Anyone been finding blogging more difficult than it used to be? Lost the novelty a bit, and now what seemed so easy and freeing is more of a chore at times? Lots of people I’ve read seem to have done recently… Welcome to the fantasy cycle of the neophiliac.

I’ve linked to the other posts in the series above – and in the right bar under the series clicks – but to summarize, I’ve been fascinated by Christopher Booker’s work The Neophiliacs – Revolution in English Life in the Fifties and Sixties and believe it has strong messages for us as an emerging movement.

Why? Because he identifies the potential pitfalls of newness: falling into a neophiliac fantasy cycle:

Technorati Tags: Books, Emerging Church, Fantasy, Rebirth, Sustainable Growth

Blogging may be a good example:

You’re looking for a way to network/communicate

You start blogging. Everyone’s got one. It’s brilliant. You can’t wait to do the next post. Loads of hits.

But after a while it gets frustrating. Not as many people are visiting or commenting.

Then it seems no matter what you post, no one seems interested, or the feedback is negative.

So you chuck it in, and look for the next best thing that people are doing.

Familiar? You’ve just enjoyed a classic fantasy cycle: the stages of anticipation, dream, frustration, nightmare and deathwish, that fool us into thinking genuine newness is among us, but spit us out with little of substance changed at the end.

Of course, we go through these cycles all the time, and they are actually part of our learning and maturing. But, as Booker surprisingly suggests at the end of his book:

“In the events of Passion Week we see the portrayal of the fantasy cycle, moving from the Dream Stage of the entry into Jerusalem, through the frustration stage of Gethsemane, to the Nightmare Stage of the betrayal… And so to the Death Wish Stage of the crucifixion. Yet, on Easter morning comes the resurrection, completing the full cycle of the perfect man; who had acted out the pattern of the world’s sins, and yet was reborn.

The re-birth of Christ coincides, of course, with Spring – the rebirth of the year. But it is also a rebirth which can coincide with the inmost experience of every man who goes through the same pattern: of dying in his fantasy self, in order to live in his real self – the real self which, because it is part of God, goes on for ever and ever.”

In other words, these cycles need to actually help us to put to death our ‘fantasy self’, and live to our ‘real selves’. In the previous post I touched on how important this was for us individually. But I think it is going to be vital to the longevity of this ‘emerging movement’ – whatever that may be – that we are aware of the issues corporately too, and are consciously trying to avoid the projection of fantasy onto our corporate expressions, and to keep subverting them back to reality.

People are excited about this new thing happening. There’s been mainstream media interest in projects in the UK, and the whole Emergent thing in the US. This is great. But it carries with it the dangerous opportunity to project a fantasy. To project an image of things that suggests ‘this is it, this is the real thing, this is perfect and great.’ Because most likely, it’s not. We carry our imperfections and pains, and need to make sure people recognize us as imperfect. If we project perfection, then we encourage people to enter fantasy cycles and cults of personality.

So how might we try to avoid this?

1. Keep it real. Keep the dirt on show, and avoid temptations to project an image of things as better than they actually are.

2. Keep the feedback loops functioning. If communication is good, people are less likely to be able to project false images, or believe them.

3. This probably means that structures will need to remain flat and open. In my experience, the more hierarchical you get, the more likely it is a protective fantasy image will be projected onto the leadership, and from them to the wider circle.

4. Accept the death of the temporal when it comes. The Church will never die. But churches will. And we need to help them have good deaths when they do.

If we can do this, then genuine newness, real, lasting change is possible. We won’t succeed perfectly. Not this time round. But at least we might peel one more layer of the onion, get that little bit closer, and avoid the burning out and bleeding fallout of nasty collapses, deflated mega-visions and disappointed utopians.

Over the last few posts I’ve been proposing that the Emerging Church needs to be aware of the dangers of ‘Neophilia’ – being in love with newness for newness’ sake. Neophilia is a revolutionary mode. It tries to effect quick change, but fails to settle on sustainable, deep-rooted solutions as it flits from one ‘saviour’ to the next.

