It struck me recently that one element of the culture of the United States is the inability to move from suspicion to trust. Whole swathes of the US population seem to get caught up in conspiracy theories and delusions of persecution. This state characterises much of the speculation on the political front in both domestic and foreign policy as well as in religion, the family and the intellectual life of the people.
The reason for this stalemate is the refusal of large swathes of the population to demonstrate and develop a sense of home that is open and welcoming rather than closed and suspicious. I don’t have any notion of what might constitute a ready fix to this situation. Except to say that, because of this lack of trust, words seem to easily lose their meaning and personal testimonies become arbitrary. This is a situation where opinions have no weight and so we are constantly in search of a bedrock that will make our opinion ‘count’.
This is to some extent the result of a massive population in which alienation is the everyday byproduct. There is such a great number of people, all with their own opinions, that in the end, they become watered down and the substance of the public discourse becomes empty of authority. It is a de-centred public discourse because no one believes that any one else knows what is going on. This is the soul of the United States to some extent is that all the many different parts each have their own integrity, but because of this suspicion and lack of welcome to different perspectives, the many different parts are unable to bestow a measure of their trustworthiness to the central authority.
Yet what is the bedrock of authority that allows the populations of other nations to feel that their voice counts? It is the ability to love oneself. There might be pockets of the population that demonstrate a concerted ability to show love and respect to each self, but the great majority of the nation believe that they must love others before they love themselves – before they even consider themselves worthy of this attention and attentiveness to their own needs.
This bedrock allows one to be welcoming and to move from suspicion to trust – but only if the state of suspicion is honoured and addressed rather than belittled and made fun of. Too much of US culture is about judgementalism and legalism without demonstrating the patience and fortitude that are necessary for right judgement and mercy to prevail. When we judge others for being suspicious – we question the validity of their self-protection and thus suspicion and fear is met with arrogance and derision. The thing is: we are only arrogant and deriding in the face of suspicion when we do not believe that we are really worthy of that trust to begin with.
Is there something I can do to build my belief that I am worthy of trust? This is the question at the heart of every mature culture. It assumes that trust is something worthy of valuing and having as a part of my life. If we have the courage to face ourselves and our own potential for self-destruction, we can begin, with others’ help, to walk the way of peace and love and consolation. But this is something many of us are only too willing to avoid. ‘It can wait’ seems to be the standard response to such a question.
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