A Quiet Revolution in the Realm of Being
Part Two: The hidden power of existential defiance in an age of conformity.
Part One recap:
Previously, we’ve examined the hidden dynamics of power and ideology in the post-totalitarian system. In this post, we get to know more about Havel’s solution for taking back control of authentic life and identity through his famous words, “living within the truth.”
Havel’s call is not just a political tactic; fundamentally, it is an existential and spiritual stance. It is a decision not to participate in the lies and political rituals demanded by the system. Instead, it encourages one to reclaim dignity and integrity through even small acts of defiance or simple honesty.
The greengrocer is a pivotal example. What if he decides to stop displaying the meaningless slogan “Workers of the world, unite!” in his window? This is a spiritual revolt that prompts him to unveil the curtain that blocks his view of his actual existence.
This small, quiet defiance thus becomes a powerful and symbolic attack on the façade on which the system stands.
Names, definitions, and frameworks are analytical tools that help us understand the phenomenal world. They either reveal a truthful representation of reality (at best capturing some aspects of it) or present a distorted one.
Yet, they are still necessary pathways through which we understand our relations with the external world and, in particular, get a clear picture of our state of existence.
If the post-totalitarian system, as well as the entire society under its control, as Havel has revealed to us, has been operating based on political lies, manufactured narratives, and supported and justified by ideology, then the system would object to any sign of living truthfully.
The greengrocer’s awakening
When our greengrocer suddenly decides not to display the slogan in his shop window, he breaks the existing social contract that everyone has tacitly agreed to. Something new happens in his life. He becomes aware of his past actions of reticence. He knows that something has broken in his sense of being.
Before long, he would get calls and inquiries from the local police department. The system of control would first punish him if he were to refuse to conform, just as everyone else does.
More commonly, fractures in his social relations begin to emerge. He can feel that he is being silently shunned, despised, and hated by all the people around him. He has put himself and his family in danger of isolation. He is now an enemy of the post-totalitarian order.
His action of removing the slogan and refusing to conform reveals a glitch in the system. Despite not publicizing his actions and thoughts, his silent act alone is being perceived by the system and all the people around him as an open challenge, reminding some of them that they have been living a polished lie all the time.
He will eventually lose business, being excommunicated and chased by the supporters of the system. At this point, he begins to realize that he has touched the nerve of the system simply by reclaiming his own sovereignty over his realm of being.
Yet, in doing so, he has annoyed and antagonized those around him, revealing the unpleasant fact that they may be living in an illusion, trapped by the appearances of reality, and serving the system at the expense of their own individuality and dignity.
This is what happens when we begin to step out of a manufactured reality we’ve been living in and aspire to make breakthroughs in life. The system of conformity and control will reveal its predatory nature when a voice of dissent is raised. But the moment of awakening occurs when we realize that we are willing to face the consequences no matter what.
While not seeking any external attention, the greengrocer’s act basically tells the world that “the king is naked.” Obviously, this act alone is just another way of saying that people have been deceiving themselves into thinking all is well, for the truth, which is too powerful, can be harmful, like receiving a beam of light too strong for someone who has been living in the dark for too long.
Therefore, on the existential level, he has become the opposition, a real threat to the system and those who subscribe to it.
At this point, the greengrocer will come to realize that living within the truth is a process of waking up and coming to terms with reality, which is often unpleasant and ugly. But this is a one-way journey; he cannot close the door that leads toward the truth of life itself.
The urge to grope for light, to live in truth, is unstoppable because it is fundamentally aligned with the force of life.
Charter 77 and cultural defiance
Apart from our greengrocer, Havel also delved into two other important examples: a rock band and the Charter 77 movement.
Charter 77 was a human rights manifesto, initiated in 1977 by a group of Czech intellectuals, including Havel himself, that represented Havel’s principle of authentic being through living in truth.
It was not a political opposition with the aim of overthrowing the government. Instead, it confronted the entire political establishment on existential and moral grounds by demanding adherence to basic human rights, which had already been nominally guaranteed in the state constitution and international treaties.
Together with this intellectual movement, a vibrant underground cultural phenomenon emerged in Czechoslovakia, represented by the rock band “The Plastic People of the Universe.” Their music, lifestyle, and existence posed a deeply subversive challenge to the regime as they refused to conform to the state’s cultural standards.
Havel and other intellectuals had openly supported the band, making it clear that the nature of this confrontation with political authority was essentially spiritual and existential.
