The Shape of Things

I have suggested that society is a poor way of organising things and that a member of society is far from all they could be.

In this post, I hope to lay out my thoughts on this matter. As a critical thinker, you are invited to appreciate my thoughts, develop them further or simply bear them in mind.

Three is a key number and I have stated in my books that each person is a mixture of an inner monkey, an autopilot and cognitive centre. Suggesting that the best version of us in one where we are aware of when we use the autopilot and we maintain a calm inner monkey. As society is only a collection of individuals, I have recently made the argument that society should share these three components, as it simply reflects us collectively and in turn moulds us as individuals.

Our inner monkey is reflected in government. Fear propels each into a frenzy of poorly judged activity. Notice how a strong government reaction relies on a strong fear response from the members of society.

Our autopilot is readily observed reflected in society. Whenever an official refuses to listen to reason and insists on following procedure. Or whenever anybody displays an inability to do anything than follow written procedures. Despite overwhelming evidence that they are wasting time and resources.

There are a great many things in society that are on ‘autopilot’. Laws are simply accepted. Speed cameras are accepted. Banking rules are seen as obvious and not given a moments thought in millions of lifetimes. Feel free to notice thousand more.

Which leaves our individual cognitive abilities. How are they reflected in society? Well, poorly. Traditional media, social media and TV. These are what I would call distractions from reality. Distractions from becoming that which we were born to be. Ourselves.

If you notice that our governments are getting increasingly powerful. Then that is a reflection of the members of society having, on average, a more active inner monkey.

If you notice an increasing amount of people being unable to make coherent decisions at work because they MUST follow procedure. Then that simply reflects how many of us let our autopilot run for extended periods.

If you notice that the ‘distractions’ are becoming increasingly banal. Then that is a reflection of how poorly the average person is at reasoning, thinking and planning.

That is how society is a reflection of the average individual. Society then exerts a force on each individual to comply to this normality / reality.

Now, let us take this idea a little further. Let us take the average man and coach him into calming down his inner monkey. Then we lecture him on how to be aware of being on autopilot. Then we help him cut down the amount of time he spends on twitter / Facebook / you tube / mindlessly watching TV and films. Now imagine everyone following his example. How do you think that would impact upon society?

I suggest that such an altered man would be a civilised human being and he would live in a civilisation, regardless of how everyone else acts and behaves. Or he may succumb to the immense inertia of society. I’ll let you know how I get on.