One day, I was in Starbucks. While ordering, I noticed on the chalkboard several items, the purchase of which would support something I didn’t know existed, the Born This Way Foundation. I knew immediately the eminent (imminent?) philosopher Lady Gaga was behind this.
I don’t really have much of a clue about this foundation. But I do remember hearing that song on repeat on the radio a few years back. Every time, I laughed and cringed.
I laughed, because, as I said in a Facebook status at the time, Lady Gaga is only about thirty years (at least!) behind in her understanding of how the human brain works. She assumes humans are “hard-wired” — certain things about us are just there, a part of who we are. I don’t even have to jump into the deep end of neuroscience to call this over-simplistic; I can just wade in the kiddie pool. Studies of the human brain tell us that we are a much more complex mixture of “nature” and “nurture.” Plus, we are always changing, always becoming. Being “hard-wired” is just not a good way to describe us.
At the same time, I cringed, because this trite statement by Ms. Gaga reflects what I think is a very harmful cultural obsession: “be true to yourself,” “be you,” “listen to the voice within.”
This sentiment is so prevalent that most of us take it as a starting point: above all else, we should do what we think we should do. Life is about discovering and bringing to fruition what is inside of me — often despite external pressures to be or do something else. Words like integrity and honesty are invoked to describe the process. If you aren’t true to you, then you’re living a false existence.
In response to this, I would insert the voice of G. K. Chesterton. I love Chesterton, and I especially love Orthodoxy. This has been one of the most important books in my own growth and thinking.
At one point in the book, Chesterton turns to talking about those who seek the “Inner Light.” He says, “Of all horrible religions the most horrible is the worship of the god within.” He goes on to describe the problem:
“That Jones shall worship the god within him turns out ultimately to mean that Jones shall worship Jones. Let Jones worship the sun or moon, anything rather than the Inner Light; let Jones worship cats or crocodiles, if he can find any in his street, but not the god within. Christianity came into the world firstly in order to assert with violence that a man had not only to look inwards, but to look outwards, to behold with astonishment and enthusiasm a divine company and a divine captain. The only fun of being a Christian was that a man was not left alone with the Inner Light, but definitely recognized an outer light, fair as the sun, clear as the moon, terrible as an army with banners.”
Christianity is a religion built on something external, not on internal self-discovery. If anything, self-discovery within a Christian context is primarily about recognizing humanity’s proclivity to sinful patterns of acting and living.
Those who seek to discover themselves and embrace what they find as “ultimate truth” can do nothing other than worship a god made in their own image. What they like becomes how they define righteousness, what they don’t like is equated with sin. It’s convenient; it’s less-demanding. It’s not Christianity.
Christianity is not interested in affirming what we humans are. And this goes both ways — it’s not so worried about what we might deem good or bad. Rather, Christianity gives us humans a vision of what we can become.