ANOMIE AND DESPAIR: THE CULTURAL AND SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING

INTRODUCTION

I read with great interest recently an article by a social worker in The Journal of Professional Growth in Social Work (socialworker 2011) titled “A State of Anomie: Indigenous Suicide in Australia”. In that article, the author writes:

Egoistic suicide arises when an individual experiences an erosion of social bonds, an absence of appropriate social integration which results in “excessive individuation” (Morrison, 2006, p. 167), a loss of a sense of collective identity, or meaningful ties to a community, what Durkheim calls “the weakening of the social fabric” (Morrison, 2006, p. 168), for example, shared values, cultural traditions and social norms (Morrison, 2006, p. 167). Excessive individuation is a definition loosely appropriated within contemporary political discourse as “social exclusion” (Agulnik, 2002, pp. 1-14). On the contrary altruistic suicide arises from excessive social integration (Morrison, 2006, p. 168); integration to such a degree the will of the collective overbears the will of the individual ego, the collective good is rendered of greater consequence than individual life (Morrison, 2006, p. 177) . Whereas both Egoistic and Altruistic suicide describe imbalances of social integration, Fatalistic and Anomic suicide emerge from imbalances in social regulation.

I am interested in the topic of anomie, not just because it’s an important concept in sociology, but because anthropology also has something to say about the spiritual and cultural preconditions of this process of individuation and community breakdown. The loss of cultural authority, with the passing of much-loved family and elders, coupled with the Covid 19 pandemic and community violence, are surely contributing factors to individual trauma and despair. Both despair and anomie may well be correlated with a loss of social cohesion and resilience, including a withdrawal from community life and activities, family and domestic violence, crime, reluctance to engage with relative strangers and a general lack of interest in community affairs. When a person’s personal hopes and aspirations are not achievable, when their dreams are not realised, anomie appears to present as an observable social disorder. The spiritual and existential scars, as this author puts it, leads to alienation from community and family, manifest in withdrawal and, in some cases, serious dysfunction:

If examined through the theoretical conception of Durkheim’s Anomie, Indigenous culture, including its rich spiritual traditions; a sensed oneness with the land, the central role of Dreaming and spiritual ancestry, which comprise the basis of indigenous social cohesion and solidarity, including tribal law and kinship bonds (Charlesworth, 1998, p. 127, Edwards, 2004, pp. 16-33), could arguably be said to “have lost their meaning”. Additionally, “new values”, namely those imposed by colonial domination, “have not been accepted to take their place”. The Indigenous rejection of the dominant socio-political ideologies and values of contemporary Australia are evidenced in a ongoing struggle for Indigenous self-determination, and the plight for Indigenous sovereignty, both comprising a central feature of indigenous political agency (Curry, 2004, pp. 14-18).

The intergenerational consequences of colonisation and dispossession on Indigenous communities is characterised by “normlesssless”; a disintegration of social norms; an absence of shared values (Alexander, 2005, pp. 75-220-222, Cuff E., 2006, pp. 67-71, Morrison, 2006, pp. 163-188, Simpson. G, 1951, pp. 145-297). The erosion of traditional Indigenous customs, values, and collective spiritual identity, leaves a community and culture void of the essential basis for effective social cohesion.

There are good reasons for not generalising too much here, but it is worthwhile considering the cultural and spiritual dimensions of community safety and well-being. If, for example, cultural competencies and authority are important in sustaining social cohesion and safety, then the loss of these attributes may contribute to the outward manifestations of anomie and fragmentation.

Cultural safety is a concept that points to a safe and respectful environment in cross-cultural relationships. It is more than just being aware of and sensitive to other cultures. It also entails examining our own cultural assumptions to empathise and develop a better understanding of why people do what they do. A big part of being safe in a cultural sense is being aware of our shared experiences and being able to bridge the feelings of separation that get in the way of trust and understanding.

WHAT IS ANOMIE?

Anomie can create a sense of alienation, isolation, or meaninglessness among individuals who feel that they do not belong or fit in the wider society. This can lead to disengagement but can also generate a strain or conflict between the goals and expectations of the wider society and the means and opportunities available to achieve them from a personal standpoint. This can result in disengagement from normative or conventional ways of pursuing success, happiness, or fulfillment, resulting in some cases to deviant or criminal behaviour. Equally, anomie can also undermine the authority or legitimacy of the culturally governed protective factors that are supposed to regulate and coordinate the behaviour of individuals and groups. This can cause disengagement from the rules, norms, or values that help uphold or enforce compliance with the expectations of others, resulting in an apparent disregard for the well-being of others, even family and kin.