The process by which this happens Booker calls a fantasy cycle: from anticipation, into the dream stage where nothing can go wrong, to the frustration stage where things get more difficult, to the nightmare stage where nothing goes right, to the death-wish stage where things implode.

My concern is that in the new movement of the Emerging Church we need to be aware of the dangers of getting caught in such fantasy cycles if this newness we are looking to bring is to be anything more than a fad that people latch on to, fall in love with, get tired of and begin to destroy.

Jason and Damnflanderz make pose some important points. Firstly that such fantasy-cycles are an integral part of our lives. Fantasy is very closely linked to dreams and aspirations, and can thus be said to energise us change our reality. But we need to be careful that they don’t function to escape us from reality. So, secondly, is there anything Booker suggests we can do to escape the destructive elements of fantasy cycles?

Two levels to deal with, personal and corporate. On the personal level first:

Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Rebirth, Sustainable Growth

Booker’s thesis, a social history of British culture, suddenly takes an interesting turn when he writes:

“In fact, what I have been describing as fantasy [...] is what was known to former ages as evil. [...] In man (sic) there has arisen a kind of separation, even a potential conflict between the two instincts. (The ‘life’ instinct – to survive, grow, innovate, mate, create and the ‘orderly’ instinct – to relate, to nest, to form community) His life instincts remain as intact and unthinking of those of the other animals. But the controlling mechanism of his ‘orderly’ instincts has in some way broken adrift. It is in this separation that the unique element of instability in man’s nature is to be found.”

What Booker is suggesting is that the fantasy-cycles we involve ourselves in are constantly creating projections of ourselves and others and God that are unhelpful. By entering another ‘dream stage’ we ignore the reality of situations, idealise them and project a utopian goodness on to things, desperate that THIS WILL BE IT; that finally we’ve found what we’re looking for. We project fantasy images of ourselves, rather than being open and honest about our failings and gifts. And as such, we are projecting an unreal Self, a mask, a graven image, a false ego that is not true. This, Booker suggests, is what sin is. He goes on:

“The word religion comes from the Latin religare, meaning ‘to bind’. Its function is to provide the means by whereby man (sic) can bind himself, his life and order instincts together [and] enable him to counter the dis-ease which is his lot, and find a sense of wholeness, or ‘holiness’, a sense of ‘at-one-ment’ with the inner moving of all creation.

No man can be at unity with himself unless he is in harmony with the entire unity outside himself. He composes himself to unity by shutting out as far as possible the operations of his fantasy-self, in the state which we call prayer.”

What can we best do to avoid the sinusoidal pain of the fantasy cycle and try to bring true, sustainable newness to fruition? We need to start by trying to overcome our fantasy self. Can we ever finally succeed? No. But the attempt to do so is the journey towards maturity and wisdom. “Ultimately,” as he continues, “to overcome the fantasy self is the one supreme contribution that we can make to mankind.”

We thus enter the realm of that most profound archetypes: that of the King who must die in order that a new King may reign. I’ll end with Booker’s extraordinary closing words:

“Jesus came into the world symbolising the eternal renewal of life in one sense – in the image of the mother and child which has inspired so much great art in all societies. In the wilderness, since he was a man, he was tempted, and to become a full man, had to wrestle with and overcome his fantasy self.

What transformed Christianity into a myth of such unique power was the fact that this perfect man, took on himself as a model the pattern and consequences of evil. In the events of Passion Week we see the portrayal of the fantasy cycle, moving from the Dream Stage of the entry into Jerusalem, through the frustration stage of Gethsemane, to the Nightmare Stage of the betrayal… And so to the Death Wish Stage of the crucifixion. Yet, on Easter morning comes the resurrection, completing the full cycle of the perfect man; who had acted out the pattern of the world’s sins, and yet was reborn.

The re-birth of Christ coincides, of course, with Spring – the rebirth of the year. But it is also a rebirth which can coincide with the inmost experience of every man who goes through the same pattern: of dying in his fantasy self, in order to live in his real self – the real self which, because it is part of God, goes on for ever and ever.

