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Economy as a battleground

This idea of economics being the management of what we all need – the means by which needs are met through natural resources and human ingenuity – intrigues me (Notes One). It’s this sense that we all, the world over, are plugged into this system of environment and endeavour; all hoping to make ends meet and live lives based around respect for human life and the value of life itself.

But, of course, it becomes more than that. It’s this pursuit of profit, power, influence, control, domination. It’s a means by which many are pushed down while others rise above – a manifestation and continuance of inequality. Because, of course, it has history. There were those who, in times past, held the reins at decisive moments and benefited from what was then in their hands. Like a strange game of pass the parcel.

That might be simply a fact of life, but it’s interesting to see how power’s inherited that way and how that’s justified personally or socially. It does slightly fly in the face of ideas around human equality and worth (Notes Two). Because, ultimately, economic realities are a source of power and a means of exerting it: conditions can be attached, resources withdrawn, access limited, and people feel it.

It’s surely a means of conflict? We might talk of trade wars as essentially economic problems, but they’re also a method whereby those more abstract realities exert pressure on the everyday lives of people. Each country having its own economic life, conditions at the boundaries are as real as geographical or political divides – points where conflict can arise, interests diverge, and lines be drawn.

Then it’s an area where ideology plays a part. It’s a method for hurting other countries, a means of leverage whereby you might create increasingly difficult internal conditions that become personal, social and political problems. It’s essentially putting your own interests before the interests of others, in the short or longer term. It’s us versus them, and the justification of such thinking. As if we’re not all the same.

Historically, it’s often a precursor to tangible physical conflict: those exacerbating conditions having wounded the pride or worn out the patience of populations to the point where things spill out into more overt interactions. It’s clearly this very powerful pressure point that can bring ideological or political differences into the lives of citizens through the backdoor of indirect economic forces.

But without even going so far as the issue of global politics, it’s potent on smaller scales (Notes Three). Economic realities divide us within our societies, carving up the landscape and leaving people on different sides of those fences. Every consumer decision we’re making plays into such complex international arrangements, creating conditions that repress some and elevate others.

It’s spun through all our lives, every action being a means to change or be changed by others. It’s fascinating while also being largely invisible: this incredibly powerful force that’s shaping lives, impacting landscapes, and creating the future we’re walking into.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Cycles of mind & matter
Note 1: Obligations and contributions
Note 1: Points of sale as powerful moments
Note 2: Mathematics of life
Note 2: Worthless, or priceless?
Note 2: What we bring to life
Note 3: Interdependency
Note 3: Would we be right to insist?
Note 3: Relating to one another

Leading on from this, Values on which we stand firm? looked at the idea of what might stand in the place of economic gain.

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Would we be right to insist?

At times I feel a reticence around activism, mainly due to the kinds of social or personal conversation it can ignite and whether it’s possible to approach that respectfully while still allowing for all our different stories, experiences and priorities (Notes One). But then, what if – while we all see things our own way – what matters to us is all truly important and needs addressing?

What if all these things really shouldn’t be pushed aside as the world ploughs on as it has been? In all areas of life, improvements could be made, understanding deepened, and values brought to better effect (Notes Two). Which brings us back round to some form of activism: seeing the need for change and believing in it enough to take action in words or deeds.

We all have areas of deeper or broader insight: things we’ve encountered, looked into and come to see the importance of. We each see things our own unique way and, those perspectives having arisen out of all the moments of our lives, they’re often deeply felt. Presumably, everyone has such concerns? And, despite all life’s pressures and conflicting agendas, what if it all matters?

Surely, it’s a question of how we go about things? How we’re navigating conversations with people who don’t see things as we do. Because, looking at communication as a landscape (Notes Three), any sharing of concerns or changing of minds is going to be a journey. Is this to be a route march though, or more a companionable walk where we’re discussing the view and our thoughts about how things are playing out?

As, depending on the positions people hold in that landscape and the roles they’re having to play, their views of life there will likely be quite different. While we might hope others will see where we’re coming from and feel inspired to see the world a little more through our eyes, conceivably we’re all feeling exactly the same way?

