Individuals are persons who know their own minds
And act in that consciousness, the natural estate.
Could we seek again the dark thickets of our minds,
Send the apes packing, what could we not donate
To the life of society? But farewell individuality,
Farewell the hope of good things from originality,
If the oil for the cogs is the standardized, lightweight!
4. AUTONOMY
(the assumed equilateral)
'By a careful cultural design, we control not the final behaviour, but the inclination to behave - the motives, the desires, the wishes . . . we increase the feeling of freedom.' - B.F. Skinner
A rose expresses her virtue, and sighs,
As the breeze stirs a pang of fertile earth's essence,
So cultured a pregnancy that the soul must rise
From its social roots with the sap's conductance
Of fine reasons and choices; those she missed
Drain back to the soil - her fertility unexpressed -
Where the water, now pooling, reflects blue expanse.
Society's sickroom is oppressively still.
With no interest in mending, we shout from the window
'It's our nature to be selfish, vengeful - ill!'
What glibness denies a free agent may show
And we slaves, socialized with the semblance of freedom
To avow the all-too-human, in sickness become
Neglectful of Number One - whom so few of us know.