Is security possible? (personal, financial, emotional, etc)
Why do people feel the need for security?
Do you like your level of security? Why/ Why not?
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About Alex and Candice
- Alex and Candice
- Bay Area, California, United States
- Alex was born in London, England and has been living in the States for about 5 years. He has had many jobs in his life including being in the British Army, being a promoter in London and bartending.
Candice was born in Los Angeles, California and has been living in San Francisco for almost five years. She has also had many jobs in her life including being an archaeologist, an ESL teacher and a Director of Studies at and ESL summer camp. Her current hobby is learning to fix ailments using essential oils.
Pebble is a female dwarf tuxedo hamster who has recently found much joy in escaping from her cage and running about! She is always a rambunctious barrel of laughs!
Peanut was a standard dwarf hamster. He was a lover of his bed and enjoyed sleeping most of the day. He died peacefully in Southern Oregon and is buried near a river there.
So I'd like to be the first to comment on this and hopefully stimulate a healthy discussion on this topic.
ReplyDeleteThe most obvious and apparent answer to this question is NO. Life and its very building blocks are inherently impermenent. Lets not kid ourselves...we get old (change), we move (change), we meet new people (change), we walk outside and can potentially get run over (change), we drive and can potentially get in an accident (change). I bring up these examples to provide simple scenarious of the changes that are inevitable in our life and the fact that much of life is "beyond our control". And thereby any form of security that we try to cling to, is in fact a mere illusion b/c it can be stripped, changed, and easily affected at any instantaneous moment in time.
It goes without saying that a full guaranty of eternal external security is beyond our control, and therefore increasingly difficult to be fully secure in one's physical presence. So ofcourse that leads to the most important question...what about our emotions and our "person". Can we ever be secure in our person/persona/"I"? And again the answer is no on the most basic of all levels.
Unless we can detach ourselves from any desirous wants (emotionally - think of need for belonging, love, trust, comfort, etc...) their is always a personal struggle to maintain a level of equilibirum in our life that satisfies our basic human needs as defined by Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. But these basic needs constitute attachement, and when we attach emotions/thoughts/needs to certain personal attributes...we in-turn strive for a personal security that is continuously unfulfilled. Hence the tragic reality of mental illness in America ad throughout the world (depression, boredom, vice, etc...). Security is a thought and a physical condition, that while it can be sustained on temporal level, is inevitable an impernanent situation.
Do I like my level of security. I think "yes" therefore I am "yes".
Sorry for writing so long...I could write an entire thesis on this topic. Its so freaking interesting.
Sorry for the multiple grammatical and spelling mistakes!! I got fired up by this question.
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy you got fired up!! That's what we were hoping for :) I just have one question relating to your writing; Do you think that people need the illusion of security? (Candice)
ReplyDelete*Please note that I was really frigging high while writing this response. Pot-Brownie.
ReplyDeleteHey Candice...I love these thought-provoking questions and I encourage both to continue placing them on your blog. Hopefully something new everyday I’d also like to add that it’s very reassuring to know that discussions about security, freedom, justice still exist and that we are not merely "blind and obliging" observers to the status-quo.
Now to your question about "Do people need the illusion of security?" The knee-jerk response to such a loaded question is Yes. However, Candice I suspect this question is a red herring...since you're alluding to a grander topic regarding the presence of "a paradigm" greater than ourselves. ...a.k.a religion and the presence of the almighty. Religion will be my initial starting point in effectively answering this question. Religion may or may not be an illusion, but a huge leap of faith is made in the assumed presence of a being which oversees and creates the world in which we live. I assure you that I’m not digressing and that I will circle back to your initial point. Please be patient with my cathartic response…
Does religion and its vague yet "determined" conviction in a higher presence serve a purpose for manking? Do people need the illusion, or perhaps reality, of God? As you might be able to tell, I’m indeed an agnostic... always open to the possibility that the forces and creations beyond our control are part of a metaphysical presence beyond the skies above...but I digress. The true nature and ultimate benefit of religion, despite the outcries of skeptics, is that God provides us a solace and sense of a security in an otherwise unpredictable and often mischievous world which can blindside us (a.k.a a sudden death in one's family, an unforeseen burglary, traffic accident) us at any moment. Religion presents us a paradigm in which to view this crazy world by proclaiming us as God's children and hence we are secure with that knowledge. This "security" and conscious awareness that we are not alone is not only comforting but nearly a prerequisite in providing mankind a healthy context to go on with our lives. “Everything will be ok, God is here to protect.” “We are secure in ‘the’ presence” We need to know that we are secure. That God will be there and protect us regardless of the curveballs that this increasingly unsecure and often unjust world throws at us. We need shelter, human connection, but ultimately...we once again, as I’ve already said multiple times… we need security. And religion bridges this gap between security and the existential crisis’s that we cope with everyday...but I digress.