You may well ask where am I going with this line of reasoning? For most people it is very hard to hold two worldviews or cultural frames in our minds at once. This is particularly true in the domain of spirituality, where a materialist conception of the universe overrides cultural sensibilities that are metaphysical and metaphorical. For example, Jordan Petersen, a well-known clinical psychologist, observes the traditional myths and religious systems play a role in defining the fundamental nature of being or experience. More generally, there are those like John Carroll, a sociologist, who rail against determinism precisely because it struggles with the spiritual dimensions of metanoia: where a change of mind, or reorientation and fundamental transformation of one’s outlook on life, refocuses our attention on loving others and God.

I am pointing here to the figurative nature of language and culture as metaphor. In cognitive linguistics conceptual metaphors are a way of understanding ideas or concepts across different domains of value. There is a large body of scientific research around meaning, conceptualisation, reasoning, the social construction of knowledge and cognitive linguistics that calls for a radical rethinking of the nature and operations of metaphor in cultural lore and belief systems. The general idea is that most metaphorical thinking is not based on perceived similarities but entails mapping concepts across different domains and schema. Conceptual metaphors consist of source domain frames or schema that are mapped onto target domain frames and schema. This process allows associations to be made which in the language of sociology, allow for the social construction of reality and, in turn, shape the way we behave and think about others.

There are of course other modes of symbolic interaction in language and culture, such as the arts, music, architecture, dance and ritual, that point to this mapping process. At this early stage of this conversation and enquiry I would simply point to the idea of metanoia as the result of epiphany; the concepts themselves are related although they have different meanings in different contexts. Epiphany is a sudden and profound realisation or insight the changes that one’s perspective or understanding of something. It is intensely personal and may involve some form of revelation in creative pursuits. It can also refer to a manifestation or appearance of the divine or supernatural force; spirituality as it were. Metanoia, on the other hand, is a Greek word that means a change of mind, heart or direction, but infers a process of transformation. In Christianity, the concept is often associated with the idea of turning away from sin and turning to God. It can also sign and represent humility and submission to a greater power. The fundamental difference it seems is that epiphany is more about gaining new knowledge or awareness, while metanoia is more about changing one’s attitude and behaviour. In a causal sense, a breakthrough can lead to a change of heart, but this is not certain. There is no determinism here. One can have a change of heart without a fundamental shift in outlook, and there is no certainty that any change of heart or outlook is internal to the self. A change in outlook can occur through external factors or influences; treated as it were by our social environment, relationships and politics or power relations. In this respect I am a true adherent of chaos theory; in that some things are inherently unpredictable. Either way determinism is the philosophical view that events are completely determined by previously existing causes. Some argue that social determinism and free will are totally incompatible. The idea that individuals can make their own destiny is liberal in the truest sense of the term. It implies that human behaviour can have multiple possible outcomes depending on the social actors’ preferences and intentions. But as soon as we talk about social responsibility and cultural authority, we embrace the “we” not just the “I”.

If we follow this reasoning, the principle of cause and effect in a linear sense fails the extremely complex nature of cognition, where metaphorical flight and figurative speech functions like the proverbial cement that binds different layers of human interaction. Nonlinear systems may suffer what physicists call the Butterfly effect, whereby a small change at one level can ramify and reverberate through a complex system, creating unpredictable effects and changes as new shoots and branches emerge. This apparent divergence masks cultural connections that bridge differences, just as conceptual metaphors map different schema across different domains of meaning and value.

Once again, you may well ask where am I going with this conversation? One seems to me that anomie and despair occur when there are no perceived pathways out of an impossible situation, not simply because the person suffering feels lost, but because no one has managed to connect with them in a meaningful way or to cultivate and nurture the epithanies and metanoia needed to change a given situation. That is why I always said to my children when they were coming of age “you have no choice but to be a spiritual healer”. The art of the possible is, in one sense, a metaphorical flight that points to something fundamental in our humanity, in our search for meaning in life. To create a sense of purpose, or at least to share in the passion for life and love, is to celebrate life itself in and through others. As we go on this journey together the “me” and the “I” dissolves quite easily into the “us” and the “we”, which is the safest place to meet life’s challenges.

