More and more I feel like I express opinions which are held by few people, if any other people hold them at all. In America, we glorify the individual and stress the importance of that person's uniqueness thereby cutting the person off from the herd. It is a stripping experience. One that destroys solidarity, and makes more it ever so difficult to fulfill an individual's need of belonging.
I was sitting in a cafe owned by a large church in Santa Barbara drinking a dark chocolate mocha when I made the connection. Sitting there at a table for two people, my canvas bag the occupant of the opposing chair, I read the much acclaimed book by George Orwell 1984. I was just getting to the part where the protagonist, Winston, has entered the antique shop for the second time- this time having purchased an old paper weight (some coral centered in clear glass). He makes a comment about renting the upstairs room from the owner of the shop because it has so many beautiful old things from a bygone era - things from when there were capitalists. He says it would be a lunatic project because he is likely to be caught.
In a world where there are police and small children watching your every eyebrow movement, the smallest out of line thought can be an act of rebellion. You must be crazy if you don't believe the same things everyone else does, either that, or you are the only sane one. One recalls the movie 12 Monkeys. It's like seeing rainbows around lights.
Or what about Joan of Arc? Was she crazy? Or did she see something that no one else was able to see? Now a days we categorize people who express radically different views as either crazy, or heretical thereby destroying any shred of credibility. Yet, if we take a moment to consider this 'heretical' viewpoint, we are often able to see a kernel of truth. We are able to see enough that our own views are called into question. Is this the real reason why we must label these people as crazy or heretical? Are we so weak we cannot allow there to be any opposition on an issue that might uproot our present circumstance?
There are so many opinions, so many thoughts that are generated, in this time they seem to jumble and melt together. Is there harm in a perspective becoming a counterpoint? How can we know our majority opinions are right unless we have something drastically different to challenge us? If we are not challenged, won't we atrophy? Won't that lead to a kind of destruction?
It is through the edges that we find our center. I am not calling for the kind of violent extremism that has come under such scrutiny as of late, but a dialogue. There must be room along the edges for the counterpoint. We must encounter people with such views, and we must understand them. It is not just for the sanctity of the individual, and their need to belong, but also for the health of the whole community.
It has been said that the true sign of intelligence is the ability to hold two diametrically opposed ideas in one's head, and not go crazy. It is also a sign of true wisdom, when a community can hold two diametrically opposed persons, and everything in between, and not rip itself apart.
I am an independent thinker, but I never want to be in the shoes of Winston.
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