Could we not somehow bring people around the same table without it being an aggressively exclusive place? Could we listen to each other’s concerns without one cancelling out the other? If everything’s essential in its own way, pitting one set of concerns against another must risk us not getting much further than simply resenting others for not truly hearing what we’re saying.

And then, in a world where everything arguably needs improving, it can easily feel like there’s too much to care about and few avenues for resolving them. Maybe, because paths aren’t yet there, we feel unable to care as much as we’d like or take on these additional areas of concern. It’s difficult to live in a world where everything’s imperfect and it all matters (Notes Four).

It does seem, though, that we do want to understand things and make them better. It’s just hard to care so much, and to know where to start or how to proceed. Hopefully we’ll find that space within society where conversations and coordination can happen.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Can others join you?
Note 1: Pick a side, any side
Note 2: Right to question and decide
Note 2: Can we reinvigorate how we’re living?
Note 2: Working through mind & society
Note 2: Making adjustments
Note 3: Who should we trust?
Note 3: The power of understanding
Note 4: Does anything exist in isolation?
Note 4: True words spoken in jest
Note 4: Dealing with imperfection

Related to this, The sense of having a worldview explored ideas around the bigger picture we each carry in mind.

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The sense of having a worldview

Our lives are clearly saturated by thought: all the ideas we have about ourselves, our lives, others, society, what things mean, and what we should be doing. It’s almost as if, from the moment we’re born, we’re surrounded by all these thoughts about life that make themselves known to us one way or another (Notes One). From that, we’re then building up our own ideas of what life’s about.

It’s interesting to think we carry a world in our heads – all these interpretations, conclusions, assumptions, judgements, views and feelings about it all. Without knowing it, we must “have” a pretty comprehensive set of ideas about everything. Some we might be acutely aware of, spending much of our time living in those thoughts; but some we might’ve barely considered, letting them lodge up there all unexamined.

Maybe it’s just a personal thing? As in, that the contents of our heads are simply our own business. But it must spill out into the world around us, into the choices we’re making economically and beliefs we’re acting on socially, for example. Our thoughts seem to necessarily inform our habits and decisions in life, thereby serving to build up our personal and collective realities.

So, it seems, perhaps, advisable to have a fairly solid overview of all that’s going on: a realistic, workable, flexible understanding of human society, its functions and history, our current activities, and any problems there may be (Notes Two). How else are we to rightly judge all the decisions falling in our laps? Do we just apply logic, out of context, disregarding that bigger picture into which everything undeniably fits?

How we see the world seems so very important. We might look at it from our personal, social, national perspectives – through the lens of our own sense of identity and belonging – or we could seek a more global view of all the systems we’re involved with. Because it certainly seems, in every area of life, that our realities are increasingly crossing traditional boundaries into a more all-inclusive space (Notes Three).

Can we then develop a “worldview” capable of encompassing all that’s going on while still accepting that our field of activity and influence is generally quite localised to those personal, social, national realities? Is such an overarching perspective possible, without becoming superficial and not giving everything the weight it really deserves?

What would it mean to have such a picture in mind – a framework against which we could compassionately and confidently evaluate all life throws at us? If we understood the context, agenda and motivation of those operating within the various areas of our lives – cultural, political, economic, social – and were able to judge what they were saying and who to truly trust?

It’s an idea, I suppose, of a broadly and evenly educated body of people, capable of judging wisely and responding well to all the freedoms of modern life. A sense of information and awareness within which we care deeply about every situation we’re playing a part in.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Common knowledge
Note 1: Able to see what matters?
Note 1: Culture as reflection
Note 2: All that’s going on around us
Note 2: Strange arrogance of thought
Note 2: Value in being informed
Note 2: Interdependency
Note 3: Concerns over how we’re living
Note 3: Can we manage all-inclusive honesty?
Note 3: Convergence and divergence

Picking up on that closing thought around freedom and responsibility was one thread of Questions around choice.

