Sovereigns, Churches, Corporations
After my son was born I had a psychotic episode and was sent away to the absolute nicest loony bin in England - The Priory. Where I hung out with a member of The Clash, among other things.
Before I went to the hospital I still remember as one of the most amazing and wonderful times in my life. I was so filled with love for everyone and everything. What had happened that put me in the hospital is no mystery in retrospect: giving birth to a baby with issues in a foreign culture on no sleep, the death of my grandmother, the baby's issues, my husband's job change, it was all going on and it was all too much for me. So if you imagine thought and personality as residing in the brain on a series of neural circuits - highways, roads, paths, avenues of synapses, of serotonin and cortisol flooding the roads or receding into a desert. What happened to me is that the traditional thought and personality roads were all too painful. I could not be on those roads, it was too much, so my consciousness basically jumped ship. If you imagine my consciousness as a red Corvette (thank you, Prince) then I just veered off into the wilderness, broke the barriers
And anyway it was great in many ways and very freeing but still very hard to talk about, you know, all the shame involved. But in any event, what I wanted to tell you was that the thing I kept saying to anyone who would listen, over and over again, is that there is no distinction between Sovereigns, Churches and COrporations. They should all be governed by the same rules, they should all be equally transparent, being a voter and a shareholder should be similar and governed by the principle that being a voter and being a shareholder is something that belongs exclusively to humans. They should all be judged by their output and that output is not purely economic. Shareholders need to be concerned with more than the money they receive. And as for churches, well, it's hardly news that we need to keep a tighter reign on all these guys. Catholics, you know. Every corporation, sovereign and religion should obey the rule of law and be imminently and eminently answerable to its populace.
That had a number of ramifications that were fascinating to me at the time but that my subsequent crippling depression and return to the workforce and parenting responsibilities have not really given me time to unfold. Plus I have been so terrified of going back to that time. I have a plastic bag full of notes that I have written and I have simply not been able to open the bag and look at these things, so great is my own self-loathing over my consciousness jumping track. Isn't it ridiculous, it's not like I could control it. But of course I blame myself. And in this culture it does permanently marginalize you, and it marginalizes you exactly where it hurts: in the hearts and minds of your friends and family.
Anyway, do you think it is true? That they should all be treated the same way? Free to express but transparent in their dealings to all their citizens and members and shareholders? Shouldn't it be the same thing? What do you think?
Before I went to the hospital I still remember as one of the most amazing and wonderful times in my life. I was so filled with love for everyone and everything. What had happened that put me in the hospital is no mystery in retrospect: giving birth to a baby with issues in a foreign culture on no sleep, the death of my grandmother, the baby's issues, my husband's job change, it was all going on and it was all too much for me. So if you imagine thought and personality as residing in the brain on a series of neural circuits - highways, roads, paths, avenues of synapses, of serotonin and cortisol flooding the roads or receding into a desert. What happened to me is that the traditional thought and personality roads were all too painful. I could not be on those roads, it was too much, so my consciousness basically jumped ship. If you imagine my consciousness as a red Corvette (thank you, Prince) then I just veered off into the wilderness, broke the barriers
And anyway it was great in many ways and very freeing but still very hard to talk about, you know, all the shame involved. But in any event, what I wanted to tell you was that the thing I kept saying to anyone who would listen, over and over again, is that there is no distinction between Sovereigns, Churches and COrporations. They should all be governed by the same rules, they should all be equally transparent, being a voter and a shareholder should be similar and governed by the principle that being a voter and being a shareholder is something that belongs exclusively to humans. They should all be judged by their output and that output is not purely economic. Shareholders need to be concerned with more than the money they receive. And as for churches, well, it's hardly news that we need to keep a tighter reign on all these guys. Catholics, you know. Every corporation, sovereign and religion should obey the rule of law and be imminently and eminently answerable to its populace.
That had a number of ramifications that were fascinating to me at the time but that my subsequent crippling depression and return to the workforce and parenting responsibilities have not really given me time to unfold. Plus I have been so terrified of going back to that time. I have a plastic bag full of notes that I have written and I have simply not been able to open the bag and look at these things, so great is my own self-loathing over my consciousness jumping track. Isn't it ridiculous, it's not like I could control it. But of course I blame myself. And in this culture it does permanently marginalize you, and it marginalizes you exactly where it hurts: in the hearts and minds of your friends and family.
Anyway, do you think it is true? That they should all be treated the same way? Free to express but transparent in their dealings to all their citizens and members and shareholders? Shouldn't it be the same thing? What do you think?
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