he none of them? Is he all of them?
Before answering that question, consider a different treatment of this aspect of the human condition, drawn from the first chapter of the book of Proverbs. I've mentioned Proverbs in a couple recent blog entries. In this passage, Wisdom is personified as a woman and speaks to the masses. It's interesting, again, to note changing views of the text. A friend of mine read this two years ago during Men's Chorale tour and was turned off by Wisdom's apparently harsh and cavalier attitude. Now I see the passage differently and will explain that hereafter.
Wisdom shouts in the street,
She lifts her voice in the square;
At the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings:
"How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded?
And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing
And fools hate knowledge?
Turn to my reproof,
Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.
Because I called and you refused,
I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention;
And you neglected all my counsel
And did not want my reproof;
I will also laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your dread comes,
When your dread comes like a storm
And your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.
Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently but they will not find me,
Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the LORD.
The would not accept my counsel,
They spurned all my reproof.
So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way
And be satiated with their own devices.
For the waywardness of the naive will kill them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them.
But he who listens to me shall live securely
And will be at ease from the dread of evil." (vv.20-33)
In order to get past the apparent harshness, consider that the pattern Solomon describes and applies to Wisdom can also be applied to many other areas of life. The musician who neglects to hone his skill over days and weeks and months will find that they desert him on the night of the performance. The student who fails to study her lessons will not be able to recall them on test day. The athlete who does not rigorously train his body will find it an unwieldy and cumbersome tool on game day.
From this analysis we can draw the following conclusion: the hard truth for the speaker in Neruda's poem is that he just is that fool, that coward, that arsonist. Character is revealed in times of trial and testing, and when the trials become really significant and the tests truly challenging, then is it impossible to fake our way through. Unfortunately, many refuse to face who they really are and, like the poem's speaker, they just continue to wish that they could "touch a bell / and call up my real self." (Emphasis added) And they continue to hide behind their masks in confusion and angst.
--
As Dallas Willard mentioned, many try to cope with the confusion and angst by delving into still deeper levels of deception and self-deception. But there is no hope in that way. The only way out of the confusion is to turn away from duplicity toward sincerity and from deceit to integrity and from darkness to light. This means being honest with ourselves about who we are. And if we cannot be honest about ourselves than we should find other people who will be honest with us.
Does that sound like a painful process? The truth is that it doesn't have to be, because each person is created in the image of God, endowed with gifts and talents, made for a purpose, precious in God's sight. We usually intend for masks to hide our 'bad,' but they usually have the unintended effect of hiding all of these 'goods.' The blow may come in that these qualities are not highly prized in the world. But if we will take them seriously and choose to receive all that God has for us, there's nothing greater to be had.
But as we strive toward the light, we must be mindful of all those influences that would drive us back into the darkness. After writing about Pirates of the Caribbean, I began to think about all the places that I encounter duplicity and deceit. One place was in my reading. Surprised? I really enjoy Victorian Literature. I enjoy the complex stories and narration styles and dialogue. But I realized that many of the stories focus on just the kind of duplicity and deceit that I have been describing.
Recently I read two novels by Anthony Trollope: Barchester Towers and Phineas Finn. The first is about church politics. The second is about politics and Parliament. And that, just about, says it all. It is fascinating to follow the unfolding intrigues. Different parties and individuals are vying for power, position, titles, and money. The rules of engagement are subtle. A turn of phrase or a brief glance can make all the difference in the world. A man's entire career can hang on whether he applies just the right amount of pressure to the proffered hand of a particular duchess, whose husband has such and such influence and connections, when being introduced to her at a certain dinner party with only select individuals in attendance on a particular night of the week. It's remarkably engaging reading (at least for me). Frank Herbert's Dune series is interesting to me for the same reasons. How great would it be if only one could become adept at this fine art of social control. ...or would it be?
Just reading the books is exhausting. How much more exhausting would it be to have to micromanage every aspect of one's life. Sure, it looks easy on television; and everybody's problems get resolved in a convenient fifty minutes. But that's not real life. And I wonder if it may very well be the case that, for the majority of average Americans, most of their information about how to relate to people in relationships comes, not from real-life interaction with living, breathing people, but from the fictional lives of so many television and movie characters.*
Am I going to stop reading Victorian novels? Probably not, but the lesson here is that we need to be mindful of what we watch and listen to--hopefully this is not news to anybody--because we are affected and shaped by all of it.
--
One final suggestion: read George MacDonald's At the Back of the North Wind.
Many in the academic world and society, as Dallas Willard says of the existentialists, do think that "sincerity" is always bogus. In fact, I used to think it was, too, and doubted that I could ever come to a place where my heart and will were truly unified in one purpose and vision. I will write, another time, about how I have come to embrace "sincerity" as a genuinely attainable ideal. But I mention MacDonald's book because I have found in it a beautifully- and artfully-rendered portrayal of genuine sincerity. It is a children's book, simple and accessible, but it took my breath away when I read it. Take it seriously and the vision that it sets before you; may it be an encouragement to you.