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Questions around choice

How free are we? In many ways, we’re dependent on systems and relationships – commitments and necessities that might effectively curtail our ability to choose as freely as we’d like. But, in the West, we also have a great deal of freedom to make choices that dramatically shape the world around us. It’s perhaps the essence of democracy, and of market economies.

We might reason that, as beings so conditioned by environment, we’re not as free as we’d think: that, methods of thinking passed down by others and choices determined by systems beyond our control, freedom’s an illusion. That there’s maybe only one logical “choice” based on our situation and the paths offered. As if we’re just going through the motions of freedom.

Maybe it’s true to some extent? Our lives being dependent on collective infrastructures, we perhaps can’t or shouldn’t act in ways that undermine them. And, our being and understanding having been so shaped by the ideas surrounding us, we’re perhaps not quite free to think in ways not already determined by such systems. We are, perhaps, products of our environments (Notes One).

Then there’s the uncertainty over whether our choices even matter. In a world of billions or country of millions, do we make any kind of difference? If this is “how things are”, do we have much choice but to go along with it? Faced with powerful social or commercial enterprises, can a person or group realistically hope to see their choices have discernible impacts?

And, if that’s the case – if established systems are woven tightly around us on such a scale as to make individual action look ineffective – is it more logical to go with the flow? To accept the notional choices we’re offered, predictably interact with systems as they’re presented to us, and make our decisions so we, personally, get ahead. It seems a limited conception of freedom.

What, then, do we bring to life? Do our hopes, intentions and feelings about all we engage in “matter” if such principles are being drowned out by modern practicalities? Are some things worth fighting for, even if it seems an uphill battle? (Notes Two)

These are all questions of personal agency and belief – our response to life being all that we’re putting out into the world. As actors within complex social realities, we’re surely influencing one another through the standards we accept and choices we’re engaging with? We’re perhaps these points of consciousness where corrections could be made (Notes Three).

Whether we recognise our power or trust its significance – that it matters, and we can and do make many differences – seems such an important thing to grapple with. In countless small ways, everything we do and say must add up and ripple into the world; so, whether we’re aware of it or not, we’re all constantly building up and maintaining shared realities.

We might approach the nature of our freedom and responsibility any number of ways, but it could well be one of life’s most essential questions.

Notes and References:

Note 1: What we know to pass on
Note 1: Working through mind & society
Note 1: Who should we trust?
Note 2: What we bring to life
Note 2: Can we reinvigorate how we’re living?
Note 2: Tuning out from environment
Note 2: Values on which we stand firm?
Note 2: How important is real life?
Note 3: Ideas that tie things together
Note 3: Points of sale as powerful moments
Note 3: Making adjustments
Note 3: And, how much can we care?

Ways to share this:

Do we need meaning?

From the outset, this writing project’s been about meaning – about what our lives might mean, the meaning behind all the things we do, where that leads, and whether it really matters. As beings capable of thought, I honestly struggle to look at life without an overlay of meaning; much as it might be difficult to pin down or articulate.

It’s this undercurrent of human existence: what it all means, what matters, which paths to take. This sense in which we’re “able” to make decisions about our lives, choose what to do or not do, have an idea in mind as to our personal, social or absolute value (Notes One). If nothing matters at the end of the day, it might seem we and our lives carry little meaning. There’s a circularity to it – thought, existence, action.

The very idea of thought seems to carry with it a sense of scrutiny, observation, evaluation, resolve: looking at the world, reading it rightly, understanding what’s before us, and charting our paths within it (Notes Two). As if the mind itself has this intrinsic belief about the value of thought in helping us navigate existence wisely.

And it certainly seems that way. Even as children, we look at life and interpret its meaning – drawing into ourselves the ideas, attitudes, stories, implications of all we encounter. We see what gestures or relationships say about us, our worth, our place or power in life, and the nature of the world we’re living in. The thoughts of others and of social systems wrap around us, in many ways (Notes Three).

