Tuesday, February 20, 2007

yes, but symptoms of what?

one place to begin is with recognition: your frustrations, your general unhappiness – that is, your inability to relate to your own life meaningfully and with a sense of fulfillment – are symptoms that share a common origin with the societal ills that are typically confined to the realm of “public sphere”. expand the area of concentration beyond the tip of your nose and readily apparent are large-scale versions of your own dissatisfaction and aggravations. these too are symptoms. and thus impotent feelings of “how can I be concerned with the world at large when my own life seems so dysfunctional?” are exposed in their ignorance: the personal symptoms and the social symptoms are indicators of and effects from the same sickness. our mistaken assumption that the “larger” problems that plague society are separate concerns with disparate causes that require solutions best left to politicians, counselors, judges, and special interest groups is part of a worldview, a common perspective, that begets and perpetuates the overall failure that dogs our personal lives.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good for people to know.