Let’s not kid ourselves here - what’s happening today in Western Democracies is awful.
People are suffering, people are dying, families are being torn apart by policies based on ideology and greed.
But, it doesn’t have to be this way - if we care to look we can see how history has shown us a way out.
What was going on then?
In my previous post I spoke of Vaclav Havel and his writings in response to the Post-Totalitarian system found in parts of Eastern Europe nearly 50 years ago, most importantly the system dictating life in his home of Czechoslovakia. In his piece, “The Power of the Powerless” he described both the world created by authoritarian forces of the time and the potential world brought to life by those within, and in opposition to, the system - those who would choose to Live Within the Truth.
This system was imposed on citizens, who then became part of how it continued to function - their roles in the society it created enabled it to sustain itself. It was based on an ideology, one both familiar and terrifying in its seemingly innocuous promises and eventual outcomes.
“Ideology is a specious way of relating to the world. It offers human beings the illusion of an identity, of dignity, and of morality while making it easier for them to part with them. As the repository of something supra-personal and objective, it enables people to deceive their conscience and conceal their true position and their inglorious modus vivendi, both from the world and from themselves.”
By wielding our basest of instincts against us through ideological structure, those who seek to control our actions can ensure that it appears we are serving ourselves when we are actually serving something else. Our desire to be part of a community, our need to have shelter and food, our collective goals of security and prosperity - these can all be turned against us if presented as part of an ideological solution.
“ Ideology, in creating a bridge of excuses between the system and the individual, spans the abyss between the aims of the system and the aims of life. It pretends that the requirements of the system derive from the requirements of life. It is a world of appearances trying to pass for reality.”
This deliberate disconnect between what IS and what APPEARS TO BE is the foundation of control in Havel’s post-totalitarian system - it is the critical element of moving from direct control of a society to an self-imposed incarceration within a structure created from above - one where there is no throne, no single entity directing the movements of people - just an idea.
“Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics.”
“Individuals need not believe all these mystification’s, but they must behave as though they did, or they must at least tolerate them in silence, or get along well with those who work with them. They need not accept the lie. It is enough for them to have accepted their life with it and in it. For by this very fact, individuals confirm the system, fulfill the system, make the system, are the system.”
As shown in Czechoslovakia in the Velvet Revolution of 1989, it is possible to counter the efforts of those seeking to subjugate and control society in ways which start by Living Within the Truth.
Does any of this sound familiar?
What is going on now?
As Mark Twain may once have said,
“History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.”
In today’s world we might identify the “system” as the “narrative” - but again, it is birthed from an ideology which could easily be shown as analogous to that found in the darkest chapters of history, penned by those same Playwrights of Misery historically responsible for suffering beyond belief.
(I will tackle ideology itself another time, as it deserves its own dedicated piece.)
If we compare today to the decades of strife and totalitarian malfeasance of the past and still unfolding elsewhere in the world, we certainly see similarities - although those pushing the quill are harder to see and the boundaries of the theatre are now virtually limitless…
It is for this reason that Living Within the Truth remains a valuable critical component of life in any society, for if freedom and everything it grants (it’s a long list) are to be available to people, they must be able (and willing) to differentiate between what is manufactured, what is managed, and what is reality.
With the advent of the internet the ability for total control of what people see and hear has both expanded and contracted depending on how you look at it. In Communist regimes this is still an ongoing battle, as Havel pointed out,
“Living within the lie can constitute the system only if it is universal. The principle must embrace and permeate everything. There are no terms whatsoever on which it can co-exist with living within the truth, and therefore everyone who steps out of line denies it in principle and threatens it in its entirety.”
When you look at the mechanisms of control you can see parallels between both democratic and totalitarian systems, for when media and state become intertwined the result is often the same.
“ …as long as appearance is not confronted with reality, it does not seem to be appearance. As long as living a lie is not confronted with living the truth, the perspective needed to expose its mendacity is lacking. As soon as the alternative appears, however, it threatens the very existence of appearance and living a lie in terms of what they are, both their essence and their all-inclusiveness.”
The established narrative in Western Democracies has shifted over the years, this can be seen in many areas when comparing what is reported on to what is not - for the deliberate silence of media is simply a lie by omission. The attempt to filter information today is no different than the attempts of Soviet Pravda of the past - where news can’t be easily manufactured, it must be managed.
“For the crust presented by the life of lies is made of strange stuff. As long as it seals off hermetically the entire society, it appears to be made of stone. But the moment someone breaks through in one place, when one person cries out, “The emperor is naked!”—when a single person breaks the rules of the game, thus exposing it as a game—everything suddenly appears in another light and the whole crust seems then to be made of a tissue on the point of tearing and disintegrating uncontrollably.”
The societal conditions we see today - fat and happy, complacent to the point of being apathetic, yet fearful and covetous of all that we have and want - are just another opportunity for those seeking to control our destinies to design yet another system to trap us in yet another form of tyranny. When you add the relatively new component of technology, the risk for self-imposed subjugation is just that more present. Havel saw this in 1978 when he said,
“Technology—that child of modern science, which in turn is a child of modern metaphysics—is out of humanity’s control, has ceased to serve us, has enslaved us and compelled us to participate in the preparation of our own destruction. And humanity can find no way out: we have no idea and no faith, and even less do we have a political conception to help us bring things back under human control.”
As you can see, the concept of Living Within the Truth is just as relevant today as it was when the post-totalitarian hangover in Marxist-infused Eastern Europe plagued the lives of millions. While we don’t have the same societal conditions of scarcity and insecurity, we do have the same base instincts and habits as people - which also existed previously, and allowed the ideological manipulation of untold millions.
Those same habits can and will be utilized to plunge us yet again into those same totalitarian horrors.
But, it doesn’t have to be this way.
Where do we go from here?
Today’s version of Living Within the Truth starts with a focused effort on regaining personal responsibility, for at the heart of every shift in society there will be a recognition on an individual level that there is a change needed. While there may be many today who have already made the choice, what is needed is the “Normalization” of the choice not to participate in the lie. There are distinct similarities to what was seen in Czechoslovakia of the past and North America today when it comes to “political correctness”.
(Again, something that deserves its own time for exploration.)
In Havel’s words,
“ If what I have called living within the truth is a basic existential (and of course potentially political) starting point for all those “independent citizens initiatives” and “dissident” or “opposition” movements this does not mean that every attempt to live within the truth automatically belongs in this category.”
“Most of these expressions remain elementary revolts against manipulation: you simply straighten your backbone and live in greater dignity as an individual.”
“The point where living within the truth ceases to be a mere negation of living with a lie and becomes articulate in a particular way is the point at which something is born that might be called the “independent spiritual, social, and political life of society.”
What we see happening today is a direct assault on the goal outlined above.
In order for it to change we need to shine light in the hidden corners of our existing system, and bring truth back from where it has been shielded from us.
We have the tools, we have the ability - we just need to see the system for what it is and Live Within the Truth.
It doesn’t have to be this way.