Fractals on Friday

A lot of the images this week seem to have a bit of a 1960's quality. Not surprising in a way, since I was doing a lot of growing up then and images and sensations stay with you for the rest of your life. A lot of the images and associations seem to have stuck with me across the years because, despite the excesses and abberations, there was a lot of good and hope spread around at the time.


Colour, peace, light and harmony were all the buzz at the time, and I expect justifiably so since these qualities had been largely ignored during the post-WWII years whilst the world was being rebuilt. A generation almost literally exploded into view, with a totally new concept of what life was supposed to be about and how to go about living it with full respect for oneself and ones fellows. Authority was openly questioned, existing social values were derided as outdated and irrelevant, self-respect became less important than the need to move the world to a higher level, preferably as soon as possible.


An older generation looked on in dismay, anger and mistrust, assuming the radical break with the values and outlooks they held dear heralded the end of the world as they knew it. Later history would show that they had been right, albeit for completely different reasons than had been offered at the time. In some ways there was little change, in others the fragile cohesion of a global society still trying to understand itself after a debilitating world war became seriously unbalanced


Despite all the well-intentioned efforts to the contrary, the movement for peace, love and good-will toward all men effectively fizzled out in the 1970's, leaving in its wake disillusion, cynicism and opportunism which fanned the flames of the "me first" generations which followed. It was particularly sad to see how ideals and altruism where thrown overboard when the possibilities of self-enrichment and personal gain were offered, the masses following carrots on sticks to the detriment of self and society in general.


I have been very angry for a very long time with the generation which espoused peace, love and harmony which, with a few personal and notable exceptions, turned into a generation excelling in greed and manipulation. In a way I think that much of the energy of those times has settled down at a much lower, more personal and local level, in which people still care for each other in the growing social psychosis devoted to more, bigger, better and preferably even more.


I continue to believe that humans, by definition, are kind, caring and altruistic beings. If only out of necessity in the first instance, to ensure survival and a fulfilment of fundamental human needs, we see that so many individuals go above and beyond the necessary and functional motions to add an extra quality of caring and support for those in need around them. This was a quality that was essentially overlooked or forgotten in the heydays of the 1960's. The movement had become self-centred and egotistical, effectively sowing the seeds for the socioeconomic crises which were to follow in the coming decades.


Please don't misunderstand me though. This is not an exercise in placing blame, since much of what happened was an unconscious and socially orchestrated at a much higher level than the individuals involved, each playing his or her own part as an ant would do in it's own social environment. An ant has absolutely no idea of what is happening at the macro level, just as we humans have no idea of what we are doing collectively on this planet at this moment. All I can see, for myself at the present moment, is that I need to bring back my world to my own personal level and start to work from there.

It's all I have and that's all I can do. I'll change the world, I'll start with myself. Keep well...

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