So, my six basic tenets are:
- I don't know.
- I neither speak nor hear the truth.
- I'm not special.
- I'm wrong.
- Nothing is perfect.
- It doesn't matter.
Social Implications:
But I really want to know, to hear the truth, to be important, to be right, to see perfection around me, and I want to matter in this world. I want all these... and people know that and use that against me.
Advertising uses this all the time to sell their products to me. "This [product] is the real thing!" "[Doctors] all agree." "You deserve this!" "This right for you." "The perfect fit!" "This is important to you and your family!"
Politicians use my desires to get my vote. "We all know this policy will ruin our nation." "[The President] is misguided..." "I will make America great again!" "We have been following the wrong trail for the last eight years..." "This party has the answers to our country's problems." "I need your vote in November!"
The political parties promise me that if I join them: I will be part of the real solutions to our nations problems, I will hear only the truth, I will be a great American, I will be on the right side of the national debate, and that I will matter.
Religion, at least Christianity, points out that everything I have discovered about myself and the world I live in is the result of the Fall of Adam. The church then promises me that if I repent and obey its teachings I will know, I will have the fullness of the Gospel, the Truth, I will be saved in the Kingdom of God, a covenant person, that God personally hears and answers my prayers, that I will grow and progress from precept to precept until I am perfected in Christ, and be numbered in the Book of Life as a good and faithful servant of God. The church completely fills every flaw, gap, and deficiency of my humanity.
Schools, employers, governments all promise me rewards of knowledge, information, benefits and privileges, status, and position if I do what I am told, and do my job.
The reason these tactics work so well is that no one knows any more than anyone else, but we all want to know. We all want to hear the truth, feel important and special. We all want to be right. In the absence of real knowledge, we will pretend to know, and play a game that becomes real to us, and very serious. And we will follow anyone who can convince us that he can give us our most profound desires. And they give us what we want for a price: obedience, financial support, etc.
I have to be very careful not to step out of line, or break any of the rules to the game. If I disagree with those who know, they will try to make me feel that I am wrong, misinformed, stupid, or lying, and will put me in my place (less important). I see this in every organization (every game I have played). But, wait! I already acknowledge that I do't know... so how can they really put me down? As Job declared his peers: "What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you." (Job 13: 2.)
My Personal Manifesto: I am me! Even if I do not step out of line, I am here because I choose to be here with you. I choose to be here, now for my own reasons, in spite of your acceptance or your threats of rejection. I am here, now!
Psychology
I believe that many of my frustrations, stress and distress come from holding on to imagined expectations and desires (like my plans and schedules) in the face of a very different Reality. I react with anger, fear, and a host of psychological, physiological and social problems. I have remind myself that Reality is what it is, and I can just accept it and go with the flow.
I believe that I am out of touch with reality (psychotic) and that is OK and normal. I become stressed or distressed if I do not want, or do not enjoy, what I am experiencing. I am self-destructive if I am distressed and do nothing to avoid the stress or correct the problems I am experiencing. I am imprisoned or enslaved if I can do nothing to avoid or correct my frustrations.
The solution my personal psychological issues include three fundamental steps (that I may need help taking): first, accept reality (it is what it is) and myself (I am what I am) with all our flaws and limitations. This first step often effectively works to relieve the stress. Second, acknowledge my choices and their consequences. I have to remind myself that I chose this situation, I am doing (or did) what I want. And finally, to discover the choices I still have and make the best choice I can. I am not a prisoner or slave...
Decisions: Decisions are always made with insufficient information. We have enough information we would be compelled to act in a certain way; there would be nothing to decide. Decisions are always made emotionally. Emotions trump reason, we can always make up reasons for what we do after we decided to do them.
My Personal Search for Meaning
As I have observed Reality seems to be very complex with everything interrelated in a vast network of cause and effect. Nothing is completely spontaneous or random, there is always cause and effect, a set of reasons for the existence of anything. We can always ask what, how, where and why. Nothing exists in isolation; everything interacts with something else. And everything acts or functions in a certain way; we can predict its behavior and the outcome of any event.
I am a part of that web of relationships. I am here, now, as I am for reasons. I interact with others and have as much impact on them as they do on me. I function, act, and behave in predictable ways that reveal to others who and what I am. Just get to know me! I make myself visible through the things I do and say.
I move and pile rocks. I dig holes in the ground. I plant trees and seeds. I chop wood. I build things. I take pictures and write poetry. I play roles given to me in many games: son, brother, husband, father, grandfather, friend, etc.
There... I believe, I imagine, I play, I create, I love, I hope... I am what I am; I am me.
Another Manifesto: I don't have to know everything. I don't have to believe everything you tell me. I don't have to prove anything. I don't have to be perfect. I don't have to do what you think I have to do. I don't have to be anything, but myself!
Now, my wife is calling. I have to go.
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