A Very Good Day At 27,000 Feet

Males deal with each other on a hierarchy of relative power: money, authority, size, skill, strength. Step into that world, and you are judged and categorized. It is 1/2 of the way reality works, but many make the mistake of thinking it is the ONLY form of power. The other is more difficult to see, define, or oppose. It is “negative space”, the space between the trees, the silence between the notes, attracting rather than pushing or pulling. The Tao is a combination of both, representing life itself. Most are stuck in one or the other…or unhealthily, stuck in one while envying the other. Or worse still, not even seeing or appreciating the kind of power they have, and coveting the other side, where the grass is greener.

Physical intimidation is as common as emotional manipulation, more acute and immediate — survival trumps everything, and a threat to your physical well-being will shut down your forebrain lickety-split. The ONLY thing that comes close is fear of genetic death — lack of a reproductive partner. This drives the anger of the Incel community, by the way. But physical threat doesn’t just happen in alleys or bars. It happens in boardrooms and bedrooms, grocery stores and parking lots, political campaigns and billboards. Threaten life or love, survival or sexual access, and you get attention instantly.

It has been forty years since I’ve had anything like a “fight”, although there have been dozens of times people have tried intimidation or threat, offered me violence which I politely but firmly declined. If I’d been afraid…