Who are we,

 

Subject: Who are we.

What do we mean by identity. Do I identify myself as an English man or indeed, as a man, and is it important I do identify myself as something which others in society can equate to.  What if I can’t, what if I categorise myself as a monkey or a horse. I remember a  friends daughter right into her 6th or 7th year thought she was a horse and would play the part of being a horse, neighing and trying to reconcile her imaginary role by running in a sort of pantomime gallop. I’m sure she grew out of it but her parents (her mother was a psychologist) allowed her the rein (sic) to be what her mind represented to her, as her identity.

Our bodies are remarkable things and generally nature gets it right in that our mind and body appear in sink by attuning to what we appear to be but not always. Do we in fact follow the prompting of the mind in these matters or our anatomy. Does the bodies chemistry dictate our sex for instance regardless of being in possession of organs which normally dictate whether you are a boy or girl. If it’s chemistry and not equipment then how much more does chemistry dictate who we are and if we simply are a chemical soup, unpredictable, then this unpredictability, this lottery of substance is scary to say the least.

In societies in which conformity is the essence of the society then characteristic norms will be thrust upon all children to conform and maybe there is some justification in this given the range of chemical outcomes. Modern western thought try's to accommodate these variances in its slavish assumptions as to individual rights and the need to accommodate any new norm as being natural. We see new assemblies of chemical divergence begin to establish themselves as a minority pushing aside generations of social constraint in favour of a new hybrid. Do social constraints matter or should we welcome any type manifestation so long as it has the rough proportions of a human being.

The tragedy of locking away in Victorian institutions the misshapen wreak  of some biological mishap were horrible, as was the attitude to mental illness and the poor souls inflicted who were simply locked away out of sight.

Today we keep an open mind and try to put our faith in experts who will guide us through the dangers of a psychopath being released onto the streets but I well remember a warning from a mental institution nurse, when I was working in one of these institutions having asked how they coped being surrounded with so many certifiable and potentially dangerous people, his response was that inside the controlled environment of a mental institution he knew what he was dealing with but on the streets outside he had no way of knowing who was psychotic and who wasn't.

So it's all a lottery, a masquerade of good intentions with little surety of outcome.