Which is philosophical as much as practical: there’s the systemic side of all we do, then the more absolute sense of meaning woven through those realities. Surely both sides matter? From the human perspective, it’s our hopes in life and how we’d like to be received by the world. From the societal, there’s the evolving systems we’re all part of and how well principles are being brought to life there.

To my mind, life’s this interplay of ideals and realities – an ongoing conversation between us all through the systems, structures and relationships that’ve evolved within and between human societies. In that, there’s meaning: nested assumptions about the value of human life; established patterns of what’s considered acceptable; all these subtle messages beneath the lives we lead (Notes Four).

That, to me, is the importance of meaning: that everything carries within it some sort of evaluation, judgement or decision. Everything we do “says” something about the resources, people, or principles at hand. There surely “is” meaning within our lives? Our attitudes and actions towards others or the planet speak volumes about the value we’ve assigned them. Every interaction’s arguably an expression of meaning.

But then, it also seems we cast meaning aside quite often, claiming it’s not relevant or isn’t our responsibility. If that’s the case, who “is” responsible for meaning and judgement? Who are we trusting to understand on our behalves, and where might they lead us?

Notes and References:

Note 1: “Ecological Intelligence”
Note 1: Does anything exist in isolation?
Note 1: The philosopher stance
Note 2: Power in what we believe
Note 2: Working through mind & society
Note 2: Ideas that tie things together
Note 3: Meaning within it all
Note 3: Value and worth in our relationships
Note 3: What if it all means something?
Note 4: Some thoughts about ‘life’
Note 4: What really matters

Building further on ideas of deferring responsibility, there’s What would life be if we could trust?

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Love of self

Often it seems the idea of loving yourself is either an ego trip or a marketing ploy, some sorted of twisted narrative that’s underselling or overstating the importance of our personal existence for some reason. As if there’s no balanced, realistic middle ground of simple respect, care and concern that’s underpinning our lives – no undercurrent of fundamental self-worth guiding us.

Of course, it comes up when things drift more noticeably out of balance: when someone’s life begins to show the marks of a lack of self-esteem to the extent that their behaviour becomes damaging to themselves or others. At that point friends, family or professionals may well step in and ask questions about why an individual isn’t acting in their own best interests.

But, up to that point, it seems there’s so much leeway for people to drift off track and act in ways that aren’t really loving of themselves. All those subtle and not so subtle ways we might undermine our own worth through communication patterns, life choices, relationships, attitudes to health or mental well-being, and so on. The countless ways we might be undervaluing ourselves now or storing up problems for ourselves later.

There are so many ways we can be careless about our own value: accepting being treated poorly; not articulating how we truly feel; treating ourselves badly in terms of our physical, emotional, professional, psychological health. Whatever it is ‘we’ need in order to be happy or fulfilled, we can neglect it or punish ourselves by ignoring or exacerbating problems. Methods people turn against themselves can be astonishingly varied.

In that light, it seems that love of self might be essential in providing that foundation of care, respect and mutual concern on which our social relationships are all built (Notes One). That this might simply be about creating a solid base from which to operate: a basic requirement that strengthens us and our boundaries, creating the conditions for relating ethically to the world.

Because, if we don’t love ourselves, I’d imagine everything around us is affected? Relationships might become places we seek to feel better about ourselves and sure up the psychological wholeness we lack; or, places for punishing and controlling others for the same reasons. If we’re not acting caringly toward ourselves or our environment, then presumably others will feel it or have to pick up the pieces somehow?

People who feel whole, valued, and that they belong – that their presence, contributions, and very nature are appreciated – seem unlikely to hurt others or the collective systems we’re all living within. Love of self surely links straight into love of others? That idea of us all being worthy of love, respect, dignity, consideration, and concern. A warm undertone to our lives that’s sorely needed if things are to run smoothly (Notes Two).

Perhaps love is simply a firm centre from which to act? Something essential that shouldn’t be taken or toyed with, as it might well be the ground that’s holding all of our lives together.

