July 1, 2020: How Craziness Wins the Day: Nonproductive Personalities

The only kind of craziness is the kind we make for ourselves, though that construction can get enough traction to lead to madness.  Hoo-nōs

The fruit is there for the picking, someone notices. The problem is in extending that to everything is there for the picking.

That mattress on the side of the road can be useful someone thinks.  The problem after they collect it, is they forget to find a use.

Finally, useful information was forthcoming and waiting has paid off.  The problem is waiting becomes a career.

Selling is an art someone observes, well satisfied by their success.  The problem is the sale becomes the way.

Someone notices these trends clearly and schools are born.  The problem is schooling does not begin or end with teaching or students.

The pseudo-philosopher may enjoy their circling, the hoarder may gather endlessly, the waiting-ones bathe in patience and hope, the exploiters take what they can, the marketers convince others what is necessary.  But biology does not cooperate for long, as death awaits and true freedom and belongingness wanes in the entanglements of a chase to find both, but was really a dash away from them, though some become rich in things or revered by many.  

Of course, there will always be such nonproductive folk, but there doesn’t have to be those who follow.  It is the gathering together of nonproductive personalities who wield power that creates a nonproductive culture.  

If we watch closely, we may find that tearing apart a culture begins with nonproductive folk in power striving to create disagreement. Building a culture begins productive folk creating an agreement. Perhaps we need to know the difference between the two kinds of personalities as well as what beginnings each espouse or we will risk creating a culture of a few instead of a culture of many.   

(Thanks at least to Dante Alighieri, Erich Fromm, Rollo May, and Leonard Cohen.)

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