To Kill and Survive or to Die and Become: The Active Life and the Contemplative Life as Ways

of Being Adult
Author(s): Robert N. Bellah
Source: Daedalus, Vol. 105, No. 2, Adulthood (Spring, 1976), pp. 57-76
Published by: The MIT Press on behalf of American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20024400
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ROBERT N. BELLAH

To Kill and Survive or To Die and Become:

Life asWays
The Active Life and the Contemplative

of Being Adult

Every third thought shall be my grave.

in The Tempest
?Prospero
rhythm

of activity

and rest is one of the basic characteristics of all life,

certainly
terrestrial rhythm of day and night echoed in the
biological rhythm
of
in the
elaborated
social,
waking and sleeping has been enormously
psychological,
and cultural life of man.
In many cultures the wisdom
of the night in the form of
to the trials of the
dreams provides a refreshing counterpoint
contrasts of
day. The

The

of human

life. The

action and passivity, work and enjoyment,

initiative and
receptivity have
into patterns of personal and social organization. A spatial correlate of
common distinction of inner and
temporal rhythm is to be found in the
terms
be
in
and
elaborated
of
may
public, the inner life versus life
private

been woven
this basically
outer, which
in the world.

focus of this paper is on the highest cultural expression of this fundamental

: the contrast between sacred and
rhythm
profane, between the religious and the secu

The
lar.

It is important
able

opposites,

with

to stress from the

beginning
watertight,

exclusive

that we are not

categories.

The

dealing with

contrasts

I have

irreconcil
in mind

are

the two ends of a polarity,

phor of rhythm is perhaps

each implying the other. That is

meta
why the temporal
to be
to a
spatial image, though the rhythm of
preferred
sacred and profane time is certainly echoed in the rhythm, if Imay so
speak, of sacred
and profane space. In any case one of the most basic patterns of life in
primitive
societies is the annual alternation of work and ritual that Durkheim
described with
in The Elementary
Forms of the
classical precision
Life and that Victor
Religious
Turner has recently elucidated in his admirable book The Ritual Process. Not infre
quently,

the annual

cycle among primitive peoples

between summer and winter,

reflects still another

terrestrial and

biological cycle?that
growth and quiescence. The great
rituals are often performed during periods when the earth is
relatively unfruitful and
does not yield to human labor. That the rituals themselves are often
to contrib
thought
ute to
we
are
is
fruitfulness
another
reminder
that
with
dialectical
earthly
dealing
poles,
not
logical opposites.
But the series of contrasts going from
rest to
activity and
profane and sacred would
not be so germane to our
of
if
adulthood
remained
subject
they
merely rhythmic alter
57

58

ROBERT

nations

N.

BELLAH

of all human

life. They have, however, been taken as reference points for the
or not,
to
of roles in almost all societies. Legitimately
they have been used
sex
roles, stages of the life cycle, and the differentiated
help define
pattern of adult
most human cultures,
In
this
is
though
occupations.
being questioned
today, the
"inner" and the "receptive" have been identified with the feminine and the "outer"
elaboration

It is

the masculine.

interesting that it is much rarer, though to

some
to
degree characteristic
society,
identify the feminine with the reli
or at least to identify religion with women. But some
oriented
gious,
psychoanalytically
so common
observers believe that the male claim to religious preeminence,
in most
a
to
is
a
advanced
claim
at
and
"feminine" capacities
cultures,
primitive
higher level.
Jealous of female superiority in the realm of biological creativity, the argument runs,
the men lay claim to a "higher" spiritual creativity. It is beyond the limits of this essay
we may note that
to pursue this
some
question, but
certainly the saint has often been in
sense less "masculine"
than the warrior, even when the saint has been the
highest ideal
of male personality.
and the "active" with

of our own

the double problem of the use of the

contrast for the dif
religious/secular
of adult roles and for categorizing
of
the
life
stages
cycle that this essay will
to our
be concerned. Erik Erikson has contributed
of both
significantly
understanding
of these uses. His most helpful statement of the role-differentiation
is to be
problem
a
found in his recent book on Jefferson, Dimensions
of New Identity:
It iswith

ferentiation

. . . human

of a tribe

or of a
set in a
of nature,
segment
a
must
of
of
spanning
empire
territory
variety
peoples,
loyalties
sense of
to reinforce
a
that
for
the
of
which
life
attempt
promises
meaning
identity
cycle
a world
of death.
view more
real than the
how
within
certainty
Paradoxically
speaking,
sense of
a
to share such a transient
must
all
ever,
indestructible,
accept
being
participants
. . . includes
and
ritual
which
the
code of mortality
the
and
if
immortality
privilege
duty,
a shared death, while
or at
rate
also
and
need be, to die a heroic,
any
eager
being willing
whether

communities,

they

consist

the

national

and

the

to kill or help kill those on "the other side" who

world

another
can

be

to be

said
men

The
a form

The

''kill and

who

inspire
on

of

immortality
seems
to survive

metal,

But
scious

there

motto

this

share (and live and kill and die for)

or

in combat

whether

immortality,

competition,

survive."
and
them

the

is the other,

accomplish
:
While

a world

such

must

die,

effort

at

call great and we bestow

cast in
their
image,
or in the
of our town
squares

emphasizes

nothingness

we

view

as we

they
in the monuments

transcendent,
It

of finiteness.

acceptance

of

indestructibly
Rushmore.

of Mount

rock

very

view.

must,

insuring
instead

salvation
of

through

a con
It is

somebodyness.

and instead of a competition for the world's goods (including those

courts death
the
earthly identity) it seeks human brotherhood in self-denial. It
securing

"not of this world,"

or,

at

rate,

any

sacrifice
existence

to

self-denial

killing.

convincing,

as a

step

toward

not

as

great

a more

the men

it visualizes

And

and

and

immortal,

real

and

women
but

as

life.
everlasting
can make
who
saintly

and

as

It

prefers
this aspect

partaking

eternal life.This way of identity is personified by the great religious leaders who
own

words

represent

the naked

grandeur

of

the

I that

transcends

all

earthly

self
of

of an

in their

identity

in

the name of Him who is IAm. The motto of this world view could be said to be "die and
become."1

THE

ACTIVE

LIFE AND

THE

CONTEMPLATIVE

LIFE

59

to the classic Western

contrast
has here given expression so eloquently
has provided both the theme and
and the vita contemplativa
the title of this essay. I should point out at once that the contrast that seems so absolute
of
in the above quotation
(and often seems so absolute in theWestern
understanding
as
context
meant
not
the active and contemplative
absolute by Erikson, for in
lives) is
to say that Jefferson
he means
in
both
ideals, however much we would
participated
have to place him primarily as an exemplar (and one of the greatest) of the first one.
But in Erikson's work we should not be surprised to find that what at first seems to
turns out to be
be a contrast of adult role types (even if a contrast
only of emphasis) also
Erikson

That

between

the vita activa

related to life-cycle stages. This becomes

Truth where there is a
quite clear in Gandhi's
of the Hindu
distinction
between the
of
with
its
clear
the
life
theory
cycle
adult
but
also with
householder
with
concerned
stage (Grhastha)
early
procreativity

discussion

. . . communal

relations,

"family

power,

. . . and

and

productivity,"2

the

final

two

or the inner
stages of life that are defined as "Vanaprastha,
separation from all ties of
and communality
and their replacement by a striving which
selfhood, body-boundness,
will
But in the Hindu pat
renunciation, disappearance."3
eventually lead toMoksha:
tern there was also a
a life of
of
of
and
the
way
stages
choosing early
bypassing
cycle
renunciation,

could still imitate the householder

which

stage as Erikson

suggests:

have seen how deeply Gandhi at times minded having to become a householder, for
without his becoming committed to a normal course of life by child marriage, he might
well have been a monastic saint instead of what he became: politician and reformer with

We

an

honorary

holdership
daughter,

sainthood.
to the house
to all

creation

For
of God,
rather

the

true

saints

becoming
than to their

are

father
own

those

who

and mother,

transfer
brother

the
and

state
sister,

of house
son and

issue.4

Erikson

avoids any simple equation of his life-cycle pattern with that of the Hin
perhaps resist relating it to the classical distinction between active and
lives. Yet I think there is a clear relation between his last two stages and
contemplative
the active and
lives. This comes out best, perhaps, in the discussion of the
contemplative
virtues (what a service Erikson has rendered us in
to make this ancient word
helping
available to us once again) connected with the
For
finds that the virtue
Erikson
stages.5

dus. He would

associated with

the stage of generativity,

characteristic of the middle years of adulthood,
care
is care, and
concern for what has been gen
defined as he defines it ("the widening
. . .")6 is not
or accident
erated by love,
related to the
necessity
only etymologically
characteristic feature of the active life as defined by Augustine:
caritas (New Testa
ment:
or
agape)
charity. And Erikson associates the virtue of wisdom with the final
human stage of
life has most fre
integrity, characteristic of old age. The contemplative
the same word, which
translates sapientia or
quently been characterized
by
sophia.
Nor could Erikson's definition, "detached concern with life itself, in the face of death
itself,"7 be much improved on, especially ifwe add that concern for eternity that Erik
son ascribed to the saint in the Jefferson book.
It would be
to pursue in detail the many
interesting
relationships between Erik
son's scheme and the traditional Christian one. The
eight virtues that he attributes to
are
the eight stages of the life
cycle
surprisingly similar, though not identical, to the

60

ROBERT

N.

