The Red Queen Theory

Look around you. Try to think of the last time you defied the law… or broke a rule… or rebelled against someone who was above you in this world’s hierarchy. Then think back further… about all the times you did it… the rush of adrenalin, the heady feeling of having achieved something different or difficult. Are you proud? This peak you have conquered, this battle you have won… your name should go down in history right?

I mean, that time when you got wasted on your 18^th birthday… after all, drinking under 21 truly is against the law isn’t it?

And sneaking home after curfew was a thrill wasn’t it? And that was a rule your dad enforced with a fist of iron!

Oh and how could we forget, when you spoke back to your boss politely and he didn’t even realize you’d made him look like a fool! Insurrection! Rebellion! Whoooooo!

Do you feel shame?

Is that the best you could do?

Couldn’t you challenge an authority higher than that?

Is it so inconceivable to find a challenge greater than getting drunk underage?

Could you not be bolder?

Or are your dreams that small??? Why are they so limited?

Now look around you again. Look at the laws in place. In the US, there are laws against doing anything out of the ordinary. The Patriot Act and such, allow the government to watch and hear you, anywhere and everywhere. There are laws that allow them to stop you from doing anything they don’t consider ‘normal’ and ‘good’ and then there are laws that give them a legal shield and even further laws that make sure none of these laws can be changed without lengthy processes involving people who aren’t even affected by these useless, incomprehensible restrictions. Who in the Congress would care if graffiti was made legal or not?

Chaos, Anarchy and Instability in themselves are not good for society. However, because of laws like these all around us, the world has become too ‘prim and proper’. Society is now tied down and shackled with legalities, paperwork, documentation and the like.

All of these turn a simple process like starting your own store, or forming your own organization into a long, drawn out and unbearably slow one.

As a result, peoples ambitions have fallen down to today’s paltry levels.

And so we are headed for Stagnation.

In the old days, there was more chaos, more petty crime, less ‘policing’, but there were also more changes and better adaptation.

Breakers and reefs on a beach can slow down the waves, thus rendering the waves powerless and useless. So these ‘protected’ beaches stay the same… ever-unchanging.

On the other hand, open beaches, exposed to the sea’s power and to rough waves, provide a different view every day and thus they don’t stagnate. True, there is more risk to swimmers, but there have to be other ways of keeping people safe that doesn’t involve locking them into boxes and restricting them to only one unchanging scene.

In the days past, there were tales and truths of Revolutions and Coups… in every field: in the Arts, in Literature, in Science, in Industries, in Politics, in Religion, in Philosophy… everything!!

But now, every act, every organization, every person, hides behind official documents. Not a scrap of Passion is left. Everyone is afraid of being persecuted for the most minor transgressions.

It is like a game of chess where each one of your pieces protects another piece and everything is perfectly balanced and set so that any attack can be repelled. However, you then cannot afford to move even a finger for fear that the whole balance will be broken and the army will be destroyed.

It is the inherent danger with achieving static balance (stagnation). Although it appears more stable and reliable, it also means that if any one factor is disturbed, the system can’t compensate adequately. As a result, everything collapses and getting back to a balance again becomes next to impossible.

Dynamic balance on the other hand can compensate almost infinitely with the only limitation being time. And given enough time to react, the system will be stable at all times. And it will not stagnate as dynamic balance is achieved by constant change occurring to compensate for other changes.

So said the Red Queen to Alice: To stay in the same place you have to run as fast as you can!

That is what we should aim for… Dynamic Balance.

“May the tsunami of change decimate the barriers and reefs.

May the sea be allowed to lash and writhe again.

For it is only then, that it is truly alive.”

~ sayings of the Hellspawn