The Illusion of the Familiar: Unmasking Politics and Truth through the Symbolic Structure of Wind and Flowers

Soyo's Existence Ethics Essay

The illusion of familiarity

The truth, disguised as illusion under the name of familiarity, is often mistaken for comfort. Yet familiarity can be a subtle device that disarms human consciousness. Things always before our eyes, words we hear repeatedly, and claims we encounter again and again, they gradually imprint themselves as truth. But if this familiarity paralyzes judgment, halts reflection, and closes the door to truth, it ceases to be “familiarity” and becomes “camouflage.” In political discourse, this camouflage is even more lethal. Recurring figures, repeated slogans, familiar language, and polished imagery; people accept this familiarity as trust, yet in reality, it is merely a mirage that allows the unconscious to dominate awareness. Such illusions neutralize critical thinking and bleach the conscience of the people.

I liken this phenomenon to the symbolic structure of flowers and wind. Flowers are the people are living beings that emit beauty through their mere existence, with fragrance and color. The wind is an invisible power; unpredictable at times, and sometimes a gentle breeze, yet always harboring the potential to become a storm. Flowers seek to exist on their own terms, yet the wind shakes them, even uproots them entirely. In a democracy, the people must bloom through their own fragrance and choices. Yet political winds turn them into ornaments, reducing life to mere spectacle. Beauty masquerading as truth ultimately erodes life itself.

Philosophical vision, traversing Plato and Heidegger...

Plato wrote in The Republic, “Truth is not in the world of the senses but in the realm of the Forms.” Sensory perception and familiarity are but veils obscuring truth, an insight still valid in today’s political realities. All political language and imagery transmitted sensorially, disguised as familiarity, leads us away from essence. Heidegger also said, “Truth is the disclosure from concealment (Aletheia).” We must recover the philosophical gaze capable of confronting concealed political realities. The political wind does not merely shake flowers; it shakes their roots. If the shell of ignorance called familiarity is not stripped away, the people will remain forever silent before the truth.

The philosophy of truth is the courage to face discomfort. Truth is uncomfortable, sometimes precarious. Yet we must free ourselves from the disguised language hiding within familiar comforts. These words conceal themselves with subtle packaging, in the name of patriotism, or under the rhetoric of reform. Yet their essence often lies in entrenched privilege, disregard for life, and the obliteration of conscience. Truth does not speak on its own. It emerges only through the silent reflection of those who think and the proclamations of those who reach the end of such reflection. I assert that democracy is not the mere replacement of regimes; it is the awakening of the people. Only when the flowers resist the wind’s direction themselves does democracy truly begin.

Through the poet’s language that lifts the veil of silence, we see that flowers and wind appear intertwined, yet reality is a storm gripping and shaking life. The power to dismantle this illusion and restore each person’s own fragrance lies in philosophy and language through thought and writing. Writing cannot stop the wind, but it can reveal the wind’s presence. Writing cannot shield the flowers, but it can show that they are being shaken. Therefore, I write to awaken silence and to strip away illusions so that one day people will bloom as deeply rooted flowers, no longer silent before the truth.

Soyo (逍遙) CCJ 051131001-21

Soyo (逍遙) – Founder of Soyo's Existence Ethics, Author of 'The Silence of Existence' and 'The Flame of Truth'

2025 Soyo's Philosophy. All rights reserved.

This work is the original creation of Philosopher Soyo (逍遙), based on the philosophical system of 'Soyo's Existence Ethics.' All unauthorized reproduction, quotation, summary, translation, derivative works, AI training, or data usage are strictly prohibited. This work is protected under Korean copyright law, U.S. copyright law, and international copyright treaties (including the Berne Convention). It is also officially certified as a pure human creation, not generated by AI.

Contact: soyophilosophy@gmail.com ｜ soyophilosophy.com ｜ soyophilosophy.kr