we have all kinds of relationships… I have an ongoing
engagement/relationship with my wife and my daughter,
I have different roles in each relationship, but they are
relationships… I have an ongoing relationship with
those at my job… I have a different relationship with them
then I have with my wife and my daughter… I have a different
relationship with the manager then I do with the supervisors
and a different relationship with my fellow employee’s…with
each person I have a different relationship…a different interaction with
each… based upon my role and based upon their role… a boss/manager
has a different interaction/relationship with an employee then with
a fellow manager…
to a great extent, our roles determine our relationships…
different roles demand different relationships…
but we each have a relationship with the state/society…
and depending upon our role, we might have an active, ongoing
relationship or a very passive relationship…for some, basically paying taxes
and that is the extent of their relationship with the state/society…
and some believe that we have a relationship with the metaphysical,
we might name those metaphysical relationship, god or some higher
power…
I don’t believe in god or jesus or mohammed or allah or any sort
of metaphysical power…… so I don’t have a relationship with
the metaphysical, again, metaphysical means beyond the physical…
I engage with the physical, that which can be seen, heard,
tasted, touched or smelled………
but, I am engaged in a relationship with idea’s…….
what does it mean to be human? What am I to do?
What should I hope for? What should my values be?
idea’s exists somewhere between the metaphysical
and the physical… I cannot see or hear or touch or smell
or taste the values I adhere to… but they aren’t metaphysical
values… they don’t exists “beyond the physical”
as metaphysical values……
the value of justice exists as a real world value with real
world applications… I can turn that value into a physical
value… by my applying values into concrete situations…
if I treat two people unequally, I am not treating those
people… justly… for justice is the application of
equal treatment to people regardless of who they are,
regardless of their race, creed, sexual orientation, or color…….
I can apply values physically… I can apply a value like
love physically…thus values, despite their existing
as abstract idea’s, can be used physically within the
relationships I have or will create…….
in my relationship with my wife, I apply the value of love
and with my daughter, I also use the value of love, but
a different types of love…
we apply values to our relationships… I value honesty
and so I apply that value to my relationships…
I use it at work with my co-workers but less so with
management… because management is consumed
with the nihilism of the pursuit of profit… where
I am negated and devalued……. I cannot use the value
of love or honesty when I am being negated, both physically
and in values…….
who I am and my values are negated by such a nihilistic ism
as capitalism and so I am not predisposed to engage with love with
those who would negate me………
I react to my being negated with rival hate and anger and
other such petty, negative lower level of human engagement…
the nihilism that society/state engages with, damages my relationship
with the state/society and those who are charged with maintaining
the capitalistic state in business and corporations……
am I alone? no, million too are disconnected, alienated from
the state/society…how do we recover that relationship
between the state/society and myself when we have
this alienation problem between myself and the state?
perhaps by clearly defining the roles we have, between the
state/society and myself………
we need to define and clarify the role, the relationship between
individuals and the state…….what is my obligation to the state/society
and what is the obligation the state/society has to me………
we may be able to solve the relationship problem we have
between the state/society and the individuals within that society/state
by clearly understanding what is expected from each…….
perhaps… perhaps…
Kropotkin