I’ve been reading Below the Root recently, and last night I came across a passage that made me stop as something clicked into place in my head. It had to do with one of the characters talking about the trap of someone being purposefully honored so highly in their society. “…as Kindar, we are not prepared to question tradition. But there is a reason behind the tradition. The reason is that the Year of Honor is a trap. A beautiful trap, baited by a lure as irresistible to Kindar as is honey to a moonmoth-the lure of fame and honor and power. Thus a humble Kindar can be caught and fed on pride and power until he is as unable to live without them as a Berry-dreamer to live without his Berries. To do this takes time, and it must be accomplished before he becomes an Ol-zhaan and begins to learn their secrets.”
It was like finding the answer to a question I’d had in my head since I went to a special program in high school for the arts.
“From a managerial standpoint, people addicted to defining their lives by the stuff they buy, or by pats on the head, comprise a managerial utopia. In prison, or school, the way to this condition, this safe condition, is prepared by a drill in the extension of small privileges and honors, or the withholding of same, by punishments and rewards externally imposed until the inner ability of the human spirit to punish or reward itself –and hence be free of tutelage — is destroyed or suppressed. The animal trainers in service to the rich and powerful through history-not B.F. Skinner or the behaviorists-created this form of training.
“Reflections on School and Prison”
- John Taylor Gatto
In my experience, someone who has an interest in creativity, whether it’s cooking, sculpting, singing, writing, dancing, etc, have discovered the joy of bringing something inside of themselves out into the world. It is a place that is hard to touch by institutions, and can help protect someone from the strong influences of a structured and managed society. I’m sure many people reading this have seen that person in their math class completely removed from what is going on around them, engrossed in a drawing or writing a poem. The teacher can threaten them, take that artwork away, try to punish them, but there will always be more where that came from. It came from an invulnerable place, and it’s how that person was fighting back against a system that was relentlessly trying to crush their soul. They are the people succeeding in slipping through the cracks of administration. However, I do not think they are let go so easily.
