The Hole in the Art
The comparison of social networks to a human body is fairly old, and has a lot to be said for it. Just as a properly functioning human body requires the coordination of its different parts, harmonious social existence is predicated on the broad convergence of interests of the numerous individuals who constitute a society. Take, for instance, the human body. If we consider the legs, the arms, the stomach, the chest, and so on, none of them --- taken alone --- can be said to be the individual. Rather, it is their synchronization that makes human life possible, and the breakdown of this organization readily manifests itself in disease and ill-health. Likewise, it can be argued that harmonious social life needs the organization of its disparate elements, none of which on their own can be the social body. This line of reasoning has led some to regard the human body as a simile of the social body: there are internal lines, divisions and boundaries within both of them, but --- when they are functioning properly --- there is also an overarching unity across them in both.
Nevertheless, there is a sense in which we may speak of a centre in the human body. Some would call this the heart, others the brain, yet others the mind. Roughly speaking, we may term it consciousness or self-awareness. We are not only aware of the environment external to our bodies but are also aware of our stream of internal life, that is, of our own ideas, sensations, thoughts and images. We know, and we also, at least on some occasions, know that we know. We also have an awareness of somehow presiding over the disparate constituents of our physical body. At times, when we feel dull or lethargic, we may drive our tired limbs to get on to work. In such cases, we become more aware than at other times that we exercise (or can learn to exercise) a sense of control over our limbs. Whether this establishes the dualist thesis that the mind and the body are two distinct substances is not quite the issue at present. There is a grain of truth in this thesis for there are indeed times, say during periods of lethargy or illness, when our body confronts us as almost an alien thing that we have to struggle against.
If there is such a coordinating centre in the human body, could there be likewise an organizing midpoint in the social body? One can think of the latter as a gigantic interconnected web of interpersonal relations and bonds. When one stares at the crowd in a supermarket or a metro station, one can try to imagine the bonds through which every individual is attached to many others. These links are, of course, invisible, and are not quite the chains that tie a prisoner to his cell. Nevertheless, they can be quite as strong as (if not even stronger than) the former; for some people, quite as forbidding and decapacitating, while for others liberating and enabling. Such reflections can lead one to wonder if there is a cosmic spider into which all these bonds flow into, which has spun out these gossamer ties, over-sees their intricate interconnections, and notes (whether with pain, bemusement or indifference) the occasions when they snap.
Now for a slightly different set of thoughts. One of the goals of certain types of practice has been the re-establishment of an underlying union between the inner life and the outer world. The argument is roughly the following. In their deepest essence, humans are integrally connected to the world, but because of various reasons, they have forgotten this umbilical tie, and have become dispersed, scattered, broken and fragmented. They need to recuperate, become con-centrated in themselves, and real-ise once again this fundamental bond. Hence this is not an establishment of something that did not exist earlier, but the re-establishment of what they always were/are. The key to this enterprise is to link the inner energies of the human body with the cosmic energies that flow through the totality of everything that exists. Just as there are deep cycles in the natural world, say of the days and the seasons, there are internal rhythms, and lasting harmony is instituted when the two are brought in tandem. In this limiting case, the human body becomes some sort of a super-body, in that it is not limited to the physical, skeletal frame, but becomes so expansive that it is able to receive the inflow/outflow of the entire universe that moves in and out through it. The human body can then be viewed as a channel or a medium for the passage of these deeper forces. It is simultaneously passive and active: passive in that it offers the path of least resistance to them, and active because it is governed by an individual mind that is conscious of this flow. This, then, is another way of looking at the analogy of the human and the social body, without going into the difficult question of whether there lies a cosmic centre that is somehow beyond both these two bodies.
A question mark remains, however, over this attempt. How far can the boundary of the physical body stretch? In the ideal case, as we have noted above, the concord that we speak of is brought about between, on the one hand, the human body, now considered not in its physical limitations but as a sort of a ‘universal’ body, and, on the other, the hidden flows, currents and streams that pervade the universe. However, we live in worlds fractured and disrupted not only by ‘man’s inhumanity to man’, which is manifested in murder, massacre and slaughter, but also in volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and hurricanes. Even if we have somehow been thankfully safeguarded from the consequences of these, we are only too aware of the millions of lives which have been marred (sometimes permanently and irreparably) by them. Can we truly attain this deep inner concord in the knowledge that such individuals exist?
One resolution could proceed this way. These disruptions are only superficial, they do not really touch the core. Therefore, the way is open even to these afflicted individuals to re-establish this mysterious harmony of the outer and the inner, and when they succeed in doing so, their earthly travails will become like the distant memories of a half-forgotten or faintly remembered nightmare. Another is somewhat more drastic: as long as I have (fortunately) not been subject to these ills, I need not worry about the existence of others who have been; they do not fall within the circle of my concern or regard; therefore, I can attain this unity at the deepest levels of my being.
