I am is the script.
We are… the plot.
Together they create the big show.
Let’s zoom out for the big picture.
* Evapt: e – vapt- verb. To gain in complexity of thought to the degree that you become something more suitable for your fellow man. (Not everyone does this)
Let me zoom out a little bit farther.
We do all of that on a spinning rock that’s on a high speed journey through an unimaginably vast and violent universe.
Too far out? Yeah, most people find that view disorienting.
I’ll zoom back in on this guy… Normie.
He’s an Everyman. His backstory is a version of our backstory. Raised by a hard working mother, a hardworking father, a nanny, and Nickelodeon.
Normie has sixteen years of obedience training… aka school. He’s thoroughly domesticated. If he sees a line he goes straight to the end of it… even if he doesn’t know what it’s for.
In Normie’s mind he’s the lead actor in his personal play… the Normie story.
The rest of the inhabitants of our planet are playing bit roles. They don’t know Normie… but they want him to get what he wants. Or… they’re supposed to anyway… according to Normie.
The supporting actors in the Normie story are the same as ours. Spouse. Kids. Parents. Friends. Boss. Maybe a mistress… if not, he wants one. That woman in accounting is hot as hell! There’s probably a minister too.
Normie has assigned them their roles.
He expects his wife to present him in the best light. His children to do the same. His parents to be proud of him. His friend to be there. His boss to reward his hard work. His mistress… if he has one, to appreciate his sexual talents. And the minister to be aware of his devotion.
The problem is that Normie’s supporting actors are busy playing the lead in their own stories.
His wife expects Normie to give her the best lighting. (And don’t tell Normie this but… she’s also working through her own as of yet un-acted on fantasies about the tall, handsome sales manager.) Normie’s kids think of him as a buzz-kill… his dumb rules are always in their way. His parents expect him to make them look good. His friend expects Normie to be there for him. His boss sees Normie as the vehicle to his next promotion… and his fall guy… should he need one. His mistress also sees Normie as a means to an end… she just hasn’t figured that end out yet. And the minister is sure that his path to eternal bliss passes directly through straightening Normie out.
These dynamics radiate out to every life on earth… and down through time.
The world is but a stage.
Every country personalizes the play with it’s own script. Although the internet is rapidly homogenizing them.
In the SAD story – the standard American drama – “I am” is dominated by binaries.
Too old or too young. Taller than Mickeys hand or not. Good or bad. Fit or fat. Dumb or super smart. Punctual or tardy. Hardworking or lazy. Woke or a fascist. A winner or a loser. Straight or gay. Republican or Democrat. Vegetarian or unenlightened. Capitalist or socialist. Monogamous or a dirty slut.
I should add here that freedom is an important sub plot in the SAD story… kinda. You’re free to play a non-binary role if you like… but it will decrease your overall acceptance.
That seems counter-intuitive doesn’t it?
Remember us’s and them’s? Absolutes keep them distinct.
You see the the “middies”… the middle aged, middle class, middle eating omnivores, and middle sexed bisexuals blur the boundaries. They are all us’s… but they also have some them in them too. (No pun intended for any bisexual readers.) And if they have even an ounce… or an inch of them in them in the case of equipo bisexual, (that one was intentional) they can’t be us’s.
“Tyranny is the deliberate removal of nuance.” I read that somewhere.
It makes the most sense if you think of “we are” as a gatekeeper and “I am” as a brand… the kind of person who can and should get the things “we are” provides and values: acceptance, food, protection, sex, the corner office, the big house, Nikes, Armani, a Porsche, sports memorabilia, an original Chegalle, top shelf tequila, love, notoriety, solitude, tropical vacations, medication, fake tits, Pamela Anderson… . What? That’s just me?
Well… you get the point.
The SAD has several unique storylines.
Life is a journey aimed at some important end is one of them.
Time is another.
SAD actors believe strongly in the future. The past too… but mostly for the purposes of blame.
This nets out to believing in ghosts… and other residents of our imaginations.
When the future is the objective, the present has little value. In fact… when your thinking is focused on some future, the present is in the way.