Notes and References:

Note 1: The idea of self reliance
Note 1: How we feel about society
Note 1: “The Measure of a Man”
Note 1: In the deep end…
Note 2: Living as an open wound
Note 2: Seeing, knowing and loving
Note 2: The dignity & power of a human life
Note 2: Beauty in unexpected places

Related to this, ideas of what life might be were explored in Finding flaws and The power of understanding.

Ways to share this:

Can others join you?

Talking about anything, we open up a conversation that welcomes or excludes others: by the terms we use and attitude with which we approach a subject, we’re establishing terrain people might feel comfortable approaching or defensively in need of self-protection.

In many ways, communication can seem easy: we have words and sentences, ideas of what things mean, how thoughts should flow and people should feel. Isn’t it just a case of ‘getting our views across’? Superimposing our vision to ‘correct’ another’s? Pushing our thinking into other heads using every tool at our disposal (see Notes One).

It’s often what seems to be happening. But don’t ideas generally come from experiences? Understanding having arisen in us as a result of all we’ve been through, whether that’s formal education or life’s more haphazard paths (Notes Two). Conceivably, every thought, belief, attitude and assumption has been handed down to us somehow or another.

And, of course, we can be mistaken. Events can be strung together any number of ways to reach different, sometimes flawed, conclusions. Our chain of reasoning, the meaning or causality we assign each link, can easily go awry.

Beyond our personal understanding, then, ‘is’ there a shared landscape where collective, all-encompassing interpretations might be found? It’s quite a philosophical question: whether there’s an objective view of reality, and the extent to which human minds can grasp it. Thought – ideals, values, principles, intentions – clearly plays an important part in our lives; much as its practical application might often be flawed (Notes Three).

Which, I suppose, is where communicating enters the territory of activism as people seek to improve their world through words and actions: raising awareness; giving voices to seemingly remote realities; articulating how much something matters to them and others. How else will things change?

People standing behind their values can be beautiful – that calm insistence on the importance of a given principle, the resounding power of such self-assurance as the human heart attempts to bring ideals down into reality. But it’s also tough drawing a moral line, because, almost inevitably, you’re placing people on the other side of it.

Managing that may well be the hardest social challenge (Notes Four). Is it possible without just labelling others ‘wrong’? Can we avoid either/or over-simplifications to allow for nuanced complexities, personal and social biographies, convergent and divergent threads; yet still insist on the highest ethical standards?

Lately I’ve admired a few people for striking such a tone. One was this Ellen Page article on using our lives for the good of others, and how growing awareness of society’s shortcomings can lead us to re-evaluate established ways while still remembering “times when I didn’t know all this”. Then, Jedidiah Jenkins on Instagram describing his inner and outer journeys, struggles and revelations in remarkably inclusive, compassionate ways.

Navigating the many challenges of modern life, perhaps we must each find the paths of change for ourselves? But it’s undeniably also a journey we’re taking together, so finding ways to share ideas seems fairly essential.

Notes and References:

Guardian article “Ellen Page: “I’m not afraid to say the truth” by Eva Wiseman, 20 January 2019: https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/jan/20/ellen-page-im-not-afraid-to-say-the-truth-interview-coming-out

Jedidiah Jenkins on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jedidiahjenkins/?hl=en

Note 1: Pick a side, any side
Note 1: Attempts to influence
Note 2: Seeing, knowing and loving
Note 2: Is anything obvious to someone who doesn’t know?
Note 2: What we know to pass on
Note 3: The philosopher stance
Note 3: Ideas that tie things together
Note 4: Dealing with imperfection
Note 4: Making adjustments

For more ideas around life, identity and change, there’s The idea of self reliance, Krishnamurti’s “Inward Revolution” & “The Measure of a Man”.

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“Minding the Earth, Mending the World”

It’s getting to the point where there’s so much being written and said in the world that it’s almost impossible to keep abreast of it all. Bookshops and websites are full to the brim of all we should be aware of, care about, and act upon. It’s overwhelming to think of all we have to ignore or filter out in order to actually function in this reality.