BELLAH

It is particularly
and theological virtues of traditional Christianity.
interesting
that all three theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity) are there. And these relations
into his life cycle far ear
in turn would reveal that Erikson brings a religious dimension
lier than the final stage. At least as important would be the first stage of trust, charac

moral

terized by the virtue of hope, and the adolescent stage of identity, characterized by the
virtue of fidelity. Indeed, it is the essence of Erikson's scheme that only if basic trust has
been established early and a sense of faithfulness established in adolescence will it be
in old age. But with this suggestive stimulus from Erikson
hope for wisdom
like to turn now to some historical reflections on the vicissitudes of action and
as adult ideals in theWest, with a few side glances at East Asia for com
contemplation

possible
Iwould

to

purposes.

parative

sacred and profane can be found in all cultures the idea

is historically specific. It originates first in
of the vita activa and the vita contemplativa
the text of Plato (though perhaps in the life of Socrates).8 Since it is grounded in a strik
con
from comparable
conception of religion it differs markedly
ingly non-primitive
it
is
trasts among
in
this respect
and archaic peoples and
paralleled
by
primitive
But in this essay Iwill be mainly concerned
and
in
China.9
Israel,
India,
developments
and only in connection with the
of theWestern
with the particularities
development,
Chinese comparison will a few more general considerations emerge.
text is the claim for a radical superiority of con
is new in the Platonic
What
While

the contrast between

over other modes of life. The

(love of wisdom)
(theoria) or philosophy
templation
life" (bios theoretikos) is found first in Aristotle10 where
actual phrase "contemplative
and the life of pleasure. Plato con
it is contrasted with the political life (bios politikos)
the
trasts love of wisdom with
later would
love of victory and love of gain.11 Only
as
the
be aggregated
the military,
the economic, and the pleasure-seeking
political,
in contrast to the contemplative.
active life (bios praktikos)
the terminology,
is really striking in the Platonic
What
corpus is not so much
for the later tra
even
remains
decisive
if
later
although that,
requiring
systematization,
new
as
in a person,
contrast.
is
embodied
The
claim
of
the
the
dition,
personification
as
ideal
is
also
the highest
embodied, though
Socrates, and that which is being rejected
in a poetic person, Achilles.
the "educator"
and the spirit of Homer,
Achilles was the greatest hero of Homer,
of the Greeks, was still vibrant in the Athens of Pericles in Socrates' youth. Perhaps
no one has linked Homer and Periclean Athens more vividly than Hannah Arendt and
thus disclosed

to us what

Socrates

rejected when

he offered himself

in Achilles'

stead:

The polis, as it grew out of and remained rooted in the Greek pre-polis experience
and

estimate

"sharing
men
to do

of what

of words

makes
and

deeds,"

it worthwhile
had

for men
twofold

to live

function.

the
together
(syz?n),
namely,
to enable
intended
it was

First,

otherwise
what
had been possi
albeit under
certain
restrictions,
permanently,
for which
had to leave their
and
ble only as an
enterprise
they
infrequent
extraordinary
to win
was
to
"immortal
The
the occasions
households.
fame,"
polis
multiply
supposed
to show
to
in deed and
the chances
for
that is, to
himself,
distinguish
multiply
everybody
. . .The
of the
in his
function
who
he was
second
distinctness.
word
again
polis,
unique
as
into
its
the hazards
of action
before
with
connected
being,
coming
experienced
closely

THE

LIFE AND

ACTIVE

THE

LIFE

CONTEMPLATIVE

61

of action
for the
and
that a deed de
; for the chances
speech
futility
remedy
not be
were
that it
would
would
become
"immortal,"
serving
forgotten,
actually
was
not
a
of
the
Homer
and
there
function,
very good.
shining
example
poet's
political
as the
fore the "educator
of all Hellas";
the very fact that so great an
enterprise
Trojan
a
to immortalize
could
it several
War
have
been
without
hundred
poet
years
forgotten
an
too
to human
later offered
of what
could
if it
greatness
only
good
example
happen
....
on for its
to
had
but poets
permanence
nothing
rely
we
trust the famous words
a
The
of Pericles
in the Funeral
polis?if
Oration?gives
sea and
that those who
land to become
forced
the scene of their
guaranty
every
daring
not remain
nor
will
and will
without
neither
need Homer
else who
witness
anyone
was

to offer

fame

knows
will

to turn words

how
be

able
to

deeds,

to

to establish

inspire

praise

them

;without

ages

those who

others,
of

remembrance

together
everlasting
in the present
and in future

admiration

from

assistance

the

their

acted

and

good

bad

. . . .12

and
it is as
speaking
metaphorically
theoretically,
to make
the
War
wished
had
the
permanent
Trojan
to
had arisen
from
their deeds and
its
space of action which
prevent
sufferings,
perishing
. . . .13
to their isolated
with
their
and return
homesteads
dispersal
no less trans
is
What
clear in Pericles'
formulations?and,
outstandingly
incidentally
in Homer's
of the acted deed and the spo
that the innermost
parent
poems?is
meaning
Not

though

but

course,

returned

from

is independent of victory and defeat and must

ken word
eventual

of

historically,
the men who

outcome,

by

their

consequences

for better

or worse.

remain untouched
. . .
Thucydides,

by any

or Pericles,

knew full well that he had broken with the normal standards of everyday behavior when
he found the glory of Athens in having left behind
"everywhere everlasting remembrance
[mn?meia aidia] of their good and evil deeds."14
as well as his criticism of Pericles,16 can be
Surely Socrates' criticism of Achilles,15
understood in this context. The amoral pursuit of
shining glory and immortal fame, the
narcissistic obsession with "everlasting remembrance,"
could not be the basis of a good
life or a good polis.
In contrast to Achilles
(and Pericles) is Socrates, the contemplative man, forbidden
to engage in
as on one
by his daimonion
politics,17 who was described by Alcibiades
occasion standing from sunrise to sunrise rapt in
his
life
differed
But,
though
thought.18
so
from
was
a
the
Homeric
hero.
Indeed
Alcibiades
too,
heroes,
Socrates,
markedly
prefaces his account of the incident with the ironic words: "And now I must tell you
"19
a tag line from the
about another
thing 'our valiant hero dared and did,'
quoting
to mind
Socrates compares himself to Achilles,
Odyssey. And in the Apology
calling
his own steadfastness in battle and
less
he
how
be
in
could
steadfast
any
asking
adhering
to his
life.20With
the courage of Achilles
divinely imposed duty to lead the philosophic
he will give a most un-Homeric model of what human life can be. It is in the
Republic
that Plato most
to Book
In his commentary
insistently substitutes Socrates for Achilles.
Allan
Bloom writes:
III,
Socrates

mately
than

any

brings

Achilles

to the

teaching

or

law,

compels

in order

foreground

to do away with him as the model

the souls

to

of Greeks

and

is the hero of heroes, admired and imitated by all. And

combat;

he

teaches

that

if Achilles

analyze

his

character

and

ulti

for the young. The figure of Achilles, more

is the model,

men

will

all men

who

pursue

glory.

He

this is what Socrates wishes

not

pursue

philosophy,

to
that

62

N.