The meaning of resistance, thus, was not about fighting a political war as these cultural groups still had no clear and alternative political programs, but lies in asserting authenticity in a gray world dominated by falseness, as this confrontation takes place on the level of human consciousness and conscience, the existential level and “makes its influence felt in the obscure arena of being itself.”1
The “pre-political” sphere: where real change begins
Since the real battle between the system and the opposition occurs at the existential level, any movements or phenomena that eventually assume political significance can arise not from the open political confrontations between different forces, but instead, they are developed from what Havel calls the “pre-political” hinterland, “where living within a lie confronts living within the truth, that is, where the demands of the post-totalitarian system conflict with real aims of life.”2
That is to say, based on the understanding of the existential confrontation, every act of living within the truth, every authentic and free expression, and any cultural phenomenon that does not conform to the state’s directives, is a revolt against the system.
Since the nature of this confrontation is not about struggling for power, traditional political solutions can prove ineffective. If that is the case, how do we know that the existential fight is real and reliable? Would the individuals and social groups be able to find resonance and inspiration from the examples of our greengrocer, the rock band, and Charter 77? What is their source of spiritual strength?
Havel’s explanation illustrates his understanding of the system and how it exercises psychological control on people, as well as his deep compassion for the struggles people (within and outside the political system) face on a daily basis. The real power of the powerless, the average citizen, standing in front of the gigantic and anonymous bureaucratic machine,
… lies spread out in the fifth column of social consciousness, in the hidden aims of life, in human beings repressed longing for dignity and fundamental rights, for the realization of their real social and political interests…this power does not rely on soldiers of its own, but on the soldiers of the enemy at it were — that is to say, on everyone who is living within the lie and who may be struck at any moment (in theory, at least) by the force of truth (or who, out of an instinctive desire to protect their position, may at least adapt to that force). It is bacteriological weapon, so to speak, utilized when conditions are ripe by a single civilian to disarm an entire division.3
From Havel’s perspective, this existential confrontation is more vital than political struggle for power and regime change. While political and power shifts may appear significant, they often remain superficial and do not address the transformation of a society’s or nation’s spirit.
The actual battle, and also the real project of change, as Havel emphasizes, occurs at an existential level. This is the spiritual sphere that genuinely affects and shapes the essence of human existence, the realm of being itself.
Consequently, meaningful social transformation is activated when changes in the existential, spiritual, and moral order start to shift. This is the precondition for fundamental changes before the project of transplanting new political and economic systems into the existing society. And this is partially why political reforms and democratization can fail to take root if they do not heed the fundamentals that have governed society for too long.
But how does such an existential confrontation manifest itself practically? Why does the post-totalitarian regime instinctively suppress even small and insignificant acts of living within the truth, such as our greengrocer’s hypothetical defiance?
As Havel insightfully points out, the regime fears the invisible movements that occur within the hidden sphere of authenticity, precisely because these subtle acts of resistance have the unpredictable potential to evolve into concrete political actions, social movements, or unpredictable and powerful cultural shifts.
The hidden movements it gives rise to there, can issue forth in something visible: a real political act or event, a social movement, a sudden explosion of civil unrest, a sharp conflict inside an apparently monolithic power structure, or simply an irrepressible transformation in the social and intellectual climate. And since all genuine problems and matters of critical importance are hidden beneath a thick crust of lies, it is never quite clear when the proverbial last straw will fall, or what that straw will be. This, too, is why the regime prosecutes, almost as a reflex action preventively, even the most modest attempts to live within the truth.4
In a nutshell, the power of the powerless lies in the moment when a person awakens to the decision to take back control of their way of existence, rather than being dictated by the words of any political or religious authority.
The inner force within will drive that person toward taking independent initiatives. For the mission of crafting and shaping one’s own identity and meaning, in essence, is to build order from the confusion, chaos, and illusions of this phenomenal world.
Now, we know that in such a post-totalitarian system or any system of control, a simple act or voice that embodies living in truth is inevitably perceived by the regime and the larger society under its grip as opposition and treated accordingly.
An important lesson from Havel worth repeating is that, on an existential level, the challenge of the post-totalitarian system is transcendent.
The system of control, which manipulates reality and imposes its version of meaning on life, can manifest in various forms: mass and endless entertainment, the incessant and subtle influence of commercials, and most importantly, delicately manufactured narratives of all sorts.
Thus, understanding the power dynamics and the nature of opposition within the post-totalitarian system becomes crucial—a topic we will explore in greater depth in Part Three.
Václav Havel, Open Letters: Selected Writings 1965–1990, edited by Paul Wilson (New York: Vintage Books, 1992), 149.
Ibid., 156.
Ibid., 149.
Ibid., 150.
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