Tagliati la testa! - - uno slogan essenziale del movimento dei Focolari e del Paese delle Meraviglie

 Una scena tratta da Alice's Pop-up Theatre Book di Nick Denchefield (Macmillan Children's Books, Gran Bretagna, 2000), una splendida versione pop-up di Alice nel Paese delle Meraviglie di Lewis Carroll.  La Regina di Cuori dichiara "Via le teste!" (ripetuto su tutto lo sottosfondo), riferendosi ad Alice e probabilmente a tutti i suoi suditti.

È notevole come le testimonianze di ex membri del movimento dei Focolari, provenienti da persone che non hanno mai avuto contatti tra loro, siano notevolmente simili - a conferma della teoria secondo cui i problemi di quel movimento sono sistemici piuttosto che specifici di singoli membri o, in caso di abusi di potere, dei leader.  Ne fui colpito e rincuorato quando pubblicai Le armate del Papa, quasi 30 anni fa.  Tutti i lettori che mi hanno scritto nel corso degli anni, hanno sottolineato che la mia esperienza personale e le mie preoccupazioni riguardo all'insegnamento e ai metodi dei Focolari erano identiche alle loro - da paesi come la Germania, la Svizzera, il Belgio, i Paesi Bassi, l'Italia, la Francia, gli Stati Uniti e il Regno Unito. 

Ma tra tutti gli slogan dei Focolari che ricorrono in quelle testimonianze, il più citato è l'espressione "Tagliati la testa".  Se membri o aspiranti del movimento accennavano a dubbi o problemi sulla dottrina del movimento dei Focolari, o mettevano in discussione qualsiasi aspetto dei suoi insegnamenti o delle sue pratiche, la soluzione era semplice: "Tagliati la testa", cioè "Smetti di pensare".

Mi è venuto in mente solo di recente che, ironicamente, 'Via le Teste' è anche lo slogan della Regina di Cuori (vedi foto sopra), il personaggio comicamente spietato di Alice nel Paese delle Meraviglie di Lewis Carroll, che lui definisce 'una furia cieca'.  È anche la risposta di questa regina a ogni problema e a ogni opposizione: "Via le teste!".  Lei lo intendeva in senso fisico, cioè con la decapitazione, ma anche il senso dei Focolari è a suo modo brutale.  

Naturalmente la fondatrice del movimento - e fonte di ogni sapere (compresi gli slogan) - Chiara Lubich, probabilmente non si sarebbe accorta della sua divertente somiglianza con la Regina di Cuori di Carroll, visto che una volta disse che da bambina non si era mai interessata alle favole "perché non erano vere".  Mi chiedo cosa ne avrebbero pensato tre geni del XX secolo, Carl Jung, Bruno Betelheim e Stephen Sondheim.  I primi due, come psicoanalisti, vedevano le fiabe come un mezzo vitale per comprendere la psiche umana e Sondheim scrisse Into the Woods, uno dei musical più popolari della fine del XX secolo sul palcoscenico, come film e nelle rappresentazioni in scuole di tutto il mondo, e un capolavoro del suo genere.  Anche quest'opera mostrava la rilevanza universale delle fiabe nelle relazioni umane.

Purtroppo l'umorismo del paragone tra la Lubich e il suo movimento e il "Paese delle meraviglie" sarebbe sprecato per lei e per i suoi seguaci.  Ma questo esempio, per quanto piccolo, dimostra l'importanza delle arti nel dare una prospettiva - spesso attraverso l'umorismo - a tutte le forme di estremismo, religioso e non.  In effetti, nel complesso, si può fare un interessante confronto tra il Paese delle Meraviglie di Lewis Carroll e le comunità settarie come i Focolari. Mostrando come nel Paese delle Meraviglie, la Regina di Cuori inventi continuamente leggi ridicole su due piedi, Carroll fa satira sull'intero concetto di legge nella società umana.  Nel caso di un'organizzazione come il movimento dei Focolari, pero, in cui una persona (Chiara Lubich) ha effettivamente inventato tutte le strutture e le dottrine volente o nolente, abbiamo un esempio di Paese delle meraviglie nella vita reale.  Forse è per questo che, a 30 anni dall'inizio del mio studio serio del movimento e a quasi 50 da quando l'ho abbandonato, più conosco il Focolare più mi ritrovo a dire, proprio come Alice, "Stranissimo e sempre piu stranissimo".

