Functional Religion Arising From Transactional Ethic

This is a potent observation!  As I have worked in addiction recovery, I have seen all sorts of idolatries sustained through transactional giving and receiving for the purpose of one’s own needs or desires, most often hidden by habitual unexamined use and reliance, tradition, poorly informed reason, or rebellion against authority. I first was awakened to this dynamic of the brokenness of the human condition by the observations of educator Rubye Payne in her work on “Bridges Out Of Poverty” in which she describes “Hidden Rules of Classes”.   One of the features of the way various “resources”, including material goods and relationships, are valued has to do with one’s “use” of people in relationships.  As I began working with populations living in homelessness and poverty I recognized the general truths associated with her chart. What she detailed among those with the experience of material and social “poverty” was a tendency to view relationships in the transactional way JD describes. Relationships become an important tool in survival….. in scavenging for cover, protection,  warmth, food, etc…… all the things on the bottom rung of Maslowe’s hierarchy. It is fundamentally a “barter” mentality.  “I offer this to you, you give me that” in return (unless its the meaner version of street ethic that focuses on violence, theft, power and authoritarian dominance emerges.) It is, at its root, a totally self-interest oriented ethic, what I have called “street ethic”, common in our culture today…. which is essentially a straight forward survival-of-the-fittest approach to life.  One woman spent 34 of her 46 years in this mode after her mother’s abuse led to her running away from home, then away from foster care. She learned to survive among homeless populations.  Her experiences further educated me on how a poorly educated, developmentally delayed young girl (“on the spectrum”), with seizures…..having had two pregnancies(one leading to a SIDS death and another to state care and adoption of her child) with a a gentle spirit, deeply wounded by childhood rejection and abuse managed to have survived for three decades without any criminal history, no major physical disabilities, and her dignity reasonably intact and without a gaping wound of co-dependency on others.  This woman was a survivor.  Her generosity was my first signal for how she survived.   She was adept at foraging and selling and bartering recyclables. She slept hidden in the day, roaming at night, and knew all the most productive dumpsters in her quarter.  She learned to be meek and genial when necessary and when to run when threatened.  In relationships with counselors and other “helpers” she bonded quickly, superficially and genially.  With most others she is avoidant, guardedly cautious, with all the accompanying body language.  It is not so much a conscious manipulation on her part, as an adaptive survival behavior.  What her counselors observed was that when she acquired basic material needs through placement in safe environments, secondary needs like protection of her belongings and pleasing others for personal affirmation became more important concerns.  (Levels 2&3 of Maslowe.)  Affirmations for her service to others, her generosity with food or other desirable items and hugs were expected to be returned, as she was eager to offer those to others.  Lessons in boundaries, social skills, and deepening awareness and understanding of her emotions, avoidance in dealing with the past, and improved ability to master skills that had “value” in a more plentiful and stable material and social environment where bartering for needed items or desires was no longer necessary.