Fear of creativity

There is a huge difference between how things are and how they could or should be. Likewise, there is a huge difference between how things are and how they got that way. We need to think about both, though I sometimes get the impression that we don't really think about either.

Let's take Occupy Wall Street as an example. It hasn't ceased to amaze me at how many people who make statements about it haven't looked at it close enough to know what it is. In other words, their perception is blurred. It also hasn't escaped my attention that some want it to be one thing, while others want it to be something very different. In other words, their interpretation is confused. Finally, there are those who will tell you what it is not, who will try to discredit it for discreditation's sake. In other words, their comprehension is incomplete.

Contrary to what (too) many people believe, being against one thing doesn't automatically make you for its opposite. Also, agreeing part of something doesn't automatically mean that you agree all of it. For example, I might be pro OWS, that doesn't mean I'm automatically against capitalism. I can agree with them that corporations have undue influence in the American political process, but that doesn't mean I agree with all the tactics they employ to make their point. In other words, what I'm making a plea for here is discernment.

All that we are dealing with in the wake of the financial crisis and bailout are things that needn't be the way they are. Anything involved could be different if we choose to make it so. We have made money the measure of all worth, because we can't agree on higher values anymore. We think the economy is more important that society because we can't talk to each other reasonably anymore. We have fear of losing what we have because we no longer know who we are. Every issue we are facing are problems that we humans have created for ourselves. Money is not natural; the organization of human society is not natural; economies are not natural. They are all things that we, in one way or another, for one reason or another, consciously or unconsciously, have simply made up. None of these arise from some unalterable natural law, rather cultures, living spaces, ways of interaction, values, organizations are things that we humans have called into existence. They are as they are at the moment, but we all agree that they were not always that way, nor need they necessarily be that way now. They are as they are because we more or less decide to have them this way.

We, I'm afraid, have simply backed ourselves into a corner and are being controlled by our fears. Is it really an unalterable fact that some banks are too big to (let) fail? No, that's a perception. Is it the consequence of some natural law that some countries are seen as too big to save? No, that's an interpretation. And do we really, truly believe, well, things have always been this way? No, that's simply miscomprehension.

My question is, what are we afraid of? Of losing what's not ours to begin with? Of having to listen to someone we disagree with? Of respecting another simply because s/he is an other? Of having to share or (gasp!) care about something other than ourselves? Of having to think about how you feel about something that affects all of us? Of maybe having to learn that whatever you think, feel or believe is one way of thinking, feeling and believing, but not the only way? Of finding out that just because I don't think what you do that both of us may be right (or wrong) in different ways? I don't get it.

Anyone who thinks that things are just fine the way they are simply doesn't get out enough. I would maintain the changes we need to make are simpler than we now imagine, but only if we start working together. It's a choice, not a law of nature.