Human Interactions

[Terrance]

Paul Mackin wrote:


> Hey Terrance. Where's your political committment? Are you going to just
> sit there and accept the fact that you can't escape from the System?
> 
> There is a rather dismaying thing about the "them are us" formulation.
> Not that it's wrong, or not in accordance with Pynchon, but that it overly
> diminishes the field of action for politics. Politics requires effecting a
> power shift from one group or class to another. There has to be an
> OTHER--namely whoever is to be on the  negative end of the planned power
> shift. However  to back up a bit the TRUE meaning (imho) of "them are
> us" may not principally be that we are all complicit in the system (though
> we are and how can we possibly help it) but that all identifiable Others
> are moving targets. The problem would be of devising a plausible
> means of extracting power from one Other (TV, media, capitalism
> itself) without some other Other quickly rising to put things back on
> course.
> 
> What we can do is try to be kinder to our fellows, which is harder by far
> than being "politically committed."
> 
>                         P.


Right ON! Good one Paul. 

We are no holier than those outside, just because we have
shut ourselves up behind these walls. Just the opposite, by
coming here each of us has acknowledged to himself that he
is worse than those who remain outside, worse than anyone in
the world. The longer a monk remains within the monastery
walls the more he must be aware of this. 

		The Brothers Karamazov, Father Ferapont