The state and political authority, in their symbolic embodiment, are an image of the “father archetype”; the father himself represents the ancient forces of order, protection and a form of power interwoven with care and love.

John Stuart Mill once wrote, in the rendering given here:
“A government that diminishes and humiliates its people so that they become instruments for the fulfilment of the government’s wishes will soon discover that no greatness can be achieved with diminished human beings.”

Such a society will be neither dynamic nor self-confident, and the bonds between child and father will become progressively weaker.

If corruption, despotism, neglect and violence become the father’s customary way, the home too will become filled with corruption, decay, neglect and violence.

When people’s souls are afflicted and their chests become a hell of anger, even if silence spreads everywhere and comes to dominate everyone, that silence can never be even an artificial display of social balance and harmony. Nor can a joyful, dynamic, creative and powerful society be born from it.

If corruption spreads beneath this silence into the very depths of the people’s souls and the father fails to recognise it when he must, the artificial structure of order imposed upon society will eventually collapse and chaos will come.

A political authority severed from paternal energy will make sick not only human beings and society but nature itself; from this disconnection, neglect and corruption, Noah’s flood will rise and destroy everything.

The inevitable destiny of such a society is war, chaos and natural disasters if the brief opportunity to stop the dragon of chaos and the approaching flood of Noah is lost.

History is full of people who, by surrendering to anger, fear, violence and indifference, destroyed their dream of building a better world. In the difficult moments of our history, it matters that we can say to ourselves: falsehood, dishonesty, violence, corruption, cruelty and indifference may prevail in the world, but I will not allow them to prevail over me.

The truth is that, to take even a small step in service of our homeland and reduce the suffering of our compatriots, each of us is more powerful than we imagine.

It is true that each of us is only one person, but we are still one person. It is true that none of us alone can do everything, but there is still something within our power to do. What matters is that we do not stop doing the thing we know we are capable of doing. Sometimes, without our even knowing it, that small act is precisely the real, unspoken and transformative need of our society.

Aydin Areta