ROBERT
he

what

of

way

to the

is inimical

Socrates

is

engaging

founding
in a contest

of the best
with

city

Homer

and
for

the authentic

of the best

representation

human

the

the outline

the philosophical

nature.

unphilosophical

What
than

positively

there is this further point to be considered in distinguishing

And

You

of the best
practice
title of teacher
of the

type.21

Later, in Book VI of the Republic, we begin to perceive more

of the new mode of life and of what makes it new:

from

the

the

of mankind. One of his principal goals is to put himself in the place of Achil

Greeks?or
les as

for

stands
life.

BELLAH

point?
must

such

not

pettiness

overlook
to the

any
quality

touch

of

of a soul

illiberality.
that is ever

can
nothing
to seek
integrity

For

be more

contrary
and wholeness
in

all things human and divine.

Most

true,

he

said.

you think that a mind habituated to thoughts of grandeur22 and the con
templation of all time and all existence can deem this life of man a thing of great concern?
Impossible, said he.
Hence such a man will not suppose death to be terrible?
Do

Least

of all.23

we learn that the

is the
object of contemplation
Finally, toward the end of Book VI,
Good, about which Socrates is unable to say anything directly. He speaks instead of the
sun, which is to the visible world as the Good is to the intelligible world. But the Good
is not merely intellectual, it is the end for which man yearns, the final object of eros. At
the beginning of Book VII, the parable of the cave completes-the
teaching about the
new Platonic
Good. But it also
about
action.
For the true con
the
teaching
gives
on
cave
to
who
all
in
the
has
left
the
direct
man,
gaze
templative
things
light of the sun,
elects to return and to assist the dwellers in the cave, even unto death. Guided
by the
vision

of the heavenly city,24 which exists in the mode of eternity, the contemplative
can act for the welfare of the
earthly city without being blinded by illusions of
shining glory and immortal fame.
and action, though adumbrated
The new understanding
of contemplation
in pre
and
is
Socratic times by Parmenides
and Heraclitus,
Sophocles,
Aeschylus
brought to
its fruition in Plato. It is a powerful reaction against the corruption and disintegration

man

of archaic Greek
depicted

as

culture.

The

older

in Homer,

balance
where

between

the heroes

ritual and deed was

already
by priests of
and other
skeptics

are not balanced

problematic
stature.
comparable
By the time of Pericles, the Sophists, Euripides,
have riddled the Homeric
and the city religion. The city founder and the law
theology
the imperialist tyrant, and the
giver have been replaced by the ambitious politician,
in their ever expanding egoism. The fruit ofthat
general, all uninhibited
glory-seeking
was the disaster of the Peloponnesian War.
unrestrained
But, in the midst of
egoism
a
new
of con
the shambles,
in the mind of the philosopher
emerges
conception
a
new
of
the
in
and
with
from
correlation
this
divine,
templation (theoria)
conception
new
comes a new set of standards for
action, standards which
worldly
experience
as the
to the active life. On the basis of a
with
"care"
replace "glory"
key
comparable,

THE

LIFE AND

ACTIVE

CONTEMPLATIVE

THE

LIFE

63

if less poetically expressed, experience of the divine presence in the mind (nous) of the
Aristotle worked out those standards in the Ethics and the Politics in ways
philosopher,
tradition ever since.
that have remained to some degree normative for theWestern
At no great distance in time from Plato and Aristotle, Confucius and Mencius were
social conditions
a
task in China. Appalled
by the political and
engaged in comparable
their lords and
overthrew
retainers
feudal
in the late Chou Period, in which ambitious
Confucius attempted to revive the
embarked on policies of sheer self-aggrandizement,
normative order of the early Chou Period. Instead of the continuity between Achilles
and Pericles, Confucius discerned a great disparity between the Duke of Chou and the
own
toward tradition is thus profoundly different from
princes of his
day. His attitude
identi
that of Socrates. Instead of rejecting and replacing the Duke of Chou, Confucius
for subsequent Chinese
fied with him and contributed to the deepening of his meaning
as
culture. Yet surely this is not merely because of Confucius' "traditionalism"
against
did not
of
Chou
the
Duke
tradition
in
Chinese
For
the
"iconoclasm."
Socrates'
the quest for "shining glory." He was a modest and
exemplify obsessive narcissism and
in favor of regency for his nephew and preaching a
retiring man, forgoing the throne
on virtue and benevolence.
political doctrine based
and love of the ancient rituals, Confucius breaks with
For all his "traditionalism"
as
as
does Socrates. For Confucius,
too, it is in the mind
archaic religion
decisively
is recognized. There is a recogni
(hsin, cf. Greek nous) of the sage that transcendence
is as reticent to speak of
tion of Heaven
(ten) as of God (theos) in Plato. But Confucius
the highest things25 as Plato is.26 Even in connection with the highest virtue (jen, which
translates "Goodness,"
Tu Wei-ming
but Waley27
translates "humanity,"
perhaps
to give a defini
no
more
Plato
is
able
than
Plato's
Confucius
remembering
Agathon),
in the mind of the sage is
The new experience of transcendence
of life that is comparable
to, though not identical with, the bios theo
the
terms are "learning"
retikos. Perhaps
the key Chinese
(hsiieh) and, inMencius,
hsin
chih
as
the nature" (chin
the mind and knowing
process known
"exhausting
to give the whole passage from which the latter phrase
be
well
it
would
hsing). Perhaps
comes, for it makes an interesting comparison, with the passage from Book VI of the
Republic quoted above.
tion of the Good.
to a mode

related

said, "It is the man who has stretched his mind

Mencius
who

understands

fully
stands Heaven.
not

Do
shen]

All

be

and

true

man's

To

one's

guard
about
in two minds

await

mind

the outcome.

this is not to find "world

his

And

and

premature
In this way

to the full [chin ch'i hsin]

true nature,
he under
understanding
true nature
is to serve Heaven.
to nourish
one's

nature.

death
you will

rejection"

or a

old age. Cultivate

[hsiu
ripe
yourself
to
attain
span [ming].n
your allotted

in Confucius

But

and Mencius.
All

neither

four were

rejection in Plato and Aristotle.

four
gave new definition and direction to political
profound political philosophers.
and practical life as well as to the life of the mind. But all were frustrated in their
a dimension of
attempts to actualize their political teachings. All of them recognized
to
be actualized in
transcendence beyond the political even though they believed it had
the political. To put it inWestern
terms, the new recognition of transcendence did not
life but to a new conception of the
lead to an exclusive emphasis on the contemplative
is it really

legitimate

to find world
All

64

ROBERT

N.

BELLAH

and action and a new understanding

of the meaning of
between contemplation
action as well as of contemplation.
Nevertheless,
deepening pessimism about the "world" did lead to genuine move
ments of world rejection not many centuries later both in theWest
and in East Asia.
an expe
And subsequently world rejection was the dominant mode in East and West,
life in rela
rience that has indelibly colored all of our thinking about the contemplative
the note of world rejection was carried predominantly
tion to action. In theWest,
by
It is to the impact of these great religions on
in
Buddhism.
the
East,
by
Christianity;
and action that we must now turn.
the balance between contemplation
In this brief essay we must bracket discussion of the break with archaic religion that
occurred in ancient Israel.29 Suffice it to say that there, too, a new balance between the
balance

divine and the human was worked

out, a new understanding

existence. As in Greece and China

of the implication

of the

for political
powerful experience of
not entail world
Israel in the specific mode of prophetic revelation?did
a renewed effort to realize ethical action in the world. With
the emergence
but
rejection
we
a
find
different
The
situation.
radical
of Christianity,
however,
quite
eschatological
led to the nearly complete
note, the imminent expectation of the end of the world,

divine demand
the divine?in

world
in the
that
(relatively brief) time of waiting
rejection of the larger political
remained. To the extent that ethical problems did consciously emerge they had to do
with the personal lives of the converts, or at most with the problems of coherent com
can be dis
like a Christian political philosophy
in the new churches. Nothing
munity
cerned at least until
bios praktikos
context

we

became

must

Yet very early the bios theoretikos and the

the time of Augustine.
in the new
foci of Christian
reflection. What
the terms meant

now

consider.

