You're not supposed to open this.
Permission Control
There’s a small door at the end of the hallway.
Don’t go inside.
This week I’ve been thinking about permission.
It’s a beautiful tool within any system of control.
Beautiful in the same way that when you see a pianist’s hands dance across the keys you forget that it is the strings inside that are doing all the work.
Humans love control. Over time we’ve learned that permissions are the spine of any system of control. Rules sit in the open, ready to be crossed, contested and punished. Permissions indicate a system of power that is beyond negotiation. While the keys may be played in any order, the keys stay the keys.
Asking permission for the most simple of activities enforces a level of power that defines the relationship. In schools children raise their hand to use the bathroom. It is effective because it describes a relationship beyond the situation. My bodily function is secondary to the will of the teacher.
It’s an indication of a wider hierarchy, one that is established through the permission dealer and the allocation of permissions to the whole. When it’s at its most beautiful it is a symphony that plays itself. When a group is brought together and the idea of a permission structure exists, it permeates deeper than if we are told the rules. Because we have decided on the permission. We are both the guard and the prisoner of our beliefs.
The panopticon is inside the mind.
Maybe all of this sounds obvious to you.
But over time we have learned that this idea of permission, and of incumbent permission granters, is universal. We favour doing what those before have done, and grant permission for just that.
For those incumbents that are astute, it would seem obvious for anyone that manages to escape the rules to turn around and make some to protect themself. The equivalent of using a ladder to climb the walls of a castle before tossing it down afterwards. Or creating a toll booth at the point of no return.
none may pass. unless you pay the price.
All this to say something you might already know.
You can just do stuff that other people don’t.
Permission and civil coherency is essentially a social good.
“You have to wear pink on Fridays.”
“you can’t sit with us”
They are ways to create predictable situations. Why would anyone want an elephant that misbehaves? Better to ensure it doesn’t realise it’s strong enough to go through any door. What better way to do this than let it teach itself that it doesn’t have permission.
Or that on the other side is disaster.
Decisions
I’m fortunate to have luck on my side. It’s something I decided a long time ago. Like many things I believe in, it is true.
I like that I’m lucky because there’s no possible downside to it. It means I can do certain things that I’m not supposed to. Like looking behind a curtain or underneath the carpet. I also believe that if I keep thinking it, I’ll become luckier.
I wish I could say that about a lot of aspects of my life and personality. Of all the areas of my sense of self that I’ve managed to find some way of managing, this seems to be the one thats had the most benefit, with the least struggle.
But I’m yet to figure out how to believe in wishes, and that would definitely give me another trick to changing the lens I have on reality. I currently think there has to be a special event with some unique conditions or something.
To achieve belief changes, we often need some event or inertia.
Sacrifices help, as does a group acknowledgement of the act.
Secrecy can also help with the belief change — the less something is contested while forming, the less it will be impacted.
These principles apply to permission formation and the relief of it alike.
The public humiliation of offenders in the classroom is no different to the News at 10 or the glossy tabloid tear-downs used to keep the media carousel spinning.
But beliefs come from the ‘group’.
We share this opinion.
we do this.
it works like this.
if they have a title or a role, they are in some way this.
the fact that I want to identify myself as an artist indicates I want some of this.
The package of ideas and permissions attached to the word comes for free.
If I were to tell you I’m a policeman while writing this, it would have a different effect.
But that’s you, not me.
Those permissions and beliefs have nothing to do with me, or whether I’m an artist or a policeman.
And you can change them.
but like the elephant choosing to go through the door
it might not look like you can fit.
but if you believe in what’s on the other side
the locks would never have stopped you anyway.
I’m going back underground for another week, maybe more…
I’ll be up for air soon with something tangible.
Right now I’ve got to stay low.
Again, I appreciate the latitude…
Hopefully you can see where I’m going better than I can.
love you loads
Russ x