--
God bless,
--
*Dallas Willard. "Nietzsche v. Jesus." Part 2. Lecture: Veritas Forum, Stanford University. 04 March 2002. Listen starting at 24 minutes. http://www.veritas.org/3.0_media/talks/456
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
I suggested that in our current culture, few people are genuinely honest about who they really are. Instead, each hides behind one of various masks. There is not necessarily any sinister intent behind this habit; one may simply wish to fit in with the popular crowd or be accepted. But the result is that people become trapped behind their masks. After enough time has passed, they become no longer free to be who they really are in certain contexts.
Masks may be used in business to ingratiate oneself to the bosses; they may be used in the academic world in order to win the approval of esteemed colleagues. Celebrities take great care to shape their public faces as do politicians. Facades are a huge part of youth culture, where fitting in is everything. And even in our churches and religious communities, expectations can drive people to hide who they really are behind a thin, spotless veneer.
Usually we begin using masks as a way of controlling our circumstances and other people. We may want to be a part of the popular crowd, so we don a certain demeanor, dress, way of speaking, etc. in order to make them like us. But it doesn't take long before that "mask" takes on a life of its own and we lose control of it. If we ever dropped the mask, then they would see what we really are like. Then they might not like us; they might reject us, and then we would be all alone.
--
Dallas Willard describes this process in his book, Renovation of the Heart, in a chapter about transforming the will and character. In a section entitled, "Duplicity, Deceitfulness, and Darkness," (pp. 147-148) he writes, "In a condition of alienation from God, the complexity of the human will moves irresistibly toward duplicity, not just in the harmless sense of "doubleness," but in the sense of deception. This is the result of pretending to feel and think one way while acting in another. Often the deception involved is self-deception. Our pride will constantly trap us between desire and fear. Rather than surrender our desire, we will do what we want but conceal it because of fear of the consequences of being known. And perhaps then we will also try to conceal our fear of our pride. We will try to pretend that there is "nothing going on" at all. / Accordingly, the natural and proper complexity of the will leads those thus living as their own god in their world into ever-deeper layers of deception, and then into darkness, where they cannot even understand themselves and why they do what they do."
"The existentialist portrayal of sincerity as always bogus is in fact a correct picture of the will apart from God, and its emphasis upon the natural complexity of the human will is correct and helpful. That natural complexity is good and God-given. It is an essential part of human greatness. But the deceitfulness and darkness of the heart apart from God is inevitable to those who trust only themselves and so must try to take charge of their life and their world."
"Sad to say, we live in a world where others, including our loved ones as well as the institutions of society and government (and those running them) are with distressing regularity engaged in duplicity, deceitfulness, and darkness. It is a rare individual who does not have people around him or her who cannot be trusted to do what is right when something they desire or fear is involved. How often we have to deal with someone whom we know at the moment to be simply working out how he or she is going to mislead us. Perhaps very few of us could honestly say we are untouched in some way by our own duplicity. Few of us could honestly say that we do not sometimes have to struggle to overcome deceit and darkness, within ourselves as well as around us." (All emphases in the original)
--
An excellent example of this divided view of human nature can be found in a poem, "We are Many," by Pablo Neruda. I was first introduced to this poem in my AP English Literature class (senior year, high school). Interestingly, when I first read it, I was deeply disturbed by its message, but by the end of that year I thought it made a lot of sense. One is left to wonder whether my "greater appreciation" of the poem actually corresponded to "greater personal maturity" or not. Here is the text of "We are Many":
Of the many men whom I am, whom we are,
I cannot settle on a single one.
They are lost to me under the cover of clothing
They have departed for another city.
When everything seems to be set
to show me off as a man of intelligence,
the fool I keep concealed on my person
takes over my talk and occupies my mouth.
On other occasions, I am dozing in the midst
of people of some distinction,
and when I summon my courageous self,
a coward completely unknown to me
swaddles my poor skeleton
in a thousand tiny reservations.
When a stately home bursts into flames,
instead of the fireman I summon,
an arsonist bursts on the scene,
and he is I. There is nothing I can do.
What must I do to distinguish myself?
How can I put myself together?
All the books I read
lionize dazzling hero figures,
brimming with self-assurance.
I die with envy of them;
and, in films where bullets fly on the wind,
I am left in envy of the cowboys,
left admiring even the horses.
But when I call upon my DASHING BEING,
out comes the same OLD LAZY SELF,
and so I never know just WHO I AM,
nor how many I am, nor WHO WE WILL BE BEING.
I would like to be able to touch a bell
and call up my real self, the truly me,
because if I really need my proper self,
I must not allow myself to disappear.
While I am writing, I am far away;
and when I come back, I have already left.
I should like to see if the same thing happens
to other people as it does to me,
to see if as many people are as I am,
and if they seem the same way to themselves.
When this problem has been thoroughly explored,
I am going to school myself so well in things
that, when I try to explain my problems,
I shall speak, not of self, but of geography.
--
Who is the speaker in this poem? The "man of intelligence" or the "fool"? The "courageous self" or the "coward"? The "fireman" or the "arsonist"? Is he none of them? Is he all of them?
