Merton on Society’s Delusions—Part 2

I will begin my overview of Thomas Merton's critiques of American society by offering several examples of what I refer to as society's delusions, which he showed had led—and still do—to many harmful behaviors. He did not denounce Americans themselves or their actions, but instead described the misguided manner of their thinking that led to their destructive conduct.

In doing so, Merton was following a time-honored tradition of Catholic monastics who, for some 2,000 years, had rejected society's violent and immoral ways, to live a contemplative life of seclusion. Retreating to isolated settings, they led a simple existence of devotion. As I wrote in the previous post, Merton followed this way of life for a couple of decades before he began his commentaries on society—which gave him the spiritual grounding to be as perceptive as he was.

A social problem that he often wrote about was America's acquisitive culture, which is in direct opposition to the austere life that a monk opts for. He wrote that advertisements are a kind of seduction that lures us into “psychological passivity and dependence.” He wrote that we are drawn into the “vapid grins on the billboards and the moron beatitudes in the magazines which assure us that we are all in bliss right now.” Pretty strong words, Tom!

Linking commercialism with Americans' practice of religion, he saw that we have “turned God, peace, happiness, salvation and all that man desires into products to be marketed in a speciously attractive package deal.” Such a God becomes “completely unreal—a mere convenience, serving man's purposes, a social commodity, a cosmic tranquilizer to be packaged and marketed along with any other product.”

He saw that this consumerist culture contributes to people's thinking becoming shallow and dull. Television dumbs us down and encourages our brains to fall asleep. We seek distraction and entertainment. He wrote, “A society whose whole idea is to eliminate suffering and bring all its members the greatest amount of pleasure is doomed to be destroyed.” Are these not the words of biblical prophets?

Merton wrote about how groupthink and peer pressure lead to masses of citizens swallowing the propaganda being propagated by the elite. He saw that we've become brainwashed and trained to go along with the crowd. He wrote, “There is no more tyrannical dictator than convention, fashion, and prejudice.” And, “The immature conscience is not its own master. It is more the delegate of the conscience of another person, or of a group, or of a party, or of a social class, or of a nation, or of a race.” That seems to pretty well describe our inability to think for ourselves, or to be courageous enough to act upon our own conscience; so we deaden it.

Merton the prophet was describing a social illness that he saw, over 60 years ago. It seems to me that we still flounder under pretty much the same delusions. Consumerism, compliant religious practices, dull mindedness, and groupthink are very active today. Have we not progressed... maybe even regressed?