The Door is Open

I spent about 10 years

thinking about the unconscious mind

learning to recognize

and influence

emotions and complex responses

happening inside me

and in the people around me.

After some lost years

and a hard fall

I stopped thinking as much about how to influence things

and began looking more carefully at the world's impact on me

turning my focus outwards

noticing the ways in which the stuff happening inside

was so heavily influenced by stuff happening outside.

Power, industry, politics, and propaganda.

Lately I've been saying to friends and clients

that our big skill of the now

is learning to recognize the difference

between what is from inside us

and what is from outside.

Because until we can distinguish this meaningfully

we don't have an accurate picture of reality.

What parts of me are traditionally human?

What parts are manufactured by consumer society?

These questions pursued lead to uncomfortable and mind-bending conversations.

But

what I've been tripping on

for the last 25 years

is how much stuff there is

you motherfuckers will not talk about.

I got mine too of course.

Plenty of places I can't go.

But usually I don't pretend to not to see the fence.

And after 30+ years of uncomfortable conversations, I can tell you that most people's go-to tactic is to pretend not to see the fence.

That doesn't look like anything to me.

Now, this shit used to make me big mad,

because it was an obvious denial of reality

but these days I see it more as a conditioned response.

Uncomfortable conversations

are a thing to fear

because great apes

so often respond with violence

when their status is questioned.

And I certainly acknowledge

that my large size gave me permission to run my fucking mouth.

But it makes sense

If people are in environments

where disagreeing is going to be painful

then reality takes a back seat to agreement real quick.

I am sympathetic to how we got here.

But I also believe that we have to get better at disagreeing.

We have to practice it.

Because without it we can't build anything better.

Like Jung said...

Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. - Carl Jung

When I want to feel hopeful

I imagine

a planet full of humans

with the ability to discern the difference

between inside and out

and the care to respect both.

I imagine humans

who build systems within the constraints of our planet

and share the abundance

of their deliberate and intelligent action

and their deep commitment

to helping each other climb Maslow's Hierarchy

until we live on a planet of artists and artisans of all trades

who can imagine and build a way off this planet.

We get there by practice.

We get there by allowing our conversations to wander.

To not-know the outcome of the talk.

To let it unfold as all parties say their piece.

Especially when we disagree.

This is how we get to the future.

If we ever want to become Intergalactic Hominids.

Or even just avoid killing ourselves

and leaving the planet to the cockroaches.

This is how we do it.

We practice disagreeing.

We open the door.