It is actually in Philo (ca. 25 B.C.-ca. A.D. 40) that we can first discern the new
that will later be taken up by the church fathers.30 In Philo the concern
interpretation
in the variety of "practical lives" that we found in
for the complexities and modulations
has largely dropped out. In a sense the bios praktikos has now been
into the bios theoretikos as a preparatory
stage of ascetic discipline. The new
in later
articulation of the two lives as successive stages will be of great consequence
not
contrast
is
without
in
Plato.
The
between
Christian
preparation
thought, but it
Plato and Aristotle
absorbed

phases
between

of life is a not
Achilles

among the many contrasts

infrequent theme in Plato?indeed
death of the
and Socrates not the least important is the hot-blooded

in the bloom of youth and the philosophic death of the latter at the age of sev
in the Laws, Plato worked out an ingenious pattern of change over
enty. Particularly
the life cycle (even though the element of play and dance remained central at every
life of the elders who are the guardians of the laws.
in the philosophic
age) culminating
in which a full political life is possible,
is a total community
But Plato's Magnesia
fathers
the carapace of the empire is taken for
church
the
in Philo and
whereas
early
concern of the
is largely with its own internal life.
religious community
granted and the
are in the
(ca. 185-ca. 255) builds on Philo when he says, "Contemplatives
Origen
house of God, while those who lead an active life are only in the vestibule."31 But,
relative to the contemplative?a
tenden
however much the active life was downgraded
former

cy more

common

in the Eastern

than in theWestern

church?even

inOrigen

it is cer

LIFE AND

ACTIVE

THE

on the New Testament

not rejected. In commenting

tainly
tion, Origen wrote:
Peter

was

that was

not

contemplative,

vision

the

to him

theoretikos

the bios

that

continue

should

they

leaving
By
demonstrated

Lord

Our

more,

that

eager
to be.

LIFE

CONTEMPLATIVE

THE

incident of the Transfigura

in the vision

and

that

going
the active

and

the bios

65

he was

to see, but
privileged
to serve His
once
brethren

down
life must

continue
always
are
inseparable.32

praktikos

with

the

this passage echoes Book VII of the Republic as well as the New Testament will
also be true of Augustine.
the reflection about the active and con
As in so many other respects so with
lives, Augustine marks a turning point in Christian history. He takes up
templative
and completes the striving for personal holiness so evident in the early fathers but he
context. For him there is no
as to the
a
question
puts this striving in far broader social
are
and
active
life.
Both
lives
lived in
of the contemplative
contemplative
superiority
the space between the divine and the human and both partake of the tension of that
life is already a foretaste of the goal.
space. But the contemplative
in Luke
the reference to Martha
and Mary
from
Origen
picks up
Augustine
two
as
of
lives:
the
10:38-42
types

That

Martha's

hath chosen the better, in that while her

part is holy and great: yet Mary

at leisure and sat

for many
she was
caring
things,
from her, Martha's
will?for
be taken away
the
listened. Mary's
still and
part will
none hun
to whom
to the saints will
food be
will
where
pass away;
given,
ministering
was
not pass
in
for her
away,
justice and truth, and in this
part does
delight
gers? Mary's
sister was

and

solicitous

and

working

not

same will be her delight in eternity. What Mary chooses waxes greater; for the delight of
a faithful and holy human heart?in
the light of truth and the
the human heart?of
sweet

if it be

of wisdom,

affluence

will

now,

sweeter

be

then

far.33

no one has seen better than

ordering is clear,
though the hierarchical
Augustine
existence requires both lives and that the active life is not
that true Christian
merely
to
but involves full
another name for the ascetic disciplines preparatory
contemplation
in the ethical and political life of the world. Perhaps the key passage is in
participation
the City of God, xix, 19 :

But

As

for

the

three

the

two,

anyone,

his

faith,

and

answers
what

of

kinds
to be

life,

life of

the

sure, might
thus attain

his

spend
to the

might
to those
What
questions:
does he pay out in response

does
to the

life of action,

the

leisure,

life in any

everlasting
a man
possess

as a result

of Christian

obligations

and

of these ways
rewards.
What

the combination

without

matter

does

of his
love?

of

is the

love of truth?
For

to

detriment

no one

And

ought

to

be so leisured as to take no thought in that leisure for the interest of his neighbour, nor so
as

active

to feel

no

need

for

the

of God.

contemplation

The

attraction

of a

life of

leisure

ought not to be the prospect of lazy inactivity, but the chance for the investigation and dis
covery

of

truth,

on

the

understanding

that

each

person

makes

some

progress

in this,

and

does not grudgingly withhold his discoveries from another.

In the
or

power

life of action,
in this

life,

on
since

the other
"everything

hand,

is to be

what

under

the

sun

treasured
is

vanity"

is not a
but

the

of honour
place
task itself that is

66

ROBERT
achieved
and

by

helpful,

have

already

N.

BELLAH

means

of that
of honour
and that
that achievement
is
place
power?if
right
the
of the common
as we
for
is, if it serves to promote
well-being
people,
... So then, no one
to God's
is
this
intention.
argued,
well-being
according

that

is debarred from devoting himself to the pursuit of truth, for that involves a
praiseworthy
kind of leisure. But high position, although without it a people cannot be ruled, is not in
itself a respectable object of ambition, even if that position be held and exercised in a
manner

of respect. We
worthy
it is the
sure, while
compulsion

see then
of

love

that

it is love of truth

that undertakes

righteous

that

looks

engagement

for

sanctified

lei

in affairs.34

for glory and not for power but for the welfare of the
people under the compulsion
of love the political functions of the active life have value and meaning.
The early church, alternately persecuted and protected by the Roman
Empire,
from participation
in political life and remained
aloof
largely abstained
particularly
life. But, after Christianity
from military
became the official religion of the
a
empire,
more
an
of
life
of
Christian pacifism)
abandonment
(and
political
positive conception
return of classical
in Christian guise in the
political philosophy
developed. The
writings
of Augustine
in the
greatly facilitated this process, which would be resumed
High
Middle
But at the same time the
Ages especially by Thomas
Aquinas.
spread of
in Augustine's
which was just beginning
monasticism,
time, had new implications for
of the active and contemplative
the understanding
as well as
lives. For the
early church
there was no suggestion that the contemplative
for Augustine
or
life was only for
clergy
the active for laity. Both clergy and laity ought, of necessity, to participate in both lives.
But in theMiddle Ages the contemplative
life tended to be confused with the monastic
Not

to the "active
life, or even with the life of particular orders (friars were committed
life"), even though this identification never became complete. On the other hand, the
increasing recognition of the validity of secular life and the concomitant
recovery of
pre-Christian

classical

culture

contributed

to

the

crisis

over

the

articulation

of

the

con

and active

lives that occurred in the sixteenth century.

templative
We may now glance briefly at the history of Confucianism
in China and its rela
tion to the rise of otherworldly
after
the
of
third
the
Christian era. Pre
century
religion
was
no means the
Han Confucianism
of
school
Chinese
predominant
by
thought, and
even in its first great
of
under
Han
the
200 B.C. to
period
prosperity
Dynasty
(roughly
our
to
A.D. 200) it had to contend with other schools. With
central concern the
respect
two major alternative ancient
was the
ideology of pragmatic

schools contrasted

neatly with Confucianism.

Legalism
interested
in the extension of
manipulators
primarily
a
state power.
no concern
of the active life,
They represented
hypostatization
having
on the other hand, was
with the dimension of the transcendent. Taoism,
certainly pri
even
we mean
term
and
if
that
marily contemplative
otherworldly
by
rejecting the
as we have seen, maintained
a balance
and
realm.
Confucianism,
public
political
between active and contemplative modes and indeed throughout
Confucianism
history
seems to have had the
to shade off toward
on the one hand, or
potentiality
Legalism,
on
the other. While
the functioning bureaucrat was often a theoretical Con
Taoism,
fucianist but a practical Legalist, there is also much truth to the adage: "A Confucianist
in office; a Taoist out of office." Thus while Confucianism
has never totally dominated
Chinese culture it has through most of history provided the central integration of it.
one of such successful
The period of the Han Dynasty was
by and large
integration.