But it’s also great that people can share their views, passions and concerns in the hope they might in some way help others. It just needs a degree of discernment, I guess, in terms of what we put out in the world as much as what we take in (Notes One). There’s so much we could care about, with the risk it might become a paralysing conversation of mutually deafening voices and emotions.

Within all that, there are those focussing in on humanity’s relationship with nature, how that’s playing out, and whether we need to change our ways (Notes Two). Surely an important topic, as without a hospitable place to live there’s presumably very little life to be had? But it’s not easy to address: to encapsulate the complexity of our environment or inspire people to make significant life-changes.

And, in that vein, Susan Murphy’s “Minding the Earth, Mending the World” seems an insightful, thorough, heart-felt exploration of where humanity now stands. The book, among other things, considers the idea that “crisis and salvation are inside each other” – that “what is so urgently being called up in us flows naturally from daring to welcome a hard reality”.

Essentially, that where we stand and the problems presenting themselves are precisely what we need to engage with. That “if we manage to accept the challenge, the intense rigour of responding to this great question of our time can wake up forgotten parts of ourselves and usher in our maturity as a species”.

This perspective seems valuable in that it’s conceptualising our position as not only one of ‘letting go’ but also ‘moving forward’ as we responsibly, intelligently engage with the realities being communicated to us. This sense of needing to fully understand; to appreciate where we might’ve been going wrong; to discard ideas that don’t serve us in the long-run; and place ourselves more harmoniously within our environment (Notes Three).

It’s a powerful book that speaks with an informed, accessible, yet fiery voice into a highly complex and emotive topic. Striking that balance between practical realism and constructive optimism is tough, but Murphy doesn’t shy away from describing the concerning challenges we’re facing while also deeply affirming the importance of our understanding and engagement.

We’re talking about “rebellion of the heart” and how “this can be a huge and difficult adventure that will bring out the magnificence of human beings”; blending science, observation and Zen koans into a comprehensive, impassioned cry for change that speaks as much to reason as emotion. Also, beautiful for its seeking to empower rather than undermine human agency and worth.

Notes and References:

“Minding the Earth, Mending the World: The offer we can no longer refuse” by Susan Murphy, (Picador, Sydney), 2012.

Note 1: Value in being informed
Note 1: Concerns over how we’re living
Note 1: What are we thinking?
Note 2: “Small is Beautiful”
Note 2: “Ecological Intelligence”
Note 2: “New Renaissance”
Note 3: Ideas that tie things together
Note 3: How important is real life?
Note 3: And, how much can we care?

For my own views on nature, there’s Some thoughts about ‘life’ which links back to much I’ve written over the last few years.

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What you’re left with

Are we repositories for ideas and experiences? Storehouses for all that life, society and the people we meet have placed there. Education, culture, social realities all having played their parts in furnishing that space and attempting to guide its arrangement.

That sense of what we need in order to live well (Notes One). The awareness, understanding, knowledge, capacities, confidence with which we approach life and others. The fullness of that picture, perspectives from which it’s told, and underlying assumptions or expectations that might coat the actual content of our worldview.

It’s often a space of great intention and care: parents, wanting the best, give all they’re able from their understanding of life. Society, too, has vested interests in the parts coming generations will play in its future. But then, other things also get lodged into the receptacle of our minds: lies, partial-truths or careless remarks cast our way that might stick in the psyche. Damage can be done, despite the best intentions (Notes Two).

Life can then become a battle to let go of what doesn’t serve you or might’ve been mistaken from the outset. Those patterns of thinking, reacting, relating that come to define us by shaping all our interactions. Impressions made that might take years to bring to awareness as we seek the psychological certainty from which to discard them.

Youth – and, life itself – can be a place of healing or wounding. We might meet nurturing, balanced, realistic messages that affirm who we truly feel ourselves to be, or find ourselves in a place where everything jars, nothing fits and you’re left with a jumbled mess you could spend a lifetime reworking. Ways life impacts people and ways they, in turn, respond are endlessly fascinating and inspiring.

Because, if the experiences of youth are foundations we build our walls upon then things not being quite right, metaphorically, creates problems we’ll be living with, suffering through, working around, unpicking and rebuilding for years.

