From: Van oost Kenneth (kennethvanoost@belgacom.net)
Date: Sat 09 Nov 2002 - 11:18:54 GMT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wade Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
> On Friday, November 8, 2002, at 11:07 , Grant Callaghan wrote:
> > The life of an individual in this world has always been short and
> > painful if he did not belong to an organized group that shares memes.
Wade,
> That's a big bingo.
You know I got to react to this type of nonsense !
I understand ' you ' need social groups to obtain a life, but anyone
can live a life as an individual !
IMO, the notion that you need a kind of groupsbounding to obtain
a life without pain, or to have a long life like you suggest here, is an
artificial one.
From my stance I got problems with, if I belong to any group that
some of my own inbedded characteistics will, or have to diseappear.
I stand for the rejection of the institutionalized belief that you need a
group to be happy, to have a life without pain !
That is in one word, untrue !
I understand and I am well aware of the fact that an indivudual has
to cling to some group in his/ her search for, lets say, authenticity,
and if that fails a number of people will kill themselves, but that is
not their fault ! The ( social) pressure of groups is too high to be
ignored, and the chances to be an authentic individual in this per-
verse society are less than zero.
It is a matter of power, and people in general who will claim that
any individual has no chance to survive in his harsh world doing
that out of a position of imposed power, unconsciously maybe,
memes work you know, but it is still my opinion that this is due to
the mechanism by which societies work and develop.
The ' natural ' way, the ' natural laws ' of society claim to be
supportive, to have mercy and show solidarity with others,...
and what if this is all mannered, a by- product of the evolution
from indivudual towards groups !?
The irony of the thing is, that in search for individuality, for
authenticity we' re bound to use a social context, without it,
we 're stand alone and we 're nothing, so they say, but ' you '
folks who tend to this masquerade don 't see that in your
search ' for something' you always look to the outside, towards
the others, never....NEVER to yourself !
And in looking always towards the others, you hurt us, you
induce pain and heartship. Be aware of the fact that as you
were a member of a ' social ' group you tend to hurt others !
And to say, but Kenneth you belong to a group, you belong
to the list, I agree, but I tend to keep a criticial eye, I don 't
tend to claim to have THE knowledge, THE truth, THE good,
I tend to play with the options, with the developments, with
the fields of anxiety when they come along.
I tend to keep a certain distance, I don 't care what others
might think about me or for what reason I am doing some-
thing, so that I won 't loose ' myself ' in the process.
In a sense, ' you ' folks are searching to know who you all
are, I know already who I am !
Regards,
Kenneth
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