the lure of the inner ring

[paul hohulin]

I recommend reading "the Lure of the Inner Ring", by C.S. Lewis .It has helped give me some perspective on all of this.  You can download it off the net. Here is part of it.
That is my first reason. Of all the passions the passion for the Inner Ring is most skilful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things. My second reason is this. The torture allotted to the Danaids in the classical underworld, that of attempting to fill sieves with water, is the symbol not of one vice but of all vices. It is the very mark of a perverse desire that it seeks what is not to be had. The desire to be inside the invisible line illustrates this rule. As long as you are governed by that desire you will never get what you want. You are trying to peel an onion: if you succeed there will be nothing left. Until you conquer the fear of being an outsider, an outsider you will remain.

This is surely very clear when you come to think of it. If you want to be made free of a certain circle for some wholesome reason-if, say, you want to join a musical society because you really like music-then there is a possibility of satisfaction. You may find yourself playing in a quartet and you may enjoy it. But if all you want is to be in the know, your pleasure will be short-lived. The circle cannot have from within the charm it had from outside. By the very act of admitting you it has lost its magic. Once the first novelty is worn off the members of this circle will be no more interesting than your old friends. Why should they be? You were not looking for virtue or kindness or loyalty or humor or learning or wit or any of the things that can be really enjoyed. You merely wanted to be "in." And that is a pleasure that cannot last. As soon as your new associates have been staled to you by custom, you will be looking for another Ring. The rainbow's end will still be ahead of you. The old Ring will now be only the drab background for your endeavor to enter the new one.

And you will always find them hard to enter, for a reason you very well know. You yourself once you are in, want to make it hard for the next entrant, just as those who are already in made it hard for you. Naturally. In any wholesome group of people which holds together for a good purpose, the exclusions are in a sense accidental. Three or four people who are together for the sake of some piece of work exclude others because there is work only for so many or because the others can't in fact do it. Your little musical group limits its numbers because the rooms they meet in are only so big. But your genuine Inner Ring exists for exclusion. There'd be no fun if there were no outsiders. The invisible line would have no meaning unless most people were on the wrong side of it. Exclusion is no accident: it is the essence.

The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it. But if you break it, a surprising result will follow. If in your working hours you make the work your end, you will presently find yourself all unawares inside the only circle in your profession that really matters. You will be one of the sound craftsmen, and other sound craftsmen will know it. This group of craftsmen will by no means coincide with the Inner Ring or the Important People or the People in the Know. It will not shape that professional policy or work up that professional influence which fights for the profession as a whole against the public: nor will it lead to those periodic scandals and crises which the Inner Ring produces. But it will do those things which that profession exists to do and will in the long run be responsible for all the respect which that profession in fact enjoys and which the speeches and advertisements cannot maintain. And if in your spare time you consort simply with the people you like, you will again find that you have come unawares to a real inside: that you are indeed snug and safe at the center of something which, seen from without, would look exactly like an Inner Ring. But the difference is that its secrecy is accidental, and its exclusiveness a by-product, and no one was led thither by the lure of the esoteric: for it is only four or five people who like one another meeting to do things that they like. This is friendship. Aristotle placed it among the virtues. It causes perhaps half of all the happiness in the world, and no Inner Ring can ever have it.

We are told in Scripture that those who ask get. That is true, in senses I can't now explore. But in another sense there is much truth in the schoolboy's principle "them as asks shan't have." To a young person, just entering on adult life, the world seems full of Insides," full of delightful intimacies and confidentialities, and he desires to enter them. But if he follows that desire he will reach no "inside" that is worth reaching. The true road lies in quite another direction. It is like the house in Alice Through the Looking Glass.

[Oscar]

Paul,
Hello from sunny California.  It was in the 80's today.
I gather from your post that you are "out".  How well I remember you and your dear wife.
By the way, are you in the house painting business?  

I read Lewis' essay on the Inner Ring shortly after leaving the assembly.  He really nailed it.

God bless and post some more,
Tom Maddux

[Arthur]

That has some good insights.  Thanks for sharing.

Inner Ring insanity
But your genuine Inner Ring exists for exclusion. There'd be no fun if there were no outsiders. The invisible line would have no meaning unless most people were on the wrong side of it. Exclusion is no accident: it is the essence.

Normal and healthy
And if in your spare time you consort simply with the people you like, you will again find that you have come unawares to a real inside: that you are indeed snug and safe at the center of something which, seen from without, would look exactly like an Inner Ring. But the difference is that its secrecy is accidental, and its exclusiveness a by-product, and no one was led thither by the lure of the esoteric: for it is only four or five people who like one another meeting to do things that they like. This is friendship.


When I first joined the assembly in SLO, it was the latter for me--a place to be with my friends, and we all enjoyed God, praising him, reading his word, etc.  There was the element of the former (the inner ring mentality) however, and those in the group who held to it continually preached it and forced that concept on us who enjoyed the friendship.
The result is that those who were there for the friendship and becaused they liked being there left when it became increasingly hostile and the inner ring aspect fully manifested itself in all it's ugliness.

[ptemplin7]

Amen Arthur!

Probably why I stayed for so long before leaving as well.

Great to see though that quite possibly the inner ring has been broken!

[freebird]

Doesn't this go along with the "lure":

Mark 9:34  But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.
Luke 22:24  And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.


Who will be the greatest?  Who will become a "worker"?  Who will be a "leader"?  Who cares.  Here is what Jesus said:

1 ¶ At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2  And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
(Matt 18)


How many will become as little children?  I am waiting to see some real "fruit".

[Arthur]

Yes, Garth!  That's it exactly.  Something about those who were leaders still being leaders and not stepping down sets off the assembly-alert klaxons in my conscience.

(-.-) (-.o) (o.o) (O.O) ((O.O))
I think the reason why is that most of these men became leaders by wicked means.  i.e. They forsook their consciences and followed George to the 'T'..or rather..'G', at the expense of the sheep.  Those who would be true shepherds were kicked out long ago and through the years.  Think about it people!  If these men were doing what was right, would George have allowed them to be leaders or workers?  No way!

Now these men have repented. Ok, that's wonderful!  But should they be leaders now?  I say no way!  Fruits of repentance would be for them to give up the position that they unjustly aquired.  Let them humbly submit to the least of the saints that they despised and abused for so long.  

Arthur

[Kimberley Tobin]

Exactly what I just wrote about on a different thread ("More Details Please").

[ptemplin7]

Dear all,

Keep tuned. I think that this question is being answered. There is reports from Fullerton that the leadership did just that. They are seriously considering it in SLO, I suspect the same is happening in other places too.

Time will tell how true the repentance is but as has been said in other places. Give them time. Most of you will remember how long it tookl you after leaving to gain some equilibrium. The same will be true here. Read some of Danny's posts in the other thread. You will see a brother stuggling with the revelation and recognition of his actions and beliefs being ripped to shreads.

Keep praying for them and for other brothers to arise and stand on the real truth of the scriptures that in the gatherins of all of God's people the brothers are just that brothers. There was never meant to be the clergy amoungst God's people. Coming to grips with this and figuring out how to change from that mindset took me several months to get straight, and I'm still learning now 6 years after I left. The lure and training are very strong, unlearning and adjusting takes much time and prayer.

Be skeptical but also be hopeful. I think we might be more amazed than we know in the future about the reports that will come. Believe the best until you see clearly its otherwise.

Rejoicing in what God is doing and the renewed fellowship,

Paris

[freebird]

Can you feel the "lure"?  

You are getting sleeeeepy.  Sleeeeeeeeeeeeepy.

Paul H. wrote:
The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it.