Theses on the Social Matrix
By Niall Twohig
Nature is an imperfect word we can use for the uncontainable force that gives rise to life.
Humans build machines to structure and harness Nature.
Structuring and harnessing Nature is often given the deceptive name order.
Disorder is a deceptive name given to Nature.
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Society is a machine built to bring such order to Nature.
What is often called Reality is merely a description of this machine.
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This machine can be called a Social Matrix.
A matrix is a structure that superimposes order on a set of numbers or data points.
A Social Matrix orders the set of manmade and natural variables existing in a particular historical period.
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Ideologies are stories told in a Social Matrix to describe Reality. These stories become systems of belief or systems of Truth.
The ideologies associated with the designers of a Social Matrix shape the way people think, speak, and act within a matrix. We can call these ideologies Dominant.
Dominant Ideologies keep a Social Matrix intact by hiding it in plain sight.
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The structure and ideologies of some social matrices force people to forget they depend upon one another and upon the planet for their existence. We can call these matrices oppressive.
An oppressive Social Matrix seeks to master Nature.
An oppressive Social Matrix may masquerade as natural. There appears to be no way out.
An oppressive Social Matrix may masquerade as an evolutionary step forward or endpoint in History. There appears to be no alternatives.
In an oppressive Social Matrix, dominant groups hoard resources for their group at the expense of other human beings, other species, and the planet.
In an oppressive Social Matrix, people are trained to see themselves as isolated units fending for their own survival. This can be called atomization.
Tribalism harnesses atomized units into violent masses.
An oppressive Social Matrix waters bad seeds in human beings. These include greed, distrust, anxiety, fear, despair, hatred, ill-health and all those qualities that separate human beings from themselves, from others, from Nature.
An oppressive Social Matrix becomes apocalyptic when its conditions are no longer hospitable to Nature and Its gift of life. We can call this an apocalyptic Social Matrix.
As an apocalyptic Social Matrix begins to crack, it provides many openings for Liberation.
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Liberation begins when one sees that the Social Matrix is not Reality. We can call such a person Liberated.
Liberation is a practice that reconnects the liberated person with that which the oppressive Social Matrix divides him or her from: the Other that is the Self. That Other might be other people or the planet. But ultimately it is Nature Itself.
Liberation is, in essence, remembering. One remembers what the Social Matrix forced them to forget. One remembers the dismembered parts of the whole.
A question remains: Can a Social Matrix be built to foster Liberation? Such a machine would move with Nature rather than mastering it, would flow with Its harmonies and disharmonies rather than hubristically structuring them for egoistic, classist, or speciesist ends. Such a machine would sustain Nature’s flora and fauna rather than decimating them, would feed everyone rather than feeding off of them.
Such a machine could be called a Liberatory Social Matrix.
A Liberatory Social Matrix would water the good seeds in human beings. The good seeds include empathy, trust, calm, courage, joy, love, good health, and all those qualities that connect human beings with themselves, with others, with Nature.
Dominant ideologies in a liberatory Social Matrix would not pretend to be Truth. They would remain stories, stories that remind us that Nature is an open book, and that we are bound together in the uncontainable flow of Its pages.
We shouldn’t hold our breath waiting for a Liberatory Social Matrix to be born. Liberation, here and now, contributes to its birth.
