I saw a brief article in the recent Anabaptist World about Mennonite colonies in Bolivia. Quoting John Bueckert of Providencia, “Our ancestors thought that if we were far away, in the countryside, there’s more possibility of controlling evil. We want to live like they did.”
Going out into the wilderness or the desert to escape the evils of the world seems reasonable on the face of it. Escaping and avoiding the things that destroy you is good self-preservation. Moving further to more remote places to escape the challenges of the world is a familiar Mennonite story.
Mennonites are not alone is in seeking escape from the world in the wilderness. There are many other examples of people heading out into the desert or wilderness for religious reasons. Their wilderness destination, however, was seldom a place to escape evil.
The desert fathers and mothers of early monasticism went out into the desert alone, only to be assaulted relentlessly by demons. For them, escaping into the desert was not a way to avoid evil, but to confront evil more intimately and severely. The stories of the desert father and mothers are filled with tales of battles with demons in the forms of people, animals and thoughts. It was in the desert that Jesus clashed with the devil who was luring him with fame and fortune.
The demons of the world – consumerism, vanity, vulgarity – are weak compared to the demons that assault from within – anger, lust, avarice, and despondency.
While I know very little of the history and experience of the Mennonite colonies in south and central America, stories of people in these colonies losing the battle against their own demons are not hard to find. Bueckert’s idea that there is more possibility of controlling evil in the wilderness seems to lack much evidence to support this wishful cause.