What we experience each day, through our media-enhanced perspective, is analogous to a view from a building. There is a potential life, outside the shrouded, slightly grimy window of our perception. We all know it. We catch glimpses, when a brief draught blows the obscuring cloth away. It’s not that we know the potential life, in that moment, however, we know the present is not complete, or all it could be.
For all our scientific and technological advancement, for all the self-help books and psychological evaluation of the species, we know there is more to aim for. The draught disappears, the curtain falls back and we snap out of our reverie, and back to now.
The aim of this series is to remove some of the dirt and grime that obscures our view. To pull back the shroud, remove unnecessary obstructions, let in the light and reveal the full vista of opportunity. A potential life that the multitude, the vast community around us, are desirous of, and willing to employ their skills and attributes towards.
The curtain was hung by someone. By whom, is perhaps, not significant, but, answering when, and to what purpose, may provide crucial guidance to take forward. Fundamental, is the fact that our leaders, educators and influencers accept the view offered. It is not that these people are oppressed in their thinking. Their position on society’s hierarchy is commensurate with their orthodox belief, so to that extent, this is socially-constructed, not natural.
Flimsy, as the material is, it divides and corrupts our vision. We perceive distorted versions of our fellow citizens, blurred and unclear, and reconstruct them to our own false imagining of what their reality is. Again, this is largely influenced by social construction, and by clear indicators provided by a media, tailored to trigger. We exaggerate the characteristics in which they differ from us. We diminish the obvious fact that their aims in life will completely mirror ours, due to natural, essential basic needs, common throughout humanity.
The first hint of the unseen potential is the discovery of a false frame. Artificial and unnecessary, it concentrates attention, and constrains the limits of possibility. In so doing, options and alternatives, lying outside this focused view, are rendered invisible, and, effectively cancelled. Those options are no less relevant or potentially beneficial, however, with the frame in place, they may as well not be there.
The current constructed view of the world stands on foundations laid over half a century ago. An academic generation has known no alternative. Those who reinforce and enable the deception today, act in ignorance rather than malice. Enforcing the lie, does not make one a liar.
The orthodox salesman highlights the benefits of what’s on offer, while ignoring the downfalls. A fictional narrative is spun, creating desire for the product, moulding the thought-process of the general public into perceiving this vision as essential and furthering their self-interest. A step towards, what is perceived as, winning in the Game of Life.
The alternatives forgotten. perception concentrates on the fine detail of the framed outlook. Essays and papers are written on the minutiae - the grain of the wood, the mathematics of the angles of the joints, the pressures and forces acting on the timbers, the colour and texture.
Academic-lifetimes of publication and tutorial-time are invested in describing and theorising on the merits of the structure. Sober analysis by heavyweight media, entertain the public with easy-to digest, simplified chunks of information on the concept. Yet, for all this depth of enquiry, expectations miss the mark and are unfulfilled.
The forgotten wide vista is still accessible. The elders of society retain a memory of the limitless vision, which is too-readily chased away by the contemporary narrative. A ventured question, or proposal, based on that prior knowledge, will be derided and ridiculed with extreme examples of failure, collapse and destruction. However, these older people lived a life in a period of prosperity that lasted for over a generation. They know intrinsically that better is possible, but don’t understand the mechanics and trust the media to fact-check and act in favour of the common good.
This series is an attempt to destroy metaphorical frames and open the way to truthful, constructive debate. The aim is to debunk long-held fallacies by pointing out logical inconsistencies and backing this up, with the work of experts, professors and thinkers. Destroying misplaced constraint, debunking the scarcity narrative, is the pathway to future success for all, irrespective of political or constitutional views.
There will be no attempt to force a truth, I am certainly not qualified to assert certainty. None of this is my own work. I have gathered and blended whatever has caught my attention. The reader must reach their own conclusions. This should only be the start of a much longer journey of discovery on the subject of where contemporary abundance and limits actually lie.
Nature provides our one true governor. Nature sets the limits on what is possible and is a formidable ally. However, Nature will take humanity out, eventually, if bounds are over-stepped. The temporal deficit of a few million years of evolution will be written-off and the process re-booted.
Perception and Nature appear to be intrinsically linked. While Nature has the ability to erase our species and end the Human chapter in the Book of Life on Earth, Humanity is the only entity that is evolving cognitive-ability efficiently enough, to save all Life on Earth.
There are, on the far horizon, existential threats that currently seem insurmountable. It may take millions of years of further evolution and perceptive, inventive genius, but if humanity requires a purpose, a common Religion – what aim could be higher?
Frames constructed to obstruct a vision of potential have far-reaching cataclysmic consequences. They must be destroyed.