THE

ACTIVE

LIFE AND

THE

CONTEMPLATIVE

LIFE

67

and the subsequent loss of political unity,

the collapse of the Han Dynasty
even as a
no
seemed
longer
wholly
adequate
political ideology. The
a
of
existential
period
anxiety accompanying
political turmoil seemed to
increasing
some more radically religious response than Confucianism
could offer. Con
require
we see in the centuries that followed the greatest
to the dominance
challenge
sequently
as the
of
Chinese
culture
in
the
entire history of
of Confucianism
organizing philosophy
The challenge came first from religious Taoism,
from the fourth
China.
but,
imperial
was overshadowed
by Buddhism, which had arrived in China
century on, Taoism
as the
later
Han
Far
from India during the
major challenge to Confucianism.
Dynasty
With

Confucianism

Buddhism was an essentially contemplative

than Christianity,
reli
otherworldly
never
to say about
While
action.
little
with
Bud
Confucianism,
worldly
replacing
gion
dhism remained the dominant cultural force in China for some six centuries (fourth to

more

scholars seem to prefer to forget.35

tenth), a fact that both Chinese and Western
This is not the place for even a cursory discussion of Buddhism. Suffice it to say that
it is a tradition based on a profound experience of religious transcendence that has giv
en rise to extraordinary
systems of metaphysical
speculation and subtle practices of
and devotion.

Buddhism

was

in part shaped by the Chinese environment,

so that
same token
by the seventh century it had become Chinese Buddhism, but by the
was ever the same after their
neither Taoism nor Confucianism
prolonged exposure to
in the tenth and eleventh centuries a resurgent Confucianism
Buddhism. When
(gener
as the dominant
"Neo-Confucianism"
in the West)
displaced Buddhism
ally called
force in Chinese culture it did so only after having imbibed much from its opponent.

meditation

was
con
deeply
the incipient
metaphys
ics of the ancient texts and developed every hint of meditational
techniques. The failure
reforms in the Sung Period gave an overtone of political pessi
of radical Confucian
that may not have approached Augustine's
mism toNeo-Confucianism
somberness but
was, and remained for centuries, far from optimistic about the possibility of action in
the ideal of responsible political
the world even though it never abandoned
leadership.
was in the sixteenth century that there arose, with no direct influ
it
Curiously enough
ence from theWest,
the first gentle hint of a major shift away from the contemplative
mode and toward the active.
it strongly rejected monasticism,
templative. Under the Buddhist stimulus

Though

the revived Confucianism

it greatly

elaborated

the shift was not gentle and it was far more than a hint. In the extra
of
Niccol? Machiavelli,
who stands at the head of modern Western
ordinary figure
we encounter a radical criticism of
a tacit
philosophy,
rejection of classical
Christianity,
a
and
dramatic
of
reversal
the
hierarchical
relation
the con
between
philosophy,
In theWest

life and the active life?or

of the contemplative
rather, the abandonment
templative
seem
to be back in the world of Pericles,
if not that of
life altogether. We
suddenly
are
more
Machiavelli's
heroes
often
Romans
than Greeks. But the
Achilles,
though
of one's city and often the amoral aggrandizement
amoral aggrandizement
of oneself
or evil deeds) have
of "shining glory," whether
by good
replaced the rule
and theological virtues. Indeed the very word virtus has become
ambigu
ous in its Italian
now has as much to do with natural
or
guise of virtu, which
capacity
as it does with
strength
morality.36 Machiavelli
glories in action, and he is one of the
of
of
all
it.
But
with
he wants no part. He criticizes
greatest
contemplation
analysts
(the pursuit
of the moral

68

N.

ROBERT

BELLAH

as a weak and uncivic religion, preferring the "bloody" pagan religion of

Christianity
draws his contempt so much as the unarmed prophet?Sav
ancient Rome.37 Nothing
onarola is his most common example, though Jesus of Nazareth, whom he studiously
he admires because he was an armed
is probably another. Moses
avoids mentioning,
him together with others whom he admires, such as Cyrus,
he
the texts of The Prince and the Discourses
and Romulus.38 Throughout
the transcendence of revelation nor the
Plato and Aristotle only once. Neither
is of any interest to him. For
transcendence discerned in the soul of the philosopher
come as
as
a
must
Machiavelli
those who view "secularization"
always
gradual process
more
a shock. It would be hard to imagine what
it would mean to be
secular than
Machiavelli.
of course, was not without
Machiavelli,
precursors. Hans Baron has shown how
and he mentions

prophet,
Theseus,
mentions

such as Salutati

Florentines

turies resuscitated
learned much

and early fifteenth cen

on
a
life
the basis of "civic humanism" which

in the late fourteenth

and Bruni

the honor of the active

But these early civic humanists did not reject

form. They simply argued
cloistered monastic
and that under
best for all people under all circumstances

from the ancient world.39

life, even

the contemplative
that it was not

necessarily
certain conditions the active

in its most

life could be of equal or even superior dignity. As Salutati

wrote, "To devote oneself honestly to honest activities may be holy, and holier than
laziness in solitude. For holiness in a [quiet] country life is useful only to itself, as St.
Jerome says. But holiness in a busy life raises the lives of many."40 Nor did the early
civic humanists (and many later ones) reject ancient philosophy. Plato and Cicero were
was not a reversion to
particular favorites. Thus the teaching of the civic humanists
as in the case ofMachiavelli,
ah adjustment within
the
but
only
pre-Socratic
politics
context of the Classical-Christian
tradition in favor of a greater dignity of the active life.
to link the contemplative
life to clerical life and
In view of the late medieval
tendency
reason
the active life to secular life one might with
consider the rise of civic humanism a
trend. But even that is far from the whole story. Part of what was hap
"secularizing"
as is evident in the Salutati passage, is that a
is being claimed
pening,
religious dignity
for the active life.With
the Florentine
tradition of civic humanism was
Savonarola
an

eschatological
interpretation of the mission of Florence which had the
ironic consequence of linking civic humanism, with its sense of the dignity of the active
life, to a more intense religiosity than that displayed by the Roman church of which it
was critical.41 An
like Paolo Paruta was in his
ideologist of Venetian
republicanism
than he was to
defense of the active life far closer to this early strand of civic humanism
his contemporary, Machiavelli.42
fused with

Indeed
humanists

there
and

is much

in common

the Protestant

between

the Florentine

and Venetian

civic

in their revival of the religious dignity of the

as the exclusive preserve of
lazy,
contemplation

reformers

to
tendency
denigrate
selfish, and conceited clerics did not at all mean
the classic definition of the vita contemplativa,
life. The

active

Luther,

perhaps,
If the monks

put itmost
really

wanted

bluntly when
to

escape

an abandonment
of many elements of
such as faith, prayer, and worship.
he wrote:

from

people,

they

should

honorably

and

honestly

flee, not leave a stench behind them ; that is, they should not by their fleeing give other

THE
vocations

and

offices

chosen

monasticism

becomes

a monk

stink! How

ACTIVE
a

stench

LIFE AND
as

were

though
balsam.

pure
as
though
is their vocation.

LIFE

CONTEMPLATIVE

these
When

he were

it sounds

accursed

THE

I want

were
a

damned

utterly
person

flees

"Shame

saying,
to be saved

69

and

and

from
on

their

own

self

human

you!
let them

How
go

and
society
these
people
to the devil!"
If

Christ had fled like this too and become such a holy monk, who would have died for our
sin or atoned
their

unsociable

for us
and

sinners?
poor
austere mode

Do
of

you

suppose

it would

have

been

the monks

with

life?43

of all that complexity

of
those words we can see the reemergence
to which Plato and Aristotle gave so much
in the world
and occupations
attention. Not just "the active life," but the political, military, mercantile, manufac
were
to
turing lives
beginning
require ethical and religious recognition. The Lutheran

Perhaps
activities

behind

of "calling" were precisely designed to give those occupations

The con
Yet again this was no simple "secularization."
and
value.
religious meaning
even
no
to permeate the active life,
templative life,
though
longer called that, continued
which was, as the Protestants
insisted, to be pursued "in, but not of, this world." Per
most
haps the
compressed way of summing up the position that spans both civic
and Calvinist

doctrines

is the phrase that one of Ignatius Loyola's devoted disciples,

to that great Counter Reformation
the Jesuit Father Jerome Nadal,
leader:
applied
in
actione.44
contemplativus

humanists

and reformers

But if one aspect of the early-modern West

involves a reordering of the place of
action and contemplation within the continuing Classical-Christian
tradition, we must
not
we
the utter aban
forget that other aspect, which
already observed inMachiavelli,
is the first-born son
this point of view, Thomas Hobbes
his master, not in the radicalness of his views, but in the
theorist of political
thoroughness of his theoretical support for them. For Machiavelli,
action though he was, seldom reflected on the first principles of the human condition.
was the
Hobbes we might call the first theoretical social scientist, just as Machiavelli
donment

of the tradition. From

ofMachiavelli

and outdoes

first empirical
first

principles.

