‘No individual can arrive even at the threshold of her potentialities...’
Till she can defend not only what she does
But the person she is by the dignifying buzz
Of her commitment to others, or to a cause that was
Opposed to us.¹
‘No individual can arrive even at the threshold of his potentialities...’
If the needs are unsatisfied, that make all flesh kin,
For health and autonomy, to be centre not margin;
But to rally the oppressed we shouldn’t begin -
Sleeping dogs within! ²
2.
‘Every element in a civilisation is, in the last analysis, the contribution of an individual.’*
‘Every element in a civilisation is, in the last analysis, the contribution of...’
Ideas ricocheting around pinball brains,
Electrochemically flipped, as ions through membranes,
Till nought of ethical decision-making remains
In our cerebral chicanes. ³
‘Every element in a civilisation is, in the last analysis, the contribution of...’
Defenders of soul and stalwart individualism,
Who regard the personal as incompatible with mechanism,
Who put commerce off limits to scientific reductionism, -
To fulfil its own cynicism. 4
* The duty to family, neighbours, colleagues, fellow-citizens and country is essential to true individualism, but is rarely recognised in “the cult of the individual”.