In a crowd… a man descends several rungs in the ladder of civilization. Isolated, he may be a cultivated individual; in a crowd, he is a barbarian.
This is how Gustave Le Bon felt the sanity of the individual may have succumbed to the madness of a mob during the French Revolution.
Sometimes it is hard to know when you see the rare bright thing if it is a ghost. Showing you something, something important. Is there a ray of hope, some chance of survival? Or is it just a forgotten dream playing tricks on a tired mind? How do you reconcile the things you know with those you only feel? In the chasm between the two is probably the answer. We need to talk to our ghosts, listen to our ghosts.
Watch the news, see the hate, watch the senseless slaughter. Think, this has been going on for centuries. Ask yourself “why?” Then ask yourself “Why isn’t everybody asking themselves why?” In that instant you will begin to see the problem.
We don’t listen to the ghosts. Attempting to impose order on chaos only dissolves the structure further. There are realities that need to be faced, even when they are uncomfortable, and alien. The world turns at different speeds everywhere.
There is a belief that if you devise and execute a plan you are making progress. If the plan is not working it is simply a matter of altering the measurement. Looking long enough there is always a way to find some scrap of evidence to support any choice.
Of course, the problem with this is the evidence, no matter how superficial, or stupid becomes the cause. And then, no matter how worthless the original supposition the proof says it is working. Ghosts don’t care about metrics. They have seen it all.
Violence, a dynasty is born in blood. It grows through subjugation, and oppression. Finally it is brought down in a storm of anger and retribution, and the whole thing starts again.
There are days when things just don’t make any sense. Days when it is hard to leave the house. Foul news, evil on the rise, every day it just seems worse. Armies on the move, hatred written on the walls, vicious acts of intolerance. It can really start to wear on a soul.
But, I suppose it is not too late, if we can listen to the ghosts. They have seen it all.
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Previously Published on Life, Explained and is republished on Medium.
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Image credit: iStock
