Thursday, July 1, 2010

Identity Crises

One of the greatest disappointments of maturity - assuming that we're talking about sensible human beings here - comes with the realization that there has never been a manmade institution that actually served to unify the different members of our species. One could consider religions, political parties, academic communities, corporations - no matter what the goal, the only way "organizations" can achieve it is by shattering whatever common bond we may have with our fellow human beings. 

Observe, if you will, the rites of initiation and ethical codes of any such "organization": each instance provides the members of said community with a number of criteria by which they can easily distinguish the Outsider - and this simply by his lack of knowledge. Failure to act or dress a certain way, to observe certain holidays, or even to glorify a certain Ideal - all these serve to indicate "otherness" so that it can either be excluded from or initiated into the "organization."

Now it may sound as though I'm passing judgement on "institutions as a whole," and a negative judgement at that - oh, but I would never dare! Although it's disappointing that they posture as so many unifying forces in society (which of course they are not), and thus breed confusion and misunderstanding, it is their exclusive nature that serves us best: being able to identify that nature is the first step in being able to identify its opposite. The next great evolution of mankind - the next ΓΌbermensche if you want to call it that - will be easily distinguished from the rabble that cling to one another with apprehension and fear: his only initiation rite will be eye contact; his only ethical code, brute honesty. He will be a living example of transparency, and he will be reviled as such.

So if you're lost, and you're in love, and you're wondering, and you want to know where the next genuine human being is to be found - why, simply take a look at the great institutions: they will be slinging mud (as they always do), and one has only to follow their aim to find him. 

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