Dopamine and the Devil
In the Beginning was The Word...
It began with a passage from St. Augustine assigned to the group for early Saturday discussion.
They were more earnest than me.
The idea was somewhat radical, a goal that seemed beyond my reach but with effort, perhaps within grasp.
I had little religious training to speak of.
A recent graduate of a local college, hit upon the idea that his college associates, those still undergrads, and those recently out and testing the work environment, might benefit from a collective Bible study meeting.
The draw was a philosophy professor willing to moderate.
I had heard of The Bible, and read enough of it to be accused of being a biblical scholar. (Not so fast…). There was a lot there that bore additional effort.
In fact, there IS nothing new under the Sun, pal.
A more callow collection had, perhaps, never convened, but interesting views spring from diverse origins if one has the patience and mindset to prioritize other opinions, philosophical, political and cultural, over his own.
The congregation had previously spawned a small group of older men, mostly attorneys and retired military, and outliers like myself who thought there might be something useful to be gained by engaging accomplished and established members of the community.
These were fed up with the Rector, a very young man with eight children, monopolizing the conversation.
For those who don’t know, there is a split of philosophy in some congregations. Some regard clergy as employees of the vestry and congregation. Others feel the clergy is the sole authority.
Subgroups meeting for discussion without clergy moderation may be a healthy development. Of course, the clergy had permission to attend.
***
The name chosen was the Brotherhood of Little Gidding, and initially that sounded a bit pompous, but only to those without background.
But cool, nonetheless.
Brotherhoods, I thought, were reserved for ethnocentric and nefarious associations. One might ask about Skull and Bones, or the Masons. There is something irresistible about secret societies…
If I understood, the idea was to expand the usual fasting and self-denial of Lent, to a year-round practice of both. Of course, anyone can stand to lose weight and gain discipline in moderate doses.
It is healthy if it avoids sliding into fanaticism.
It seemed enticing enough to track down the etymology and historical precedent.
***
The lawyers and literature geeks, of course, could place the name in historical and cultural context better than me, so I looked into it for my own education and dredged up the following.
There were two precedents, both more than a little obscure except to historians of seventeenth century theology, English royal succession and, perhaps, English literature majors.
T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) had written, during World War II, about the queer, offbeat founding of what seemed a cult of conservative theology at a manor near the village of Little Gidding in Cambridgeshire, UK. The founding date of the long-disbanded sect, was 1626, and the culprit was Nicholas Ferrar (1592-1657).
Ferrar grew up in a socially elite merchant’s family well off enough that it had invested in the Virginia Company of London, the commercial entity whose ambition and mission statement was to establish for-profit colonies such as Jamestown, Virginia Colony, as a center and nexus of New World growth, as well as other similar ventures.
The original privately owned company had a hundred investors at a share price equal to six months’ wages for an ordinary working man.
Of course, Jamestown was not exclusively conceived to allow free religious practice: Act 12 of the Jamestown Charter, required each male settler over the age of 18, to plant ten wine grape vines…
When I read of that, it piqued my interest.
Ferrar was an intimate of English King Charles I (1600-1649, when he was beheaded).
The fate of Jamestown is poorly known: the causes for its demise in 1622 remain a mystery, although a few hard winters and then, the assault of the disease-weakened settlement by the Powhatan Confederacy, compromised it as a going concern, and it was nationalized by James I in 1624 as a Royal Colony.
The Ferrar family fortunes were laid low economically by this failure. The rising political tide of Puritanism cast them, as Royalists following Established Church Anglicanism, as social outcasts and Ferrar took his family to a derelict estate with a chapel to rebuild in the obscurity of the English countryside.
The period of history known as the English Civil War (1642-1649) put an end to the Gidding community and to Nicolas Ferrar himself.
***
The tale became deeply metaphorical of conservative Royalist adherents beset by an opposing political group gaining ascendancy. Discrimination. Censorship. Cancelling…
In addition to fasting and self-reflection, the goal was to tear themselves away from the soul-eroding addiction to clickbait.
The concept may not be familiar to writers, but Retreat is a concept that bears consideration.
For example, just outside Saratoga Springs in upstate New York, is an estate that underwites a colony of artists, a place to quietly reflect, commune and create.
It is called Yaddo, and a world away from the late August influx each year, of the horse racing and gambling community of the race track.
If you are minority, you chances of a scholarship at Yaddo are quite good.
****
I won’t mention the names of those attending Gidding, but any Biblical given name will do.
The matter of clickbait is primarily engineered to addict. The goal is accumulation of clicks or followers. The physiological basis is the generation of dopamine, a neurotransmitter and a brief shot of feeling good reinforces this addiction.
Gidding suggest an anecdote: replace the response to clickbait with something more useful.
Most of the group were very bright and eloquent once their shyness wore off, but not students of science.
When discussing clickbait, lust, self control, discipline and habit, I reminded the student moderator that is all boiled down to dopamine.
To which the faculty philosopher and Dean of Students added “Dopamine and the Devil.”
“Brilliant”, I chipped in. “Sounds like a book title, or the name of a band…”
****