What if nothing’s without consequence? If it’s all going to reverberate back around us as people’s ways of being and relating, their sense of peace and agency in life, the feelings they harbour toward others and society itself. Foundational experiences becoming these undercurrents guiding our encounters, the recognition or rejection we all feel, and the countless impacts we’re having (Notes Three).

All this becomes the fabric of our inner lives and outer realities: the views people have of themselves, their value within society, what they have to contribute or overcome. Learning who we are, understanding society, relating to it, managing inwardly, and walking a steady enough path to our goals is perhaps a description of life itself? An integration of self within community.

People being left with mixed messages or contradictory, unhelpful ideas about society and their place within it is a problem both for them and the world around them: social interactions, policing, healthcare, every area of life would presumably be strained. Finding ways to affirm human worth and agency seems a beautiful, complicated challenge.

Notes and References:

Note 1: What we know to pass on
Note 1: The social metaphor of education
Note 1: Meaning within it all
Note 2: Living as an open wound
Note 2: The dignity & power of a human life
Note 2: We’re all vulnerable
Note 3: What if it all means something?
Note 3: Does anything exist in isolation?
Note 3: In the deep end…

Ways to share this:

Caught in these thoughts

At times, it seems that we’re living in these trains of thought. Thought that became society, its forms and principles. Thought that becomes our conversations and approaches to how we’re living. As if there’s this established pattern of thinking we all step into and take the reins of when we come to life. Every area having its own pre-existing conversation, the terms set and ways of operating within them quite firmly held in place.

It’s as if we ‘have’ to relate to what’s gone before, as with communication in general: you listen, take what’s been said on board, then proceed to build upon or add something alongside what’s already there. Society and life then taking on that air of being a conversation we relate ourselves to and find ourselves within (see Notes One).

And maybe it’s simply true? That human existence isn’t a blank slate; much has gone before and it’s inevitably shaped and influenced where we now stand. It’s perhaps foolish to disregard that, detach from the past and decide to start afresh (Notes Two). There’s a degree of sense in relating to what’s gone before, ensuring a level of continuity to the threads of reason flowing throughout society.

If we were to be constantly redefining the terms, questioning the logic, challenging steps already taken, then presumably collective life would grind to a halt? Locked in perpetual, unresolvable conflicts over the courses taken. Which, I suppose, is the essence of the social and intellectual debate surrounding the ‘project’ of Western society: options weighed; democratic decisions made; paths chosen and followed.

But, with that, surely then we’re carrying on a conversation that, to a greater or lesser extent, mightn’t entirely fit with modern society? It’s a conversation that started in quite different times, yet a conversation that sorely needs to engage with the realities of today (Notes Three). Almost like this anachronism we insist on keeping alive, forever trying to re-articulate the tired limbs so they can fit with the challenges we now face.

What if the divisions, concepts, theories brought to life in the past don’t actually describe society as it currently stands? What if we’re shoehorning present phenomena into ideas that can’t quite hold them? Like Cinderella, trying to make things fit that never will. What if all of these inherited divisions that carve up our political, economic, social and media conversations just aren’t quite the right way to be viewing things now?

Surely it matters? If we’re all caught up in a conversation that missed the point somewhere along the line, might we not be wasting our time battling things out in a futile misinterpretation of realities?

It’s an interesting thought. Unsettling, of course, as it’s touching upon all our foundations. Challenging too, in that re-evaluating our terms and sources of authority is a massive reworking of society and all its relationships. But it seems – in various areas of life – that paths we’ve taken are being called into question, so perhaps it’s not something we can avoid.

Notes and References:

Note 1: The conversation of society
Note 1: Respect, rebellion & renovation
Note 1: How we feel about society
Note 1: Right to question and decide
Note 2: Meaning within it all
Note 2: All that’s going on around us
Note 2: Tuning out from environment
Note 3: What’s a reasonable response?
Note 3: Can we manage all-inclusive honesty?
Note 3: The power of understanding

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