Letter by Rousseau

'Calvin's idea of the small city as a perfect theocracy was straightforward. Here was an economically viable environment, a physical place offering protection in time of war, still small enough to permit constant surveillance of the populace. From the religious point of view, the adventage of the small city is that it is the most secure political tool to repress man's natural baseness. Rousseau struggled to view mankind as naturally good and yet view the political control as legitimate, therefore his view of the relationship of moeurs to the small city is more complicated than calvin's.'

'People come to depend on others for a sense of self. One manipulates one's appearance in the eyes of others so as to win thei approval, and thus feel good about oneself. ..... In a state of leisure, men and women develop the moeurs of actors, The seriousness of losing independence is masked because people are at play; they experience pleasure in losing themselves. In Rousseau words;
... the principal object is to please; and, provided that the people enjoy themselves, this object is sufficiently attained.'

'Large cities matter to Rousseau because they corrupt the very cente of a human being, corrupt his or her will. The very complexity of social and economict relations in the great city means you cannot tell what kind of man you are dealing with in any given situation by knowing what work he does, how many children he supports- in short, by how he survives. ... The situations in which you are likely to meet him are those on which you are not meeting for some functional purpose, but meeting in the context of nonfunctional socializing, of social interaction for ots own sake. And on this insight he imposes his analysis of the nature of leisured play. For in the state of leisure, people interact more and more for the sheer pleasure of contact; the more they interact outside the strictures of necessity the more they become actors. ...... Reputation- being known, being recognized, being singled out. In a big city this pursuit of fame becomes an end in itself; the means are all the impostures, conventions, and manners which people are so free to toy at in the comopolis. And yet these means leand inexorably to the end, for when one has no fixed 'place' in a society, dictated by the statewhich in turn is but the instrument of a Higher Power, then one makes up a place for oneself by manipulating one';s appearance. Because playacting is corrupt, all one wants to get from palying with one's appearance is applause. For Rousseau, the cosmopolis, in turn , destroys the believability of religion, because one can make up one;s own place, own;s identity, rather than submit to the identity the Higher Power has assigned one. The pursuit of reputation replaces the pursuit of virtue.

......
Just as clocks are ordinarily wound up to go only 24- hours at a time, so these people have to go into society every night to learn what they're going to think the next day. (tv?) Rousseau From Julie

People meem me full of friendship; they show me a thousands civilities; they render me services of all sorts. but that is precisely what i am complaining of. How can you become immediately the friend of a man whom you have never seen before? The true human interest, the plain and noble effusion of an honest soul- these speak a language far different from the insincere demonstration of politeness (and the false appearance) which the custom of the great world demand. julie rousseau

Quote

Each person, withdrawn into himself, behaves as though he is a stranger to the destiny of all the others. His children and his good friends constitute for him the whole of the human species. As for his transactions with his fellow citizens, he may mix among them, but he sees them not; he touches them, but does not feel them; he exists only in himself and for himself alone. And if on these terms there remains in his mind a sense of family, there no longer remains a sense of society.

-TOCQUEVILLE

Theatro mundi now and then

Theatro mundi is a theatre that existed a long time before we came to play our roles and will be still existing when we leave the stage. We all heard about its concept but not many of us reflected on what it actually means. Richard Sennet in 'The fall of public man' looks at the society that lived in XVIIIth C London and Paris via the prism of theatro mundi. In XVII and XVIII C the population of both capitals suddenly incresed due to the imigration of young, single individuals.
The arrival of strangers caused changes in towns' structure (its expansion and change in population density) ,as well as, more subtle but as important, changes in social order. No longer one possessed information about roots and social status of those he was meeting. This changed the way people greeted each other from terms as ' I am delighted to meet the men who....' after which follows a list of exploits in war, family connections etc. to more general, less discriminative terms that could be used in a conversation with anybody- not direct and without personal reference. Similarly changed dress code. Comfortable clothes were reserved for the private sphere of life while in public body was treated as a mannequin- clothes gave away information about your social status, job etc. Clothes worn at the time as well as decorations which accompanied them to a modern viewer would seem pretty grotesque. Bourgeoise used to wear facial make-up as well as masks. During times of Louise XV patches painted on the skin were indicating the character of the Parisian- if he was passionate, saucy, gay etc While in public people wore costumes.


O czym myślę?
W co wierzę?
Czy jestem szczęśliwa?
Czy było mu ze mną dobrze?
Czy naprawdę kocham, czy tylko bardzo tego pragnę?
O czym marzę?
Czy zdradziłam kiedyś ukochanego, przyjaciółkę, sekret?
Czy mama mnie kocha?
Czy boję się samotności, śmierci, śmieszności?
Czy jestem piękna?
Czy jestem dobrą matką, siostrą, córką, człowiekiem?
Czy moi wrogowie są dobrymi ludźmi?
Czy jestem nałogowcem w jakiejś życia dziedzinie?

Są takie pytania, miliony takich pytań, na które nie odpowiada się szczerze, po prostu. Są takie kwestie, w których nie jest się szczerym nawet przed sobą samą.

Prawdy, które ukrywa się głęboko i nad którymi przechodzi się do porządku dziennego. Pytania, które pomija się dla dobra dziennego porządku, bo odpowiadanie na nie ten porządek zakłóca.

Pragmatycznie nie otwieramy tych szufladek w mózgu, które mogą okazać się puszkami Pandory. Pytania, których się nie zadaje i na które nie chce się słyszeć odpowiedzi.

