In my previous essay, I shared some thoughts on the icon of the Ouroboros and I attempted to illustrate how it symbolizes deconstruction with creative intent. We discussed the practical implications of division and the fallacy of creating sides over what should be matters of human kindness. This essay is also intended to contain its own premise, journey, and conclusion but is best understood after reading part one.
When I reflect on the last six years or so, I think of it as a television drama. The world has become so strange and sensationalized. It almost didn’t seem like reality but rather a depiction of reality. As the drama increased in intensity, I began to see that there indeed was systemic corruption. However, it is far more insidious than we imagine. It is not our institutions that have become corrupted. They have always been imperfect and flawed. This is not new.
It is our thinking that has become deeply, tragically corrupt.
The Ouroboros is a snake or a dragon, which is an archetypal enemy. Biblically, Satan is depicted as a snake or a dragon. Satan is not a name, though; it is a noun. It would be more accurate to say “the satan,” which means the accuser, the adversary, one who destroys the path of others.
The Ouroboros is a symbol for creation and the rhythm of life. But we cannot forget the sinister nature of snakes and dragons, our ancient adversary. Equally, we cannot forget our own nature. We have unlimited potential for both good and evil. The Ouroboros is a warning against the very power it represents. It is easy to see the “snakes” in other people.
Can you see the Ouroboros within yourself?
As we become more divided in our thinking, we become more corrupt in our attitudes towards people. This is what I mean by a system of corrupted thinking: We speak as though it is the fault of our leadership for the state of our nation and the tragedies within our communities. Though we must hold leadership accountable, it is fundamentally incorrect to blame them. It is our fault. When we allow ourselves to be swayed by narratives, constant rhetoric, echo chambers, and convincing talking points, we cannot be sure of what to think. Perhaps more accurately, we cannot be sure of how to think. As I have said before, this is because we’ve outsourced our thinking altogether. The result is the loss of our surety of thought, and the symbolic Ouroboros becomes unbalanced and destructive.
We are unsure because we are internally divided.
This internal division makes it impossible to see the world as it is. We are too focused on insisting that the "macro" narrative aligns with our thinking instead of attempting to understand what is happening around us.
This is what I mean by internal division: While writing this piece, I witnessed public racism and body shaming (on Twitter, naturally). A black woman openly berated a white man, mocking his obesity and the pigment of his skin. She also shared a slew of insults from the people who had joined along with her. The reason for this bullying: he had expressed an opinion that was offensive to her.
This is true division.
Not just division between people. This woman is categorically divided within herself. She calls for justice and equality, denouncing racism. Her political affiliation esteems all bodies, celebrating all weights and sizes, gender identities, orientations, and ethnicities. Until there is a voice that is not part of her side. Then, the conversation switches from equality to insult. What is the justification for this? How can a person champion anti-racism while being racist? Is it justified because of the evil of the past, so now it’s payback time? There is no excuse for oppression or racism. Nor is there an excuse for revenge or retribution. Even so, “his people” (in quotes because he never called for them) rush to his defense, slinging volleys of insults and slurs back at her, justified in their minds to return fire. The conversation is not improved. It is destroyed. This behavior does not have a happy ending.
Mark 3:25-26 (NIV)
25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.
Division only causes division. It ends in desolation. You cannot align yourself with a method of thinking that is deliberately predicated on self-contradiction because there is nowhere to stand within that worldview. Ideas and principles, the very structure of belief and meaning, all shifts based on the individual. As ideologies are distilled down to the most intricate, complicated level possible, you are undone by nuance. By over-emphasizing the “micro” and because there is so much diversity between people, it’s nothing but nuance! Everything becomes arbitrary, unmanageable nonsense. We cannot govern ourselves properly if the rules switch at random at the level of the individual. In this landscape, you will receive insult or protection based on categories such as race or gender, or as a fearful capitulation to the mob.
We cannot continue to bend reality in this manner. This is not how the world was meant to operate. If we allow these internal divisions and then try to force them into reality, reality will snap back and whip us disproportionally harder. This toxicity seeping out of our divided minds and creating division within our society is only going to perpetuate a hyper-destructive pattern, the Ouroboros devouring at the societal level, leaving only chaos.
