Legitimacy

Our navigability in the world is heavily dependent on our real or perceived “legitimacy” …

le·git·i·ma·cy              

1.    conformity to the law or to rules.

2.    ability to be defended with logic or justification; validity.

https://www.google.com/search?q=legitimacy&oq=legitimacy&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.2407j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

Legitimacy is strongly associated with AGENCY:

“In social science, agency is the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices.  By contrast, ... factors of influence (such as social class, religion, gender, ethnicity, ability, customs, etc.) [may] determine or limit an agent and his or her decisions.”        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agency_(sociology)

“Agency” is enhanced by a strong underpinning of “legitimacy” and “legitimacy” is enhanced by a strong underpinning of “agency”.  Thus, the ability of an individual “ … to act independently and to make their own free choices … “ depends on the “legitimacy” of those choices. 

RESPECT is a closely related attribute or character-istic ... generally reserved for those who “conform to the rules”, who can be “defended with justification”, and who courageously act independently with a high degree of AGENCY to advance civilization. 

INTEGRITY is a closely aligned attribute ... a behavioral character-istic consistent with the highest values and principles of civilization.    

Why does this matter?

First, as noted at the outset, navigability in the universe heavily depends on these collective attributes.

More importantly, however, the loss of any one of these attributes – and certainly the loss of ALL of them – yields a loss of one’s ever-tenuous grip on life and living in almost any context.  From such losses, there is often no acceptable escape: 

“… Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time
Goodbye, everybody, I've got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama, ooh, I don't want to die …”

Bohemian Rhapsody

Conversely, no matter how deprived of life’s amenities one may be, retention of personal integrity or “respectability” is often ALL that matters. 

A grave account was given of an interview with a convicted murderer who had shot a college coed point blank in the head.  The interviewer persisted in asking “WHY?”   What had started out as a simple theft had ended in a horrendous and completely unnecessary loss of life. 

“She showed me no respect,” he said. 

[Really?!]

I couldn’t help wondering:  Respect on what basis?  Because he was a male?  Because he had a gun?  Because he was bigger than she was?  Because he was co-opting legitimacy and presumptively acting – illegitimately – as the “authority” figure in the exchange and she wouldn‘t buy it? 

Those without bona fide legitimacy (through which to gain at least the perception of respect) will try to co-opt it by inducement of fear.  In sports, those with a weak offense can only hope to mount a withering defense (ref., Rick Pitino). 

However, in most other fields of endeavor, the inducement of fear and application of withering defenses (aka “Black Belt Winning Strategies” or “Who have you licked lately?”) are very short-term winning strategies.  Sustainable navigation – at least in the 21^st Century – involves cooperation, collaboration, alliances, affiliation and negotiation; the world has gotten too complicated for Lone Rangers shooting from the hip seeking to rearrange the world in their own image on their own terms.   

In fact, very few people want to deal with a bully, and don’t want one on their team.  They’re not going to go out of their way to accommodate a power-grubbing, win-at-all-cost, my-way-or-the-highway despot. 

Legitimacy lives on a two-way street where all parties, truth, “right-reckoning” and civilized engagement are valued.  

Still, in all, the attraction of illegitimate engagement runs deep – especially after important doors have closed for legitimate engagement concerning desired or expected outcomes – or for perceived entitlements not otherwisely bestowed.  Literature, both ancient and current, is replete with examples of proverbial Faustian bargains: 

“A Faustian bargain is a deal with the devil, a pact with Satan, an agreement that allows you to have anything you've ever wanted – including youth, wealth, fame, talent/skill, knowledge and/or power.  In exchange … , all you have to do is hand your soul over to the devil for eternity.”  http://study.com/academy/lesson/faustian-bargain-definition-lesson-quiz.html 

Importantly, Legitimacy/Agency/Respect is gained by conferral from others not by coercive acquisition.  And just being “different” … like garnering the most tattoos … does not give one “commanding authority”.  [Yes, you dared to be different, but to what purposeful end and for what greater good?]   In addition, simply wearing a Superman cape or underwear or a New England Patriots jersey does not necessarily confer legitimacy/agency or respect.  (Why would you wear something with someone else’s name or insignia on it other than to portray yourself as something or someone you are not – which is, essentially, an illegitimate act!?!) 

So, back to our original assertion: Exactly HOW does “legitimacy” support “navigation of the universe”?

Very simply, legitimacy provides ACCESS to the best people and opportunities civilization has to offer.

Of course, one will quickly note that POWER and MONEY can easily – in fact, far TOO easily – “buy” access without legitimacy.  Such is its own Faustian bargain, relegating the players to shadows of conscience and shallows of contrivance and only temporary gain.  Here, an alt-“Golden Rule” is espoused:

Golden Rule – Alt Version

“He who has the GOLD makes the RULES!”

