There is no Return to a Status Quo
It feels like the world is in turmoil, and most people just want the chaos to stop. To return to some kind of normal, so that they can get on with their lives, comfortable that they know how the world works, and what tomorrow will bring.
Which are, of course, lies. But lying to yourself that you know how the world works staves off a fear of the unknown that could otherwise paralyze you.
While another status quo will emerge, it can never be one we’ve known.
It’s natural to develop an idea of how society works, and how we want it to be. But we tend to see some static ideal, as though we can achieve it and then never change. Or even a static framework in which controlled changes can happen. Despite all evidence to the contrary that this isn’t how things work. Things change, and the past is gone.
Change is constant. And every status quo is temporary. But it’s human nature to cling to certainties, so we weave lies to convince ourselves life isn’t as chaotic and unfair as we know it to be. And we’re always surprised when it is.
We feel betrayed by life, and look for someone to explain why it’s so. Even if what they tell us is blatantly untrue. It’s certainty we crave, not the truth. But the only true certainty is that everything will change, and any idea of fixing things that means making them as they were before is doomed to failure. But that’s not a comfortable truth.
Brexit was sold with vague lies about why the European Union is the cause of all problems afflicting Britain. Lies vague enough to let the desperate create their own illusions of the new status quo they thought was being promised.
The movement seemed to be led (apart from the money men now profiting from the chaos, and those with dubious political motives) by men deluded that Britain is still an empire, or who want to return to an idealised view of life before the EU.
[Not that I think the EU is perfect, but it’s a damn sight better than any view of Brexit we’ve been given]
It’s easier to look back for some model of a status quo you like than to imagine a new one. But it’s pointless. Far too many factors play into a status quo, not least technology. And technology changes so quickly these days that the delusion of a status quo can be harder to maintain.
In uncertain times, fear drives us to look back for a status quo to cling to, while hope makes us look forward.
Every status quo is a lie. But it’s a useful lie that lets us establish a routine, to avoid the anxiety of dealing with constantly new situations. We just need to see it for what it is, and make wiser choices in guiding which one we adopt next. Because at the moment we’re having foisted upon us one that doesn’t have our anxieties at heart.
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