The Art of Relationships: Emotional Bonds and Power Games

 

After a recent discussion as to the nature of relationships in society, Claus Jacobson and I decided to each take on the same concept using our different writing approaches, and see what articles emerged. Kind of a mini-writer’s club. The concept to be explored was outlined thus:

Modern relationships consist of two things, emotional bonds and power games. The ability to keep each other playing up to the same level of skill is as important as emotional reciprocity for the equilibrium of a relationship. That makes it sort of a Renaissance art form, a project and a calculus as much as the art of painting, sculpturing, composing or, say, seduction. Some would think it cynical, a lot would find it realistic to think of it this way, and a few could probably even see some outlandish beauty in it.

What follows is my take on this sentiment, while Claus’s article can be found over here.

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Taboos and Societal Evolution

A recent thread discussing the legal and moral implications of teachers having sex with 18 year old students evolved into a discussion of moral taboos and our place in nature. I think about this topic a lot. In fact, it might be the thing I think about most. As human beings, there is a necessity that we approach life consciously if we are to thrive, as both individuals and as a collective species.

For ages we thought that as humans we had a range of vision (I mean this literally, here) which allowed us to see everything worth seeing. As science pushes ever further into the unknown, we consistently find that this arrogance on our part is not merited. Just the other day I read an article in Scientific American which disclosed the findings of an avian researcher, Timothy H. Goldsmith, who explored how much more birds can see than we do. For example, birds can see light in the ultraviolet range. Pictures taken with a camera which only registered ultraviolet light revealed a very different world than the one we see. A black-eyed susan has several bands of color, rather than being merely yellow, with a black center. Stop and try to imagine everything we cannot see. We are so blind that we cannot even conceive of what it is that we do not see. And yet it is there, and no less important for the fact that our eyes cannot perceive it.

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