Abstractism - An Idea Project, by Ed Whitfield

For me the idea of Abstractism is the concept that there are different possibilities with which we can view aspects of the world around us, to go so far as saying that it is possible to view things, even 'reality' in a completely different light, with different shapes, colours and structures.

Reality has to be plucked from somewhere. I don't mean the physical things around us, I mean the concepts we use to understand them. Language, the alphabet, mathematics, all of which became reality after people felt they ought to think about them. They weren't lying beneath the surface of the earth, waiting to be discovered. They were invented and, hence, altered reality.

A relevant example I would like to use is that of power structures. The way we interact with one another, how relationships develop are all subject to power. Look at typical relationships between lovers, parents and children, workers and bosses. These may all be viewed with power in mind, thus helping to understand how they may develop.

I believe that power itself is imagined. We perceive that one may hold power over us but the reasons are often over looked. We may grant certain power to people so we may get ahead ourselves. You may submit to certain unsavoury conditions in the work place or at home, but the reason for this allowance of authority may be that you gain a certain advantage. You may accept authority from a trusted expert, a doctor or a technician of some sort. Very seldom, and probably never, in your life will someone put a gun to your head to make you do something. Yet even in this situation you still have the choice to submit to power or deal with it and then the consequences afterwards. Remember, people such as governments, armies or police, they are expressing their own choice to exert power. You may not agree with it but they are free to do it. Just because you don't like authority doesn't mean it's wrong, it just depends on how you deal with it. I believe it's wrong but others obviously don't, and in my case I have to live with it, to ignore it as much as possible and when I am restricted by authority, to do my best to deal with it.

The feeling of restriction by a source of authority is just that, a feeling. It is not a concrete, physical thing, even if it is written in stone or is holding a gun to your head. There is no universal law that permits people to hold power over others. There is no divine right. The laws that restrict you from hitting your boss, for example, are passed by the same people you disagree with, so their laws hardly apply (unless of course you wish to bow to their authority for your own perceived advantage). Authority is a feeling. Feelings are abstract. But so were a lot of things that are now quite real in this current date and age. If we can't pinpoint power down to definite positions, we can analyse our relationships according to who exerts power upon you, how much, and who do you exert power upon, how much?

Examine your day. What do you do when you get up? When do you get up? Does this suit you or bother you? Pinpoint the reasons behind you actions. Follow this train of thought until you come to a conclusion. For example, you get up at six to catch the bus at seven thirty to arrive in work at nine because your boss will fire you if you are late again. Now what are the reasons behind your compliance to another's authority? Well if you are late and you get fired you won't be able to buy food or pay the rent. And this goes on. The conclusions you come to are in accordance with your own lifestyle. The reasons you may agree to follow orders here, or resent following them elsewhere.

The only thing you can do then is to either ask yourself are your lifestyle choices worth people exerting however much power over you, find other accommodating practices to fulfill your lifestyle needs or perhaps you wish to place in the balance substance over style, kick right to the bucket and blame the economy for placing people in positions of power over you and not giving you a chance to do anything about it. In which case you better give up and begin to figure out a way to destroy the system.

I would go so far as to say that your day could be drawn out like a piece of music on a computer programme. The tracks may represent the relationships relative to a certain amount of time, the instruments that play upon your life, and time being the overall song. And along every track you would place boxes of different lengths and colours, lengths representing time under influence of power / exercising your own power, colour representing degree of power you are under / exercising. Now that you can see how power plays on your life more clearly you are in a better position to deal with it.

I believe that when you exert power over someone you draw from their energy. For example if you got your secretary to do heaps of extra filing you could have done yourself if you weren't off on that date, when he gets home that night the extra energy needed to file for you shall have him that extra bit tired and drawn from. And the reverse applies, of course, when an authority asks of you something, they draw from your power supply, not only saving theirs but making them feel more important and better about themselves, albeit superficially so for I also believe that if both of you, the secretary and yourself, helped each other with the filing instead of one person doing it, doesn't matter which, the feeling of well being would far supersede that of having exerted power upon another. We long for human contact and every job that has to be done seems to go by much quicker when another is there to help.

Power, here or there, drains people, puts them in bad moods, or moods of superficial elatedness that may not become satisfied and inevitably lead to resentment. These are my reasons for exploring and thinking about the abstract feelings of power in my life and in society in general.

Why must we recognise these power structures and power struggles? For a better and easier life. To live to our full potential. To create a knowledge base that may be studied to help reduce stress and stress related deaths, which are on the increase! To hopefully attain a higher understanding, overall, that we don't need to tell each other what to do, that we may live in peace and harmony with each other, having no need to be afraid of, compete with or resent one another. To live without authority in a truly free world where all forms of life are respected and seen as all being apart of the same grain. But for now I think it is up to the individual to be aware and do their best to get past authority in their own lives and hopefully begin to create awareness for others around them.

-- Ed Whitfield, February 2004

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