What’s does the chain represent in this metaphor? Any limitation whatsoever, or some specific one? Some of your examples make it plain that some persistant features of ourselves and our communities shouldn’t be destroyed, even if they can be: we’ve seen baboons turn pacifist, but I’ll bet money that we can terrorize some typically pacifistic bonobos into violent monsters. So the fact that we can break a chain (if this refers to any habit or constraint to which we have become habituated) doesn’t mean we should.
So “break your chains” seems like bad advice on its own. What else can we add to it to make it good advice?
I think the right response is: if the chain isn’t actually preventing you from taking a course of action, don’t let the chain be the reason you reject that course of action. Or: shatter all chains, so that you can truly choose where you want to go. (You may not want to go where the chain was preventing you from going, but you can only really only ask that question once you are free).
shatter all chains, so that you can truly choose where you want to go.
On which level is this “true choice” made: group level or individual level? The story describes a change in the group. It does not necessarily follow that all individuals in that group were happy with the new situation. Just as not all individuals were happy with the old situation.
A group dynamic can change… some individuals may feel better, some individuals may feel worse. Why should we call this a “true choice”? Whose choice precisely?
What’s does the chain represent in this metaphor? Any limitation whatsoever, or some specific one? Some of your examples make it plain that some persistant features of ourselves and our communities shouldn’t be destroyed, even if they can be: we’ve seen baboons turn pacifist, but I’ll bet money that we can terrorize some typically pacifistic bonobos into violent monsters. So the fact that we can break a chain (if this refers to any habit or constraint to which we have become habituated) doesn’t mean we should.
So “break your chains” seems like bad advice on its own. What else can we add to it to make it good advice?
I think the right response is: if the chain isn’t actually preventing you from taking a course of action, don’t let the chain be the reason you reject that course of action. Or: shatter all chains, so that you can truly choose where you want to go. (You may not want to go where the chain was preventing you from going, but you can only really only ask that question once you are free).
On which level is this “true choice” made: group level or individual level? The story describes a change in the group. It does not necessarily follow that all individuals in that group were happy with the new situation. Just as not all individuals were happy with the old situation.
A group dynamic can change… some individuals may feel better, some individuals may feel worse. Why should we call this a “true choice”? Whose choice precisely?