I was talking with Trevor and he told me two things I wish to address here. While reading my most recent blog post he was unsure of what side of the argument I was on, if I even agreed with the points I was making. Now this is something I do occasionally, argue androgynously. Kind of a verbal banter while working thru a question and if I do not come to a conclusion or get distracted by a new question it sometimes stays that way. And second he stated Ryan is wrong, something about this needs to be argued with, but what? What is actually the idea we are looking at?
And so I attempt to clarify my position and hopefully the thought in itself.
It seems to me that individualism is a philosophy of unrestricted personal freedom. Though the more I look at it the more I think that our idea of individualism is broken, that is flawed in some way. Do we reach to individualism for some kind of self-worth or identity, or do we reach out for a reason, an excuse?
Individualism protects us from mob rule, from doing that which we would not otherwise do. For example, some people take up smoking or drinking, as a sign of their freedom, to declare independence from the church. While others, under pressure from friends or society, find their independence in the church. These people take opposite actions yet both find that freedom which they felt was withheld, missing or being attacked.
Individualism is a way for us to keep our own moral codes, it allows us to portray on the outside what we feel on the inside.
However if we find a community that shares our individual philosophies then we can join it and accept its rules and boundaries and not feel our individualism offended. How many of us say everyone takes showers so to display my individualism I am heretofore refusing such a mindless act the mob has placed into our heads? Our individualism gets offended when we do not agree with an idea that we feel is foisted upon us. Community is effective when it is chosen, but forced community is generally oppressive for those within it.
Issues come up when we are born into a society, and some of these societies are difficult to get out of. If I decide that I disagree enough with Canadian policy that I no longer wish to be part of the Canadian community, what can I do? There is no longer any frontier land that I can go claim as everything is already owned. What is a man to do without becoming illegal? Sometimes all we can think to do is complain and hope someone hears us. We cry foul whenever our desires are being denied, I cry foul. And as anyone who has gotten me ranting for any amount of time knows, I despise socialism, it hurts my sensibilities. Did you know that Canada spent in excess of $172 billion last year on health care, this works out to about $5,200 per person. Wow, yeah urg, that just chaps me something fierce. But I am not getting into that here, ignoring it and moving on.
Rejection of the politics of where I am born leads me to reduce the effect that they have in my life and I have been drawn to the idea of a commune to express my individualism from society. Yet, even in my individualism I am drawn into community. One reason this makes so much sense is that individualism is an ineffective way of life. I am not good enough to do everything on my own. I have a finite amount of time allotted to me, I can spend it learning how to build an effective house for the climate or learning to play the piano, I must choose to not learn one thing so I can learn another. Time is my enemy, so much to learn and do, and yet here I sit in my darkened room, writing. Anyway, to beat this enemy called time we gather, gather with people who are sufficiently alike and different from ourselves. We form symbiotic relationships where I no longer have to know how to make music to appreciate it, where my skills complement the skills of others. Life is more effective when there is a multitude of people to share the responsibilities and efforts of continuing existence and joy. Yet still here alone in dark, I secretly wish I could be skilled with everything, to be truly independent and autonomous. Why do I feel shame for my reliance on others? Pride refuses to let me accept it.
And a short thought about individualism in religion. Since religion is truth from a source greater then man and not a democracy, disagreement leads to nothing but a single solution. Agree or leave. Without constancy and steadiness unity falters, but without change individualism suffers.
No comments:
Post a Comment