Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1994, Page 73
Lifton explains that the human potential for proteanism includes a capacity for flexible
imagination and action. The subtitle of the book, “Human Resilience in an Age of
Fragmentation,” reflects the author‟s optimism about the future of mankind.
Here are a half dozen of Lifton‟s convictions that may stir up some profitable reflection:
1. Culture is inescapable from symbolization.
2. We are cultural animals for whom the resources of culture are ingredient and not
merely accessory to human thought.
3. The knowledge that we are to die is crucial to the sense of self.
4. The sacred and the secular have become unbonded.
5. Our human thinking consists of a continual creation and re-creation of images and
forms.... Our symbolization of self focuses on our own narrative, a life story that is
constantly re-created.
6. America is a protean nation, a nomad people, ever beginning anew.
The alternative to the protean mentality is the fundamentalist—which can express itself
either in politics or religion. The person who sees things through the prism of
fundamentalism draws primarily upon a sacred past (in the name of a harmony that never
was). His vision of the future is of one that will rise out of a violent end to profane history.
He would replace history with doctrine. He mistrusts intellectual or spiritual suppleness and
he would obliterate the subversive effects of humor. The author says aptly, “Armageddon
with its destructiveness fits this nuclear age.”
Fundamentalism, although obsessed with chaos and loss of control, creates a fellowship of
the only immortals. The self fragments, and the capacity for empathy is lost. There develops
a psychic numbing which impairs symbolization and involves a threatening imagery having
to do with death and its equivalents and an impediment to meaning.
It is Lifton‟s view that the protean self can help people to renew their relationship to culture,
both Western and non-Western. He tells us, “the protean path is a path of hope. It
embraces an act of imagination and is, as such, a profound beginning.”
This book will prove most helpful for those who are called to counsel people in shepherding
and discipleship groups. However, it must be repeated that the fundamentalist mind-set is
not restricted to the religious realm. It “flowers” in political ground as well.
This review has attempted to digest the psychological facts and conclusions of the author‟s
30 years of observations and reflections. The reader would be misled if he or she were left
with the impression that the work is all abstraction which is best left for philosophers. Far
from it. As Harvey Cox says, “It is based on interviews with a variety of engaging and very
real people.” They are all here. And for bringing them together we are, once again, indebted
to Robert Jay Lifton.
Walter Debold
Seton Hall University
South Orange, New Jersey
Lifton explains that the human potential for proteanism includes a capacity for flexible
imagination and action. The subtitle of the book, “Human Resilience in an Age of
Fragmentation,” reflects the author‟s optimism about the future of mankind.
Here are a half dozen of Lifton‟s convictions that may stir up some profitable reflection:
1. Culture is inescapable from symbolization.
2. We are cultural animals for whom the resources of culture are ingredient and not
merely accessory to human thought.
3. The knowledge that we are to die is crucial to the sense of self.
4. The sacred and the secular have become unbonded.
5. Our human thinking consists of a continual creation and re-creation of images and
forms.... Our symbolization of self focuses on our own narrative, a life story that is
constantly re-created.
6. America is a protean nation, a nomad people, ever beginning anew.
The alternative to the protean mentality is the fundamentalist—which can express itself
either in politics or religion. The person who sees things through the prism of
fundamentalism draws primarily upon a sacred past (in the name of a harmony that never
was). His vision of the future is of one that will rise out of a violent end to profane history.
He would replace history with doctrine. He mistrusts intellectual or spiritual suppleness and
he would obliterate the subversive effects of humor. The author says aptly, “Armageddon
with its destructiveness fits this nuclear age.”
Fundamentalism, although obsessed with chaos and loss of control, creates a fellowship of
the only immortals. The self fragments, and the capacity for empathy is lost. There develops
a psychic numbing which impairs symbolization and involves a threatening imagery having
to do with death and its equivalents and an impediment to meaning.
It is Lifton‟s view that the protean self can help people to renew their relationship to culture,
both Western and non-Western. He tells us, “the protean path is a path of hope. It
embraces an act of imagination and is, as such, a profound beginning.”
This book will prove most helpful for those who are called to counsel people in shepherding
and discipleship groups. However, it must be repeated that the fundamentalist mind-set is
not restricted to the religious realm. It “flowers” in political ground as well.
This review has attempted to digest the psychological facts and conclusions of the author‟s
30 years of observations and reflections. The reader would be misled if he or she were left
with the impression that the work is all abstraction which is best left for philosophers. Far
from it. As Harvey Cox says, “It is based on interviews with a variety of engaging and very
real people.” They are all here. And for bringing them together we are, once again, indebted
to Robert Jay Lifton.
Walter Debold
Seton Hall University
South Orange, New Jersey
