They
Do you see what I see?
“They” is the voice of inauthenticity.
Courage is required to know and to be yourself – but it’s the only way to live with truth and authenticity and richness.
It’s the only way to thrive.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSLvcJ4I1mw[/youtube]
They, by Jem
Who made up all the rules
We follow them like fools
Believe them to be true
Don’t care to think them throughAnd I’m sorry so sorry
I’m sorry it’s like this
I’m sorry so sorry
I’m sorry we do thisAnd it’s ironic too
Coz what we tend to do
Is act on what they say
And then it is that wayAnd I’m sorry so sorry
I’m sorry it’s like this
I’m sorry so sorry
I’m sorry we do thisWho are they
And where are they
And how can they possibly
know all this
Who are they
And where are they
And how can they possibly
know all thisDo you see what I see
Why do we live like this
Is it because it’s true
that ignorance is blissWho are they
And where are they
And how do they
know all this
And I’m sorry so sorry
I’m sorry it’s like thisDo you see what I see
Why do we live like this
Is it because it’s true
that ignorance is blissAnd who are they
And where are they
And how can they
know all this
And I’m sorry so sorry
I’m sorry we do this
3 thoughts on “They”
I was the kid in first grade who refused to color inside the lines. I wanted to draw my own lines. Now I’ve grown up and I can see that networks of arbitrary rules do indeed cover us, stultifying initiative, turning us into a nation of industrious sheep, of which government is the shepherd, as de Tocqueville warned. But freedom without any constraint is meaningless. If it is possible to do anything, then nothing is worth doing. Even in mathematics, a general solution to a differential equation is useless without the constraints or boundary conditions. We all need boundaries, psychological, social, spiritual, and physical to make a space for us to become who we are meant to be. The issue is not whether to have boundaries. The issue, never to be finally resolved in this world, is where the boundaries shall be, who shall establish and maintain them, and why.
Scooper´s last blog post – Happy New Year!
Ahhh – I’m not an anarchist, and I do agree about boundaries, but that’s more of a sociological question. That sort of interrogation is very important. But what I had in mind is the helpful nature of the transgressive thought.
Suppose someone is trapped inside a mentality that is very wrong for them, and they can’t get outside of it to know why? Then, a thought experiment: Suppose I were to react differently? In an unexpected way – maybe a way that is informed by my own deepest values? Suppose I didn’t play out the script that has been written for me? Suppose I broke my habits, just to see? Suppose I surprised myself, and found a more authentic response, a more textured, real, richer way to be – one that starts to inform me from my own heart and spirit. It’s not about just being different, especially in the knee-jerk way that some experiment with in youth – being “different” like the “different people” is just another form of conformity. But to start to pay attention and to honor your own heart and your own powers of discernment – to learn how to learn about that – is very freeing. And it’s an experience that I fear is far too alien to many Americans.
Well, sure. Finding one’s true calling often requires pushing one’s old boundaries in unexpected directions. Especially because that calling may change during a lifetime. One can be called to do that then and this now.
But back to transgressive thought. It can start things, both great and terrible. The prophet Jeremiah was transgressive in a good way, Hitler was transgressive in a bad way. People delude themselves into thinking that Christianity is conventional, but at its core, Christianity transgresses all our cultural norms regarding social status. I have no problem with transgressive thought as long as it is done with mindfulness and compassion. Or as Paul Simon once sang, “Just give me some tenderness in your honesty.”
Scooper´s last blog post – Happy New Year!