Candice, I do realize that you had a different intention when you asked this question. And I didn’t directly respond…but understand that security is all relative. Are we secure with ourselves, secure with our loves, secure at home, job-security, financial security…there is ultimately a multitude of various ways in which we need security. But lets be honest…often times only parts of that equation are satisfied. We may have emotional security but no job-security and thereby threatening the emotional security we may presently be enjoying. Security is an elusive existential condition that we cling to in desperation b/c the alternative is…well, insecure and anxiety. So yes…we need the illusion of security. We must have it. And now I’m going to take another whiff of that green-stuff.
Regards,
Getting High right now
I think that security is destined to face inevitabilities. Things we can not expect or predict effect us personally, financially and emotionally. The only way I can describe this is through hypothetical situations. Two people could be happily living together or married…then one could get sick, or one could get a huge promotion that throws the relationship into a different kind of world. Some people are able to adapt to these kinds of changes, but most are not. Who is strong enough to be personally unaffected by the death of a close friend? What if they were the only person you considered to be your true friend? Even in the workplace, do the way others work or the way others treat you not effect you in your personal life after you have left the office?
ReplyDeleteFinances seem the most uncertain to me. You can make yourself believe that you are personally and emotionally secure because there are few if any material ways of telling whether you actually are. Money is different, however also highly effected by unforeseen events. You guys are going to have an amazing road trip…but there are unexpected events that could happen to financially set you back. I believe you have planned it out very well, but imagine if a bear got into all your food one night? That probably wouldn’t set you way back, but it probably would make you less financially secure than you were before this happened. But, what if everything went perfect during the whole road trip?? and everything went more or less to plan? Then your financial security would have been at the same level the entire time. However, it would have been dependent upon unforeseen events happening or not happening.
I think emotional security fluctuates so frequently and is so subjective that it’s difficult for me to have an opinion. I am from the camp that believes that if you decide to be secure with yourself, then you will be generally emotionally secure. I think that being secure with yourself as a person is the only type you can be sure of, it is a conscious decision and I think it occurs at a young age. This is similar to what I said about personal security. Maybe it is the same thing. Some people can adjust to change, others can’t.
People feel the need for security, because they want to feel safe. They don’t want to believe that some unforeseen tragedy or blessing could throw the course they have set for themselves. I think the two of you want to experience new and unknown things….but that is the course you have set for yourselves and therefore won’t feel insecure, or in danger when it happens.
I enjoy my level of security. I think I am secure with myself, and that is enough for me. My path is very different from yours but I think we share the same desire for new experiences, new people….and adventure….
--Lupine
Lupine. ROCK ON! I love that response.
ReplyDeleteThanks, anonymous.....
ReplyDeleteIn an answer to Alex and Candice's question of whether people need the illusion of security, I think yes. I think Maslow was on to something when he created the Hierarchy of Needs (i apologize for wikipedia, hate using it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs.svg )
Security is second from the bottom of the triangle. I think in a manner of speaking each level of the triangle is a step in security, and without the base layer,of security in your physical body, you cannot move on.
An interesting argument would be the homeless. I have seen two homeless people that loved each other. That is the third layer of the triangle. They have no physiological certainties...so how can their relationship work. My idea goes back to my previous post. They have accepted the uncertainties in their life, and are able to adapt to them. Since they accept that food may not come on a regular basis, it doesn't effect them so harshly as we would expect. Similar to how you have consciously accepted and desire the uncertainties of your trip.
So, yes, I believe people need the illusion of security.
--Lupine
I believe that security means very different things to different people. I know that if anything happened to my husband I would feel less secure. Together we have been able to handle many things and he is my strength. I do believe I am more secure when we have money in the bank. But, yet, I wouldn't want to live a totally "secure" life: ie. gated community..etc. Because I find that very stifiling. And when my security is challenged, in some ways I become more in tune with what it is I need to live and what things threaten that security. I find out more about myself.
ReplyDeleteHowever, because my family has known great tradgedy in time of war, I understand their need for security and even proccupation with it. When you've lived a life where the rug has been swiped out from under you, it is only natural that you would have certain type of shell-shock afterwards. And so security becomes everything. Security over adventure takes precedent.
Also, ideas about security change as one ages, I believe.