Życie to nie teatr, drżącym głosem śpiewał słaby psychicznie Stachura. I może ta słabość wynikała z nadmiernej szczerości? Ta nadmierna szczerość wobec siebie samego, właściwa artystom określanym mianem wrażliwców, niejednego skłoniła do samobójstwa.

Czasem uzmysławianie sobie zbyt wielu prawd na raz prowadzi do kompletnej autodestrukcji.

Some projects

http://wearcam.org/shootingback.html

http://www.guidespot.com/guides/cctv_surveillance_cameras_pictures

http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20080915-cctv-surveillance-video-artists-sniffing

Being authentic as being happy. But when am I authentic?

Written by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Copyright 1997-2008.
Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice.
- Ayn Rand, philosopher
The concept of authenticity has received a significant amount of attention recently as people search for meaning and happiness, particularly in their work lives. How one chooses to try to live more authentically depends on their own perspective on authenticity. Like many other popular concepts, different people have different views about authenticity and many people feel very strongly about their own views. Some people might assert that an individual is being authentic if they are being completely honest and participating in the here-and-now, eg, an honest conversation with a friend, completely focused on cleaning out the garage, etc. There are others who assert that authenticity involves many other features, including, eg, always being centered with themselves and others, living in a completely integrated fashion with their own values and principles, always feeling complete meaning or sense of purpose in their lives, etc.

The concepts of "authenticity" and "meaning" can seem almost the same. However, the major philosophical movement called existentialism has studied authenticity for centuries and helps us understand more abut what authenticity is, along with its relationship to the concept of meaning. Existentialists assert that if an individual is not living authentically in their lives, then they lose meaning and can fall into chronic anxiety, boredom and despair. People might pursue "quick fixes" to avoid the responsibility of living authentically, eg, quick fixes such as anesthetizing themselves with alcohol or drugs, living in fantasies, etc. Others might even assert that it's inauthentic to pursue any approach (programs, books, etc.) that promises to help people transcend (escape?) the responsibilities -- and sometimes drudgery -- of day-to-day living.

Regardless of others' perspectives on authenticity, it's important for people in management to live and work as authentically as possible -- a goal that is usually often difficult to achieve, particularly in large organizations. As mentioned above, how one chooses to live a more authentic life depends on their perspective. A person might choose to appreciate more their own current approach to life, or meditate on a regular basis, or journal (write down) their thoughts, or engage in regular retreats, or sign up for a more complete program, etc.

http://managementhelp.org/prsn_wll/authentc.htm

When am I authentic? What behavior is authentic? Does being authentic equal being exposed? Can you be authentic still protecting your privacy? Is being anonymous same as not being authentic?

The changes in the public domain.\ The past in the present

"The history of the words "public" and "private" is a key to understanding this basic shift in the terms of Western culture. The first recorded uses of the word "public" in English identify "public" with the common good in society; in 1470. for instance, Malory spoke of "the emperor Lucyos.... dictatour or procurour of the publyke wele of Rome." Some seventy years later, there was added a sense of "public" in his Chronicle of 1542 "Their inwarde grudge could not refrayne but crye out in places publicke, and also private." "Private" was there used to mean privileged, at a high governmental level. By the end of the 17th century the opposition of public and private was shaded more like the terms are used now. Public meant open to the scrutiny of anyone, whereas private meant sheltered region of life defined by one's family and friends." p 16

"... we get excited when conservative French president has diner with a working-class family, even though he has raised taxes on industrial wages few days before, or believe an American President is more "genuine: and reliable than his predecessor because the new man cook his own breakfast. This political "credibility" is the superimposition of private upon public imagery, and, again, it arose in the last century as a result of behavioral and ideological confusion between these two realms." p 25

"How can a view of social ills or the vision of a better society ever signify in and of itself, and motivate sustained action, if its believability depends on how much an audience at a given moment sympathizes with the character of the man who champions the cause? Under these conditions, the system of public expression became one of personal representation; a public figure presents to others what he feels, and it is this representation of his feelings which arouses belief." p 26

"If one can;t help showing what one feels, and if the truth of any emotion, statement, or argument in public depends on the character of the person speaking, how are people ever to avoid being fathomed? The only sure defense is to try to keep oneself from feeling, to have no feelings to show. ..... (about Victorian times) For instance, people tried to their characters from others by wearing as little as possible jewelry, lace, or trimmings of an unusual kind, so as not to draw attention to themselves" p 26

(about mid-19th century London and Paris)
"There grew up the notion that strangers had no right to speak to each other, that each man possessed as a public right an invisible shield, a right to be left alone. Public behavior was a matter of observation, of passive participation. pf a certain kind of voyeurism. The "gastronomy of the eye", Balzac called it. "

"Strolling is the gastronomy of the eye. To walk is to vegetate, to stroll is to live." Honoré de Balzac

"The pardaox of visibility and isolation which haunts so mucg of modern public life originated in the right to silence in public which took form in the last century. Isolation in the midst of visibility to others was a logical consequence of insisting on one's right to be mute when one ventured into this chaotic yet still magnetic realm."

p. 27

Dead Public Space

"There is a .... more brutal sense of social isolation in public places, as isolation directly produced by one's visibility to others."

(about open space planning) "This destruction of walls, office planners are quick to say, increase office efficiency, because when people are all day long visually exposed to one another, they are less likely to gossip and chat, more likely to keep to themselves. When everyone has each other under surveillance , sociability decreases, silence being the only form of protection. The open-floor office plan brings the paradox of visibility and isolation. ... People are more sociable, the more they have some tangible barriers between them, just as they need specific places in public whose sole purpose is to bring them together. ... Increase intimate contact and you decrease sociability." p 15