The phrase "existential rage" came into my mind this morning on the way to work - which might give the reader a clue as to what kind of mood I was in. Naturally, I had to do a Google search, to see if the phrase was original. Also naturally, it wasn't (damn!). However, I saw a lot of references to Sartre, Paris cafes, beer-serving hangouts frequented by college students, et.al., yet no definitions of the term - except on the blog, "Ask A Fat Guy." The blogger, "Sean," made the excellent observation that the emotion of existential rage is always preceded by one's implied use of the "subjunctive" case - i.e., "should," "would," "could," "ought," "shouldn't," etc. That was precisely MY thought - although MY mental examples didn't involve any scenarios which made me laugh out loud, like "Sean's."
So, here's my attempt to convey my sense of the term, existential rage:
The comparison of what is, to a given individual's categorical imperative(s) as to "what should/shouldn't be." There must also be the perception of needless suffering. The intensity of one's existential rage is positively correlated with the degree to which reality does not correspond with one's relevant categorical imperative(s).
More later.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Almost 6 years have elapsed since my last post! I guess "this format" wasn't as easy to keep current as I had hoped!
I want to use this forum to take claim to my unique name for my "school of thought," philosophy, and, I hope, movement: "Individuationism." Doing a Google search, I found another blog by that name, with no posts. I therefore consider it to be an abandoned name, at least for the school of thought which I intend to found on this date: March 5, 2013.
I have searched for years for an extant philosophy to which I could give my allegiance - but none of them have "quite been right." More or less in chronological order of interest as my life has progressed, those schools of thought have included: Democratic socialism; Marxist-Leninism; Libertarianism; National Socialism; Futurism; Fascism; National Syndicalism; National Bolshevism; European Socialism (of the post-WW II Oswald Mosley variety); Technocracy; Third Positionism; the Green Party. Currently, my thought aligns closest with the following philosophical positions and movements: subjective idealism; cognitive liberty; techno-progressivism; Technocracy; The Venus Project; the Zeitgeist Movement; autarky; post-scarcity; and National Anarchism.
The following need not necessarily be viewed as a systematic, comprehensive elucidation of a priori first principles, implications, postulates, conclusions, etc. Here, I want to quickly lay some groundwork, and claim it as my own. As will be evident, I am deeply indebted to the thinking of such luminaries as C.G. Jung, Friedrich Nietzsche, George Berkeley, Democritus, Thorsten Veblen, Howard Scott, Jacque Fresco, Peter Joseph, Gene Roddenberry, Alexander Bogdanov, Mikhail Bakunin, H.G. Wells, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin, Georges Sorel, Oswald Mosley, Troy Southgate, Russell Clark, and many others.
I. Consciousness is the basic substance of the universe.
II. There is One Consciousness.
III. The One Consciousness is "refracted" through each of our individual organic minds, and given an "individual" signature, constrained by the context of each of our individual histories and unique set of experiences.
IV. Empathy, compassion and understanding are attained when any individual "A" has insight that "B" has the exact same feeling of "I-ness" as "A;" that "B," if "B" has a functioning limbic system, has the exact same subjective sensations of emotion (though not identical, accompanying language or cognitions, if "B" is non-human); and that the only "differences" between individuals are superficial, based on different bodily structure, sense modalities, and individual sets of accidents of personal history and socialization.
V. There is a hierarchy of consciousness, not limited to the sentient creatures of the Earth - perhaps not even limited to our universe, or to our perceived "3 dimensions," or even the conceptual 4 dimensions of "space-time."
VI. There is a hierarchy of Evil, beginning with moments of unintentional self-absorption, thoughtlessness, carelessness or inattentiveness at one end of the scale, and ending with deliberate, conscious, sadistic pleasure at revelling in one's power, the ability to cause unlimited suffering of another. To quote a reference: Winston Smith's definition of "the future" in George Orwell's 1984: "Imagine a boot, crushing a human face underfoot, forever."
