Order vs Spontaniety

Nietzsche contrast the order and rationality of Apollo against the wild and spontaneous energy of Dionysus. Very often we prefer the familiar and order of what we are used to and we get uncomfortable with the wild abandonment that defines lassiez faire economics or society. We want rules so that we can make sense of world and not where an all-out assault on our senses which will disrupt how we perceived the world.

Apollo prefers order and rationality and this means things are define nicely and everybody knows their place in the world. There is a comfort in knowing that everything is familiar and orderly. We do not to expend too much energy in getting what we want. Dionysus on other hand, the God of wine is an epitome of wild and spontaneous energy. Their energy comes from feeding off each other and where systems are rejected and categories are nothing more than labels that define us. The advancement of technology and deregulation of many economies have result in the animal spirits being cultivated. Society is then predicated on energy, activity and new things breaking old rules and making the familiar new again. We should prefer the new to the old, deregulation over regulation, people power over authority, creative destruction over protectionist economics and disruption over business as usual.

In fact the period after enlightenment period is defined this upsetting of status quo: in abandoning order, categories and system for innovation, creativity and doubt. This is so much so that it has culminating in the philosophy largely popularize in the 20th century: existentialism. A rejection of any system of thought which is defined by dread, angst and a feeling of meaninglessness- since everything is in flux of what use is our religion, our beliefs or our ideology or philosophy.

This sense of meaninglessness is further exacerbated by the advancement of technology and breaking of border and an assault on our senses, which makes wonder of what use is what we learnt in school and our parents to our existence. We are alienated from the very existence of our society.

The rise of Donald Trump, Brexit, the rise of ISIS and right-wing nationalistic and conservatives surges around the world have defined our reaction to these changes in our intellectual history. We have recoil away from animal spirits into the familiar territory. We have reject an open economy and society for a society based on duties and expectations and therefore privileges. We are trying to hold back everything we hold dear in face of rapid change, we want "order" back to our life. We do not want to feel assaulted on all fronts again and we want to see familiar faces rather than strange and new but exciting faces again.

We must rethink our strategy to recoiling back to old and nostalgic. Since society are in ebb and flow does not mean that we have to squirm back to what is familiar and seemingly friendly. We must continue to reinvent ourselves. In taking risk of embracing the future while take what is familiar and integrated them together.

I read recently in a New York Times article that we have formed an urban tribe of globalized citizens who are familiar with only globalized brands who even though globalized, are really nothing more than an urban tribe which really exclusive in nature- exclusive in that they only mixed with people like them and visit shops that cater to them and not really "globalized" in that sense. This is not what we looking for, we must instead protect distinctive elements of society and ensure their survival and not want them to be just like us.

An open and globalized economy and society is a fact of life that we have to accept but in protecting what we are familiar with and values the most is not tantamount to rejecting what is unfamiliar, but rather see in a new light what is distinctive and different of which runs parallel with our lives. There is always something universal in all of us, we just have not noticed that in us or others yet.