What leads to societal injustice?
by Vic Shayne
author
Consciousness: The Potentiality of All Existence: Exploring reality and belief as a subjective experience
Since the beginning of tribalism in prehistory we have collectively suffered as a human race due to an invisible but ever present force of image making. Have you ever wondered why one group pits itself against another, why one brings the other under an umbrella of hate, oppression, and violence? It seems the problem is a macrocosm of the same fear and hate that causes conflict on an individual basis.
The mental instrument
How does the mind work so that it creates social injustice, fear, desire, and turmoil? We may begin with the idea that the mind is an instrument of sorts. It helps to navigate this world so that the body can experience it to different degrees. The mind is very practical in this sense, as it figures out solutions to problems, remembers where things are and how to perform tasks, and becomes adept at differentiating between what is safe and dangerous for the sake of the physical body and others. The mind splits the totality of consciousness into fragments so that it can navigate the world of shapes, sizes, distances, depths, objects, other people, and so forth. But what happens when this mind is fed a diet of information and beliefs?
From the earliest age, the mind ingests information from others — parents, teachers, authority figures, religion, culture, and so on. This information informs the mind that it is an individual person apart from all others that is called “me” or “I.” This “I” is an image created out of all the thoughts fed to the mind in the form of ideas of association — “I” am an American, a father, a sailor, a doctor, a liberal, a conservative, a member of the club, a loser, a winner, an altruist, a warrior, an introvert or extrovert, and so on down the line. As a result of all of these identities we are not ourselves; instead we are images of what we believe we are. The image may appear to be a single front to the world, but it is actually a ball of internal conflict that cannot usually be restrained.
Fragmenting consciousness
The mind fragments itself away from consciousness, which leads to conflict, both internally within the individual and externally, within society. At the seat of this conflict is a prevailing idea that I am different from you, that I am afraid I will not get what I need and want, and that you pose a threat to either withhold what I desire or to take away what I already have — even if what I have is no more than an ideology, tradition, name, way of life, attitude, or some other intangible thing.
This proclivity of the individual mind may be applied societally. Many minds within a group form a group mind, so to speak, and this group mind acts with the same fear, longing, and conflict of the individual mind. Like the individual mind, the group mind says that the other group is the enemy and that its people are inferior, lazy, threatening, ugly, stupid, strange, and so on. The group proclaims, “Their beliefs are not my beliefs and therefore they are unworthy to be called equal or even tolerable.” When the two groups meet they clash because of the wall of conflict that has been artificially fashioned by like minds.
Going deeper into the image-making
There is something deeper to this image-making of the mind apropos to the group. Because the group mind believes itself to be threatened by “the other,” it creates all sorts of images about the other group. This body of imagery is the consciousness of the group, allowing it to say “We are this, and you are that. We are not the same.” One group is creating an image of itself as well as an image of the other group. As a result, the “other” group also creates an image of itself and the group opposing it. Now we have four images, two for each group.
Image-making in society
There are endless examples of image-making and the resulting societal conflict. One example is the group that espouses white supremacy in America. This group has been infused with ideas that it is under threat of extinction unless it controls, annihilates, marginalizes, enslaves, and attacks other groups out of which white supremacists have created an image. When we look deeper into this, we find that white supremacists, feeling inferior themselves, attempt to make their targets also feel inferior about themselves.
The group affected by another group’s image-making instills an image into themselves as they take on the image inflicted upon them. The result is that minority groups feel inferior, incapable, not good enough, socially limited, less intelligent, lacking in a capacity to achieve, mentally impoverished, and so on. In this example we see how information becomes a virus that infects individuals and groups — it is passed on and then retained by those who are infected. If we were to study the sociology of certain groups in America — Jews, African Americans, Latinos, Asians, Muslims, and others —we will find that they suffer from unnecessary and erroneous notions of inferiority that they have accepted and that were implanted by white supremacists. Just denying this fact or fighting against white supremacists does not in itself overcome or change the image-making, which is the source of the problem.
Why do we accept the images of others?
Why, then, do we accept the images that other groups give us? What benefit does it serve to acquire and retain images of low self esteem, inferiority, incapability, incapacity, unattractiveness, and so on? Does it need to serve a benefit or is this acceptance a sort of default mode in that we unconsciously and mindlessly create images of ourselves and others? It seems to be the latter — we are sponges for information and are not discretionary. We are not taught to question the images and not to internalize them. In fact, we are taught the opposite, which is to accept and become the images foisted upon us. We do this personally and societally. We do not act out of awareness, but out of automaticity. Your group tells my group it is inferior and we accept it without thinking, and then we allow this to guide our movements, thoughts, plans, arguments, actions, and teachings. Thus, we allow and assist you in our demise and misery.
First find out who you are
Changing society first requires fully exploring the depths of the self, the sense of who we are — personally. Unless this is done, nothing can change in the macrocosm, which is the society made up of a multiplicity of selves who hold and create images. The real and present stumbling block to doing this is a willingness to open up to the fact of being a participant in image making.
Why is there resistance to seeing the truth in all of this image-making? Because it hurts the image to open up and question itself. This, too, has been instilled in us — to resist criticism, judgment, change, and exploration, especially if we are doing this to ourselves. (Of course, we readily judge, criticize, and explore others). Only if we go through the process of self-enquiry can the internal conflicts, fears, and desires be exposed to the light. Only then can something actually change on a societal scale.
