My family does not have an emotional structure, or Social Structure. We have emotional bonds, but no system of routines to nurture and utilize those bonds. My family is only maintained by material routines, or an Industrial Structure. It is no one’s fault. Both of my parents were raised in very difficult circumstances and were never taught emotional routines. For them, their entire focus was on improving and maintaining their material situation.

Material routines build Industrial structure. Working, paying bills, doing chores and fixing tools. Emotional routines build Social Structure. Correspondence and conversations, team building,  and time spent together. Over time people have been able to build rather amazing structures from these routines. Such as banking systems and governments in the material world, religions and education systems in the emotional world.

These structures are always at odds with each other. Naturally, some people are more comfortable in one than the other. In the past, the traditional system had men being more responsible for the Industrial Structure and women for the Social Structure. We have learned that it does not matter who is responsible, in a sustainable society these two structures police each other and balance against one another; like Yin and Yang. However, in the cycle of Feast and Famine, the Feast encourages people to focus completely on material routines, but when the Famine comes around people must re-establish emotional routines for comfort and support while shouldering the load. 

This creates a violent see-saw of conflict. When we are tilted too far towards our Industrial Structure we develop measures for all emotional things in material terms, such as justice. Justice is an emotional balancing, but the material interpretation is purely financial for material gain. Or, communications and conversations that become nothing more than an activity for acquiring. Inversely, when we are tilted too far towards Social Structure we become too rigid and inflexible to adapting to our changing environment. Each condition is undesirable, but transitioning in between these two states has always been tumultuous.

We have enjoyed a Feast for a few decades and we have witnessed many aspects of our emotional world become materialized. As I work to cope with my aging parents, my family’s lack of conditioned emotional routines and the problems that arise from this has become apparent, and acts as a spotlight that shines on my memories. These memories interact with what I see in the world around me and I recognise the similar patterns.