Amen.

I’ll try to deal with the significance for us corporately soon.

Sorry it was such a long one.

Well done anyone who got to here ;p

Booker warns that this cult of sensation in the late fifties led Britain, and other parts of the West, into a corporate ‘fantasy cycle.’ I think this is a very powerful concept that is highly pertinent for our situation. He identifies five stages:

Stage 1: The Anticipation Stage

This is when a group are experiencing some kind of constraint. However, it is a constraint, or boundary, that is actually energising them, firing their dreams of newness, even though this dream lacks a focus or outlet. At the anticipation stage people are flying around looking for the thing to grab on to, for the project to fire their energies into. It is frustrating, but exciting.

Stage 2: The Dream Stage

“A period of rising excitement… when everything seems to be going right” as Booker puts it. The focus has been found, and everything just seems fantastic, running on its own energy. It seems nothing could ever go wrong, and finally IT has been found, the perfect, the great thing we’ve been waiting for.

Stage 3: The Frustration Stage

Here the first tinges of difficult are spotted. Relationships fray a little, and while things on the surface are still going really well, the energy required to make it happen is more than used to be in the Dream Stage. Meeting up becomes a little tiresome. Egos begin to surface. The ‘no worries’ attitude gives way to agendae and slightly different vision.

Stage 4: The Nightmare Stage

This is the exact opposite of the Dream Stage. The project seems to have become an energy black hole, with no amount of time invested seemingly able to raise the same excitement levels that once seemed so easy. Relationships are strained, and people are seeing clearly that the perfect IT that they had fantasised about is actually flawed, more difficult, more time consuming, full of awkward people that we thought we’d got away from, backward, too traditional, not radical enough… OLD.

Stage 5: The Death Wish Stage

This is the explosion into reality. The project, the vision, the great new thing collapses. People fall out, run away, move on. The dream is over. We swear we won’t be fooled again… Until we get that feeling that THAT is it! Some new thing, some new fantasy to get excited about… And so it rolls on.

Having read this analysis I was immediately struck by how this is paralleled in so many Christian stories. What worried me in particular was that we might well, in certain arms of the Church, be selling people a fantasy cycle. Inviting them on this great ride – it’s fantastic, it’s new, it’s perfect! And they are just ripe for it, and its starts like a dream and they are up and clapping, on fire… And then gradually get frustrated.

They have to sing harder, or be in bigger groups to get the same worship hit. Things don’t make quite as much sense. The people are awkward buggers. And the illness has come back… And the real worry, as Alan has brilliantly written in his book A Churchless Faith, is that once the Death Wish phase is entered, people simply leave.

A couple of questions to leave you with:

// Have you been through this cycle before? I know I have.

// Is the Emerging Church movement somewhere on this fantasy cycle?

// If so, where?

// And should we be trying to stop the fantasy cycles, and get real?

“Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Men will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them.”

Should we be trying to do something more solid, rather than run after everyone who points to the latest fad, the latest gimmick, saying ‘the kingdom of heaven is over here’!

Booker, and Christ, would say yes, and it’s to how that might happen that I’ll try to post on next.

Peace,

‘In this our time, the minds of men are so diverse, that some think it a great matter of conscience to depart from a piece of their old customs; and again, on the other side, some be so new-fangled, that they would innovate all things, and so despise the old, that nothing can like them but that is new.’



Thomas Cranmer, Book of Common Prayer 1552

Quoted in the introduction to The Neophiliacs

Christopher Booker’s ‘The Neophiliacs – Revolution in English Life in the Fifties and Sixties‘ has, I believe some powerful messages for us as an emerging movement. The book is an analysis of those remarkable years when much of the West did undergo a remarkable shift in attitudes and major new forms of music, theatre and political mood took root. By weaving together events from the worlds of music, film, literature, politics and fashion, Booker presents an extraordinary take on a very exciting time in history, prompting Malcolm Muggeridge to hail it as a “remarkable book. Immensely stimulating”

Booker’s concern is to explore how much of this supposed revolution was, in fact, little more than a collective fantasy, a mass of culturally spun sugar that appeared on the surface to be offering some genuine new order, but in fact collapsed into little of real substance.

