Every day by direction and indirection I’m made to feel like a traitor to a class I never thought I belonged to, an enemy of the people. (N.b., I'm a fairly abstracted guy.) I sense this in relations with friends, with acquaintances and appurtenances (N.b., everyone is an appurtenance, potentially, of someone else; that's just the way things are), across and through personal encounters, in social media interactions, as voices overheard on the street and in my head.
Joining the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) many years ago following a long period of fascination and thrall, I sought intellectual and spiritual bedrock and genuine connection. Instead, ultimately, I found placards inscribed with scorning, dating slogans, common sense supplanted by common nonsense, ignorance, rather than innocence, disqualifying experience and nullifying compassion, and copious amounts of self-regard reflected back in funhouse mirrors. It’s sad and reminds me of Musical Chairs. Nobody wants to be caught short-paid or embarrassed in the final reckoning.
I have always loved Jefferson Airplane’s song Crown of Creation, especially the silly but evocative lyrics:
“Life is change/How it differs from the rocks/I’ve seen their ways too often for my liking”
&
“In loyalty to their kind/They cannot tolerate our minds/In loyalty to our kind/We cannot tolerate their obstruction.”
The Airplane could really deliver. I need to buy a new copy of Bless Its Pointed Little Head asap.
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