Others
Vs. 20
Yes and no
Are they so different?
Good and bad
Are they so far apart?
What others fear
I must fear too
Such recklessness! Without and end!
Most people are merry making and happy
As though celebrating the Great Sacrifice
And climbing a lookout in the spring
I alone am unmoved!
Like one without preferences
Like an infant who never smiles
Lost!
As thought homeless
Most people have excess
I alone appear wanting
With the mind of a fool!
Muddled and confused!
Others are bright and clear
I alone am dim
Most people are smart and assured
I alone am dull and dim
Placid!
Abiding like the ocean
Aimless!
Drifting without an anchor
Most people have things to do
I alone appear awkward and crude
I alone differ from others
Because I cherish the milk of the Mother.
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu, trans. by Rosemarie Anderson Ph.D.
These lines come as a cautionary tale, a sardonic warning about group-think, the tendency to adopt the attitude, the opinion of the majority of our fellows. Perhaps you have noted advertising leans heavily on the quest for belonging, for membership, the security of the herd.
Stripped of any context what is the difference between ‘yes’ and ‘no’? Without a link to circumstances – mere local perturbations in air pressure and nothing else. In essence there’s no difference. Only as a functioning signifier are yes and no important at all.
If you are content to associate yourself with “most people” – prepare to be raped, existentially mutilated by anyone craven enough to profit from your helplessness…
Or to say it differently, Prince performs his anthem: Purple Rain.
2 thoughts on “Others”
As noted many times in previous conversations, our views are highly subjective. And when I say “our” I mean all of humanity. No one is free to view the world around us without the chains of our basic subjective nature. To me, this is why Plato’s Cave is so extraordinarily insightful. We all come to see our own version of reality as THE true reality. Good or Bad. Yes or No. Nature and Nurture. It’s all a part of the realm of the mind and most folks want to embrace the version of reality they are most comfortable in embracing. Many times, as you noted, it is what the tribe ascribes to rather than the facts of any situation. We are a very odd species.
To be a subject is none other than to be a member of our species. Animals are constituted by genetic inheritance and by the impact of external circumstance upon our senses. Therefore, it is important, advantageous that language be like a Swiss Army knife, every word associated with a spectrum, a shading of meaning(s) to be useful for communicating. A single word potentially pertains to many contexts. A precise, one to one link between a symbol and meaning is never the case, except with languages constructed for agreed upon purposes such as the various math systems.
Reality is always personal, a feature of subjective processing, – objectivity is illusion. So, yes each has his/her special version of reality and we have language and syntax marvelously useful, flexible but inevitably inexact. Effective communication demands caring, and artful measuring of word usage. Exactly the dimensions given short shrift by our internet media drenched century.
Yeah, a daunting prospect.
But on the other hand, this is our one and only ticket. It is right and proper that we enjoy the ride.