Cages

A cage went in search of a bird. - Franz Kafka (The Zürau Aphorisms)

The above is aphorism 16 in Kafka's Zürau Aphorisms. It sits neatly on a page mostly left blank. Above it the number 16 and below it the page number: 16.


It is in my power to do with this statement as I please. So, I decide to close the book, put it down, and stare out the nearest window. My attention was teased, lured, and caught.

The cage had found its bird.

This is probably one of the best set traps I've ever stepped into. In written form it has an eternal quality to it. This trap cannot rust or be removed and it has probably caught many an unsuspecting reader. What a truly active, living statement.

I do not wonder what Kafka was referring to exactly; if the statement served such a direct purpose in the first place. Instead, I let it wash over me to see what comes of it...

Conformity. Generally speaking we do not like the word conformity. It comes with cargo: a negative taste, the idea of slothful behavior, something or someone with no exceptional qualities, etc. Yet, we are all conformists in our own way. For example: you may not want to conform to your current socioeconomic position. Great, right? Except that this in turn demonstrates you are conforming to an idea of success defined primarily by the same mechanisms creating your current socioeconomic position. Your "rise" by means of generating more income which is spent on purchasing products turned personal property as a demonstration of wealth creates a demand for said products; the demand creates the supply; the supply is created by labor; the laborer many times cannot afford what he/she produces. (Enough with the economics talk.) You inflict on others what was inflicted on you while finding a nice little niche in a consumer driven hierarchical world. The cage needs links strong enough to keep the bird inside; the bird never thinks it is making the cage more difficult to escape from.

Why are you conforming to this idea in the first place? Your desire for upward mobility, in a socioeconomic sense, feeds the very system which imprisoned you in the beginning. Surely this comes as strange news to those who have exerted so much effort in finding joy within  consumer society; freeing themselves from poverty and entering a new predicament completely unaware.

The droves of drones packing shopping malls are conformists, whether they admit to it or not. Consumerism is just one example of conformity. Ideas of beauty, gender roles, value, property, and sexuality are all things we conform to. Conformity's negative connotation must therefore be done away with; unless we believe ourselves to be helplessly wayward creatures.

It is conformity that allows for the establishment and propagation of civilizations, societies, and cultures. Conformity is your creator.

It must be stated that cages seek birds because of their need to do so. Without a bird the cage does not serve its intended purpose. It may be thrown away or forgotten about as is the case with subcultures which come and go on a temporal basis. Our problem arises when we allow those who build our cages to do so with personal gain in mind: a cage comfortable for them and a prison for others.

Thank you for reading.

- Alex