Heroes Not Zombies

I imagine that the first thing you notice when you look at this image is the sea. In fact, it was the sea which caught my attention, and triggered my camera release. But when I review it now, my eye is drawn from the water, to the rocks, and then to the houses perched on the top of the cliff. Strangely, I didn’t notice them when I was taking the photo.

How would you like to live there? Right on the edge?

You’d certainly have a fabulous view of the sea every day, for as long as you wanted to. As best I know house prices on the coast, with a sea view, are pretty much higher than house prices inland, so, perhaps most people are keen to live on the edge.

Others find it a bit scary. They’re not so secure perched on the top of a cliff, and open to the winds and storms which sweep in from the sea from time to time.

We’re all different.

The philosopher, Gilles Deleuze, writes about the “far from equilibrium” zone. It’s where change occurs. It’s the closest area to chaos, to phase changes, to producing emergent phenomena which we couldn’t predict. He says that when we follow a “line of flight” towards the edge, things can become clearer. In the middle, in a balanced, and relatively static place, the mix of streams of information and energies can make it hard to distinguish characteristics and themes, but as you stretch out towards the edge, it’s a bit like unravelling a ball of threads, each colour becomes easier to see.

But there’s something else about living on the edge which occurs to me. I’ve noticed the word “extreme” is used a lot these days, especially in politics, and always with an intention of shutting people down. Some views are described as “extreme right”, others “extreme left” (sometimes the word “extreme” is replaced with the word “hard”) but what does it tell us about the person to whom we are attaching this label? It’s a judgement, not an observation. The label is applied differently in different contexts of course. As I understand it, something like “universal health care” is described as an “extreme” view by some (much more so in the USA than in Europe). Here in France, that’s definitely not labelled “extreme”.

I’m wary of labels at all times, but I’m especially wary of this “extreme” label. It doesn’t tell me anything. I want to hear what the person has to say. I want to understand their world view and their beliefs. I want to explore their values. Labelling them doesn’t let me do that.

By the way, understanding a point a view, doesn’t mean you have to adopt it. It can, however, open up some points of common ground, and shift the discourse away from the harmful polarised quality which seems dominant at this time.