Curiously, the man with the gold will invest ONLY in one who has legitimacy/integrity.  Without THAT ONE, there is no more gold!  Build LEGITIMACY!   Be a dependable, accountable, respectable quality producer with “agency” and integrity. Quartermaster

Psychic Energy

First of all, this is not about crystal ball gazing and clairvoyant phrenology!   It’s about the “electrifying” energy that comes from the “Psyche” … variably referred to as the “pneuma, the anima, the inner being, or essence … “.  In simpler terms, it’s “mental energy” or “brain energy”.  But, in this context, it is distinguished from metabolic or electrolytic energy. 

At almost any major sporting event in the 21^st Century, you will see contestants pause to replenish their electrolytes with “Gatorade”.  In the 1950s, sports team managers would give players “salt pills” (electrolytes) and “sugar pills” (dextrose/metabolites) at half-time.  Neither mind nor body will function well if out of balance in any context.  But, all things stabilized, it’s the “psyche” that calls the shots.

By “Psychic Energy”, I mean that internal, ethereal, captivating driving force that rises up inside us – ready or not – to make stuff happen.  Without it, not very much of any consequence happens unless EXTERNAL energy is applied or a “fight of flight” response is engaged.  

The question raised here is: How do we capture, focus and better utilize MORE internally-generated “Psychic Energy” toward more profitable ends? 

The unbridled, non-focused psychic energy of ADHD is something with which an expanding array of victims, parents, teachers, managers and behavioral psychologists increasingly struggle.  And the annals of psychiatry are full of manic disorders (which many of us seem to have in variably milder forms!)

But a more fundamental problem is how to get more specifically “Psyched UP”, “Fired UP”, “Animated” and “In Gear” for doing useful things.  Fundamentally, we want to find out: “What turns us ON?”  

The book series “What Color Is Your Parachute?” by Dick Bolles, first published in 1970, has been an excellent guide for helping multiple generations define and design personal vocational aspirations, including purpose, passion and mission, to help guide “energizable” career choices.  However, whatever parachute we adopt or cobble together, we need to put “Psychic Wind” under it every day to keep it aloft! 

So, what drives the floatation of your parachute?  How much “Psychic Wind” have you got, and how much MORE of it can you generate or access? 

For me, much of my “psychic energy” came from a compelling “Need to Know” … a burning urge to know how the world worked … how to cure cancer and aging … how to test the next most viable hypothesis … how to get better results … how to become more efficient … how to make more sense of the universe …  

There was also an “avoidance” component to my psychic energy … a compelling desire to avoid deprivation, censure, embarrassment, “losing”, illness, weakness, “second class” status, etc.

And there was an “affirmation/validation” component: I needed external validation that I was held in some level of esteem by others – not only by “belonging” to a community of achievers, but by being a contributor … not only “pulling my own weight” but “making a difference” in some significant way – not merely “wasting oxygen”.  

Importantly, so many things can sap or zap our psychic energy, including: Uncertainty, indecision, procrastination, illness, imbalances in electrolytes, hormones or metabolites, anxiety, depression, stress, over-commitment, under-engagement, boredom (really?), competing sources of negative energy (including drugs, alcohol and “tribalism”), and what I call “sludge” (TV, social media and video games, as well as junk food and the negative impact it has on our “Biome” and overall wellbeing). 

Worse than diminishing psychic energy is its usurpation and misdirection.  Distractions, misperceptions and dallying in any or all of the vices can misdirect psychic energy in counter-productive ways.  Novelties are a particular nuisance.  We like to buy new stuff … the latest gadgets.  How many of us have “Prime” accounts at Amazon, or will have such by the end of this calendar year? 

[At this writing, I’m debating about acquiring a newer car with more “bells and whistles”.  Totally unnecessary!]

Attitude and enthusiasm require barrels and boat loads of psychic energy, but it’s got to be profitably directed!  TOP DOG discipline, focus and goal tending can engage seemingly bottomless wellsprings of psychic energy … almost always involving significant others – coaches, mentors, role models and miscellaneous “cheer leaders” (note “bandwagon effect”).    

A healthy spectrum of psychic energy absolutely depends on a healthy and well-balanced spectrum of metabolic, electrolytic and interpersonal “connecting” energies.  Get rested!  Exercise!  Eat right! Cultivate energizing, “enlifening”  and inspiring associations!  And seriously reduce or eliminate all the energy-sapping and zapping “Dark Matter”.  Finally, DREAM BIGGER!  A large enough Dream produces its own “fire in the gut” psychic energy.  Burn, Baby, Burn – and Sail ON!   Quartermaster   

Visioning for Beginners

Motivational speakers, personal coaches and self-help proponents all underscore the importance of having a VISION, a DREAM, a LIFE PURPOSE, a PASSION … an overarching GRAND GOAL as an essential driving force for a successful life.  Unfortunately, not everybody has one!

So, how does one go about “capturing” a Dream or a GRAND GOAL?

Or is that really necessary?

For the Neanderthal, mere survival was the GRAND GOAL.  Subsequent civilizations – roughly through the middle of the 20^th Century – simply worked and fought for a “better life” – more certain food supplies, better and more secure housing, more secure sources of heat and cooling, etc.

Eventually, the starkest realities dissipated and non-conscripted time became available beyond scrambling-to-cover-basic-needs.  This gave rise to aspirational & creative engagement, with innovation and unbridled imagination, which gave us literature, poetry and the arts, plus astonishing advances in science, technology and medicine. 