Before answering that question, consider a different treatment of this aspect of the human condition, drawn from the first chapter of the book of Proverbs. I've mentioned Proverbs in a couple recent blog entries. In this passage, Wisdom is personified as a woman and speaks to the masses. It's interesting, again, to note changing views of the text. A friend of mine read this two years ago during Men's Chorale tour and was turned off by Wisdom's apparently harsh and cavalier attitude. Now I see the passage differently and will explain that hereafter.
Wisdom shouts in the street,
She lifts her voice in the square;
At the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings:
"How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded?
And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing
And fools hate knowledge?
Turn to my reproof,
Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.
Because I called and you refused,
I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention;
And you neglected all my counsel
And did not want my reproof;
I will also laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your dread comes,
When your dread comes like a storm
And your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.
Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently but they will not find me,
Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the LORD.
The would not accept my counsel,
They spurned all my reproof.
So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way
And be satiated with their own devices.
For the waywardness of the naive will kill them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them.
But he who listens to me shall live securely
And will be at ease from the dread of evil." (vv.20-33)
In order to get past the apparent harshness, consider that the pattern Solomon describes and applies to Wisdom can also be applied to many other areas of life. The musician who neglects to hone his skill over days and weeks and months will find that they desert him on the night of the performance. The student who fails to study her lessons will not be able to recall them on test day. The athlete who does not rigorously train his body will find it an unwieldy and cumbersome tool on game day.
From this analysis we can draw the following conclusion: the hard truth for the speaker in Neruda's poem is that he just is that fool, that coward, that arsonist. Character is revealed in times of trial and testing, and when the trials become really significant and the tests truly challenging, then is it impossible to fake our way through. Unfortunately, many refuse to face who they really are and, like the poem's speaker, they just continue to wish that they could "touch a bell / and call up my real self." (Emphasis added) And they continue to hide behind their masks in confusion and angst.
--
As Dallas Willard mentioned, many try to cope with the confusion and angst by delving into still deeper levels of deception and self-deception. But there is no hope in that way. The only way out of the confusion is to turn away from duplicity toward sincerity and from deceit to integrity and from darkness to light. This means being honest with ourselves about who we are. And if we cannot be honest about ourselves than we should find other people who will be honest with us.
Does that sound like a painful process? The truth is that it doesn't have to be, because each person is created in the image of God, endowed with gifts and talents, made for a purpose, precious in God's sight. We usually intend for masks to hide our 'bad,' but they usually have the unintended effect of hiding all of these 'goods.' The blow may come in that these qualities are not highly prized in the world. But if we will take them seriously and choose to receive all that God has for us, there's nothing greater to be had.
But as we strive toward the light, we must be mindful of all those influences that would drive us back into the darkness. After writing about Pirates of the Caribbean, I began to think about all the places that I encounter duplicity and deceit. One place was in my reading. Surprised? I really enjoy Victorian Literature. I enjoy the complex stories and narration styles and dialogue. But I realized that many of the stories focus on just the kind of duplicity and deceit that I have been describing.
Recently I read two novels by Anthony Trollope: Barchester Towers and Phineas Finn. The first is about church politics. The second is about politics and Parliament. And that, just about, says it all. It is fascinating to follow the unfolding intrigues. Different parties and individuals are vying for power, position, titles, and money. The rules of engagement are subtle. A turn of phrase or a brief glance can make all the difference in the world. A man's entire career can hang on whether he applies just the right amount of pressure to the proffered hand of a particular duchess, whose husband has such and such influence and connections, when being introduced to her at a certain dinner party with only select individuals in attendance on a particular night of the week. It's remarkably engaging reading (at least for me). Frank Herbert's Dune series is interesting to me for the same reasons. How great would it be if only one could become adept at this fine art of social control. ...or would it be?
Just reading the books is exhausting. How much more exhausting would it be to have to micromanage every aspect of one's life. Sure, it looks easy on television; and everybody's problems get resolved in a convenient fifty minutes. But that's not real life. And I wonder if it may very well be the case that, for the majority of average Americans, most of their information about how to relate to people in relationships comes, not from real-life interaction with living, breathing people, but from the fictional lives of so many television and movie characters.*
Am I going to stop reading Victorian novels? Probably not, but the lesson here is that we need to be mindful of what we watch and listen to--hopefully this is not news to anybody--because we are affected and shaped by all of it.
--
One final suggestion: read George MacDonald's At the Back of the North Wind.
Many in the academic world and society, as Dallas Willard says of the existentialists, do think that "sincerity" is always bogus. In fact, I used to think it was, too, and doubted that I could ever come to a place where my heart and will were truly unified in one purpose and vision. I will write, another time, about how I have come to embrace "sincerity" as a genuinely attainable ideal. But I mention MacDonald's book because I have found in it a beautifully- and artfully-rendered portrayal of genuine sincerity. It is a children's book, simple and accessible, but it took my breath away when I read it. Take it seriously and the vision that it sets before you; may it be an encouragement to you.
--
God bless,
--
*Dallas Willard. "Nietzsche v. Jesus." Part 2. Lecture: Veritas Forum, Stanford University. 04 March 2002. Listen starting at 24 minutes. http://www.veritas.org/3.0_media/talks/456
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
posted by Metaphysician_delta | 8:44 PM
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