The Illusion of Control

[MikeF]

Below is my first draft on explaining the theory that I'm working on. I've solved it mathematically, but I'm having trouble articulating my findings....Attached is a super-cool photo of Point Lobos that speaks more than I could ever type. If you have a moment, please contribute....

v/r

Mike Few


The Illusion of Control:
Contracts, Dreams, and Democracy

Major Michael Few

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

- Edgar Allen Poe, A Dream within a Dream



Military indoctrination and training teaches and demands leaders on every level take ownership of their mission and men. The fallacy in this dogma results in an illusion of control, and it is not simply constrained to the military. Commanders assume they own their men and battlespace (Ken White), policymakers assume that one can control the hearts and minds of another nation, state, tribe, or clan, some husbands and wives feel they can 'fix' or 'train' their spouses, and some family members strive to assist in the recovery of one suffering from substance abuse. Metaphorically speaking, it is but a dream within a dream. Instead, EVERYTHING in life is but a contract. We control nothing except ourselves.

The human condition starting with one's internal contract expanding to friendships, marriage, business and social relationships, citizenship, and it ebbs and flows in peace, love, and war. It just is. The contract, vow, or commitment constantly adjust as limitations, contraints, grievances, and life experiences both real and imagined interdict. In the end, it is but a negotiation, a perpetual dance- this human condition.

The confusion, collision, complexity, hostility, dynamics, and competition are expressed in nature as a wave crashes into the shore.

This paper will explain the relationships intermixed in the human condition. If correct, this explanation may allow us to transcend from philosophy to better policy as we continue to ride the wave.