VII. Human reality is largely socially-constructed. However, if one's life is examined, and accompanied by flashes of insight and efforts of will, one can transcend the "collective" values of one's social reality. Entropy, as experienced in the human condition, is regression to the collective, unless overcome with glimpses of alternatives, often gained in moments of crisis and/or trauma, when one's life comes to be re-evaluated. Once opened, it takes effort to keep the door of the Collective from "slamming shut."
VIII. The "individual path," Jung's "individuation," can be endorsed and pursued in faith - and often, if we are honest with ourselves, in "fear and trembling." To do so is the source of all creativity - and of individual and social evolution.
IX. A reliable, yet awesome, guide in the individual journey is the unconscious. The guidance of the unconscious should be sought - yet not blindly followed. One should have a dialogue with the unconscious, while having a healthy respect for it. One should be on the lookout for messages from the unconscious, seen in dreams, in Active Imagination, in journaling, in moments of "synchronicity," in meditation, and in prayer. One should be aware of what archetypes are playing out in one's life, including in one's brief fascinations and fads, as well as in established interests and passions.
X. One must also always be conscious of the presence of the Shadow, the opposite, in one's experience. If one is revolted by something, including some collective chandala, one should become analytical and question: what may I be projecting onto this rejected person or thing? Am I rejecting this "opposite" person or thing, simply because I cannot accept that same is an unrealized potential within myself? What can I learn about myself from this entity?
XI. Enlightened social values are based on the compassionate desire to see each individual reach his or her maximum potential, to be as happy as possible, and to be as free from pain and stress as possible.
XII. We do not yet know where the environment leaves off, and genetics takes over, in determining the potential of the individual. We now know that many, seeming genetically-determined limitations on human potential and happiness, may in actuality be caused by stress, malnutrition, hunger, the stress of poverty, abuse, or neglect. We now know that genes can be turned "on" or "off" by the chronic presence of stress hormones in the human body - even beginning in-utero.
XIII. In order to maximize the happiness of as many as possible, we must think outside of the "box" of the Monetary System. It has been known since the first two decades of the 20th Century that technology had reached the level that a sufficiently technically-educated population, with access to enough renewable resources and a sufficiently advanced technological means of production, could produce enough necessities of life, as well as enough opportunites for self-actualization, and access to means of access to richly stimulating experiences and accumulation of knowledge, that previous generations could not imagine the quality of life that would be possible. Since then, however, there has been increasing concentration of monetary wealth (and therefore of Power) in the hands of a global elite, with a growing monopoly on information, and the transmission of cultural values through manipulation of consumer trends, fads, and fashions. Such manipulation is achieved by the encouragement of idolatry of dubious "celebrities," often mere entertainers through the media of modern-day "gladiator" contests (i.e., spectator sports) and base, overstimulating "entertainment" and spectacle. "Social values" are reduced to mindless emulation of such "celebrities," with the end of stimulating business and production cycles based on conspicuous consumption and planned obsolescence, thus resulting in the rape of the Earth's resources, with byproducts of toxic waste and pollution, carbon emissions, global climate change, deforestation and loss of habitat, overpopulation, mass extinction, loss of viable land for agriculture, etc. In addition, the means of distribution of necessities, goods and services via the Monetary System is inherently inefficient, wasteful, corrupt, dishonest, and inequitable, thus creating artificial scarcity, poverty, starvation, disease, and death.
Technocracy, and more recently the Zeitgeist Movement, both defined as "the equitable application of science and technology to human concern," posit the achievement of a post-scarcity society as both possible, and as the top priority.
That's all for now. Hopefully I've laid an adequate foundation. More to come.
-Stuart
I want to use this forum to take claim to my unique name for my "school of thought," philosophy, and, I hope, movement: "Individuationism." Doing a Google search, I found another blog by that name, with no posts. I therefore consider it to be an abandoned name, at least for the school of thought which I intend to found on this date: March 5, 2013.
I have searched for years for an extant philosophy to which I could give my allegiance - but none of them have "quite been right." More or less in chronological order of interest as my life has progressed, those schools of thought have included: Democratic socialism; