Greg Jemsek

The author’s experience with a cult in the 70s, Ananda Marga, led him to analyze the attraction of restrictive ideologies to so many people - not only religious ideologies, but also political and social ideologies. He wondered why people would be willing to give up their intellectual freedom and unquestioningly accept the dogma of the ideology.

Jemsek refers to ideological conversion as a “swoon,” and he says it is as intoxicating as falling in love. It engenders a willingness to believe that the secrets of life will be made clear as long as the dictates of the organization are religiously followed.

In the author’s case, his susceptibility to the ideology of Ananda Marga was increased due to his lifelong desire to re-enter the “golden world” he discovered during a mystical experience in his youth. He also points to the “narcissistic damage” he experienced as a youth and his desire to belong to a loving family of like-minded people. He was impressed by the forcefulness exhibited by a group of committed and organized people who seemed to have a handle on spiritual transformation. But conversion was required in order to achieve this promised transformation.

The conversion process takes place on what Jemsek calls a “persuasion continuum.” Calcification is the first tipping point on this continuum, where theories turn into certainties, and belief overrides direct personal experience. The door to open-mindedness slams shut. The second tipping point is when the ideology is wholeheartedly embraced. Then the third tipping point is the descent into fundamentalism, absolute certainty, a disallowal of dissent, and the acceptance of rules to explain every aspect of existence. Critical thinking is completely turned off.

While recognizing that ideologies contain valuable lessons, the author says that their dark side is their insistence that everyone must subscribe to the ideology or else be doomed. Jemsek wonders whether some sort of psychological dynamic was present in U.S. society that fueled the high conversion rate of so many people to both eastern religions and to fundamentalist Christian groups. He saw that this wholesale buying into a religious ideology in the 70s was similar to the rebirth of materialism in the 80s, which is still with us today. The pursuit of self-knowledge turned into the pursuit of prosperity.

Jemsek explains that ideologies must spring from meta-narratives - grand persuasive story lines embedded in a society’s self-identity, the assumptions they cherish - because persuasion is easier when people have taken certain ideas for granted all their life. We buy into certain beliefs from the moment we are born into a certain cultural milieu. Through repetition, meta-narratives eventually lead to unconscious acceptance. Events are interpreted in such a way that they seem to confirm these ideas. Ideologies pick up on these belief systems and use them to persuade others of their authenticity.

The author gives as an example the Protestant Reformation and Puritanism. Puritanism, along with its religious descendants of today, was so successful in imposing its interpretation of the Protestant Reformation meta-narrative on U.S. society because people were (and continue to be) capable of accepting the idea of surrendering their personal sovereignty in exchange for the abstract promise of salvation. Another example in U.S. society is the frontier meta-narrative with its ideas of limitless possibilities, individualism, and the self-made man.

From this discussion of meta-narratives and their influence on our willingness to accept ideologies, the author next discusses themes that are relevant to the individual process of seeking meaning. Jemsek admits that he conflated the experience of intense transcendent moments with the idea of transformation. Eventually he realized they are two separate things, and that what he really needed was transformation rather than rediscovering that transcendent golden world of his youth. Transformation, he says, requires having the strength to act upon the human knowing each person already possesses. It also requires resisting the temptation of ideological visions of the world, especially when these visions are associated with intense or uplifting moments or compelling meta-narratives.

To accomplish transformation, ideologies would have us believe that we need to give up the personality and adopt an identity that is in accord with the ideology’s belief system. To counter this assertion, he cites Ken Wilber’s “pre-trans fallacy,” which is the belief that we have to ditch the personality before it has even had a chance to establish and get to know itself, thus avoiding the difficult work of learning to be fully in the world, warts and all, no matter that identity is ultimately illusory.

The discovery of one’s personal identity is a necessary first step to transformation, according to Jemsek, and it must be done in a mindful way, in ordinary everyday environments, under ordinary circumstances. He admits that ordinary living is much grittier than the pursuit of transcendent experiences, and people usually prefer to look for an easier, more interesting path. Nevertheless, coming to terms with limits is how a person moves from a malfunctioning narcissism to a healthy self-confidence. And one must also develop self-compassion and give up puritanical notions of needing to be perfect.

To develop an authentic identity, all ideas need to be weighed against something reliable in oneself. Jemsek asserts that sustaining a mindful presence provides all the self-knowledge a person needs. Beliefs give us focus and conviction, the author says, but they narrow our perspective of the wider world, and although a narrow focus may be necessary to get anything done, sometimes the shortsightedness causes one to do the opposite of what was intended.

Jemsek asks if there is a way to be empowered by belief without being a slave to it, and his answer is that it is not possible within an ideological system. What’s important, he says, is to be able to embrace uncertainty, believe in the uncertainty of life, and allow identity to emerge rather than adopting it to cover up the cleavages in our persona. His signposts to healthy empowerment and transformation are: building a solid identity, relating to others authentically, being willing to meet the world in the present moment.

Jemsek asserts that we must be mindfully present to pursue self-knowledge. Accessing the detached witness begins through exercising the personal will and having enough confidence in the solidity of one’s identity to be willing to create a distance from it and witness it. We access broader levels of awareness through the witness, he says, and sustaining that awareness broadens and deepens our experience of the world.

According to Jemsek, authentic relationships are based on a willingness to be vulnerable, a curiosity about others and the courage to disagree. We interrupt the gradual descent into ideological thinking by witnessing one’s life with greater mindfulness. With this work we can become a force in the world to expose the danger of ideology. This is important work in a world where, as Jemsek points out, it is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain trustworthy, in-depth dialog in public arenas.

The Quiet Horizon, Jemsek says, is the present moment, and he invites readers to take the necessary steps to wake up from their personal conversion swoon.… (mehr)