'CUT OFF YOUR HEAD!' - a fundamental slogan of the Focolare Movement - and Lewis Carroll's Wonderland

 

A scene from Alice's Pop-up Theatre Book by Nick Denchefield (Macmillan Children's Books, Great Britain, 2000) a gorgeous pop-up version of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.  The Queen of Hearts is declaring 'Off with their heads!' (repeated all over the backdrop), with reference to Alice, and probably all her subjects.

It is remarkable how testimonies of ex-members of the Focolare Movement from people all over the world who have had no contact with one another are so similar.  This confirms the theory that its problems are systemic rather than specific to individual members or, in cases of abuses of power, leaders.  I was impressed and heartened by this when I published The Pope's Armada, nearly 30 years ago.  All the readers who have written to me over the years have pointed out that my personal experience and concerns about Focolare's teaching and methods was identical to theirs -  from such countries as Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, France, the United States as well as the United Kingdom. 

But of all the Focolare slogans that recur in these testimonies, the most frequently cited is the term 'Cut off your head'.  If members or aspirant members were to mention doubts or problems regarding the doctrine of the Focolare Movement, or question any aspect of its teachings or practices, this was the simple response: 'Cut off your head', that is 'Stop thinking'.

It only just struck me recently that ironically, this is also the slogan of the Queen of Hearts (see picture above), the comically ruthless character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland, whom Carroll describes as 'a blind fury'.  It is also that queen's answer to every problem and every opposition: 'Off with their heads!'  She meant it in the physical sense - i.e. decapitation - but the Focolare sense is also brutal in its own way.  

Of course the movement's founder and fount of all knowledge (including slogans), Chiara Lubich, would probably have been unaware of her amusing similarity to Carroll's Queen of Hearts given the fact she once said that as a child she was never interested in fairy tales 'becasue they weren't true'.  I wonder what three of the twentieth century's geniuses Carl Jung, Bruno Betelheim and Stephen Sondheim would have made of that?  The first two, as psychoanalysts, saw fairy tales as  a vital means of of understanding the human psyche and Sondheim wrote Into the Woods, one of the most popular musicals of the late twentieth century on stage, as a film and in school performances all over the world, a masterpeice of the genre, which also showed the universal relevance of fairy tales in human relations.

Sadly the humour of the comparison between Lubich and her movement, and 'Wonderland' would be lost on her and her followers.  But this example of the 'Cut of your head' slogan, small though it may be, shows the importance of the arts in bringing perpective - often through humour - to all forms of extremism, religious or otherwise.  Indeed, as a whole, there is an interesting comparison to be drawn between the Wonderland of Lewis Carroll and cult-like communities such as Focolare. By showing howin Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts is constantly inventing ridiculous laws on the spur of the moment, Carroll satirises the whole concept of laws in human society.  In the case of an organisation like the Focolare movement, however, in which one person actually did invent all the structures and doctrines willy nilly, we have an example of a real-life Wonderland.  Perhaps this is why, 30 years after starting a serious study of the movement and almost 50 after leaving it, the more I get to know about Focolare, the more I find myself saying, just like Alice, 'Curiouser and Curiouser.'

'Up' and 'Down': 'She who must be obeyed'

CHIARA LUBICH:
'She who must be obeyed.'
(She, H. Rider Haggard, 1887)

In order to judge the true nature of the Focolare movement,  it is essential to study and fully understand its internal language .  But Focolare is an extremely secretive organisation.  Not only are there 'two movements' - the internal and external movements - as former member Renata Patti has pointed out - but it also has two 'languages', two forms of communication: the language aimed at outsiders which is heavily doctored but designed to beguile church authorities, civil authorities, international institutions and the general public, and an internal language often using common words 'packed' with completely different and often complex meanings. So first of all you have to know this langauge and this is only possible if you are an internal member and have passed through a period of initiation, probably several years, to grasp the true meaning of the internal language.  You have to hear 'Focolare words' in many different contexts to fully understand the force behind them.   But even then, even as a member, you may not fully understand their purpose.  This language was defined by the late Bruno Secondin,  Professor of Spirituality at Rome's prestigious Gregorian University as an 'elaborated code', constructing Focolare's own universe.  This code is a means of asserting power both over internal and, by reflection, external members.   