 However, we also used such non-conscripted, “unscheduled” time simply to entertain ourselves, artfully developing escapist Dreams and fantasies. 

Interestingly, slaves and the inextricably down-trodden developed strong spiritual roots and renderings, often buoyed by music and dance, to help them rise above their circumstances and engender Hope for a better day to come.  The power to be found in deep spiritual roots is hard to overstate. 

But as civilization advanced, life became “tough” in more complex ways, and we needed different coping skills.  Those whose mantra had always been “God will provide!” had to come to terms with a more fundamental Truth:

The Almighty had already given them hands, feet and all the rest of what they needed for starters, so most of the rest of “providing” was in their own hands! 

As life’s complexity increased, so did the path to independence.  Longer and better paved runways to the future had to be built.  Instead of slopping the hogs beginning at age 8 or 9, planting cotton, tobacco, rice and corn at ages 10-16 and bailing hay at ages 12-18, youth were sent to public schools through age 18 to learn the technicalities required to navigate a new world.  This separation from “old realities” – at a “ghosted subsidy” of roughly $300,000 per student in 2017 currency – distanced them from understanding the full power needed for lift-off toward NEW REALITIES. 

How so?  When the compelling needs to hunt deer, grow crops and put food on the table were taken out of the equation for survival, a new freedom from home-based authority emerged.  School, for some, became a ready-made venue for autonomous “freedom of expression”, “freedom from oppression”, perfecting the practical joke, bullying others, defying the new “authorities” and “seeing how much they could get away with”.    

Unfortunately, REALITY never took a day off!   It was there – always there – with its burgeoning indebtedness constantly accruing, waiting for each new wave of freshly minted “soldiers of fortune” to begin shouldering their part of a bargain they neither clearly understood nor completely accepted:  But the “Cost of Living” still had to be paid!    

Interestingly, the “Cost of Living” hasn’t really changed.  Everything we Deserve – and everything we can legitimately Dream – is going to take everything we’ve got, and it’s always been that way.  However, the cost of “slippage” has increased.  The speed of change, the increased demand for focus, the expansion of access around planet earth, and the increasingly “global economy” now require us to compete more competitively with 7 billion other inhabitants! 

So, here’s the question one could legitimately ask: If all that’s required for any one of us to “make it” is “everything we’ve got” – and if “everything we’ve got” we’ve already GOT – why aren’t more people “making it”?  Why are so many underachieving their true potential?  Why are so many 35-45-year-olds so hopelessly in debt … why so many divorces … why so many jobs lost … why so many promotions foregone … why such increasing numbers unable to consider retirement? 

While real reasons and contributing factors vary, including misfortune and the lack of opportunity, we need to take the poorest reasons off the table, starting with:

1)    Holding back on “everything we’ve got”, and

2)    Allowing too much “slippage” … which would include:

Shoddy preparation / Truncated Education / Limited Skills

Poor Use of Unscheduled Time

Excuses and Explanations

Blaming Others

… etc. …

The challenge is compounded by too little “burning passion” and a hollowed out sense of urgency.  “Living in the NOW” and immersion in “Mindfulness” doesn’t light fires … it puts them out!

So one is left wondering:  If we’re not driven by Dreams, Visions, Purpose and Grand Goals, what ELSE can produce, engender or substitute for “burning passion” and a “sense of urgency”? 

Ultimately, everything funnels down to a grand “WHY?”  If there’s no compelling reason to look beyond our immediate comfort zone, we’ll never see or pursue new horizons of possibility, even as the old horizons continue to shrink, become stale and obsolete, and disintegrate around us. 

Obsolescence and the disintegration of Absolutes [see “Living Without a Goal” by James Ogilvy] should galvanize our “WHY?” and “WHAT FOR?”  In fact, this realization should give us a new sense of liberation by releasing us from the constraints of unworkable Tribal Truths, “died in the wool” political party allegiances, prejudices, the incongruities of a 6,000 year-old earth, a Heaven that’s only one layer of stratosphere deep, etc.

At this writing, I’ve just found out that Kroger is eliminating its “Senior Discount Day” program – which I have “religiously” followed for its entire duration.  I now realize that this program had been holding me “hostage” every week until Thursdays; however, now I can shop ANY day of the week when provisions run low and not feel that I’m unconscionably compromising my principles of thrift! 

Sooner or later, we’re going to be faced with both the prospect and the necessity of deep water navigation where there are no constraining buoys, no prescribed “shipping channels”, capricious currents and weather patterns to negotiate, and a whole lot of flotsam and jetsam.  That – if nothing else – should send us scampering … with all the urgency we can muster … to maximally capacitize ourselves, gain more stabilizing “ballast”, and construct a life-line network of associations and affiliations to help get us wherever it is we’re going. 

Capture a VISION of DEEP WATER NAVIGATION, generously “Pixelate” that VISION [http://www.ertiaunlimited.com/pixelate-your-life/ ], and power UP for the voyage of your life!   Quartermaster