by LJ Frank

He who has no conscience has nothing. Pantagruel; Prologue. Rabelais (1534)

Stand still, you ever moving spheres of heaven, that time may cease, and midnight never come…SC.XIX. v. 136 – 137.  The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus. Christopher Marlowe

Learn to know thyself and adapt to thyself new ways. Prometheus Bound. I. 311.  Aeschylus (Published circa 430-435 B.C.E.)

Survival migrancy is revealed often on the precipice of the mind, the linings of the heart, and the yearnings of the outstretched hand and voice seeking dignity (worthiness). And perhaps knowingly or unknowingly desiring to touch the fingers of an invisible God – to hold on for a little longer.

Peculiar is hope in relation to the existential. Hope may appear like an image of a winter crowd seeking affirmation or a prostitute wanting to exist. The existential is the uncertainty within both. Who is thy judge? A person can be made to feel guilty all by themselves without being charged a stipend through a church, temple, synagogue, or secular political body. Hope and the existential are at odds with each other, possessing a disturbing parasitical if not cynical quality at times.

Comforting thoughts whether fiction or non-fiction are a metaphor of hope and can serve as the kernel of motivation, of anticipation. Anticipation may inspire us to rise each day and to endure, to exist, to taste life as we perceive it…yet…the unknowable remains. When in a survival posture does the unknowable matter? It’s enough to deal with the knowable…the unforeseeable as the survival migrant knows, will always be there, will always be part of her or his life and migration, both within the mind (and heart) and the body…yet hope becomes a chance to experience a taste of life beyond the existential. Rulers and authorities depend on clients, citizens, customers, employees, and ‘subjects” in believing hope. Hope becomes a lottery ticket of sorts. But what are the options and opportunities…

Survival migrancy becomes both surviving and living with dignity (worthiness). It is ageless, genderless, colorblind…and blind to physical and mental stature.

Where does one turn when imprisoned by those who fear you? What does a child learn from the world around her or him? How many bells must be tolled for the innocents?

War and revolution are ubiquitous and leave no one unscathed.  Reason and knowledge are distorted in a single breath. Tyrants and authoritarians are empowered by the ensuing chaos. Life is shattered. Psychological wounds are deep. In such a scenario all humanity is a survival migrant.

Survival migrancy is at odds with artificial intelligence, air and water pollution, political terrorism, the culture of surveillance, profit, dogma and fear itself. The evolving nature of what is human and what is machine have become interchangeable. Human dignity (worthiness) is being reframed. Humanity is on the cusp of another Reformation.