As water is to fish, so is society to people

摘要

Looking down from a bridge onto a lake with Koi carp, I can see them moving sinuously through the water. Their progress appears natural, effortless. If I could ask the carp, would they be aware that they are swimming in water? I think not. Maybe they would talk about their own ability at swimming, their long hours of practice, that clever signature flick of their tail and never mention the element in which they live. Perhaps fish only become aware of the existence of water when they are taken out of it; are landed gasping on the river bank by a fisherman. Then they realise its importance and know that, if they are not returned within minutes, they will die. So it is for us. People, especially modern people, see themselves as independent actors who forge their own lives, who create their own meaning out of their lives. Yet take a man out of society into solitary confinement and in short order a number will go quite mad. Those who remain sane, and some have survived solitary confinement for years, sometimes do so supported by a sense of the justness of their cause, of a society out there supporting them. Others engage in elaborate rituals of exercise, memory, and prayer to impose order.