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Mediocrity is no answer to
violence. In fact, it probably invites violence. At least the
mediocre and the violent appear together as in the old Western
movies--the ruffian outlaw band shooting up main street and
the little white church with the little white schoolteacher
wringing her hands. To cool violence you need rhythm, humor,
tempering; you need dance and rhetoric. Not therapeutic
understanding.
*
If therapy
imagines its task to be that of helping people cope (and not
protest), to adapt (and not rebel), to normalize their oddity,
and to accept themselves "and work within your situation;
make it work for you" (rather than refuse the
unacceptable), then therapy is collaborating with what the
state wants: docile plebes. Coping simply equals compliance.
*
To what does the soul turn that has no therapists to visit? It
takes its trouble to the trees, to the riverbank, to an animal
companion, on an aimless walk through the city streets, a long
watch of the night sky. Just stare out the window or boil
water for a cup of tea. We breathe, expand, and let go, and
something comes in from elsewhere. The daimon in the heart
seems quietly pleased, preferring melancholy to desperation.
It's in touch.
*
The world is run as much by folly as by wisdom, as much by
order as by chaos, but--and this "but" is
huge--these accidents may still intend something interesting.
*
Loving in safety is the smaller part of loving.
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