Holding On
[By] thus selecting and precipitating the unusual, astounding, difficult, and divine, Philosophy marks the boundary lines dividing her from Science in the same way as she does from Prudence by the emphasizing of the useless. – Early Greek Philosophy and other Essays, by Friedrich Nietzsche, p. 73
Nietzsche paraphrases Aristotle to say that philosophy is a rarefied practice of connoisseurship, acceding to intuition, the quest for what matters most, more than anything else. Philosophy is not science, which in our day is capitalism’s engine, our avarice for profit. Philosophy is a quest for the one thing that matters most, unheeding if the “one thing” cannot be monetized, leveraged for profit.
Philosophy is a hopeful holding-on, for one more day.
And thus the tune by Wilson Philips.
Hold On
By Wilson Philips
I know this pain
Why do you lock yourself up in these chains?
No one can change your life except for you
Don’t ever let anyone step all over you
Just open your heart and your mind
Is it really fair to feel this way inside?
Some day somebody’s gonna make you want to
Turn around and say goodbye
Until then baby are you going to let them
Hold you down and make you cry
Don’t you know?
Don’t you know things can change
Things’ll go your way
If you hold on for one more day
Can you hold on for one more day
Things’ll go your way
Hold on for one more day
You could sustain
Or are you comfortable with the pain?
You’ve got no one to blame for your unhappiness
You got yourself into your own mess
Lettin’ your worries pass you by
Don’t you think it’s worth your time
To change your mind?
Some day somebody’s gonna make you want to
Turn around and say goodbye
Until then baby are you going to let them
Hold you down and make you cry
Don’t you know?
Don’t you know things can change
Things’ll go your way
If you hold on for one more day
Can you hold on for one more day
Things’ll go your way
Hold on for one more day
I know that there is pain
But you hold on for one more day and
Break free from the chains
Yeah I know that there is pain
But you hold on for one more day and you
Break free, break from the chains
Some day somebody’s gonna make you want to
Turn around and say goodbye
Until then baby are you going to let them
Hold you down and make you cry
Don’t you know?
Don’t you know things can change
Things’ll go your way
If you hold on for one more day yeah
If you hold on
Don’t you know things can change
Things’ll go your way
If you hold on for one more day,
If you hold on
Can you hold on
Hold on baby
Won’t you tell me now
Hold on for one more day ‘Cause
It’s gonna go your way
Don’t you know things can change
Things’ll go your way
If you hold on for one more day
Can’t you change it this time
Make up your mind
Hold on
Hold on
Baby hold on
Lyrics by Glen Ballard, Chynna Phillips, Carnie Wilson
2 thoughts on “Holding On”
“I know that there is pain
But you hold on for one more day and
Break free from the chains”
In order to break free from the chains we perceive to be holding others (or ourselves) back, there must first be a desire to break free. Lip service for change is easy and usually not honest. Humans tend to seek the familiar, the characteristics that defined their lives. For a large portion of humanity that familiarity can be found in a sense of victimization. The fact that we have all had bad things, to a degree, happen to us is a given, but what many people do is to hang on to that identification of the victim and wrap themselves in the cloak of “poor me”.
For a moment, let’s examine many of Trump’s supporters, those who one might think would be the last ones to back a tyrannical, egotistical, hypocrite. But Trump makes himself out to be the victim of “The System” whether it is unwashed immigrants, conspiratorial liberals, big government, an international cabal of . . . . Muslims, Jews, Atheists, or whomever, Donald has been persecuted. Those who pray to the altar of Trump identify with his plight, for they too view themselves as victims and he is their savior. How does one make an argument against that point of view? Most likely it’s impossible since their mindset is rooted in an irrational fear that makes all the sense in the world to them. They have fully embraced the victim persona. They have discovered, through hundreds of internet sites, that the tribe of victims is large and vital and they can gather and be strong together in the victim realm. They can easily demonize those who can’t see their long suffering and feel that by ridding the world of the ignorant (intellectuals, brown people, liberals, socialists, etc), they will be able to create a society of the victim where they can flourish.
The bottom line is that they define themselves through their pain, by the chains they wear, and by their suffering. This is the familiar, the foundation of who they are at their core. Why would they ever want to change?
The self-flagellation of victim-hood is comforting beyond the superficial. When one can identify with a suffering deity, who claims to suffer on your behalf, that’s a deal seen “only on TV.”