|
|
|
 |
 |
In recent years,
I've increasingly thought of and referred to
myself as a NMI
(New Monastic Individual). The
concept is discussed in Morris Berman's The Twilight of
American Culture. Berman's
book, published in 2000, strikes me as
prescient. His conception of the NMI is
especially interesting. Here are some excerpts
regarding the NMI from book reviews:
|
"Trendy
formulas for change, ranging from
'paradigm shifts' to recycling
your newspapers, are simply not
going to cut it." Instead,
Berman puts forth a strategy of
preserving whatever knowledge and
meaningful cultural elements we can
on a small scale, with an eye toward
a different historical period when
it can be appreciated. The preserved
knowledge would then serve as the
seeds of a future cultural
renaissance.
He
labels those who would do this
preservation "new monastic
individuals." NMIs are the type of
people, he says, who would rather
lose their jobs than sell their
souls; who create not for money but
out of passion; who do not try to
establish themselves or their
activities into a fixed, co-optable
form. He cites examples such as
David Barsamian (who runs a weekly
program on NPR called Alternative
Radio), the creators of anti-ad
magazine Adbusters and filmmaker
Michael Moore (Roger & Me, TV
Nation, The Awful Truth). Anyone can
be this kind of person, he argues,
as long as one has integrity.
"Central to all of these examples is
the rejection of a life based on
kitsch, consumerism and profit, or
on power, fame and self-promotion.
And don't worry about being
marginalized; this is good."
|
Just
as classical culture ultimately
survived Rome's fall in the hands of
a few determined monks working in
obscurity to preserve the old texts,
Berman argues, an equivalent
underground movement – a "new
monasticism" – may hold the best
hope for preserving our cultural
heritage in the face of a looming
Dark Age.
Today's "monk" is committed
to a renewed sense of self, and to
the avoidance of groupthink,
including anticorporate or
anti-consumer culture groupthink.
The monastic option will not be
served by the new monastic "class"
being a class of any sort… Not
that like-minded souls shouldn't
make connections, but the key is
to keep these links informal."
Berman's vision of a new
monasticism feels resonant in an age
when so much of our cultural
apparatus seems to encourage us to
seek solace in groups (be they
teams, social groups or virtual
communities), or to pursue the tonic
of public attention as a salve for
the loneliness of being human. The
medieval monks, working in
isolation, eschewing all hope of
fame, and quietly engaging the
wisdom of a lost empire, do indeed
seem like the best kind of avatars
you could hope for.
While Berman puts forward a
cogent argument – and his riffs
about monasticism make for
especially compelling reading – I
don't entirely buy all of his
premises. For one thing, he draws
an oversimplistic distinction
between old and new media; he
fails to consider the role
of oral traditions; and he
tends to write off the Internet
with such broad rhetorical brush
strokes that one is tempted to
wonder whether he has ever
actually seen the thing. Given
that this book was first written
in 2000, perhaps Berman can be
forgiven for failing to recognize
that the Web might just hold out
the best hope for the new
monasticism he envisions. As I wondered a
couple of years ago, perhaps
bloggers may just be our
generation's heirs to the scribes
of yore?
|
|
When
Rome fell, there was a monastic
class that endeavored to sequester
the best of civilization and keep it
alive for healthier times. The monks
accomplished the same vital function
during the Middle Ages. Their moment
has come again. Berman suggests that
it is the very nature of history to
decline and recover. Once we accept
this organic process for what it is,
we can turn it to our advantage.
Thus, he advocates the nomadic
monastic individual:
An NMI
understands that he or she does not
have to be enveloped by McWorld, by
the skin of a disintegrating society
that is abandoning its values and
replacing our cultural heritage with
hype and marketing. Instead, you can
choose a way of life that becomes
its own “monastery,” preserves the
treasures of our heritage for
yourself and, it is to be hoped, for
future generations.
Through
the operation of saving
civilization, Berman argues, you
become civilized and inoculate
yourself against vulgarity and
“vital kitsch.” But the NMI must be
vigilant. Anonymity and movement are
key, lest you be co-opted into the
dying system. Berman uses the game
of Go as a metaphor for the savvy
NMI. Unlike chess pieces which
contain intrinsic differences in
power and, hence, mobility, Go
pieces are “anonymous mathematical
units” which can move about freely.
|
From the above, you should be able to form a
reasonable idea of Berman's conception of
the New Monastic Individual. A sensible
question that I've considered is: am I a
NMI? Under scrutiny, I probably fall short
of the mark; but, then, even an aspiration
to assume a role as a NMI seems worthy of a
life well-lived.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|