My concern, using some of the thinking from his book, is to consider how we might avoid that path ourselves. In other words, how can we best help the Emerging Church movement to be something that effects genuine change, rather than a revolution that over-eggs its own importance and does little to change the reality on the ground.*

Firstly then, some thoughts on The Cult of Sensation.

“If we consider the exemplary expression of fantasy of mass-advertising we can see at once that a great many advertisements associated with pictures of pretty girls, burning flames, jet airlines, boats rushing along in water, speeding cars [...] and such words as crisp, instant, ice-cold, compact, high speed are built up, regardless of the product they are selling [see this post], of nothing more than indiscriminate collections of vitality images.”

Booker is writing at the end of the 1960s, nearly 40 years ago, so his idiom is bound to be slightly archaic. However, he touches on something very important. The new movements in all ares of the arts, politics and fashion were very much about sensation, about getting closer, touching. And at the same time were very much about a new vitality.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with that per se… but, as Booker carefully sets out, fantasies are about promising this vitality through what he calls “nyktomorphics” – night images, cats that become fierce tigers in the darkness of our imaginations, lingerie-clad advertising that promises vital sex, but doesn’t deliver.

In other words, to avoid being swept along in fantasy, you need to avoid promising more than you are delivering. Avoid spin. Let the truth be on show, not some projected idealized image. Don’t fall foul of sensationalism.

This can be harder than one might imagine, as often it is others who do the projecting for you. This was certainly true at Vaux, and I know through many conversations with Jonny about Grace too – the huge international image, with the local reality somewhat different.

So the first point to take from him is this: don’t allow the projected image to distort too far from the reality. In other words, keep it real. If we can do this, and not overblow our claims or influence, we’re one the road to avoiding entering a fantasy cycle… which will be the topic of the next post, and which I fear much of Christianity has fallen foul of.

*If you’ve read the book you’ll recognise that this is one of the major themes in it. Unfortunately, I came to Booker’s book too late to integrate it… Hence this attempt now!

Technorati Tags: Emerging Church

Actually, I’ve been meaning to write something for some time around the book ‘The Neophiliacs – Revolution in English Life in the Fifties and Sixties’ that Christopher Booker (the first editor of Private Eye) wrote back in the late 60’s.

The Amazon synopsis for ‘The Neophiliacs’ is rather good:

“Around the mid-1950s, on a wave of technological advances, Western civilisation moved into a period of prosperity dwarfing anything that had ever gone before. How golden was this age of affluence? How did it come to spawn a legend? The Fifties and Sixties are said to have witnessed sexual, artistic and scientific revolutions, the explosion of youth culture, the creation of a classless society. The New Aristocrats were pop singers, clothes designers, actors and actresses, film-makers, photographers, artists, writers, models and restaurateurs. Christopher Booker disentangles fantasy and reality, the ephemeral from the enduring. He charts the rise and fall of a collective dream.”

The book is therefore a critical biopsy of a revolution, and in his analysis Booker identifies archetypal features of any revolution. I read the book baking in the Tuscany sun a couple of summers ago, just after The Complex Christ had come out, and was immediately struck by the huge relevance his analysis had for us in the Emerging Church.

Are we just ‘Neophiliacs’ – in love with newness? Is the change we are hoping to undertake simply nothing more than another ecclesiastic ‘fantasy cycle’? Are we just destined to become a new form of cultural aristocracy, having trashed the established one? Are we involved in something more than a collective dream?

Having picked the book up because of it’s excellent cover, and this period in history being of major interest to me, I thought I was going to simply enjoy a bit of social history. I was therefore totally floored to turn the pages towards the end of the book to be hit with an searingly insightful analysis of Christ’s temptations in the desert, and their relevance for us as we attempt to effect real change, rather than lust after newness in a fantasy that will leave us empty…. But all that’s to come.

I’ll be posting some further thoughts on it over the next week or so.

Technorati Tags: Emerging Church