State of the Onion

I told you about strawberry fields
You know the place where nothing is real
Well, here’s another place you can go
Where everything flows
Looking through the bent-backed tulips
To see how the other half lives
Looking through a glass onion

Standing on the cast iron shore, yeah
Lady Madonna trying to make ends meet, yeah
Looking through a glass onion

I told you about the fool on the hill
I tell you man, he’s living there still
Well here’s another place you can be
Listen to me

Fixing a hole in the ocean
Trying to make a dovetail joint, yeah
Looking through a glass onion

Lyrics from “Glass Onion” by the Beatles Songwriters: Paul McCartney / John Lennon

Few things can sever our sense of stability more than someone we trust bending reality to the point where we can’t recognize it. The only thing more disjointing is failing to recognize our contorted selves; attempting to reconcile what we thought to be true with something that doesn’t make any sense.

This observation is an example of metacognition, or “thinking about thinking.” Some mental dilemmas just can’t be resolved by chasing down one version of reality. Reconciliation is not a process of eliminating alternatives, but rather a means to restore relations and prevent future conflict despite the existence of separate viewpoints.

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions exist to address the atrocities committed by one party attempting to advance an ideology on a broader scale. For example, a Commission was formed in South Africa to uncover the truths of the apartheid regime, document abuse and attempt justice and reconciliation. A similar process was employed in Canada with regard to the government-sanctioned mistreatment of Indigenous Peoples in schools. The purpose of these commissions is to recognize harms that were done, and to uncover the complex mechanisms by which people became complicit with those harms. This is how metacognition is an important tool for promoting healing and preventing future abuse.

Will there be a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the abuses of our government? Will we uncover the means by which so many people in a position to act chose to remain complicit? Will the distortion of objective truths be recognized as inherent to the process of recruiting others to engage in these abuses? Will we acknowledge these distortions and resulting harms, hold individuals accountable for their harmful actions (or inactions) and will we be capable of reconciliation?

Or, is it strawberry fields forever?