The Rock
We already had the unconscious–
A vast mechanism to shield us from cognitive dissonance
And it is so vast
Because we are so very wrong
But now, with the internet
We’ve added another sprawling layer of protection
Shielding us from any possible encounter
With stray strands of cognitive dissonance
That somehow squirm past our first line of unconscious defense
Leaving us blind to our madness like Vincent van Gogh
If he’d cut out his eyes in lieu of his ear
And kept right on painting
All as the normal functioning of our online filters
Leave us siloed in the Mutually Assured Destruction
Of a madness in which the siloes
Never need to open and launch the nuclear missiles
Because the war of all against all consists of
Never talking to the other side since
You are too busy always monitoring your own side
And unlike an alcoholic–
Whose unconscious denial of reality reaches its limits
When he finally sees his life in ruins
And hits rock bottom–
Our addiction to screening out
All possible sources of cognitive dissonance
Leaves the ruins all around us invisible
God knows what it will take
For us to restore sight
And hit rock bottom;
He knows and He has told us what He knows:
“Every man’s sword shall be against his brother...
Upon the open field shall you fall,
For I have spoken says the Lord God...
And the nations will know that I, the Lord,
Am holy in Israel”
