The only thing keeping a crown on a king’s head is narrative
This is why there have been book burnings, heretic burnings, and executions for mocking the emperor throughout history: ideas which differ from the dominant narratives about what power is, how money works, who should be in charge and so on are threatening to a ruler’s power in the exact same way that an assassin’s dagger is. At any time, in any kingdom, the people could have decided to take the crown off of their king’s head and place it upon the head of any common beggar and treat him as the new king. And, in every meaningful way, he would be the new king. The only thing preventing this from happening was dominant narratives subscribed to by the society at the time about Divine Right, fealty, loyalty, noble blood and so on. The only thing keeping the crown on a king’s head was narrative.
The exact same thing remains true today; the only thing that has changed is the narratives the public subscribe to. —Caitlin Johnstone, Society Is Made Of Narrative. Realizing This Is Awakening From The Matrix.
- previously: any human power can be changed by human beings
- see also: all of us are embedded in our own safe “reality”, and all our hidden assumptions direct our thoughts without even being aware of it
- related: choosing the familiar doesn’t take you somewhere new
- related: ”complexity” is sometimes noise — you don’t need narrative to spin acceptable things, only the unacceptable things