My Queens,
I took a long consideration, but I’m not always very aware, so it may not have been that long. I'll try to spunktiously explain my thinking, delving toward that root function within the body of a Systos.
Please do remember, none of this is meant to be particularly smart, I'm no Cela-brain, nor am I etching this through editors, I'm just a poor kook with little foundational intelligence, who mentally space-flighted a little too often, and who happens to enjoy building a global sci-fi narrative as a side interest.
But simply put, like I like to, the root is ‘time’.
Or rather, the everyday person's perception of time's flow.
This is the foundational bedrock of a Systos which brings about 'commonality of characteristic' among its peoples. Just like the universe, just like within us. Easy to understand, right? Good, glad we're all there, cause my mind is jumping everywhere - but that might be my condition.
But this common perception brings direction and alignment – it constrains energy to a path. And without a common flow of time, very little commonality can ever be found, just a selfish individual, an unmoved fizzle, or a spark-in-waiting. But a shared conception and perception of time binds all to a flow and rhythm.
Here I don't mean the mechanical tick of a clock, though that is important for organizing production, but instead, a person's perception of how those ticks are divided within daily life. What's that phrase, 'some people's time is more valuable than others'? Well, in this understanding, some people's time is more quantized than others. This is not to be confused with a quick mind, wit or intelligence - this is about a person's internal relationship to the 'ticking' flow of existence. In a Systos, at the root, it's most closely related to wages, especially for everyday people living on minimum.
So, how is time perceived by everyday people in this moment, and what are the drivers of their perception? Do we all wander and experience time the same? Do the conditions of people’s living state alter their relationship with its flow? And do different shared perceptions of time have different outcomes across societies?
If I constantly feel insecure, lacking food or housing, does this ultimately alter my relationship with my perception of time? Will I be overthinking how each second must be used productively, making money to afford living? Will I become 'selfish' when someone infringes on my time and issues arise unrelated to the flow of my ticks? If I bus to work, and my boss is strict, and I can't pay rent, will I grow furious when the bus doesn't show and I lose pay? If I work in a factory where every second is monitored for productivity, and my job's security is tied to that, which is then tied to food and rent, how existential, how insecure, how worried will I become about each tick going by?
It is because I have been more quantized, each second counts to sustain my life. And as a result of being quantized, will my engagement style with others be different?
Will someone who can barely afford rent feel overly zen when unable to afford groceries at the check-out? I doubt it, they will be madly rushing in mind trying to calculate the ticks they can afford, getting upset as the clerk tells them they've not enough to buy a carrot. And now what happens if a mass of people constantly brew in this type of mental space, and if this occurs on repeat across an entire nation? Does their insecurity pass on to the clerk as well? And the clerk to the manager and so on? We're social beings, aren't we? We feel within others around us to become communal.
We must ask ourselves, this insecurity, this reduction in wages to bare essentials, this forced obsession with time's tick - which has been a long-term investment of moneymen, financiers, bankers, corporatists, and oligarchs who enjoy being quantized as a means of high personal production - is it how we want our societies to perceive time? Do we want everyday people to live in a state where they must always be aware of time's tick, overthinking where money will come from, and what they must do to get it? Do people make better choices when their minds are always in a rush, when they have few moments for contemplation or relaxation - those endeavors which could also be known as 'stepping out of time' or 'forgetting the tick'?
Many things alter time's perception, occurring at the different functions of Systos and Cela. But at the root, if your basic needs are insecure, your perception of time will speed up, or thought of another way, you'll have a heightened awareness of the division of time as the 'bits' become more valuable, and thus, must be more aggressively monitored and protected.
From my experiences, I hardly ever made better choices when I had to constantly worry about what came next. So, when I say people are living existential lives, it's not because they are all philosophers, brilliant individuals, or their most authentic selves. It is because they are moving through time at a quicker pace due to insecurity. They are forced to become more self-interested, which can often come across as selfish, or even authentic, but it's from being so aware of time's tick. They are unable to become communal for they can only live for themselves. Their days are forced to be divided into smaller and smaller 'bits' as they overthink what must be done to get by.
On the flip side, high up in Cela, this quantized perception of time is often a lifestyle choice taken on by those who are highly determined or in demanding jobs, where each second counts to maintain production. But this sentiment in the upper classes comes more from a place of fear - of losing power or competency - rather than of existential worry due to scarcity. And also, it is those high-ups who communally believe everyday people should live like them, by which they mean, to perceive time like them. And so they create the conditions to mirror their perception across society, growing insecurity through scarcity, and thus, growing the common personality characteristic of the 'quantized individual'.
But Cela is full of small governing communities with very particular interests, and often selfish motivations, full of people presuming they are finding their deepest authentic self because of their obsession with quantizing their lives and being highly productive. These interests often operate in stark contrast to the desires of the vast populations living simply in Systos, who are undesiring of such existential individuality of the upper classes, instead, often longing more for a sense of community and inclusion with others.