“People are strange when you’re a Stranger”

I am so deeply fascinated by this phenomenon. The paradox of truth, especially as it plays out within the individual self of all people. I don’t mean that statement to imply it is a static state, far from it in truth, however it is I believe a wellspring we all dip into at some moment (or moments) in our life.
During “Pitch Black” the Character of James Riddick asks “are you afraid of the dark?” I have personally become greatly enamored with this character because of what he represents in the context of our society. The whole of that crash-landed group are archetypal avatars as well as individual characters. And I suppose I could go off on a whole tangent about that alone but I will not, at least at this time.

Paradox in both Physics and Psychology is a key element in maintaining a viable system. Now before I get lynched by my physicist friends let me say that my view on it ties into string theory and a whole host of other things but is too complex/convoluted to go into here without digressing. Besides with the best of my understanding, truth is not fact (and for that matter fact is not fact either, it’s an illusory conception like perfection implying a totality which is wholly unrealistic).

I’ve recently read a quote from Jung that sparks agreement with me, one of those ‘he’s saying what I said only better’ moments. The quote is “Mere suppression of the Shadow is as little a remedy as beheading would be for a headache.”

And as I watch our world on every level there is enaction of this very miss step occurring. It seems we live in an age where we’re so afraid as a culture that we cannot acknowledge our own part in darkness. Even tho darkness is not a synonym for evil it has been vilified as such because it holds that which we shove away. Think about movies such as “meet the parents” and then think about something like “the last boy-scout” which one did you wince more during? The majority of people flinch more in the face of personal embarrassment than external carnage.

On a cultural level a glaring example of this is a missing part in our response to the Al Quida attacks of September. We have never once owned up, as a nation, to our clear and glaring part in creating that tragedy. Moreover we shout down anyone who’d allude to it’s presence trying to claim that they’re attempting to justify the actions of the hijackers. What a glaring logical fallacy that assertion is, and yet as a nation we suck it down without batting an eye.
“This event is shocking and senseless” “we had no way of anticipating” etc.
Point blank, we trained the man. Should our CIA have known he was a threat? Yes because they taught him how to do what he does. Should Bush Sr. Have know? Yes because he was running the CIA at the time. Go find some old tapes of Olly North. Back during Iran contra he was sighting this danger during hearings. Now granted he was doing it to get himself off the hook, but that’s hardly the point.

We are culturally conditioned to repress and deny being indoctrinated into the misconception that this somehow promotes stability. Which is as sane and reasonable as saying you should build your house a Old Faithful because it makes the foundation secure. We are literally creating within individuals and socity as a whole, a vast pressure cooker of unexpressed and unrecognized emotions & thoughts. Like the parents who spank their child for play fighting with friends. The child is taught that ‘his’ impulse to express such feelings in a playful manner is unacceptable, while being shown that to do so as a method of punishing others is acceptable. That is a dangerous precedent to set and our culture is rife with them.

This repression is a prime source of the “quite man” phenomenon. As in when neighbors state that they can’t believe so and so would ever do anything wrong because he was such a quite man. The concept that if someone is completely self inclosed and doesn’t demonstrate or share any profound human emotions that they are deemed “safe” is baffling to me. A lack of social interaction is not a sign of social good health.

Or the parent who’d rather smile when upset than show an honest emotion in front of their children. Only later to explode as the emotions build up over time. If someone makes an irritating noise once that’s all it is. But if we’re taught we have no right to comment on or change it then after hours/days/years of listening to the same noise thoughts of violence are apt to become more prevalent. The same as after a bad day someone is more likely to get into a bar fight than after a good day. The emotions build up just like water behind a dam.

What fascinates me most in all of this however is that I came to this understanding and made the choice to be clear with myself and others about who I was all the way back in my pre-teens. And it’s taken consistent work to succeed especially in the face of such social static, but it’s easily been worth it. And I wonder why so few within our nation or “civilized” world have done the same. I must especially wonder in at it’s lack in the face of an overwhelming volume of mythological and psychological references to the necessity of doing so. Most notably in the latter field is the above quoted Carl Jung. All of this to me begs two questions, first “who’s idea was it to begin enforcing this repression? And to what end?” and second “why have we has a whole lacked the will to divest ourselves of this deeply harmful paradigm of behavior even when presented with so much insight urging us to do percicly that.”

I’m sure I will come back to this subject more than once, but for now I’ll leave it. If anyone would care to venture guesses as to the answers to my questions I’d be interested to hear them.

Sol

“Well we all have a face
That we hide away forever
And we take them out and
Show ourselves
When everyone has gone
Some are satin some are steel
Some are silk and some are leather
They're the faces of the stranger
But we love to try them on

Well we all fall in love
But we disregard the danger
Though we share so many secrets
There are some we never tell
Why were you so surprised
That you never saw the stranger
Did you ever let your lover see
The stranger in yourself?

Don't be afraid to try again
Everyone goes south
Every now and then
You've done it, why can't
Someone else?
You should know by now
You've been there yourself

Once I used to believe
I was such a great romancer
Then I came home to a woman
That I could not recognize
When I pressed her for a reason
She refused to even answer
It was then I felt the stranger
Kick me right between the eyes

Well we all fall in love
But we disregard the danger
Though we share so many secrets
There are some we never tell
Why were you so surprised
That you never saw the stranger
Did you ever let your lover see
The stranger in yourself?

Don't be afraid to try again
Everyone goes south
Every now and then
You've done it why can't
Someone else?
You should know by now
You've been there yourself

You may never understand
How the stranger is inspired
But he isn't always evil
And he is not always wrong
Though you drown in good intentions
You will never quench the fire
You'll give in to your desire
When the stranger comes along.”

The Stranger
by
Billy Joel