Having fun together in a meaningful and purposeful way strengthens the spirit. We forget sometimes that the simplest things in life are often a great source of well-being. For Anangu, among Pitjantjatjara speakers, connection to country and culture is essential. We are in the process for example of developing a social and emotional well-being activity around land yacht sailing; not simply because it’s fun and engaging but because there are cultural and spiritual connections to wind and salt lakes for Anangu and those that care to know. A simple thing like a land yacht sailing activity Is incredibly meaningful if there are people involved who can translate and interpret the cultural dimensions of language, and culture, in the process. It’s two-way learning pathway: there is the renewable energy story and the cultural stories associated with the creation of the salt lakes in the Dreaming and the role of the wind in relation to kurti or spirit – the wind is free but carries the spirit over the salt lakes in traditional lore. A willy willy can portend a death far away in another community but the wind carries the kurti or spirit of the ancestors in Pitjantjatjara culture to the living. The Tjukurpa or Dreaming stories of Anangu explain the creation of salt lakes where the wind will give the yachts strength to move forward. Salt lakes and wind are powerful motifs here.

According to one story, a group of ancestral women were travelling through the desert when they stopped to perform a ceremony. During the ceremony, they created a large amount of salt by grinding it from the ground. The salt of the earth so to speak. The women then continued their journey, leaving the salt behind for future generations. Over time, the salt accumulated and formed the salt lakes.

Other stories relate other totemic figures that are miilmiilpa (sacred) to the salt lakes. That’s why Tjuntjuntjara’s famous artist Timo Hogan won the Telstra national art award because of the cultural depth and integrity of his work Natsiaa 2021: Great Victoria Desert painter Timo Hogan wins $50,000 Indigenous art prize | Australia news | The Guardian. painting connects the wanampi and the wati kutjara stories at Lake Baker 

So, this is why cultural connections matter when we talk about designing social and emotional well-being activities from the ground up with participants. The goals or health outcomes may be therapeutic and even physiological, but the means of healing are cultural. And more interestingly salt has cross-cultural significance in some Christian beliefs: Symbolism of Salt (11 Surprising Meanings) – 2023 (symbolismandmetaphor.com).  Here the author writes about salt as a metaphor that conveys the meaning of loyalty, life, value, permanence, purification, and utility. Many of these metaphors stem from its use in ancient cultures and customs.

My point is simply to say that cultural connections are made when people who care about helping and healing work with others reach out and have meaningful conversations about the bread-and-butter stuff in life. As Bourdieu says the practical significance of the basic elements in everyday life are part of the “habitus”: the enduring dispositions that describes the set of skills and social resources that govern how people engage with the world and others. The Habitus is reflected in embodied unconscious dispositions that individuals acquire, resulting from the combination of their cultural and social capital. These dispositions shape individuals’ behavior and practical understanding of the world within specific cultural frameworks.

Sharing cultural connections while visiting the Salt Lakes and doing Land Yacht Sailing makes sense as a meaningful and healthy activity for youth who want to enjoy the exhilaration and enjoyment of being with others in the Desert when it cools just before the evening sets in during the hotter months of the year; i.e. when the sea breeze arrives from the south and cools the community. I guess that’s why a friend of mine, a former School Principal in Tjuntjuntjara, wrote a song called the Yakadunya breeze! Like the Fremantle Doctor in Perth (WA) the Yakadunya breeze is nature’s gift and natural medicine in the summer!

CONCLUSION

There is no better way to describe the sense of well-being that comes from sociality than the experience I enjoyed sitting in the desert in Tjuntjuntjara, in the company of my Anangu Marlpas (Anangu friends and family) pondering the depth of Spinifex culture and life’s mysteries. That is a spiritual experience, whether you believe in God, the Dreaming or any other spiritual worldview. I feel, like many of my friends feel today, extremely privileged to have been in the company of the Spinifex elders who graced us with their time and company over many years. Their saying, witu witu kanyintjaku, means stay strong, a legacy and reflection of their own struggles with the challenges of cross-cultural engagement, colonisation and the traumatic impact of dislocation and settler society. Another friend, a great clinical psychologist, worked with the men in community to develop a cultural model called “Finding Spirit: searching for the next rockhole” to strengthen spirits in 2019. He explained it this way:

S – Stop. Slow down. Breath and notice your thoughts and feelings.
P – Push your feet into the earth
I – In front of you! What can you see, hear, taste, smell, feel right now in this moment?
R – Remind yourself. Which rock holes are important right now?
I – Ignore Urges: Notice if you are heading away from a rock hole and back out into the desert.
T – Take Action. Start walking toward the next rock-hole.

A weak spirit develops around unhealthy practices: grog, ganja, domestic violence, poor nutrition and fighting. A strong spirit (kurunpa witu witu kanyintjaku) is nurtured when we care for ourselves, exercise, eat well, enjoy music and the arts, care for family, work, teach kids, maintain and care for culture and country and look after the elders.

Seems like a recipe for success to me.

To be continued ………