Masks

Curses are masks. Masks hide something and reveal something else. This temporary management of appearances helps in balancing at least two urgent needs. One, is the need to nullify the opposition. Once the opposition is nullified, some progress can be made and the situation which seems like a crises can even be remedied. Two, is the need to proceed as planned. In spite of the discussions, a larger project has been underway. This project demands the timely dedication of resources and the equally timely delivery of material. When any particular pillar of the project becomes unstable, a dispute arises.

Masks help in executing complex discussions under the front of abstraction. It might seem to someone not familiar to the pragmatics of discussion in the room that the topic under discussion is coffee. But in reality a complex battle formation involving a massive cost and thousands of lives is the current engagement. Abstraction helps to de-sensitise discussions. It helps to divert the overbearing sentiment towards rational argumentation and away from sentimental brooding.

That leaves us in a difficult position. We do not know what to do with our emotion anymore. Emotion is a problem because we have not been trained to deal with it. We have been trained to understand emotion as a deterrent to rational thought. On the contrary it is a lens that aids the complex perception of ideas that otherwise will never be perceived at all.

The absence of emotion from our cognitive apparatus has led us to a difficult point in our evolution. We produce anger, irritation, fear, confusion and other artefacts of a troubled mind because we are basically starved of emotion. Nothing touches us because we are stuck on a dry piece of land and we do not know how to swim. We need swimming lessons.

After our swimming lessons, we will be able to float. But float while precariously holding on to the edge of the pool. Courage to let go and allow our body to swim will take time and in this time we can enjoy the feeling of not being able to navigate the terrain. After we learn how to swim, we will not be able to forget how to swim again. Water will become like land. Water will know its place and it will not overwhelm our nostrils.

Then we will need to learn to swim and still drown sometimes as well. That day we will learn how to wear a mask.