one. For Hobbes

He

abandons

meets
entirely

the philosophical
the

fundamental

tradition on its own ground

Platonic-Aristotelian

of

under

standing of man as motivated

the Christian
understanding

eros toward the Good,

as he abandons
just
primarily by
as
man
in need of, and
of
utterly dependent on, divine
of man almost exclusively on one motive?the
builds his understanding
grace. Hobbes
If he adds anything to this primary need it is the
biological need for self-preservation.
to
and
dominate
excel
others
(which
urge
may be only an extrapolation of the primary
need). In constructing a whole theory of social order on this principle, Hobbes creates a
that far outdoes the meager attempts of the Sophists
pre-Socratic
political philosophy
to do the same.
in this theory there is no room for contemplation,
for there is
Naturally
no room for transcendence. Like his
is
Hobbes
interested
in
predecessor,
religion, but
as a device for
masses.
of
its
value and
control
the
inherent
About
primarily
political
Hobbes
remains
silent.
meaning
There

is one

that has
and Hobbes
important difference between Machiavelli
caused their influence to be somewhat
in
However
radi
divergent
subsequent history.
can
never
individualist
Machiavelli
sometimes
is
his
the
isolated
be,
cally
starting point
individual but the city. Because of his constant preoccupation
with the city and its

70

ROBERT

is a link to the tradition

needs, there
Machiavelli's

N.

BELLAH

that was

of civic humanism

never

broken.

to those who find in

of republican
liberty has been instructive
in
Another
Machiavelli.
that liberty an ethical and religious meaning
utterly lacking
was
to
say that Machiavelli
way of putting it is
always profoundly political and that
as well as a
can be understood
in an Aristotelian
pre-Socratic way. But Hobbes
politics
of man ismore
is not finally political at all, for his radically individualist understanding
a
to
is
of
from
It
Hobbes
Locke's
basic
but
than
economic
step
understanding
political.
we
If
of
terms
Hannah
Arendt's
useful
man in
of labor.
subclassification
the
may adopt
defense

to be
is beginning
of Machiavelli
vita activa,45 we may say that the homo politicus
of
In
the
animal
laborans
and
Locke.
and
Hobbes
Arendt's
the
homofaber
replaced by
terms this means that first work and then labor become more important than action.
the tensions between the various radical champions of the active life, they
But whatever
that not only was religion
all abandon contemplation. This had the ironic consequence
itself became a far more insignificant handmaiden
than it
but philosophy
undermined,
had ever been in theMiddle Ages.46
that plays into our
At this point we must allude to another crucial development
the rise of modern
science. Early-modern
science involved
problem in important ways:
it
a dramatic break with classical philosophy,
did not neces
but
Aristotle,
particularly
a break with
of
One
the
involve
religion.
early great ideologists of science,
sarily
as
same
saw
of
the
divine
it
Francis Bacon,
part
providence that brought about the Ref
:

ormation

...

see before

we

to call

God
and

our

the Church
doctrines

sundry

that
eyes,
of Rome
obnoxious

in the age
to account
and

framed

same time it was ordained by the Divine

and

renovation

new

of all other

spring

of ourselves

our

and

fathers,

manners
degenerate
to
same
the
abuses;
uphold

for their

Providence

it

when
and

pleased

ceremonies,

at one

and

the

that there should attend withal

knowledges.47

in religious terms, came down heavily on

the new science, even when understood
as is
the side of action rather than contemplation,
explained admirably
by Eugene

Yet

Klaaren

For
an

tradition
Augustinian
knowing
of
the
reinforced
sapientia
primacy
by

the venerable
activity

consisted
(wisdom).

of

in the known,
participation
. . .This
orienta
ontological

tion of knowledge was reinforced by the high value of contemplative knowledge, which
genuinely symbolized the theology of Being in all things. The presupposition that the
order of knowing followed that of being was basic.
When

Boyle

and

Bacon,

like Descartes,

reversed

this

traditional

order,

a venture

of

use
knowing itself emerged. As practical and experimental knowledge gained primacy in
of

integrity
struction
ing

over

value

and

rather

if not

an
of
the very
knowledge,
activity
knowing
acquired
or recon
this
making
activity
closely
approximated
or abstraction.
new order
In this
the direct
epochally
participation
the often
distant
of will,
which
yet all
presupposed
significance

contemplative
its own. Henceforth,
than

spontaneous

powerful will of God, disregarded the old maxim

dictate

of

understanding.

Sharp

distinctions

that the will moves according to the last

between

Creator

and

creation

and man

and

world were also manifest between knower and known. A new field for individual will
emerged.48

THE

ACTIVE

THE

LIFE AND

CONTEMPLATIVE

LIFE

71

not
indirectly through his works and
directly through
is
of
transcendence
itself
the
very
experience
endangered. As Klaaren
participation
himself points out, the belief in an "often distant" God in the seventeenth century gave
in the eighteenth and atheism in the nineteenth, at least among those
way to Deism
who seriously pursued the relation of science and theology.
China (and Japan, too, as we
We
have already indicated that in early-modern
the reversal in primacy of contemplation
and action was also
shall see in a moment)
But where

God must

be known

so to
to the West. With
even if
the sev
speak, compared
pianissimo,
taking place,
is
to be
about
enteenth century the great age of metaphysical
over,
speculation
just
a
turn
of
"scientific"
and
toward "practical
the development
philology
replaced by
was not
studies." The practice of meditation
(quiet sitting)
immediately abandoned,
most
influential
the
and
innovative
but its prestige, particularly
scholars,
among
review of the "enlightenment"
tendencies in sev
declined. De Bary in a magisterial
Chinese Confucianism
enteenth- and eighteenth-century
speaks of its "pragmatic and
its liberation from the "ascetic and transcendental
influences of Bud
positivist spirit,"49
and its emphasis on "the
dhism"50 that had infiltrated Sung Neo-Confucianism,
reality
of the actual, physical natures of man and things."51 Few Chinese Confucianists
openly
inMencius,
that the mind
rejected the ancient Confucian notion, expressed classically
to
heaven, fien). And
(hsin) is the sensorium for transcendence (through nature, hsing,
as
a
seventeenth
the
is
that
De
if
century "sagehood
by
goal of spiritual
yet
right
Bary
had become almost as rare as had sainthood in the twentieth-century
attainment
was not
Chinese Confucianism
then we can ask whether
West,"52
early-modern
as
was
a
to
to a "pre-Confucian"
theWest
just
philosophy,
reverting
reverting
"pre
Socratic"

one.

controversy over the meaning of the texts is still going on, it does seem to me
that at least one influential eighteenth-century
Japanese thinker, Ogy? Sorai, did make
and
Sorai exalted
that reversion. Openly
rejecting Mencius
tacitly rejecting Confucius,
While

the "ancient
human

society

kings" whom
from

a rather

he alleged
distant

had received

Heaven.

There

the original modes

is a strong

naturalism

and orders of
in Sorai.

He

takes seriously the basic desires, talents, and abilities of men and considers society as the
context for men to fulfill these desires and abilities. But what holds society together are
acts in later ages in the
the objective normative orders administered
by the ruler, who
no
ancient kings. For Sorai there is
longer any direct link to heaven
place of the
use
ofMencius
He
ridiculed
followers
mind.
the
contemporary
through
by saying: "To
to control one's own mind
is like a lunatic controlling himself
one's own mind
by
means of his own
of contemplation
and the emphasis on the
lunacy."53 The rejection
state.
made Sorai an important forerunner of theMeiji
dynamism of political society
to be aware that modern China and
Indeed, we are beginning
Japan were far from
from
for
the
modern
Radical
ideas
the
West
would never have
period.
unprepared
been absorbed so quickly and effectively if there had not been a preparation from with
in neither country was the traditional pattern of thought
in. Nevertheless,
wholly
thinkers or by the incursion of modern
destroyed either by the indigenous early-modern
Western
thought.
Our final task is to bring what has become a sweeping excursion into intellectual
concern with patterns of individual adulthood.
to our
If com
original
history back

72

ROBERT

N.

