To Be, or not to be?
We all know the question, coined in 1600BC by William Shakespeare - probably history's most successful playwrights - in his autistic world of Hamlet Act III, Scene I, and brought to the modern big screen by the transgendered genius of the Warchowski sisters in The Matrix trilogy - one of Hollywood's most successful movie franchises.
But what is it asking, what is the correct answer and what does giving the correct answer tell us?
Black or White, which is best?
The term monochrome comes from the Ancient Greek word μονόχρωμος (Monochromos) meaning 'having just one colour’. It’s a binary that’s functional, clear, good at showing contrasting positions and it’s accessible for everyone to read and understand. Plus it saves a tonne on printer cartridges! We love it for all that. It's why our logo acknowledges that sometimes, against the backdrop of life, white looks better than black, and other times black looks better than white.
But in fact, no natural source of light is truly monochromatic. That would take waves of either zero or infinite duration to sustain. Therefore, neither White nor Black feature in the visible light spectrum. As colours, just like any other binary Human comparison, they simply aren’t authentic which like body language we perceive subconsciously (See our article: What is Authenticity?).
We discovered that, just like our instinctual fear of snakes, Human's hate binary labels because nothing is ever black and white. They’re bland and don’t reflect the full, beautiful extent of the Uniqueness and Complexity of this incredible world we all share. Worse still, these meaningless hallmarks of those using Social Construction to achieve or keep power at the expense of truth and authority are designed to prevent change by excusing inaction.
So at Deilight at least, we never use pure white or black as a colour, nor do we apply binary labels when discussing the complex, multifaceted Human Identity, behaviour and cultural dynamics that are preventing change on some of the world's most wicked problems.
What is Social Construction?
Look up any definition of True Leadership and you'll almost certainly find nonsense, about good vs bad people, listeners vs speakers, and thinkers vs doers... when in reality we all know that all Human's are a bit of both, governed as we are by complex spectra, not binary labels. The best explanations for True Leadership inevitably come as quotations from True Leaders themselves. But it's my article so let me try instead:
"True Leaders can represent anyone they hold a duty of care over by setting an example, always being authentic and valuing the uniqueness - not the differences - of those they serve. Through these qualities, legitimate Change Makers unlock the rare Human capacity for Free Will - the ability to create and drive any meaningful positive change, ensuring their people, organisations and nations can become forever better."
Sound like anyone you know? The most solid explanation for why we see so much reductive comparisons all around us is that our power structures are now dominated not by True Leadership but by Toxic Masculinity:
"Those who manifest aggressive psychopathic tendencies and oppression in order to mask their own repressed identity born from their repressed fear of change, uniqueness and authenticity."
Their war of persecution against Change Makers in order to take power has left them impotent of the ability to make choices, ideate growth strategies or create change. Wherever you see the warning signs of blue and red or black and white, you can be sure the simplest binary choice of all has now become those 'leaders' sole option:
To Be Real: Trim costs through automation and redundancies, whilst gaining any and all scale solely through mergers or acquisitions or;
Not To Be Real: Deploy Divide & Rule power tactics, by claiming an imminent but actually fictitious threat from a particular Human trait they themselves embody that is also present in the targeted Outgroup. Painting pictures of marauding Mexican's, lunching ladies and bravado boys instead of the Human's they are dehumanises the targeted group through Oppression whilst stoking hatred amongst the electorate. For the singular objective of positioning themselves as saviours, they (often) permanently alter Human perceptions and sentiments towards others.
Understand why anyone could have Free Will, but very few do
First some rudimentary Neuroscience:
The Brainstem: In many ways similar to how Artificial Intelligence works, our automation centre processes information subconsciously in order to output tribalistic responses with the sole goal of self-preservation and self-promotion.
The Pre-Frontal Cortex: Our Sapience centre is where our conscious choices are made thanks to our unique ability for abstract thought and complex reasoning necessary to see and innovate change beyond the existing paradigm.
Scientists have understood for a long while that information is automatically routed to either location without our conscious knowledge (Franklin TB et al, 2016), but have been at a loss to explain just how do Human's choose their choice pathways? We're Deilighted to finally provide the answer...
Human Curiosity and the propensity for Purposeful People to become forever better through Trial and Error are surely two of Humanity's greatest unique gifts. However they also proved to be our worst enemy. In a neuropsychological sense at least, Greed was born not by women, snakes and apples 200,000 years ago as literal theologists claim, but by men through coinage 5,000 years ago. Today, Hatred-spawning greed is growing exponentially thanks to the increasing popularity of exotic Securities and Banking products like Discounting and Cryptocurrency, plus the (passably) hidden structural inequity that permeates all aspects of modern societies. The antithesis of Authenticity, these and other artificial extrinsic constructs (like Ego, Power and Seniority) act as a false reward system, impairing our perceptions of Success that our brains choice engine (Free Will) relies upon in order to function.
Legitimate success is intrinsic in nature. It's measured not by grades or theft from others, but by talent, curiosity, wisdom, legacy etc. All Humans know this to be true, because despite all the Social Construction around us, our emotions sit on a complex spectrum that no one could ever reprogramme:
In this regard, Authenticity is a kind of inbuilt neurological 'Worthiness' test for our most advanced abilities, ensuring that only the curious can ever create Change using Free Will.
Answering the question that defines Human Choice
Shakespeare's question highlights the illusion of almost all choice in our binary-driven world today. Like the hard-coding for the device your reading this through, it is rigid and therefore highly resistant to change. But nothing is ever black and white.
The correct answer is to reject the question. Doing so identifies Change Makers with sufficient Authenticity to create change through True Leadership.
But even after the Dehumanised have taken everything of value from us, there will always be one universal Choice that can never be taken from anyone. We can always choose to start being Authentic, in order to regain all our Human abilities once again.
If you need a hand becoming more Authentic so you can make real Decisions instead of just redundancies, then as the world's foremost authority on Human Identity, Uniqueness and Choice, we'd love to give your journey a helping hand by sharing the singular paradigm shifting knowledge our unique journey has brought us.
