Fr. Schmemann: the loneliness of America, the bankruptcy of Europe
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I’m reading through “The Journals of Fr. Alexander Schmemann 1973–1983″(*) and I got to an entry about the essential differences — along with relative strengths and weaknesses — about being American and being European. Born in Estonia, living for many years in Paris and eventually an American citizen, he may be one person qualified to speak knowledgeably about both cultures. And though he wrote this in 1975 after having gone from Finland to Paris, it seems astonishingly applicable.
(As a quick aside, I’ll mention that I realize that Fr. Schmemann’s writings have become a little controversial to some Orthodox, for reasons I don’t fully understand. The section below doesn’t have to do with Orthodoxy, and so I’m hoping to avoid disputes here. If you still want to take issue with me for quoting Fr. Schmemann, please send me an e-mail to discuss it.)
Emphasis mine throughout, but it’s better really to read the whole thing.
After a busy day lecturing at the university, I find myself alone at last and thinking: What is there in Europe that is clearly absent in America? What is it in America that is not in Europe? And, more personally, why am I drawn from America to Europe and from Europe back to America? I feel that the usual answer is, Europe is culture, roots, traditions; America is freedom and also lack of culture — rootlessness.
This answer is incomplete, one-sided, simplified and incorrect. Tentatively, I would say that in America, one finds everything that Europe has, while in Europe there is hardly anything of what America is. One is drawn, not so much to Europe as out of America because in Europe one is spiritually more comfortable. There is always something to lean on, almost physically, whereas America is spiritually difficult. For years, people have rushed to America for an easier life, not realizing that deep down, life is much more difficult there. First of all, America is a country of great loneliness. Each one is alone with his own fate, under a huge sky, in the middle of a colossal country. Any culture, tradition, roots seem small there, but people strongly cling to them, knowing full well their illusory character.
Secondly, this solitude in America demands from everyone an existential answer to the question “to be or not to be,” and that requires effort. Hence so many personal crashes. In Europe anyone who falls, falls on some ground; in America he flies into an abyss. So much fear, such angst.
What draws a person to America is the possibility of having one’s own individual fate. Once you have tasted it, it becomes impossible to be just a Finn or a Frenchman; in other words, to be determined once and for all. One is liberated from it. And although liberated, one is often drawn again to the illusory stability of Europe, to dreams and fantasy. But Europe’s dream is ending; its ground is breaking. Europe is becoming a pitiful caricature of America, unable to become the “original,” but an imitation denying its own originality. Our rather simple and slightly barbarian Gerald Ford is quite genuine when compared with the Giscards, Joberts and tutti quanti with their pseudo sophistication.
While walking from Notre Dame to the Seine, to Place des Vosges, I realize that all that I like so much is illusory, not needed, that it has no relation with the France of Mitterrand and others. The real France wants to become America. America does not want to become Europe, therefore it is genuine, whereas Europe is steadily losing its genuine character.
New traditions are steadily generated in America; Europe’s traditions, having lost their genuine character, are collapsing.
“If it does not die, it will not live.” Europe gave birth to America out of its dream, and is dying in it as Europe. Out of that dying, America was born and is growing.
Not to say that I think everything Fr. Alexander mused will turn out to be prophetic. It’s hard for me to assess whether America is still growing as he saw back in the ’70s. And like a lot of Americans, I keep waiting to see if some wonderful “new” Europe will emerge out of the ashes of “old” Europe. But still, as always, I offer it for what it’s worth.
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I don’t know about the controversy bit. I’ve liked his stuff. Haven’t read all that much… and what I did, frankly was too early to stick… back when I was rushing to drink from the firehose. But thank you for posting this. Quite insightful. Not too different from other recent emigre’s comments.
I understand there are a lot of comments in the notebook about Solzenitsyn, too. Presume you’re enjoying the reading.
Controversy: I’m still not clear on what the charges are exactly. All my priest knew is that there are those who say that he’s “too liberal.”
My guess — but I emphasize that it’s only a guess — is that there’s something subjective on the line for people. Is it “liberal” to say that the Church has faults (not in its inception and mission, but in its practice and administration), that our history shows that we’ve made mistakes, that we’re capable today of veering into some extremes? If people feel that the Orthodox Church must be understood as perfect (as a commenter implied HERE), then of course they will see Fr. Alexander as a heretic.
As far as this book goes, I’d recommend it to anyone who already loves Fr. Alexander, because it’ll make you love him more. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone that disliked him, because it’ll probably make you dislike him more.
But yes, the stuff about Solzenitsyn was interesting all by itself. He doesn’t write at length about all they discussed, but Father A. seems like he was a very insightful person and his read on the man and the problems he had after leaving Russia seemed very astute.
Its too bad we don’t have more Orthodox people who think instead of just react. His observations are spot on…America is the land of opportunity because there is no “tradition” to constrain anyone… but with that comes the abyss of “no connectedness”. We fall and fail alone, just like we rose up on our own merit.
It is indeed a lonely life here.
There are a LOT of goodies like that in this book, really too many to recount. If you want to hear Deep Thought, informed by honest, intelligent Orthodoxy and patterned through with real joy and real sadness, you want to read it. He was most concerned, of course, about Orthodoxy and other religions, but he’s got thoughts about history, art and the paradigm of the ‘70s that I have felt duty-bound to highlight so I’ll be able to find them again.