BELLAH

indicates that most human cultures have shown an alternating

ethnography
concern with the sacred and the
of
profane and if Erik Erikson has found that
rhythm
mature
in
both action and contemplation,
then we might
the
personality expresses itself
ask whether a culture that exclusively emphasizes action (or contemplation
either, for
parative

can be a very
for human growth. The relation of his
healthy environment
at
is
and
and
the
relation between intellectual history
best,
tory
life-history
problematic
and life-history is even more problematic. What
the reigning intellectuals believe is not
resources available to intellectuals
necessarily what everyone believes. Even the cultural
that matter)

the cultural resources available to others. It is common knowledge,

for
be
that
the
life
of
could
Americans
from
the
example,
religious
gauged
hardly
religious
life of American
the prolonged dominance
of an
university professors. Nevertheless
cannot
intellectual tendency
but affect the larger culture. The loss of respect for the vita
not exhaust

may

(and Eastern) intellectuals for several centuries has certainly

contemplativa
byWestern
on
even
it
the
where
it survives. The most viable survival technique
defensive,
put
under

these

as we

circumstances,

have

seen

in

the West

(there

are

comparable

exam

to combine the two ways of life in some sort of

to be
ples in East Asia), is
synthesis. But
as
in but not of the world or to be contemplan vus in actione is
difficult,
enormously
Calvinists and Jesuits have learned. The "in" tends to become "of just as action tends
turn toward the world in the twentieth cen
The Catholic
contemplation.
tury, in an effort to make the Jesuit model the model for the church as a whole, has fur
one of the last lines of its defense.
life by weakening
ther endangered the contemplative
an individual can still put
the cultural environment,
And yet, however unfavorable
a
for
of
himself
for
coherent
others)
(and
pattern
personal identity. Even in
together
to obliterate

has always
America, which was born in action, so to speak, and where contemplation
a
to find wisdom
had
and to express it to others. I
foreign ring, it has been possible
want to mention
in this regard two quite extraordinary but exemplary Americans:
Jef
ferson and Lincoln.
The reference to Jefferson comes naturally from the Erikson discussion mentioned
at the
in Jefferson's intellectual equip
beginning of this paper.54 Almost
everything
ment would
seem to militate
concern with
the active life. His
for an exclusive
and Locke. His study of eighteenth-century
intellectual heroes were Bacon and Newton
French thought brought him to a basically materialist
and sensationalist conception of
which

man,
with

useful

was more

radical

than that of his English

and his scorn for useless

teachers.

In his preoccupation
typical of the best

he was

invention
speculation
of his age. Yet even in his early life, when he was in the thick of action, there is a
a
a concern for universal truth that
grandeur of vision,
prevented him from being only
not have been
vision
would
for
the
Without
that
it
pragmatic politician.
larger
possible
to have been the revolutionary
Declaration
of Independence
document
that itwas, for

minds

America

and for the world.

it is in his late years that the contemplative

side of Jefferson comes out best.
is something almost classical about his enjoyment of a leisured life in the coun
There
but for the intellectual exploration of the world. In that
try, not for lazy self-indulgence,
were
a great comfort to him (he also studied the Greek
the Latin classics
exploration
to
texts but could make no sense of Plato). Erikson is quite
point out that this con
right
But

LIFE AND

ACTIVE

THE

THE

LIFE

CONTEMPLATIVE

73

a kind of culmination
in his careful study of the Bible and his
templative mode reached
construction of a purified text of the teachings of Jesus. For Jefferson, Jesus was the
concern for others. Even ifwhat Jeffer
highest model of humanity because of his deep
son left out is as instructive as what he kept in his "revised version," this enterprise
shows beyond doubt that Jefferson transcended the utilitarian and pragmatic mode.
And the fruit of these years of retirement, the enormous correspondence?particularly
not the least of what he has left to his country.
that with John Adams?is
is a deeper and more obscure example.55 There were no late years of
in which wisdom could culminate. There is the probable rationalism of his
a church. Yet if there was ever a
never
joined
early years and the certain fact that he
in action itwas Lincoln. The enormous consistency of his vision from the
contemplative
to the end of his life and the care and concern that went into his
late eighteen-thirties
Lincoln's

retirement

most

casual

writings

give

of

evidence

an

Aware

concentration.

extraordinary

as

per

no other American
of the moral price that every day of the existence of slavery
haps
he nevertheless
exacted from all Americans,
always controlled his actions, limiting
them to what was politically possible, what was just beyond the national consciousness
but not so far beyond as to be rejected. Lacking Jefferson's education he was yet more
were the two texts that shaped the con
deeply educated. His three greatest teachers
in those days, the Bible and Shakespeare, and Jefferson himself.
sciousness of Americans
As with all great contemplatives,
there are many things we will never know about
Lincoln. But out of the darkness of the war years, out of the concern and the care that
he could never

came two great documents

of Inde
that, like the Declaration
lay aside
to
mankind. The mes
pendence, transcend the particularities of their origin and speak
sage they speak is not only that of inalienable rights, but also of charity, reconciliation,
and rebirth.
In 1940 Jacques Maritain
I have

As
a

universally
tism and of

. . .

said
repeated
the great

wrote:
is
particularly
that America

contemplation
commonplace

to this
par

continent.

Is it not

excellence

of pragma
in this, as in most

is truth
There
activity?
in a manner
is
charac
the
which
certainly
pioneers
reserves
and
there are in America
in my
But,
great
opinion,
is manifested
here assumes
in many
activism
The
which

undertakings
celebrates
Whitman

commonplaces.
teristic of the American

important
is the land

soul.

for

of human

possibilities
contemplation.
a cer
cases the
itself masks
I think that this activism
of a
aspect
against
despair.
remedy
. . .On
in
to
tain hidden
the
the other hand,
natural
tendency,
contemplation.
aspiration
to be moved
to have confidence,
to undertake
this country,
idealistic
great
by large
things,
risk of error, as
that desire and aspi
be considered,
without
may
great
feelings,
disguising

ration of which
To

I spoke.
on earth

wish

paradise

paradise
at all. To

aspire

dise except by beginning

paradise
templation

is. Paradise
is

paradise

to

is stark

paradise

na?vet?.
isman's

But

it is

grandeur;

than not to wish

better
any
surely
to para
I
should
and how
aspire

to realize paradise here below? The question is to know what

consists,
on earth,

as

St.
says,
Augustine
a crucified
paradise.56

in

the

joy

of

the Truth.

Con

was too
is too deeply committed to the
Perhaps Maritain
optimistic. Perhaps America
to find again the healing balance of con
active life in its pathological
hypostatization

74

ROBERT

N.

BELLAH

himself went on to speak of "contemplation

templation. Even Maritain
too
the reigning
which
be
action,"
easy a compromise with
may
moment when many Americans
find the pragmatic world meaningless,
tain's hopes for this continent were not utterly misguided.

in
overflowing
ethos. But at a
perhaps Mari

References
lErik H.

Dimensions

Erikson,

Truth

Gandhi's

Hdem,

of

a New

(New York,

(New York,
Identity
1969), p. 3 7.

3Ibid.,p.?8.
seems fascinated
men who
AIbid., p. 399. Erikson
by
was
as
as
and
Gandhi
Erikson
well
Luther
for
such,
life,

were

1974),

pp. 42-43.

torn between

even discerns

the active

and contemplative
tension in Jef

a touch of the same

ferson.
5See Erik H.

and Responsibility
Insight
of Generations."

Erikson,

and

Strength

'Ibid.,
I
Ibid.,

the Cycle
p. 131.

(New York,

1964),

especially

Chapter

4, "Human

p.m.

too late to be taken

books bearing on the subject of this essay came to my attention
important
the Basis of Culture
is Joseph
Leisure
in the body of the text. One
(revised edition,
Pieper's
a
is Nicholas
and Practice:
Lobkowicz's
New York,
1964). The other
Theory
History
of
Concept from
toMarx
cites a rather late tradition
from
Aristotle
1967). Lobkowicz
Indiana,
(Notre Dame,
deriving
to the effect that the distinction
the kinds of life and the
between
and Iamblichus
Cicero
special respect for
8Two

into account

to
(pp. 5ff).
Pythagoras
of the characteristic
differences
between

should
contemplation
9For a discussion
Israel,

be traced back

India, China)

religions,

see

"Religious

and historic
archaic,
(Greece,
primitive,
in Robert N. Bellah,
(New
York,
Beyond
Belief

Evolution"

1970).
\Q95b.
l0Nichomachean
Ethics,
II
S Sic.
Republic,
The Human
12Hannah Arendt,
"Ibid,p.
l4Ibid., pp.
^Republic,

Condition

1958),

(Chicago,

pp.

