Listening to it, though, I am struck by English society as characterized by this massive and national game called “Don’t piss people off and know your place.” One must always be calculating. Pip is always calculating. Nothing is spontaneous. There is no dancing. The whole thing is quite grim, and only peppered here and there with clever word play, which is the only spontaneity allowed. Wit is the only dancing in this world, as thus far represented.
One can feel the need for empire, as a way of expressing pent up energies. And in that regard I would note the remarkable cultural similarities between the Japanese, who also subsisted nearly entirely on etiquette; and the Indians, whose caste system the English order closely resembled. Everyone to their place, a place typically made obvious by the use of language.
These thoughts occasioned yesterday’s post. I was thinking it was all a very dismal game, one which satisfied the emotional needs–the social connection needs–of no one, and then I realized it was not a game at all: it was a ritual.
If we think of play as a reconciliation of our social system with our lower nervous system energies–as a way of expressing and releasing “fight or flight” energies, and countering the immobilization response–then its necessity for social harmony becomes obvious.
But there are layers of harmony. At the lowest level is the totalitarian “order”, in which a handful of savages inflict pain on the masses until they become prostrate and helpless. Whether he articulates it as such or not, this is what Obama and his handlers want for the world. This is because they have wild beasts within them–savage, angry, aggressive, unempathetic energy–and keep them from controlling them on an emotional level only by being controlled by them through the intellect.
Above this is the ritual order. Throughout the book, one is struck by the closeness of violence of some sort, for perceived slights. In this order, there are rules to follow, to prevent the outbreak of violence. Unlike in a totalitarian order, though, some spontaneity is allowed, but only so much. Thus: play without trust. One can engage in witty banter, but only go so far.
A true order is one with cognitively and morally sovereign individuals–the creed of Individualism contains within it the only possible non-contradictory morality (societies do not exist, making an appeal to social morality inherently an X=0 proposition)–who interact in spontaneous and formally complex ways, forming a complex, and thus robust, order.
I would add that I think honest laughter is a good indicator of an authentic social order. There was some honest laughter in Great Expectations, as for example between Pip and Joe, but not much. Virtually everyone suffers from some sort of mental disorder brought on in large measure by social disconnection, and a sense of inner isolation.
Rock Lyrics: “English blood runs hot”. Stones
“Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.” Floyd.
I will continue to develop this. I have had some major personal breakthroughs I will be focusing on and not talking about.