They control the levers
Of a vast machinery
Of business, politics, education
They know no equals
Fusing work and ploy
Blind to their match
Game and set
Unable even to follow their own ruse
Our future
Remains
Incalculable
Though we be out numbered
What we have they can not possess
That which we share freely
Will be their undoing
The powers that be is simply a term for what levers exist at any given time to control worldly power. These rules of the game, like any other set of physical rules, has inertia, a predisposition to continue of the path it is headed. Without human volition or choice outside these rules, these rules will continue on their present course. With human choice, these rules can be changed. Unfortunately, making choices outside the reward system present at any given time comes with costs that are not incurred by just going and getting along with the status quo. Of course, some courses, some cultural conditions, are less stable than others, and just like a physical object running into some natural limit, cultural realities will shift even without human volition. The widespread hypocrisy in politics and business, making one set of rules for oneself and other rules for others, make such a culture less stable, less sustainable. In every case, the rules farther from reality will be disciplined by natural limits, even if not met with particular courage and effort from humans. Human choice is about shaping ourselves and our culture into a desired state. Stability and sustainability are about harmonizing ourselves and human culture with natural limits, which is basically reality. The hypocrisy of trying to maintain or manipulate two separate realities, one to your own selfish advantage, and another reality for others, is both inherently dangerous and stupid.
This poem refers to several forms of undoing. The cowardly choice to follow a culture’s existing rules despite evidence that it is a vote for a lesser reality, is a danger to stability and sustainability. This sort of default non-choice is actually the easiest (laziest) to justify based on present cultural conditions, demanding no changes. This is the first form of undoing, the sheepish version. Of course, many actively work for their own selfish advantage, an evil which puts us all at risk for the retribution or push-back from natural limits overrun, the undoing of evil.
The positively human form of undoing is actually an intentional undoing of dangerous “unrealities” in a culture. This involves persons freely accepting a cost or sanction (or forgone reward) to better harmonize oneself and one’s culture with natural limits, to undo the status quo. This is in tandem with other natural limits molding lesser realities into a more harmonious whole.
Freedom is not free. Reality is perpetually shifting, in a a dynamism that can never be fully pinned down. Exercising freedom demands effort to assess the changing conditions of outer reality, as well as disciplined self-awareness and courage to nurture peace and harmony from within. The powers that be has a negative connotation because it reflects an all-too-common, lazy, and biased mode of being: using inequalities in our culture simply for our own advantage, not the advantage of all, which requires much more effort and work. Our freedom has a purpose: to harmonize ourselves and our culture with ever larger realities or natural limits. We are free to choose to get real, in a harmonious shared reality, or fight reality for some narrower, short-term gain, selfishly carving out lesser realities as our own little fiefdoms.
As cause for hope, reality will have its way! The higher powers present in reality are powerful allies with which to align oneself. History is full of the high and mighty forces of any given day lining the dustbins of history. The struggle continues but has the promise of a more sustainable and stable future built on a foundation of higher and deeper realities.
