Sphinx Modalities

Docility is much prized by parents and tyrants alike
A double edged sword, however, for the former
For independence and agility of thought are also to be imparted
Lest raising lemmings ends up being one's enduring legacy

Thus the dilemma of the sphinx modalities
The puzzle of how we readily yield to authority
The virtues of critical thinking, prized, yet only obtained with difficulty
Weighed against the duty of protecting one's neck, raw survival's necessity

Organizations too, confront the question, albeit from a different viewpoint
Marx, it was, that wrote of the narcotic effect of all religions
Seeking to explain the evident acquiescence to oft imprudent authority
The silence in the face of privation and, worse, this baleful docility

Outlining the process that leads to overvaluing the herd mentality
The masses' suffering, the false consciousness of conformity
The shackles that bind our traditional respect and shame cultures
The surplus value that opportunists can extract and capture

Juvenal would lambast the enduring appeal of bread and circuses
The dulling of the senses, leaving one prone to domestication tendencies
The suppression of the iconoclast, our embrace of convenient fictions
Perception is everything, such are the dangers of the cattle inclination

The sphinx is an awesome beast, typically lying in repose
But terrifying when it moves, with suddenness and exacting purpose
Mythical in its grandeur, it plainly traffics in concealment
Opacity and judicious revelation, keeping close its terms of discernment

And yet, force majeure, in times of emergency
We see what lies simmering beneath the surface
When societies erupt and break the mask
And tyrants are destroyed and taken to task

In the heat of moment, when they face the inevitable comeuppance
The warnings unheeded, the memory of their unbearable arrogance
From those earlier days when all we could do was to bear witness
Came the silent message: don't mistake my kindness for weakness

He who tests the depth of a stream with both feet must be prepared to swim.

— Ewe proverb, Ghana

Sphinx Modalities, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note. (spotify version)

• The Next Movement by The Roots
• You've Got to Move by Omar
• Beneath the Surface by GZA
• Eruption by Van Halen
• Now's the Time by Charlie Parker
• Beneath the Surface by Incognito
• Don't See Us by The Roots

see previously Nothing to See Here and All Available Indignities

File under: culture, observation, perception, strategy, tyrants, rogues, dissent, anger, revolution, groups, organization, crowds, social, poetry, Observers are worried, toli

Writing log: September 11, 2022