The “Thomas Question” is a term others have given for something I apparently have a propensity to do, namely ask questions which while kind, tend to probe into layers that sometimes make people feel uncomfortable.
Since I probably reference the Thomas Question, in other areas of this blog, I figure I should probably give some context and examples.
I like wearing a tie. I know, this seems like blasphemy in light of the current trend to dress-down in our culture. Who could possibly ‘like’ to wear a tie after all?
It has admittedly been an acquired taste.
In my youth I viewed the necktie as an anachronistic contrivance intended to enforce submission to petty minds groping for power. But over time I discovered that people treated me differently when I wore a tie, and I learned to take advantage of this phenomenon to my benefit. I didn’t come like to wear this peculiar embellishment of the male dress costume however, until I came to understand its history and function.
This post is an exploration into the symbolism of the necktie and the almost mythic nature of that symbolism. The necktie and the response to it is an example of a stimulus response behavior which is well acknowledged, but for which an understanding is curiously hard to elicit.
The symbolism embedded in the necktie suggests the existence of a collective non-conscious, and raises the question: What other cultural artifacts are there burred in that collective non-conscious? This question is especially important when contemplating change.
