THE MELTING POT
Society has been called a ‘melting pot’. This, I think, is an accurate description. But what is a melting pot? I imagine a pot full of some solid substance that has undergone a transformation into a liquid state. In the latter condition, large and small bubbles are appearing unpredictably at the surface. They inflate and then pop. The initial behavior of the solid is governed by the interaction of its adjacent parts occurring under the scientific laws of predictability. However, behavior in the melted state becomes holistically governed. That is to say interaction between adjacent parts of the liquid is overlaid by a mysterious ‘global’ influence. If you perturb one point in the bubbling surface, an effect is magically produced in some unconnected place. Society and the human body are both a bit like this.
But society isn’t exactly melting. It is just that society gets driven beyond a given threshold and begins to function in a way that is holistically governed. It passes from a state that is understandable into a state in which a principle of surprise begins to operate. This principle shows itself in the impromptu emergence of living trends. These are the ‘bubbles’ that inflate and burst on the surface of the melting pot. They arise with no cause that we can trace and burst in a negative surprise that we cannot foresee. Since you and I are members of society, we are constrained to participate in these living trends on a daily basis. And the driving force that trips society over the threshold into this particular type of holistic influence is IMPERFECT KNOWLEDGE.
Let me give an example of how this imperfect knowledge has maybe affected you. When you were young you probably went in search of your ‘true love’. If you were a boy, I dare say you spotted ‘her’ across a crowded dance floor and knew instantly that she was the girl for you. Plainly, at that moment of first meeting, you had imperfect knowledge of this girl and she of you. This lack of true knowledge tripped you both over a threshold, making you available to the living trend of infatuation. If you fell under the spell of infatuation a living trend will have propelled you along a definite course. At first feelings of attraction would have intensified. Maybe you got married during this period. Then there would have been a sort of plateau phase of indecipherable length. We call it a 'honey moon period’. This could have extended for some years. Then the surprising crash would have occurred in your relationship as feelings of animosity began to intensify quickly. Maybe these negative feelings drove you into the divorce court. Whichever way, the pattern of the living trend will have been fulfilled. Only truthful communication at all stages between you and your dear wife, together with some massive compromises, could have prevented the trend from manifesting its full ‘intent’. Now, if you had possessed ‘power’ at the outset, you would have been lucky enough to meet someone whose thought processes were compatible with your own. In this case, at your first meeting, there would have been insufficient ‘imperfect knowledge’ to place you both in the path of a living trend. Since most youngsters have been robbed of their ‘power’, often by well-meaning people, they tend to be in the wrong places at the wrong time meeting the wrong people. In this situation the ‘arranged marriage’ would seem to be a sensible alternative. This is where relatives select suitable partners on the basis of temperament and class. When this is done astutely and tactfully, with a full explanation given of the reasons behind the selection (lack of ‘power’ and to avoid living trends), a lasting relationship becomes more probable.
I can tell you now that there are many well-intentioned people in society that

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