Normie gets his present out of the way by trading it for money. It’s a common strategy so he doesn’t feel too crazy doing it.
Think about this exchange for a sec.
Time cannot be replaced. Things can.
Trading something that cannot be replaced for something that can is a bad investment.
Would you be surprised to hear that a person who regularly traded diamonds for French fries ended up fat and broke?
Debt is another big storyline in the SAD.
Normie owes $270,000 dollars.
It will take him around thirty years to pay it off. And when he finally does… he will have paid an additional $190,000 for the privilege of putting his life in hock.
Normie doesn’t own his life.
He doesn’t even rent it.
His life is on a thirty year lay away plan.
You might be interested to know that this is considered to be “responsible living” in the SAD. To the degree that if you don’t have crippling debt… or a “life score” capable of securing it, you’re at risk of being shunned.
Our planets climate is another big storyline. It’s been destroyed – by everyone but Normie of course – and while he waits for the inevitable consequences of it to play out, he does his darnedest to balance his patriotic duty – supporting the economy – with his obligation to the environment.
In other words, Normie’s car is new… but it’s not the Porsche he deserves. No… he’s made a big sacrifice for our world, he drives a Prius… or maybe it’s a Leaf.
His tv and appliances are all new too… but don’t worry, they’re all green certified. He’s also got twenty pairs of shoes for his one pair of feet… but hey, they were made from recycled coke bottles by battered Ugandan women.
Yes… Normie recycles.
Thank god!
And the there’s age.
Normie hates himself for getting older. Even though there isn’t a damn thing he can do about it… except die.
The SAD story is clock based. Old means you don’t have time. You’re down by twenty. There are only seconds left to play. It’s too late for any last minute heroics.
The old are fucked.
Fast forwarding we watch Normie’s life play out. He wins. He loses. He ages. He gains wisdom. He loses certainty.
His kids grow up.
His parents die.
He changes wives, friends, bosses, mistresses.
He changes too.
Or does he?
“Forgive me father but… what could I do? She was so hot!”
Watch out! The most treacherous temptations in a material society are rarely a fleshy affair.
Life is such a tricky play… so many variables. So many unseen connections. But Normie can figure it out… if things stay the same.
They don’t.
Remember the movie “Groundhog Day”? The world is caught in a time loop. Only Bill Murray is able to remember what happened yesterday.
What an advantage! One day he can find out what a woman is looking for. The next day behave in exactly the way she likes.
This is less fiction and more how the world works, by the way.
Now recognize that the hundreds of millions of “bit players” who don’t know they are bit players in the Normie story are doing exactly that… daily reconfiguring their behavior for optimal reward.
Confusion, contradiction, and uncertainty reign.
Trying to get a handle on it is like trying to pick a watermelon seed up from a smooth surface.
Why is Normie even trying?
It’s a question he’s often asked. But he was trained from an early age not to answer it.
For some reason he can’t stop himself now.
He goes at it like a person trying to find that one string on the charcoal bag that undoes them all.
He finds it.
Nothing has ever changed when he’s grabbed the carrot dangling in front of him.
Not in the way he thought it would anyway. Inner peace remains elusive.
He pulls that string a little harder. The only thing that has consistently come after he’s grabbed the carrot is another carrot.
He pulls harder. The Normie show was never about some serious journey.
The string pulls free. It all comes undone.
There is no Normie show.
All along it’s been an ensemble piece. And a musical one at that.
He should have been singing and dancing with his cast mates… instead of trying to bend them to his will.
“If only I would have seen it sooner.”
The curtain comes down.
Normie didn’t have to live his life this way.
Or did he?
“Adult behavior give evidence of youthful indoctrination.” Another line I’m pretty sure I read somewhere. If no one takes credit for it… I will.
Notice the timing of it all. When Normie got his script. And the 16 years of training that followed it.
It took less than 70 days for the SLA to convert Patty Hearst from a Berkeley student into a bank robber.
You know enough now about how we think… or don’t. About the characters making the decisions and the motivations that underlie them to understand why Normie did what he did.
Back: Chapter 6 – We are
Coming soon: Part 3 – Learning about learning