The heart of our culture

“A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to return. This is the art of studying moods.” (Sun Tzu)

“Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in” (C.S Lewis)

A remarkable truth rests at the heart of these two quotes that transcends place, time, or person. One, a Chinese military general from the 5th century BC, the other, a British writer from the 20th century AD. One used a sword and the other a pen. There is an old proverb that reads the ‘pen is mightier than the sword’. Philosophically this may appear true, however, I would argue that the heart is mightier than both. It doesn’t differentiate or prefer either the pen or the sword, rather the heart wields both the pen and the sword according to its passions.

Soldiers looking to their individual interest will be distracted and divided in attention and, therefore, make up a lousy army. A unified army is agile and strong, but divided they are sluggish, inclined to retreat and exposed to attack. If our enemy seeks to make us sluggish and divided, then the easiest way to do such a thing would be to convince us that our own individuality, our own desires and loves, should be paramount. The deception hides in the message to look to yourself. There are few better examples where this plays itself out than in our current consumer culture.

Consumer culture is not just interested in what we buy, but where we spend our time, attention, and affection. If you could do open heart surgery on consumer culture, you would find individualism and narcissism. With commercials that read ‘look for yourself’ and ‘find yourself in what you want now’. What drives our consumption rests in our heart, our individual desires. Our culture is obsessed with the idea of the good life, and we are told that consumption is the vehicle that drives us there. Consumer culture sells us the good life through a simple, alluring, and elegant message, “this is what you want”.  

We hear it with our hearts, buy it with our bodies and sacrifice for it with our souls.

James K Smith argues that the question “What do you want?” is the most fundamental question of Christian discipleship and exposes the condition of the heart. The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart, and the heart directs our attention and desires towards what it wants. If you can control the wants of the heart, then you can control who the heart belongs to. Smith theorises that humans are deeply shaped by ‘cultural liturgies’, meaning the environment we find ourselves in is both formative and deformative. Cultural liturgies are not interested in what we may think, rather in what we love. They bypass what we think and subtly shape our hearts desires. Our lives are formed from of how the heart is shaped. It’s easy to understand why King Solomon implores, with all wisdom to “guard your heart” (Proverbs 4:23). Our hearts are easily moved toward love, whether that is a love for the created or the Creator. Our enemy, knowing our emotions and desires, aims to deceive, and move our love toward the created things and away from the Creator of all things.

Jonathan Haidt, a prominent social psychologist, argues that humans have two sides: an emotional side (The Elephant) and an analytic side (Its Rider). The Elephant, driven by emotions and instinct, a more powerful force than reason or will, moves the Rider. If the instinct of the Elephant came into contention with the will of the Rider, the Elephant will triumph. We can marvel at our weakness of willpower, as we are riders on the back of an elephant. A lot more can be said about how the rider can help shape and create their habits/instinct/emotions, but for now I think we can understand that if you appeal to the Elephant, you will be able to move the Rider. If your heart is left ‘unguarded’, then its attention will subtly shift from Christ to consumption.

The nefarious nature of consumer culture is that it turns the consumer into the consumed. It turns humanity into the product. Our feelings, emotions and attention are all dehumanised as they are farmed and sold. Our time, attention, and affection are exploited, and we sit powerless. Consumer culture quickly becomes consumer slavery.

Remember the ‘clever general’, our enemy, who patiently studies our hearts. He works to persuade you to look for yourself, promising that you’ll find what you want, but he knows all you find is despair and enslavement to your desires. But the good news is that if we look for Christ, we will not only find freedom but our ‘wanting’ hearts will be fulfilled in Him. St Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

Whether you realise it or not you are in the middle of a battle, a warfare for your heart. This is evident from Genesis to Sun Tzu to C.S Lewis to this cultural moment. Consumer culture is a warfare for your heart. A constant attempt to attract your attention. A myriad of distractions to allure your affection from the goodness of God. The deceptive message of consumer culture promises that if you look for yourself, you will find what you want, but we know our heart is like a bottomless pit always needing to consume more but never feeling truly full. The gospel promises that if you look for Christ, you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in. A life filled with peace, joy, and love. A heart that finds rest in Christ is a truly full life.