Healing Fissures - The Path to Finding Social Harmony

Society it seems is plagued by a thousand fissures – and like a thousand cuts that kill, they are killing us or at best wounding us all. There are religious fissures – Protestant v  Catholic v Judaism v Islam, with the people of Abraham all in possession of a jealous god. Then there are the polytheists, the secularists, free lovers, and the atheists. Layer on the “haves” and “the have-nots”. Layer on top of that political fissures.  Layer on top of that challenges that emerge from feminist concerns. Layer on top of that long-standing class divides.  Layer on top of all this, the power mongers who play it all for control for control sake. When one begins the task of unpacking it all and then brings a rational mind to finding the path to harmony, it seems impossible, even within the borders of Canada. 

No one understands the draw to tribalism better than I do; it is innate in us all. I often find myself coming to the defence of the culture I was raised in, an Anglo / Scottish protestant culture – I am so proud of our contribution in forging Canada and yet it seems the only thing finding its way into modern discourse is our mistakes. It is my sense that many of “us” feel this way and are eager to preserve what we’ve accomplished.  The temptation for me is to run to the ranks of my own, rally the troops and commence a mass effort to maintain and enhance our place in society.  That is the very approach, however, that has weakened us in the past. With our British roots – and the manner in which the Protestant Reformation came to lite on the British Empire and the cultural inclination toward exclusionary social discourse which is a part of being British,  we have left in our wake a good deal of disgruntlement; some justified, some less so.  

Exclusionary societal tactics tend over time to concentrate power to the point where a given mass of influence is insufficient to maintain a given order and so another set of actors take control – invariably, it is at the least costly and often in the course of history, it has been very bloody. It was these exclusionary social practices that caused massive disgruntlement through the course to the industrial revolution when Marxism emerged. It was bad Torism (Conservativism) that provided the genesis of Marxism.   

The barrier to developing harmony really is rooted in what is at risk for any given social group in acquiescing to the whole.  If the risk to acquiescing to the whole is genocide then no one is going to move off the established social structure. If the risk of acquiescence to the whole is a measured decline in influence absent any significant change in lifestyle then people are going to be more willing to move to a reconfigured social order.  So the search for a solution lies in the analysis of various social groups interests and protecting them. So, by way of example, if you say,  in order to fix wealth disparities government is going to take half highest wage earners income and all the wealth people accumulated to pass on to their family – you’ve created some losers in the process who will resist efforts and another fissure is formed.  There are solutions to wealth disparities that negate the need to take someone’s money and give it to someone else – in fact, they enhance the life of established actors – do that, and you’ve created an interest-based solution that people will find harmony with.

These fissures find expression in damaging ways in our society.  As various actors in civil society compete for dominance, they often lose sight of moral, ethical and legal boundaries.  As people exist in the ”us and them mentality” they become sociopathic toward the other group. There are no honest brokers at play, making efforts to heal the fissures that cause so much pain and discord.  The governments of the country are supposed to manage in a manner that generates harmony; they have been inept at quelling the very damaging effects from these competing entities because they are besieged by them – this process corrupts government, in that, there is a lack of fidelity between what is ostensibly being done and what is actually happening. As the resolution of this social phenomenon expands to larger and larger portions of society – discord will ensue.  It is incumbent on government to take steps to heal fissures in society and move us to a harmonious existence.  Integrity is the place where words and action merge, we should govern with integrity.

In the process of moving Canada under the umbrella of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms there needs to be acceptance of the present order of things – for change to happen people will need assurance that their present state of being will be respected and that as the process evolves there will be no personal toll that falls to various players in civil society. The goal should never be to TAKE from anyone, the goal should be fidelity to the ideals we expound as our core values;  the first of which is Liberty – for it is the one that guarantees all the rest.