Classic 1950's album using a daring image of
'doctoring' jazz music for stereo.
In the case of Focolare's 'doctoring' of its
structure and doctrines, the chilling 
image is highly appropriate.

This langauge often uses common, very simple words, but the usage is entirely peculiar to the Focolare movement.  The Focolare language is one of the major legacies left behind by the foundress, Chiara Lubich.  But only known to a very restricted few.   

Perhaps the simplest and most powerful words in this code are the words 'up' and 'down' - equally simple in Italian 'su' and 'giu' (and in Italian, they rhyme into the bargain).  Yet their impact and power on members and former members is deadly.

'Up' means you accept everything about the movement: all its beliefs and mystical revelations, and that you 'believe in' Chiara Lubich the foundress and 'sibyl' of the movement, the 'seer' of all its beliefs and visions.  Because, yes, you are expected to 'believe in' Chiara, just as you are expected to 'believe in' God.  I remember being told by my first superior in the movement, 'It doesn't matter if you believe in God, as long as you believe in Chiara.'  'Up' therefore has a very specific, single sense.  A sense which is overwhelming powerful to internal members.  You must be 'up'.

'Down', on the other hand, has several different meanings.  When it refers to people within the movement - usually internal members - the meaning can range from mild - such as being in a bad mood - to having questions or doubts about the movement, or its ideas, or, God forbid, about the foundress Chiara Lubich  - who, in the Focolare context,  is 'She who must be obeyed' to quote that pioneer of fanatsy English author H. Rider Haggard, author of She (1887), King Solomon's Mines (1885) etc..  The most extreme sense of the word 'down' for a member is someone who is refusing to colloborate or accept the dictates of the movement with blind obedience.  I observed such members frequently, even within the first few years of my nine-year membership in the movement, both among the internal celibate focolarini and among the 'novices' at the Focolare training school at their ashram of Loppiano, in the Tuscan hills near Florence.  I found such people puzzling at the time, as I was so totally mesmerised by the movement's lore. 

Most significantly of all, the word is also used to describe all those who leave the movement.  'She or he has 'gone down'," it would be whispered.  This is the meaning of 'down' its most absolute sense.  Everyone who leaves the movement is 'down'.  But what must be understood is the moral implications of the word 'down'.  It can be linked to another term commonly used in the movement, freely borrowed from Saint Paul when he speaks of the 'new man' and the 'old man', referring to the redeemed self in contrast to the sinful self, i.e. the 'old man'.  Interestingly, the term 'new man' is rarely used in the movement but the term 'old man' is very common, usually in the phrase 'S/he's got the "old man".'  It means they are 'down', therefore sinful, or bad.  Ultimately, though the extremes may vary, being down means to be evil.  Down is the most powerful word in the movement's code because it represents a blanket rejection of the person to whom it is applied.  It's not surprising that the majority of those who leave the movement are weighed down by a crippling sense of terror.

Sometimes the concept is spelled out more specifically.  Focolare memebrs in Germany were instructed by Bruna Tomasi, one Lubich's original 'companions', that, 'No one in the movement may talk about [name of a former leader who had left the movement]: she is dead because she has betrayed God.'  When Lubich herself was asked in an interview about why people leave the movement she replied, 'Those who leave us do so because they did not want to die: they did not want to deny themselves and take up the cross. Or because they are psychologically unfit for the life of the movement. Or because they have been overwhelmed by temptation.'  

Not much wiggle room there.  What possibility can there be for dialogue bwetween those who are 'up' - intoxicated with the spirit of the movement, blindly obedient, believing that Chiara Lubich was 'a pen in God's hand' and those who are 'down', having left the movement, having betrayed God?

For students of language, there is a fascinating case study here of how language can become a vehicle of power, how words can become active symbols, agents of magic and the supernatural. 

A course on 'The theology of 'up' and 'down', at the movement's Sophia University at Loppiano employing the skills of the movement's academics such as Fabio Ciardi, Piero Coda and Luigino Bruni would make intriguing listening.  

It could seem to outsiders with no inside knowledge of the movement - even fringe members - that this article is an excercise in sarcasm or satire but all those who are members or ex-members know that it is absolutely serious.