DISAPPEARING INTO A GROUP

In an effort to mitigate isolation, human beings gravitate to magnets of comfort and islands of safety. Typically, these are groups of people who have a common purpose, a desire to assimilate into a collective and who despair at being alone.

Although it is widely reported that networking is the metabolism of a social society and the bridgework of business, it is rarely the case that there is more than one leader.

It is probably distressing that as an amoebic whole, the parts of these “cells” are configured toward a center or a “prominent”. In a marketplace, or in a service club, behaviours meld together and appropriate, idiomatic speech, action and symbology are the norm.

While all of this “belonging” promotes the quelling of fear, and perhaps risk, how does a man or woman retain a real sense of uniqueness and personal trajectory? Heroes lead, captains of industry chart the course of our civilization and the status quo is a collective subscription to “normal”.

Our amazement at the flawed, crazy, idyllic or horrific ideas of some splinter groups or dysphasics is common. How could anyone believe in that fiction and why would they rely on the integrity of a group that had none?

Human beings as filters have varying degrees of sifting power. If the viscosity of an idea is watered down with an emotional response to information the result is a relaxing of the warp and woof of reason. Our instincts can be overpowered by our need to believe, or a paralyzing anxiety about being left behind.

In daily life it is crucial to assess ideas, people, situations and a collective culture as best we can. Life dictates that we calculate things without a compelling fear, with a confidence about our own resilience and ability to survive judgement by peers.

Crowds, networks, clubs, hierarchies and a host of other join-ins can be more dangerous than being alone. Objective thought fades, personal integrity gets stretched. Personal, true, unsullied aspirations become garbled in a neutralizing, and less than nutritious soup.

The benefit society and each of us derive from association and common work with our fellows is great. This accord makes kindness and peace common, and in so doing, relieves the burden other groups bear. Our struggle as individuals is to retain our singularity of thought, that golden cord that ties us to our highest purpose. It is our challenge as human beings to embrace the cycles, social webs, and perhaps our place within those spaces.

As individuals, we must act as catalysts, charged particles in an atomic age. Rub against barriers, shoot through resistance and glow, even dimly in a firmament of darkness.