Perhaps other resolutions are possible. Or perhaps these resolutions are no more than reminders of the ultimate impossibility to re-solve this matter. In the face of the suffering other who has been incapacitated by various forces from re-establishing the unity that I aspire towards, what am I to do?
Nevertheless, there is a sense in which we may speak of a centre in the human body. Some would call this the heart, others the brain, yet others the mind. Roughly speaking, we may term it consciousness or self-awareness. We are not only aware of the environment external to our bodies but are also aware of our stream of internal life, that is, of our own ideas, sensations, thoughts and images. We know, and we also, at least on some occasions, know that we know. We also have an awareness of somehow presiding over the disparate constituents of our physical body. At times, when we feel dull or lethargic, we may drive our tired limbs to get on to work. In such cases, we become more aware than at other times that we exercise (or can learn to exercise) a sense of control over our limbs. Whether this establishes the dualist thesis that the mind and the body are two distinct substances is not quite the issue at present. There is a grain of truth in this thesis for there are indeed times, say during periods of lethargy or illness, when our body confronts us as almost an alien thing that we have to struggle against.
If there is such a coordinating centre in the human body, could there be likewise an organizing midpoint in the social body? One can think of the latter as a gigantic interconnected web of interpersonal relations and bonds. When one stares at the crowd in a supermarket or a metro station, one can try to imagine the bonds through which every individual is attached to many others. These links are, of course, invisible, and are not quite the chains that tie a prisoner to his cell. Nevertheless, they can be quite as strong as (if not even stronger than) the former; for some people, quite as forbidding and decapacitating, while for others liberating and enabling. Such reflections can lead one to wonder if there is a cosmic spider into which all these bonds flow into, which has spun out these gossamer ties, over-sees their intricate interconnections, and notes (whether with pain, bemusement or indifference) the occasions when they snap.
Now for a slightly different set of thoughts. One of the goals of certain types of practice has been the re-establishment of an underlying union between the inner life and the outer world. The argument is roughly the following. In their deepest essence, humans are integrally connected to the world, but because of various reasons, they have forgotten this umbilical tie, and have become dispersed, scattered, broken and fragmented. They need to recuperate, become con-centrated in themselves, and real-ise once again this fundamental bond. Hence this is not an establishment of something that did not exist earlier, but the re-establishment of what they always were/are. The key to this enterprise is to link the inner energies of the human body with the cosmic energies that flow through the totality of everything that exists. Just as there are deep cycles in the natural world, say of the days and the seasons, there are internal rhythms, and lasting harmony is instituted when the two are brought in tandem. In this limiting case, the human body becomes some sort of a super-body, in that it is not limited to the physical, skeletal frame, but becomes so expansive that it is able to receive the inflow/outflow of the entire universe that moves in and out through it. The human body can then be viewed as a channel or a medium for the passage of these deeper forces. It is simultaneously passive and active: passive in that it offers the path of least resistance to them, and active because it is governed by an individual mind that is conscious of this flow. This, then, is another way of looking at the analogy of the human and the social body, without going into the difficult question of whether there lies a cosmic centre that is somehow beyond both these two bodies.
A question mark remains, however, over this attempt. How far can the boundary of the physical body stretch? In the ideal case, as we have noted above, the concord that we speak of is brought about between, on the one hand, the human body, now considered not in its physical limitations but as a sort of a ‘universal’ body, and, on the other, the hidden flows, currents and streams that pervade the universe. However, we live in worlds fractured and disrupted not only by ‘man’s inhumanity to man’, which is manifested in murder, massacre and slaughter, but also in volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and hurricanes. Even if we have somehow been thankfully safeguarded from the consequences of these, we are only too aware of the millions of lives which have been marred (sometimes permanently and irreparably) by them. Can we truly attain this deep inner concord in the knowledge that such individuals exist?
One resolution could proceed this way. These disruptions are only superficial, they do not really touch the core. Therefore, the way is open even to these afflicted individuals to re-establish this mysterious harmony of the outer and the inner, and when they succeed in doing so, their earthly travails will become like the distant memories of a half-forgotten or faintly remembered nightmare. Another is somewhat more drastic: as long as I have (fortunately) not been subject to these ills, I need not worry about the existence of others who have been; they do not fall within the circle of my concern or regard; therefore, I can attain this unity at the deepest levels of my being.
Perhaps other resolutions are possible. Or perhaps these resolutions are no more than reminders of the ultimate impossibility to re-solve this matter. In the face of the suffering other who has been incapacitated by various forces from re-establishing the unity that I aspire towards, what am I to do?
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