We are all subject to rules. That goes without saying. But the rules we must abide by and are expected to follow are not uniform throughout the world. They are not even necessarily uniform across small regions. Many of the rules are established orders backed by fiat while others are accepted norms willingly followed by those of a given area or culture. Some rules follow us and others we walk into. Some were established by those who came long before us with different beliefs and values; others we assign to ourselves based on our principles.
The world is a diverse collection of individuals, customs, and values. This isn’t a fact unknown to people. It’s not something recently discovered. This has been the way of things for time immemorial. Yet, despite this widespread knowledge, our expectations often seem contrary to what we know. There is a push for continuity, for homogeneity, for a narrowing of who “we” are in the hopes we can lump us all together into the right category. Once there, we are expected to follow those rules set out for us. The world we currently live in is not designed for us to find our home and live as we choose while letting others live as they do. It seems closer to painting us all with the same stroke without our consent.
I realize my beliefs, principles and values, expectations of the world, priorities, ideas and ideals of what is right, just, and moral, and vision of what the world could or should look like are different than many others. Do I expect those others to abide by my vision of things? To adhere to my priorities? To live by my principles and beliefs? I could not, I cannot, live by those of others, so why should I expect others to live by mine? On the surface this seems like such a simple and commonsense proposal: let others live as they wish as long as they do not infringe on the principles, values, etc. of others. What is so complicated about that?
It’s simple. But this simple idea is the furthest thing from a reality. As I have stated many times over in my writings, power does not allow us to live and let live. It is only under their sway that we are allowed to stretch our wings. Some may fit the mold of those expectations and be able to stretch fully without hindrance; others find no such relief. We may be free, but we are not. We may have liberty, but we do not. How do we make sense of this riddle?
The rules of the game which we are obliged to follow are part of a limited selection. Why? Why is it that that we limit our possibilities? Why do we put a ceiling on our potentials? Why do we restrict our growth? Some may argue that we do not; that the established fields of play are the proven best methods,” and any variants are not worth the time and effort. Who is it that gets to make those determinations and why? Who claims a land over a land, says it is theirs, and removes the rest of the world from enjoyment of it? Who makes the claim that their way of living is best; so good in fact that they feel the right to subject that perspective on anyone and everyone? I can only imagine the ego, the feeling of supremacy, the desire for power and control that those people must possess.
Is it so easy to miss this arrogance? Does it wear such a clever disguise that we actually believe these claims are altruism, not megalomania? Perhaps it is that we are so used to them that we know nothing else anymore? Or are we just helpless?
Yes, we are forced to play within the rules of the game. But why is it that we are forced to accept the game as it is? Who says we cannot change things? And why? Who are these masters of the world which hold dominion over its rules holding dominion over its rulers who hold dominion over its subjects.
There are elections happening all over the world right now. In nearly all cases I see elites, legends in their own mind, parading around celebrating themselves. No sign of humility or pride. Just unrelenting hubris, showmanship, and salesmanship. They act like children disguised as adults fighting to get their way. Egotistical, self-serving, self-congratulatory, and self-righteous from nearly every angle. They are people fighting for their principles and their teamwith the hope of winning, because they can’t stand the idea of a world where their interests are not in control. Because not winning means they have lost.
These are the people who embrace the rules of the game and want to keep them as they are, so they get their turn on top—or keep their position there. It is not just the ones who have received fewer votes that have lost. All those who look up at those in power looking down on those who are not have lost as well. They have not lost because their side received fewer votes. They have lost because they believe gaining that power is the only way that they can win. It is this fallacious belief that causes all of us to lose. For when the goal is to win, the results will always create a loser. It is not each other we should fear or hate or want to triumph over or eliminate, but the pursuit of power and control.
This abuse of power blankets the world we live in. That fact is indeed troubling and disheartening. But perhaps the fact that most of us are aware that this is the way the world works, and we do nothing—or feel we can do nothing—to change it, is even more demoralizing. When there is a feeling of helplessness concerning the world we live in, the rules we live by, the wrongs, injustices, preventable atrocities, and (I hesitate to use the word) evils that occur, many of us—most of us—are inclined to focus our attentions inward. We narrow our world to focus on the self, the close family and friends, and the “controllable,” while we write off those wrongs outside of our circle as “the way it is” and horrible tragedies which we can do nothing about.
There are so many that can accept this choice (if that is what we want to call it) without a qualm or missed moment of sleep. There are fewer of us who struggle with this “reality” and see it as something forced upon us without knowing how to struggle against it. The tide rushes past us laughing at our efforts to stop it. The futility we feel is only matched by our anguish and disappointment.
As the deluge spreads, will more people turn inward to hide from what is coming? Or will they stand together to change it? It is not about forming teams and building a majority like we see today. It is not about draping a blanket over us and claiming we are one mind, one heart, one people. It is not about the silly pursuit of winning. It is about accepting certain difficult realities. We aren’t the same. We won’t agree on what is best. And we have not yet reached our potential. So long as the game we play and the rules we follow try convincing us otherwise, the downward spiral we find ourselves on will continue.