Doorgaan naar hoofdcontent

An orchestral democracy

A fully grown democracy is actually comparable to a good functioning orchestra.

We had a nice discussion tonight about palestine and it's religious side. Which does not allow for too much secular individuality but at the same time garantuees a civil harmony you don't find in any western state.

In an orchestra, for example the orchestra we have now for beethoven 9th symphony. We have choir and orchestra. Where the choir, the 4 voice groups are actually like 4 big instruments that sometimes play together and sometimes individual, is composed of singers that need to function together in perfect harmony like in an organised religion.

In front of the choir the orchestra is composed of the winds and brass, wo need to carry a lot of individuality to be able to play solo parts. Acousticly they carry a big responsability, because errors are very easily heard.

The same goes for percussion. The strings are somewhat similair to the choir. A part from section leaders.
They also breath and play like one.

So you can see that a lot of individuality, of a secular quality needs to be guaranteed to be able to have a functioning orchestra.
The same goes for a state. Although one religion maybe most important, the integrity of the individual should be garantueed (woodwinds/brass/section leaders). Of course without that the fabric of society (choir/strings) falls apart.

The most healthy situation is where section leaders rotate, and where the conductor changes frequently. So the power stays with the people, and doesnt go only to the leader.

The democratic institutions that allow for this rotation, division of power and secularity should balance with the religious and cultural fabric that binds the people together. Then there can be harmony!

Reacties

Populaire posts van deze blog

Pardesiya

after skipping a nights sleep, i have arrived in israel without being controlled or checked by the customs. I had spent at least 10 minutes a day the past month which alternative story i had to tell against the israeli authorities. But nobody asked me anything. After i arrived we went to haifa, and while speaking to my host i learned his perspective on the conflict. The perspective of a child of holocaust survivors. I could see that israel is a modern and functioning country, clean and well organised. Fruits of the work of three different jews, the sefardic (from northern africa/spain), ashkenazi (from central europe) and the mizrachi (original to the arab peninsula). They made a modern democratic state in this desert. In which 2 million palestinians also live freely. They are the winners of many wars against their neighbours and are still besieging them, just like america still holds armybases in germany and japan. Actually the state of palestine can maybe be compared better w...

Realizations

integrating my journey into my daily life in vienna has brought me some interesting conclusions. So life in a muslim society like palestine is very presence based, when you greet, when you eat, when you discuss or work you constantly show presence. Because this is a way to be with god or show gratitude to hin, as muslims would say. Very similair as what buddhists call the present moment, or mindfulness. Back in europe, where we live in the remnants of what was a christian spiritual society, many people are left to cope with life by themselves. Or with their outer self, the descartian idea of i think therefore i am. We are obsessed with outer appearances, stuff and talking about our outer succes. We aren't forced to live religious lives, but many of us have lost to connection with their inner self or spiritual side. And therefore their seperate self or mind takes hold and starts comparing, burdening them with addictions, fears and loneliness. As an artist, i want to create a...

The frontiers of my tolerance

The frontiers of my own tolerance. Being here in Palestine, hearing the stories of their suppression is difficult. Especially when you are hosted like a foreign king. You can see them struggle with the occupation, and the emotions with the fact their land, culture and property is under pressure. It is under pressure by israel, and mostly the religious orthodox streams of power that claim on dubious historical research that they were once the inhabitants. At the same time there is a clash of culture. In a mostly muslim run society, you respect the leader does not matter what happens. He is the leader of the clan, but one should not compare this to democracy! There are no checks and balances. It is another style of leadership and control. More based on the belly. Maybe one can vote, but there are no mature institutions that can protect the individual as we know it. I met someone from Turkey today who works in a culture center and who came here in Ramallah to give funding to a...