I don’t really have new years resolutions. My goals are always more or less the same: Focus on consistency in reading, writing, exercise and don’t fall into destructive patterns. But for 2024 I want to also add this to the list: Guard against cynicism against all cost.
2023 was a rough year not only for South Africa but globally. Consistent and lengthy loadshedding was but one of the discouraging features of incompetent South African governance. I won’t list all my frustrations here. I think it will have the opposite effect of what I’m trying to achieve with this post. I want this article to leave the reader with a sense of possibility.
Last year, I wrote a post about cynicism. I wrote that post for many reasons, but partly as a reminder to myself that being cynical is damaging to many aspects of my life. Doing creative work and finding solutions to problems requires us to be in a positive state of mind. That was one of the main points of the post. There is no way to find solutions when we are down in the dumps. So, from a merely pragmatic standpoint: cynicism sucks!
Conversely, pretending that everything is fine isn’t the answer either. Ignoring difficult truths can be exceptionally damaging. So, being cynical is bad. But so is being unreasonably optimistic. So, what to do?
Here’s how I look at it: To change something requires awareness of it. This is the foundational truth of self-awareness work. Nothing can change if there is no awareness. So, instead of becoming discouraged about what is going on with institutions, and government, and whatever else, we should realise that seeing the problems is the first step to transforming it. To change something, to transform it, requires us to look at what is there. Not sweeping uncomfortable truths under the rug, but really looking at the entire rotten mess.
This is why seeing what is going on isn’t a bad thing. We need to be aware of it to transform it.
Extreme difficulty requires extreme growth and we can’t make progress on the path if we are stuck in negative narratives. But we also can’t make progress if we don’t look at what’s going on. To truly change things—systems, education, healthcare, whatever—requires us to look at what’s not working. You can’t build strong structures on shaky foundations. And rotten things will naturally crumble.
In some sense, the world is going through a tower phase. In the Tarot, The Tower card is an archetypal moment when a structure that has been built on shaky foundation, falls. This doesn’t necessarily relate to a physical structure. More often than not it relates to some destructive pattern (or relationship, or job, or something) that doesn’t serve us. For instance, a health scare can be a tower moment. A tower moment is that moment when we can no longer lie to ourselves, stick our head in the sand, and pretend that everything is okay. It is the moment when we are forced to make better decisions and build on truth. In many ways, we are going through a tower phase collectively.
A tower phase is uncomfortable and painful and disruptive. But it is the start that leads to something better. I remind myself of this when I look at the state of the world. I try to keep in mind that the essence of The Tower is revelation. Whatever is shrouded in darkness cannot be changed. The seeing can be uncomfortable and painful, but it is the first step in a better direction.