The continuing progress of society, science, and culture and some individuals' lust for control of their environment and the people around them seem to be loosely (though not necessarily) connected in the sense that the former can be used as a means to achieve the latter. However, I had a strange thought, as I was commuting to work the other day, and I have been mulling it over in my mind ever sense. I began to wonder if our desire to innovate and some people's pathological lust for control might spring forth from the same "place" in our minds and I started to think that this "place" may be one of fear. That is to say, both our greatest achievements and our worst abuses are built upon the most primal of emotions. After considering this issue, I have come believe that we are afraid of the things that we are powerless against and that our desire to innovate and our lust control are both different sorts of manifestations that fear.
.jpg)
We do not typically find ourselves trembling when we see a pigeon but a wild lion may make you think twice about wondering in the wilderness without arming yourself because one has the ability to harm us and the other does not. Naked and alone, we are powerless against the lion. It's strength and speed trumps our will to live and this seems to be the root of our fear, from my perspective. There are a number of scary things that we are powerless against. Disease can strike without warning. Bad weather and other natural disasters can cause unprepared civilizations to crumble. We may be caught off-guard (and thus, powerless) by thieves and have our possessions taken from us and be left without adequate means of survival. Death ultimately strikes us all down and no amount of preparation, planning, or plotting can prevent that eventuality. The common theme between these things is that a power gap exists between the fearful and the feared.
While there isn't anything that we can do to even the odds with death, we, as a species, do have some agency to close the power gaps that exists between us and the things that we are afraid of and this, I believe, has been the major driving force behind our advancement as species. We wanted to keep the lions away so we built villages and walls to protect them. That requires increased cooperation between individuals, so society and culture are born as a result. We know that a drought will come one day, so we learn to store food and this leads to an increased population and workforce which allows cities and nations arise. That larger population and the greater amount of leisure time that it allows gives people the opportunity to ponder things like fighting sickness and other similarly powerful foes. Those aspirations may be actualized and the quality of our lives increases accordingly. These things are all great achievements but the important bit (to my argument) is that they all seem reduce the power disparity between our us and our environment. It makes sense (to me, at least) to view our drive to innovate as an expression or our fear of powerlessness.
In the same way that our fear of being powerless can cause us to take positive actions like curing diseases and learning to preserve food for the dry times, it can also lead some people down a much darker path. Some individuals grow to lust for power because they are reacting to their fear in a different and more destructive way. They know that possessing more power, whether it is through political influence, wealth, oppression, violence, or what have you, will reduce the likelihood of them facing a threat that they are unable to guard against. They are compelled, by their fear, to gain control of their surroundings and they do so at the expense of others, often by stealing power that once belonged to the broader society. Again we see a an expression of fear but instead of improving the lives of the people, it causes them harm and robs them of their agency for the benefit of a single person or a relatively small group.
This a strange paradox and it is one that comes with real problems. If both this positive drive and negative lust are manifestations of the same emotion, how can we reduce one without reducing the other? Our impulse to innovate is something that we should value but is it so closely tied to its "evil twin" that it can never be fully separated? I don't have an answer to those questions but I tend to think that we can, to some degree, master our minds and, with them, our more destructive desires. Perhaps, we can learn how to distinguish between our negative and positive reactions to fear and encourage ourselves to choose innovation over over oppression. We can try to derive our power from our work and the progress it brings instead of taking it from others. Of course, some people are just irredeemable douche-bags and will never take those steps but if the rest of us try to think about how our fear influences our actions and if we make positive choices as a result, I believe that the world would better for our efforts.
Peace.
All the images in this post are sourced from the free image website, unsplash.com.
"If both this positive drive and negative lust are manifestations of the same emotion, how can we reduce one without reducing the other?"
How can peace with North Korea reduce war with Venezuela and Iran?
Haha yeah. They do seem to start something up but they haven't figured out where yet. I feel bad for the shit people are going through in Venezuela but I don't think those problems can be fixed with bombs. It reminds me of that saying about how to the man who only has a hammer every problem looks like a nail. War is all we seem to know how to do here anymore.
And I'm sure the shit they're going through now pales in comparison to the holy shit of having their bodies blown to bits by the 'rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air' of Bolton and Abrams.
Very true. The sad thing is that there is a fairly large swath of the population here would call that helping.
Interesting. Noticed you like to write. Feel free to join us @bananafish. We have two writing contests a week. Cool people. Pretty chill.
Your article is influencing also👍👏
Posted using Partiko iOS
dear @artisticscreech
you have embarked on a very complex subject. You are right when you say that fear is a visceral emotion of the man who has always defended himself from it. Already here we could talk for hours, because the reactions to fear are endless: from attack to paralysis. But it is on the power that I would concentrate more, because it does great damage. It would be necessary to distinguish between "power over" and therefore the power that allows one to dominate over others and the "power of" or the power / capacity to do something, usually intended for the well-being of man. What changes? Well, the human variable that is not predictable is the thing that prevents us from knowing if we're going to the right or wrong side of the scale. A hope? Follow the method of "non-violence" by Gandi: I could not find any better example to teach our children.
Thank you for sharing
That distinction between types of power is an important one and, now that you bring it up, I think that is something that I probably should have touched on here.
The benefit that we get from things like innovation is a form of power too but it functions differently that the power that those who wish to oppress others are seeking.
You know the greed of power is far more scarier than money because it can make a human destroy everything in order to rule over people.
Posted using Partiko Android
I would agree but I think quite a lot of people seek wealth because they hope to use it as a means to gain that power. Wanting money isn't always bad but wanting money so one can use it to control others probably is.
Hi artisticscreech,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
Hello @artisticscreech! This is a friendly reminder that a Partiko user has just followed you! Congratulations!
To get realtime push notification on your phone about new followers in the future, download and login Partiko using the link below. You will also get 3000 Partiko Points for free, and Partiko Points can be converted into Steem token!
https://partiko.app/referral/partiko