A week ago, I noted the distinction between a plural you and a singular you and how that shows up in relation to communal freedom and individual freedom. Of course, there is more than what circles out from the rock of “you” to other particular identities in our common pond. If you have access to Hulu, you can see some of that in the current film, “In and of Itself.”
A related issue to Freedom is Control and Authority. These also come in communal and individual forms. Our challenge is to manage their relationship in our life, so there is a healthy balance between them. One of the places this becomes more evident is with facial recognition that tends toward centralized control that forces sublimation of our identity until it is disappeared. Central control reminds me of the problematic movie “Brazil.” Watch it as far as you can.
In parallel with the old slogan, “Question authority!” we also need to ask what it means to “Control authority.”
Tomorrow the official 2nd impeachment of Donald Trump begins. It will show how authority can be misused and how difficult it is for people to maintain their own sense of control and authority separate from their tribal allegiance. This will be true on both sides as the issue of holding to one’s authority, and control of their integrity is always fraught with any number of reasons to either go along or become passive, and these are not the same.
There is no avoiding questions of social control, we are communal creatures, and any threat of exile from systems we have grown into is often enough met with turning that reality into unconsciousness. This is a source of resistance to rethink the limits of control and ask a new question. I know I have not been independent enough of my social position to this point and will continue to stumble in whatever time remains. Nonetheless, I expect to continue poking at the fantasies involved with univalent analyses, either external social or internal psyche.
Simultaneously playing the pendulum game of always being on the counter beat leaves us unmoored and irrelevant. This is the effect of focusing overmuch on personal control. We have no traction to add the benefit we have to offer because we don’t know the vernacular around us and cannot speak to the situation before us.
To control ourself when the world around has gone crazy is an appealing thought, but it turns out it mostly results in our being the one judged to be the nincompoop. To attempt to control the system within which we swim is unrealistic and wearying to the point of compassion fatigue.
There is no answer in these persistent quandaries. However, a response is required. Support to respond is available wherever we find a community willing to engage in clarifying the relationships between You and You, competing Freedoms, Authorities, Controls, and honest Questions facing big Lies. Blessings on your week of exploring one layer deeper into life’s onion.