The Dark Side of Humanity
We are like deer caught in our own headlights – By Stacey Huget
The news of the day may not be uppermost in our minds at all times, but it’s like a menacing dark cloud overhead – always casting shadows. Sure, we can look down or away, but it’s always there to pull us back, that disturbing state of affairs we call our world.
How could our response be anything but angst – that burning blend of fear and outrage and grief? How could that not affect our sense of wellbeing?
Okay, it’s true. I have a (strong) bias and certain strongly held beliefs. Like that people and the environment are more important than profit. That elected politicians are in office to advance the interests of people, not of the brokers and lobbyists that line their pockets and bolster their egos. That nations are more than economies, and people are (much) more than consumers. Poverty, exploitation, marginalization, racism, misogyny, genocide, the gunning down of children in schools – they are not okay.
My political views may not be yours. But the discord and tensions that are at playing out right now around the dignity and rights of people, the protection of the environment, and the role of wealth and corporate influence in our world – to name just a few of our tauter tensions – must surely be troubling to all but the extremely privileged.
That they’ve been going on for as long as they have is not okay. That many of these ills are actually getting worse under our stewardship is especially not okay.
However much we might like to righteously lay blame, however much we might like to comfort ourselves that it’s all beyond our control, however much we might like to think that these events are not about us – we can’t escape the knowledge that it’s people who are doing this.
What we are witnessing is the dark side of our own humanity. Despite all the intelligence and empathy and promise mankind possesses, we are doing this. Evil and stupidity and self-interest do also reside in us. They are the skin of our underbelly.
This realization has us stunned. We are like deer caught in our own headlights.
Do we freeze, fight, or flee?
We all respond in different ways. Some of us indulge in cynical humor or dark handwringing, others volunteer on the frontlines of worthy causes, while still others try to make noise in an already noisy world. But no matter how we try to assuage our angst, we still remain a little dazed by it all.
But how best do we meaningfully respond – and at what price to our own wellbeing?
And are we answering this question, individually and as a society? Are we bringing curiosity, compassion, and courage to the effect this quandary is having on us? Or are we just enduring the groundhog-day cycle of our own violence and dishonor, feeling our cynicism rise and the weight of our angst grow heavier, festering and fomenting in the seams of our psyche?
Yes, accepting (or shrugging off) reality can equate to less suffering – our own, specifically. Other people are the way they are, not the way we want them to be; the world is the way it is, not the way we want it to be. The sooner we get that, the sooner, we give up the pain of delusion and denial.
And yet…
Challenging reality can also equate to less suffering: less discord, social injustice, environmental destruction – less of whatever ills keep us awake at night. “Be the change you wish to see in the world”, as Mahatma Ghandi said.
Two sides of a weighty coin.
The question remains: what do we passively accept and what do we rise up to challenge – and how do we do either without giving way to despair, without losing our internal balance?
And are we answering this question, individually and as a society? Are we bringing curiosity, compassion, and courage to the effect this quandary is having on us? Or are we just enduring the groundhog-day cycle of our own violence and dishonor, feeling our cynicism rise and the weight of our angst grow heavier, festering and fomenting in the seams of our psyche?
The horns of this dilemma are razor sharp. No matter what one’s politics, accepting the craziness of our world is deeply challenging. Rising up against it with any effect is, well, pretty damn daunting.
So what is to be done – personally and societally?
It matters. Because what we do or don’t do will determine what happens. Will the glare of the headlights eventually dim because of some catastrophic climatic event or bloody riot? Will it continue to burn brightly until it blinds us completely? Or – and this is the scariest bit – will our eyes simply adjust until one day it will all just be okay?
Neitzsche said: And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.
For the sake of our mental health (and the future of our planet), let’s do more than hope that Friedrich was mistaken.
I am not a revolutionary – at least, not yet. But I believe there is a community and critical mass that is building to defend the welfare of humanity and our environment, building in the face of daunting and systemic disadvantage. For social activism and even civil disobedience to have any effect, we will need to be clear about our goals, forge an inviolable connection, and sustain our courage over the long haul. We will need patient conversation and deep accommodation of our differences – at a time when the world-as-it-is has us moving too fast to easily make space for such things.
We each choose which side of our humanity we nurture and express. If history is any indication, our underbelly is here to stay – but so also is our altruism, our moral compass, our capacity for love.
There is a war going on between them and I for one am picking a side.
It is the side of courageous, heartfelt conversation – of deep reconciliation.