196-97.

198.
205-6.
390e-39\e.

l6Gorgias,5\5.
11
3\c-32a.
Apology.
220c.
18Symposium,
l9Ibid. Michael
Joyce's

translation

in Edith

and

Hamilton

1961 ), p. 5 71.
(New York,
of Plato
2Sb-29b.
20Apology,
Plato
21Allan Bloom, The Republic
(New York,
of
and means
ismegaloprepeia
22"The Greek word
"
n.
2.
man.'
Ibid., p. 461,

Cairns,

Huntington

eds., The

Collected

seemly

for a great

Dialogues

^Republic,
uRepublic,
25Analects,
26Seventh

468tfff.

Paul

Shorey

translation

1968),
literally

in Hamilton

p. 354.
'that which

and Cairns,

is

fitting

op. at,

or

p. 722.

592b.
17:19,
Letter,

27Arthur Waley,

etc.
341c.

The Analects
1:1. W.

ofConfudus
A. C. H. Do\kot?,

(London,
Mendus

1938).

1963), p. 143.
La. 1959).
Vol. I, Israel and Revelation
Order and History\
29See Eric Voegelin,
(Baton Rouge,
as
to
traces
the
takes
this
shift
but
his
30Lobkowicz
4)
representative
Neoplatonists,
(op. at., Chapter
not the crucial
tradition
is
Plotinus
there is
Plotinus. While
figure for the early Christian
clearly
figure
a decisive
It was he who
contribution.
Plotinus
made
in which
another
respect
distinguished
decisively
in the sense of unitive
theoria
vision. Allowing
for
in the sense of conceptual
between
thought and
logos
28Mencius,

VII,

(Toronto,

THE

ACTIVE

LIFE AND

THE

CONTEMPLATIVE

LIFE

75

one in which
to the contemporary
means
this contrast
may
equate
theory
means
While
the
connection
and contemplation
the
between
religious
insight.
conceptualization
has never been wholly
of the
ideas of theory and contemplation
lost, to trace fully the development
deep
is
the scope of this paper. Lobkowicz
is concerned
them in theWest
beyond
primarily
ening split between
of those terms. I am concerned with the contrast
in the modern meanings
with
the contrast theory/practice
in linguistic

shifts

usage

we

abstract

contemplation/practice.
31
In Psalm
cxxxiii,
Life

cited

1961),

(Milwaukee,

p.

by
19.

Sister Mary

Elizabeth

Mason,

O.S.B.,

Active

Life

and

Contemplative

and Homilies,
cited inMason,
op. dt., p. 25.
of Songs; Commentary
17, cited by Mason,
op. dr., p. 36.
of St.
the City of God
translation
the
(Pen
Augustine,
Concerning
Against
34Henry Bettenson
Pagans
880-81.
1972),
pp.
guin,
35This lapse has been pointed out in a recent doctoral dissertation, Wai-lun
of
Lai, "The Awakening
of Sinitic
ch'i-hsin
inMahayana
Faith
lun); A Study of the Unfolding
Motifs,"
(Ta-ch'eng
Mahayana
1975.
Harvard
University,
on virtus-. "A term which was
some
reflections
has
Pocock
and
36J.G.A.
interesting
originally,
largely
a
to the Greek arete
and
class, virtus became assimilated
remained,
part of the ethos of
political
military
32In The

Song
cixix,

*3Sermo

From the
of "civic excellence"?some
its conceptual
development.
meaning
quality respected
over them?aret?
of
and
had been refined,
and productive
leadership
authority
by Socra
by
a man
to mean
for civic
alone qualified
that moral goodness which
tes and Plato,
which
could
capacity,
at the
ren
even exist without
and which,
levels of Platonic
it and render it unnecessary,
highest
thinking,
and satisfactory. Aret? and virtus alike came to mean,
dered existence and the universe
first, the
intelligible
and

shared

citizens

other

or group acted
an individual
in a civic context;
next, the essential
effectively
power by which
or element what
itwas;
which made a personality
third, the moral goodness which made a man,
to be." The Machiavellian
Moment
(Princeton,
ought
of the Platonic
the term was a development
usage,
to the most
reversion
stage of the concept.
primitive
3
1,11-15.
''Discourses,

cosmos,

what

use

Christian

he

1975),

of

whereas

p. 37. Needless
Machiavelli's

property
or
in
city
to say the
virtu

is a

6.

38Prince,

The

39Hans Baron,

Crisis

of the Early

Italian

Renaissance

(Princeton,

1966).

111.

40Ibid.,p.
41
See Donald

Weinstein,

Savonarola

and Florence:

and Patriotism

Prophecy

in the Renaissance

1970).

(Princeton,

Venice and the Defense

1968), pp. 202ff.
J. Bouwsma,
of Republican
Liberty,
(Berkeley,
toMachiavelli.
in the crucial respects, to be closer to Paruta
would
than
seem,
Sarpi
and the Church,"
in Luther's Works,
Vol. 41 (Fortress Press,
43From "On the Councils
1966), p. 39.
But Saint
the Great, who had such an enormous
influence on medieval
was
monasticism,
Gregory
long
as his
In
wrote:
Christ
set
before aware of Luther's
he
"He
in
forth
himself
problem.
taking
example,
pat
42William

terns of both lives, that is, the active and the

united together. For the
differs
contemplative,
contemplative
from the active. But our redeemer
he gave a pattern of both,
Incarnate, while
very much
by becoming
For when he
in the
miracles
united both in Himself.
all night in prayer on the
wrought
city, yet continued
not to
mountain.
He gave his faithful ones an example
of
love
the care of
neglect,
through
contemplation,
nor
to abandon
too
their neighbours;
again
contemplative
pursuits
through being
immoderately
engaged
but so to keep together
their mind,
in the care of their neighbours;
in
it to the two cases, that the
applying
not interfere with
love of their neighbour
might
the love of their
it transcends,
neighbour."

because

op. dt.,

the

love of God,

Morals

nor

on the Book

the

again
of Job,

xxviii,

cast out,

love of God,
3 3, cited

inMason,

p. 66.

44Mason,
45Arendt,

op. dt,
op. dt.

p. xi.

46C?.ibid.,p.294.
47From The Advancement
ofModern

Natural

Science,"

cited by Eugene M. Klaaren,

"Belief
of Learning,
Ph.D. Dissertation,
Harvard
1975,
p.
University,

in Creation

and

106. Lobkowicz

the Rise
(op. dt,

76

ROBERT

discussion
of Bacon
7) has a very valuable
Chapter
of this tradition comes the special stress on
"making"
48Klaaren, op. dt., p. 144.
49W. Theodore
and

the following

enteenth-Century

N.

BELLAH

as the inheritor
as a central

of the medieval

part of action,

artisan

Arendt's

tradition.

Out

homofaber.

de Bary,

(New York,
ed., The Unfolding
1974),
of Neo-Confudanism
are from De
own article, "Neo-Confucian
Cultivation
Bary's
141-216.
'Enlightenment,'
"pp.

quotations

p. 144. This
and the Sev

50Ibid.,p.\94.
201.
5lIbid.,p.
S2Ibid., p. 204.
in Yoshikawa
S3Bendo,

Kojiro

et alia,

eds., Ogy?

Sorai,

Nihon

Shis?

36

Taikei,

(Tokyo,

1973),

p.

28.
54See note

1 above.

of Lincoln
55My understanding
Crisis
the
House
Divided
(New
of

V. Jaffa's
enhanced
by Harry
greatly
1959), as well as by some of the essays

has been
York,

book,
extraordinary
in the same author's

Equality and Liberty (Oxford, 1965).

56From

an

tics (New York,

essay

entitled

1940),

pp.

"Action
192-93.

and Contemplation,"

in Jacques Maritain,

Scholastidsm

and Poli