Last week I was reading C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity.
Religion aside he describes two natural laws: the law of nature and the law of human nature. The difference between these laws is that the law of human nature can be broken, while the law of nature cannot.
Gravity is one such law of nature. If we try to suspend ourselves in mid-air, gravity reminds us very quickly we have no authority to make this call. Gravity, then, is “what happens.” On the other hand, human nature is most succinctly described as “what we ought to do.” Yet human actions do not necessarily express what we ought to do, only “what we do.”
Gravity reminds us that choices bear consequences. Thieves finally get caught, along with the cheaters and liars. And while these ramifications aren’t as immediate as our attempts to float in mid-air, the law of gravity does catch up eventually and provide much-needed equilibrium.
Except when it doesn’t. And that’s why I’ve discovered politics as the antithesis of gravity.
What are politics? Red and blue? No. Politics are a man-made force, an agent of choice that helps us fight gravity. And politics aren’t alone; humans also invented nepotism, sexism, ageism, racism, and a lot of other ism’s to join the fight against human law.
These politics might exist in your workplace:
- Boss hires son and promotes wife.
- Female answers phone calls.
- Older person is paid more.
- Guy with grey hair expects “sir” salutation.
- Everybody on-boarded before you wants to be your boss.
- Repetition of vision statements as means of indoctrination.
- Passive memos about TPS reports. ETCc
I don’t really have a solution to politics.
I just know they’re the enemy of gravity. So accept the law of nature; it’s what happens. Embrace the law of human nature; it’s how we ought to be. And reject politics.
That’s noise.