It is because of our corrupted thinking that we have such deep divides in our society. Creating sides creates walls of exclusion, and someone is always at a disadvantage when this happens. When we hold attitudes of inclusion, we can focus on compassion and empathy, regardless of stated beliefs, politics, race, or religion. None are undeserving of these essentials. This is not the responsibility of the government. It is the requirement of the people. We, the people, are corrupt for assuming our leaders have failed us. We must examine our own house, tending to our communities, planting and caring for gardens where we live. We must cultivate compassion within our hearts and live it out each day.
This is no utopia. This is about personal responsibility and leadership.
We need leaders within our communities interested in serving people. We need men and women within businesses to look out for people’s good over the bottom line. We need mothers and fathers committed to raising the best people they possibly can. We need grandparents standing by their sons and daughters as they raise new generations. We need friends to be friends, devoted whole-heartedly to each other, fighting for good. We need marriages to be strengthened by other marriages so that when people have left the moment of “I do” and are lost in the desert of “I can’t,” the supportive community replies, “yes, you can. It’s so hard, but you can do this. It won’t always be this way.” We need men and women to be able to look to each other for support, to hear an honest “me too,” knowing that none of us is truly alone; it just often feels that way. We need our older generations to speak wisdom to emerging generations. We need our younger generations to bring life and joy to their elders.
There must be a personal change of mindset where we focus on the people within our communities, not the political dramatization of our nation, which profits off of our division. Actual systemic change must begin in the neighborhood. Start with your house, not the White House.
We need a society built on virtue. We can agree on virtue, can’t we? Is it not still good to be honest? To be loving? Kind? Selfless? Thoughtful? Decent? Affable? Generous? Patient? Courteous? Tempered? Dignified? Considerate?
If we insist upon a society void of absolute truth, then we must at least insist upon a society founded upon absolute virtue.
This is where we must start. If we agree that courtesy matters, for example, then we ought to agree that no matter what, we will hold ourselves accountable to a standard of decency in our treatment of others. We can also hold others responsible within our communities. If we are going to cancel people, it ought to be over a lack of human kindness, not because of a diversity of thought.
If you embrace the symbolism of the Ouroboros, you will see that you cannot merely acknowledge a virtue and apply it when convenient. Otherwise, it is not a virtue; it is capitalizing on a circumstantial opportunity for personal gain. These are not the same thing, not by a long shot. This requires more of us than the adoption of virtuous actions. We must first see what must be unmade within us. We must first hold up our own attitudes and ideologies and allow them to be devoured. We must ask ourselves how we could have done more good today and which of our mindsets or beliefs prevented us from doing so. Tear them apart, bit by bit. Then as they are reassembled, how are they different? What changed? It is an invigorating process to discover areas where your thinking has become stone-like, rigid, and outdated. Once you have begun to do this, you see the creative process unfold—forming newer ideas, but not in the absence of values or thoughts. We see an evolution, which is not a new thing, as such; it is an iterative expression of what existed but has been improved. Now you are learning a lesson, becoming aware of your blind spots and opening your eyes to them. You are maturing.
The society we’ve built will not be sustained by one side taking power. Society was not built this way, and it will not be kept this way. It was built by those who were willing to engage with the Ouroboros. Abraham Lincoln, who “his law partner, William H. Herndon, considered [to be] morally courageous but politically incorrect,1” gave a speech that caused him to lose his Senate bid. However, it likely paved the way for his Presidency. Though it cost him immediate success, his boldness changed the world forever. We must have this same willingness. We must risk unmaking something, even ourselves. We must stand, centered, undivided, presenting ourselves with conviction, knowing we may be incorrect. Society will be sustained by virtue, by those in the Ouroboros, in the center, contending with the realities of what is unknown, reforging, fortifying, and edifying our culture so that it can survive and thrive and continue for generations. It is a significant risk that requires great courage. This does not happen at the top, moving down to the majority. It happens at home.
It begins in your heart.
The loudest voices on either side create division and destruction. Those in the center, those willing to wrestle with the snake are the silent ones caring for the disadvantaged, the orphans, the lost, the helpless, the hopeless. That is where we should be, full of compassion and human kindness towards everyone.
It does not mean that you will accept all people as “your people.” There are many who you will never be able to be close to, for one reason or another. However, you can always treat people with kindness, dignity, and respect, even when you can’t stand the sight of them.
You will find me there, amid deconstruction with creative intent. Nothing matters more.
http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/house.htm