The Mental is Social

This short statement says a lot - and can be taken in a number of ways.

It might be modified to be "The Mental is Social History." As historians constantly remind us. The mental state of important people, as well as common people - influences what they do. Although they often deny this.

One important subject that illustrates this, is Religion. That is very mental, and very emotional.

I came from a family of Mormons. And the Mormon religion, it seemed to me, after I left it - was one of the many results of the Industrial Revolution. And it could not have happened at any other time. This is something I could go into, in great detail.

But this was also true of something that affected me later - when I went to work, in a number of companies. I could not help thinking "This is crazy!" In fact, it was crazy - in a number of complicated ways. Craziness on top of craziness.

But everyone insisted - they were perfectly sane! And violently resisted, any implication that they were not. I noted that Business had become a religion - a secular religion, perhaps, but still a religion.

It does not burn heretics at the stake anymore - but it can make someone unemployed, very quickly. .

Every organization insists that its people, idealize it.

I worked for the FAA for 15 years, as an Electronic Engineer, in the Sixties and Seventies. The last time I was in DC, visiting the Smithsonian, I saw the headquarters of the FAA, two large buildings, right across the street. I said to myself "I know what is going on there - nothing!"

Perhaps one of the buildings is vacant now, rented our to some other important organization. Or perhaps it is vacant - a remnant of another era. The FAA was a gravy train once, but that train has run out of gravy.