An Archetype for Society?

Dystopian worlds have been created by great writers such as George Orwell (1984) or Veronica Roth (Divergent series). Every day in the news we hear about malevolence and suffering in the world. One of the fundamental tenets of Buddhism is, ‘life is suffering.’ We see these things and feel them and want to make the world a better and safer place for ourselves and future generations. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” is a cliché and consistent theme, though perhaps not always explicitly stated. Real-life examples include the Third Reich and the Soviet Union with the horrors of concentration camps and gulags.

The Third Reich, for example, was built on the notion that humanity’s struggle to reach the next rung on the evolutionary ladder could be helped along through social engineering. In a sense it was a State-run program to implement natural selection and survival of the fittest. The weak must be allowed to perish for the greater good. And the destruction started with the murder of people in mental institutions and the terminally ill or physically disabled.

People deemed to be a threat to the Bolshevik Revolution were sent to the Soviet Gulags for their crimes against society – real or imagined. In Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn described the process of investigation, arrest, and forced confessions in horrifyingly lucid, yet matter-of-fact terms. Arrests were random at times and carried out in order to satisfy the quotas sent down to the investigative teams from higher authorities. The question that was never answered for those arrested was, “Why me?” Vague laws and the uncertainty that one might be in violation at any time created a society immersed in fear and coercion.

Solzhenitsyn’s book exposes a complete breakdown of trust and respect for the Soviet system. Fear and coercion were the only things holding it together. Eric Mataxas’ book, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy describes a similar environment in Nazi Germany through the eyes of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, noted pastor, theologian, and resistance fighter. Both totalitarian regimes were built on fear and coercion but command no respect now that they have been exposed for what they were.

An archetype is a model or pattern of something else. Dystopian novels follow a pattern of social experiments designed to create a better world and how they can go wrong. But is there an archetype for a healthy society?

In the Old Testament it is written that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit said, “Let Us make man in Our image… male and female He created them.”

And then He (They) said, “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…”

To be created in the image of God is the Divine archetype for human existence and I would suggest should be viewed as a social archetype. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in perfect communion with one another. This is the social Trinitarian view of the Godhead. It means we are fundamentally relational creatures – somewhat more socially advanced than, say snails, slugs, or worms.

And in any significant relationship we all want to feel cared-for, trusted, and respected by our partner. The relationship isn’t worth having without all three of those elements. Like a three-legged stool, it will teeter if trust or respect begin to fade because of words or deeds which undermine them. Trust and respect must be earned. We are commanded to care for others (love our neighbor as ourselves) – but that does not mean we respect or trust every person. One must earn a parents’ trust if you are going to baby sit their kids, for example.

In one early Eastern Christian tradition, the Holy Spirit is thought to be the female aspect of the Godhead. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for spirit is ruach and carries the feminine gender. In the New Testament it is pneuma (gender neutral) and it is stated that those who become followers of Christ will experience a spiritual rebirth – of the Spirit. It should be noted that giving birth is an exclusively female capability in spite of claims made by the transgender movement. As a male I might experience gender dysphoria and decide to identify as a female, but no matter how many operations or hormones I ingest, I shall never be able to give birth. That is not to say we shouldn’t empathize with gender dysphoria – it is no doubt real, but we must face biological realities.

It should be understood that to be created in the image of God includes attributes from both male and female and that in the Godhead these two are separate persons. It is a mystery of the Trinity that they are Three in One, and yet separate persons. I am suggesting that the society of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are an archetype of the human family. And as such the human family is the only social institution which was inaugurated in the Creation account (assuming you believe the biblical narrative).

But because of the human condition and the fallen human nature, families often display varying degrees of dysfunction. We fall short of the glory of God, as Paul put it in Romans 3:23. We fall short of the divine archetype.

In both testaments the Holy Spirit carries connotations of power and moral conviction. In the New Testament there are notions of unity in the Spirit which imply a social dimension. While men burp, fart, and revel for supremacy in such things, if there is a woman around she will shake her head. And then the men will look at her and wait for her to scold them. In a typical family it is the woman who carries the moral requirements and demands socially acceptable behavior.

Historically it has been men who were willing to lay down their lives and fight to protect their families. The woman needs the man to care for, protect, and provide for her and their children. And the man needs the woman to give his life a sense of purpose and meaning. It is not good for a man to be alone.

But there can be no real love without free-moral agency. You cannot be free to truly love another if you are not also free to not love that person. And that is part of ‘the rub’. It is the burden of free will. Can I trust my significant other?

The last five of the Ten Commandments were intended to give fallen human beings an inkling of how to live our lives.

“Do not kill (your neighbor)”. Why? Because we need to know we can trust one another. But over three thousand years later we still require police forces to ensure public safety.

“Do not steal”. Why? Because it is okay for humans to own the fruits of their own labor (an argument against communism) and we need to know we can trust one another to not steal each other’s stuff. But at night we lock the door of our house and do not leave our car unlocked in public places.

“Do not commit adultery”. Why? Because in that most significant of all human relationships, we need to know we can trust one another. But the divorce rate is fifty percent.

“Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Unless of course you are one of Stalin’s thugs and you need to find a crime to fit a man who might be a threat to the Bolshevik Revolution. Or perhaps your neighbor’s name is Brett Kavanaugh and he is a threat to your political ideology. No, we need to feel like society values truth at some level and that our reputation fits the reality of our actions. Martin Luther King famously said, ‘let a man be judged by the content of his character, not the color of his skin.’ (paraphrase).

“Do not covet your neighbor’s stuff.” Why? Because breaking any of the previous four commandments begins by desiring something we shouldn’t. Jesus’ commentary on the Ten Commandments included notions of internal thoughts of hatred leading to actual murder and internal lusts leading to adultery. Paul wrote that “I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content.” This is the opposite of covetousness.

And so we can see that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are concerned about what is going on in our significant relationships. They do not wish to turn us into religious robots who are relationally retarded. God is love and wants us to find real joy and peace through integrity in our significant relationships. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in perfect communion with one another and are the archetype for relational integrity and the human family as the basic unit of society.