Monster Resistance
Friday, the last day of the work week. Even retired, an old guy in many ways stuck in a more youthful time, psychologically I remain in sync to the world-of-work which I suffered and enjoyed for over 40 years. Work continues to be the psychological terrain of my life, though I no longer anticipate a paycheck. Work is important for other reasons. And Fridays are looked forward to with gratitude. I’ve survived another week of responsibility, of fulfilling a role in this society, that in part, I helped to create.
I sat with a few friends yesterday and we explored the notion that morality is sourced from culture. That is – the scale of standards, those indicators of comportment, those behaviors we permit ourselves, that we expect from others — as well as the obverse, valuations and actions forbidden. I am satisfied, it is true that a standard of behavior is the consequence of conclusions drawn by the body over the arc of a person’s life. The body (not the mind) is the pivot point for ethical formation, which is relative to time’s passage, consequences of a life…
A friend seated at our circle of amateur philosophers proposed that we imagine the Nazis had prevailed to conclude World War II. In that case, a relationship between Germany and America, no doubt one favorable to Germany, would have commenced. History bears out – victors, winners define for subject peoples, the winner’s standard of morality.
The thought experiment struck me personally, with hammer force.
I intuitively felt everything represented by Auschwitz-Birkenau, a racial purity nationalism certainly would have been incipient to the law of this land. The winner-takes-all proposition as a standard of values came equivalent to an electric shock. I listened without premonition of being surprised.
And so it is, as has been demonstrated over and over in the annals of history.
Some hours have passed since of discussion of yesterday and I have recovered my equilibrium. No matter the course of future external events, I will naturally participate. What choice do I really have? And yet… I will always aspire to be a minority voice, searching for a lay-of-the-land overview, to see from the edge, from the periphery. I desire the view, that of the outliers.
The view is better from the edge.
To be among outsiders provides friction essential – if you and I are to resist monsters within!
4 thoughts on “Monster Resistance”
The question that comes to my mind from your post today has to do with our potential baser nature, that seeming monster that could emerge at any time. Does that monster exist at birth or does it manifest from a skewed version of life and culture taught to us be a dysfunctional society? Is curiosity and kindness squeezed out of us by the pressures of conformity?
I suspect that greed, fear, insecurity, and lust do linger somewhere within us at birth but I truly believe they are lesser traits that only emerge when faced with a corrupt system. Just a few cents worth of opinion.
What exists at birth has been the point of much speculation. Perhaps a rudiment of instinct and a great deal of potential? I think likely we are taught, and we learn many things in the course of a year or so. There is a lot that is overtly violent, and a great deal of emotional coercion. How much must we unlearn in order to show kindness to ourselves and to others?
We have abundant evidence what corrupt systems do to the minds and emotions of those trapped for many years in such circumstances.
Let me add that once the monster in us emerges our moral compass ceases to function.
I agree with your view.
In the fighting which occurred after D-day, counter to official policy, SS soldiers were often killed outright. As a rule these hard-core believers had made up their minds, and were not amenable to reconsider Nazi ideology.