Just as Einstien posited that the Universe could be found in a grain of sand so the issues that have fueled this disastrous result in Britain today can be seen in the microscosmic relationships that make up society.
Reference: www.coursera.org/learn/astro/lecture/xdbEx/2-atoms A grain of sand is made of silicon dioxide and contains roughly 10 to the 19 atoms. That’s 10 billion billion atoms.
To maintain distance and form the atoms in a grain of sand rely on momentum, placement and roles. The electron orbits the nucleus at dizzying speed – its trajectory governed by the pull of the nucleus to which it is both attracted and repelled in equal measure. The nucleus is a cluster of protons and neutrons separated from each other by similar forces of attraction and repulsion. Within these atomic particles are sub-atomic particles with their own set of laws that govern their behaviour and survival. Should one single component stray or defect, the atom would fall apart or become unrecognizable as silicon dioxide.
If we imagine society as an atom, it is stratified according to classes that have similar distancing laws. Should a person from a lower class (nucleus mass) stray into the precinct of the upper class (orbiting electron), the narrow trajectories open to the privileged few would lose their fast-lane, fast-track value. The social laws of attraction and repulsion are ancient laws used to maintain a social imbalance that gives false gravity to the privileged and maintains a prejudiced distance from the many. Height, momentum and force are the entitlement of the elect(rons)ed few who orbit the clustered and crowded nucleus and avoid fission by creating fear.
Yes fear. Once again the elite power-brokers are peddling fear to keep the masses from rising and relieving them of their unearned privilege. Brexit is a scam perpetrated by the wealthy few who are afraid of losing one ounce of their entitlement and one moment of their power. If they ever had to really mix it with the hardworking majority they would find themselves inadequate for the task of survival and unable to compete for achievement. In short, their mediocrity would be revealed to themselves and those who are misled by their position.
I have watched from a distance, suspended as it were because I am neither rich nor poor. I am a writer measured by my words and elevated only as far as my talent takes me. So, I am able to watch as society subsumes into the inevitable fission that inertia creates.
Whilst Johnson may have temporarily won the day there are anarchic forces at work that will impede his trajectory. This is a man with a massive ego and limited skills who has reduced his Kingdom in order to feel more powerful. From number 10 Downing Street he may persuade himself that he is master of all he purveys and yes, I do mean purveys rather than surveys. He may have persuaded the ignorant that he alone will see to their welfare and wellbeing now that Europe has been summarily dismissed as a partner but this is the first splitting of the societal atom and in its wake we will see a loss of form.
I said at the beginning of this article that Einstien posited that the Universe could be found in a grain of sand and the issues that have fueled this disastrous result in Britain can be seen in the microscosmic relationships that make up society.
So I will cite this closer to home example of what I believe is the underlying issue.
When I was teaching creative writing a few years ago I had a student from a very wealthy upper-crust background. Her privileged upbringing had opened many doors for her socially and her career as an art dealer had taken her into the homes of the super-rich. Her phonebook read like a celebrity who’s-who and she could have sold it for a fortune had she needed the money. Her own home was decorated with expensive, tasteless modern art and ghastly designer furniture that magnified her slavish apprehension of the next big trend. Her talent for writing was, at best, mediocre and I was puzzled about her desire to put herself through the agony of writing a novel – an exercise that is not for the faint-hearted. She explained that it was because she wanted “something of her own”. Armed with that information I set about preparing her for the daunting task ahead and gave her exercises that would test her stamina and dedication.
Suffice it to say, she fell at the first hurdle and rather than give up her ambition altogether she proceeded to invite me out to weekly expensive lunches which she paid for, ostensibly to “discuss her approach to her work”. The lunches were fun but after a few weeks I deemed them rather pointless and told her that talking about writing was never going to get her book written. She needed to buckle down and actually put pen to paper. What followed was a bevy of half-truths and lame excuses and ultimately the trump card – “I’m rich, I can pay you to write my book for me and we’ll split the profits”.
Interesting.
“And whose name would be under the title?” I asked.
“Mine, of course,” she explained with a cynical smile.
I reminded her that she had started my course in order to achieve “something of her own” to which she responded with a shrug, “as long as my name’s on the cover it will be mine.”
No, it won’t. It will be mine.
I refused her offer and we parted company. But I have no doubt in time she will find another less moral writer to do her bidding and provide her with the false allure she craves. But in her heart she will know she is nothing more than her money and has not moved one inch forward in her quest for legitimately acquired excellence. The truth is she would have found the self-esteem she craved (we all crave) had she completed my course and written her novel herself, even if it had been rubbish it would still mark an accomplishment in self-discipline and honest travail. And she would have felt good about herself. She is a sad, deluded creature but atypical of the kind of leadership extant in the world today.
The rich may think they can buy “stairways to heaven” but in reality they are merely satellites compelled to orbit the clustered masses whose poverty creates the illusion of wealth in contrast. Strip away the patina of worldly goods and you will find, not a divinely selected doyen, but a mere electron no more singular than any other component of the community.
BREXIT is the disastrous result of the inadequate few hoodwinking the gullible many into a position of subservience in order to maintain a fossilised social structure. But we are facing forces far greater than any internal manipulation of the status quo can deal with. We are facing the enormous force of Nature fighting back after enduring a century of abuse. She will wipe away all that we take for granted unless we drop our preposterous vanity and psychotic addiction to hoarded wealth and the institutions that supply it i.e. the war machine, the fossil fuel industry, the mining industry, the banks and their mindless money games and this lamentable avarice that drives manic consumption.
BREXIT is the fission that heralds greater divisions. Watch as the world fractures and parries against this abominable denial and the ego-driven maintenance of the rich at the expense of the poor. That’s society’s atom. But outside the societal atom is the greater force of aggravated nature who will take back the air we breathe and the water we drink and the viability of the soil we grow food in. Watch as methane gas boils up in the Arctic and suffocates the air even more than fossil fuel emissions have managed.
Watch as our planet makes aliens of us all and then when we can barely breathe for smoke and putrification let us hopefully wake up and restructure our society in order to unite globally and address climate change in deference to the needs of the wider community of sentience that our tiny little human atom is merely a component of.
Catch The Moon, Mary 