February 22, 2022
Living in a fog. Just imagine that you're perambulating around in thick fog where you can hear, have all your other senses so kinesthetic information is present, your inner ear senses for horizontal and vertical are intact, and you can feel the temperature gradient so it may be somewhat chilly. You need to make your way around without tripping, bumping into things, and of course losing your way. The fog creates the experience of navigating into the unknown. You are of course alone in this adventure. I come to describe this through my nightly wandering from my bed upstairs to my reading chair downstairs with all the lights out. For me the kinesthetic senses are dulled so feeling the walls and holding onto the banister helps. I know where the light switches are so once in the kitchen I can get light. I recall times when driving in a thick fog produced similar disorientation and anxiety since the consequences for error and an accident are high. Using the metaphor of the fog as I'm describing can assist us in other experiences of our lives. Political fog making comes to mind. You think you see the world clearly but just delve into the controversies our country and the world are in. 1984 a book of fiction by George Orwell describes how the state authoritarian system simplifies language, teaches propaganda as fact, and punishes independence and initiative in tortuous inquisition style. The fog is thick with danger if you strayed off course in how you live your life. The other night we watched the movie Loving about Richard and Mildred Loving who married in Virginia and were incarcerated and then expelled from the state of Virginia because of their marriage. The fog of Jim Crow laws with the authorities upholding pseudoscience and theology as reason for prohibiting interracial marriages causes me to cringe and react with resentment and sadness for our bigotry. What I'm searching for here is that we create conformity and rationalizing (fog) and believe our creation in this instance Jim Crow law represents a clear order for living the good life. The ACLU received the letter from Mrs. Love addressed in long hand to Robert Kennedy Attorney General at the time. They assisted the loves navigate through the Virginia courts all of whom judged that their marriage was illegal but the Lovings prevailed in the Supreme Court.
The Chinese Communist Party sees itself as the guide and guardian of the people of China. The history of China is so suffused with doctrinaire autocracy, exploitation, and rebellions that resulted in more autocracy in the name of the people. The cultural revolution in China under Mao and his wife attempted to turn society on its head through finding experts, educated scientists and academics, and contrary to communist critics and getting them into reeducation programs and kangaroo courts to be like the typical worker ie powerless and confessing for their personal pursuits as being against the state. This seems to be ongoing in the present administration of Mao Zedong who now is claiming he is rooting out corruption and the venal pursuit of wealth and power of other lieutenants in the communist party. At the same time, under his leadership the Xinjiang Uyghur are placed in reeducation camps and are subject to discrimination, arrest, and other unfair treatments for their religious and ethnic beliefs. The vast population of China are subject to surveillance and spying and punished for criticizing the government. Try searching on line or discussing Tiananmen Square massacre while in China. 1984 style government creates a fog in which its becoming dangerous to live.
The Ukraine according to Putin is a vassal region of the Russian empire and Putin wants its people to accede to his manipulation of their resources, politics, and economy through reinstituting the rule of oligarchs. He seems obsessed with his vision for a greater Russia with vassal states demanding the respect of other nations for its greatness. If your caught disagreeing in Russia you can be subject to poisoning and incarceration or worse.
Our previous president wanted us to believe that America was great not long ago and under his leadership greatness will return. Under his administration he managed to amass more wealth including over inflating the value of his holdings, started a PAC with over 150 million dollars of donated wealth which he has not given in any substantial way to other candidates of his choice, endorsed conspiracy theories related to his political opponents, and insighted an insurrection to negate our last election. Somewhat wounded he's still espousing the same song and has some of his enthusiastic acolytes cheering him on. I suppose if you go to one of his rallies or you only expose yourself to his propaganda media streams the Trump fog can get to you.
I'm reading an interesting book by Olga Tokarkzuk The Books of Jacob about life in Poland and environs during the early eighteenth century and Jacob Frank a messianic figure. Her writing is so detailed in description and creating the setting of a culture full of prejudice, religious fervor, folklore, and customs reminding me of my experiences reading Isaac Beshevis Singer's books of that time period (The Magician of Lublin and The Slave). People yearning for enlightenment and freedom but wedded to their traditions create a fog of confusions that allow messianic figures to emerge from the fog. Sabbatai Zevi (Tzvi) is another messianic figure who may have even influenced the Hassidic Jewish movement of today. Somewhat earlier in the Moslem world the Sultan and followers kidnapped children, sent them to school, indoctrinated them as followers of Allah to run the economy, soldier the wars, and guard the despots. These Janissaries were truly living in the fog of indoctrination.
Albert Camus wrote a book The Myth of Sisyphus. How do you make sense of the world in which as Sisyphus you are tasked with rolling a very heavy rock up the slope to have it fall back down so you must continue over and over to push ahead? It's absurd! Camus suggest that with no belief in a divine creator we are living in a world which has no grand purpose and our place in this universe is probably insignificant. To Camus delving in fantasy and religious beliefs only distracts us from this existential dilemma in which life has no value except in our individual experience with no delusions or fog.
Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy describes the polar types of human existence related to Greek mythology. The Apollonian way is rational, involving structure and self consciousness in learning and living. The Dionysian involves living with no constraints, with sexual and other emotional fervor without limits. The messianic leaders and charismatic political figures use this energy and outlook to include us in their orgy of involvement. Nietzsche would like us to carry both side more in harmony with each other. Carl Jung and followers takes these aspects of our humanity and attempts to develop through therapy dialogue some better resolution. Well! Our world disorders of conflict amongst ourselves sure could use this therapy.
I'm managing my fog but I continue to be unhappily surprised that conversation with another can reveal suddenly a fog of misunderstanding and that I did not see until I bumped into it. We all have friends, acquaintances, family member, and neighbors who we know that certain subjects and topics are not to be discussed unless you agree with the other they are correct and see clearly even though you don't. So by agreement sometime you just don't talk about the subject. Nevertheless, sometimes all of a sudden you've stepped on a mind mine of another which has exploded into a disagreement, ruffled feathers, or much worse. Since life is absurd, the science and rational understanding only goes so far, you either accept this mind mine explosion and learn to avoid more or try to regroup and correct what may be a misunderstanding. Usually the latter does not work. More fog I suppose.
Well, I like to explore interesting and sometimes mind blowing understanding and we live in a time where we have put sensors and imaging equipment in space which is revealing such beauty and wonder in our universe. Here's the headline "With 1550 distinct type Ia supernovae measured across ~10 billion years of cosmic time, the Pantheon+ data set reveals our Universe." https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/pantheon-supernova/
The explosion of merging white dwarf stars leads to a nuclear fusion explosion that produces a tell tale light which then can give us information concerning how far away this explosion occurred which then reveals how far back in time were viewing. I suggest my readers read the article. My takeaway is that there is now data supporting the theory that our universe is expanding and now at the outer limits expanding faster that the speed of light!
So this brings me back to earlier musing posts of mine in which I discussed the various theories concerning the origin (Big Bang) and eventual end (maybe) of it all!
Leonard
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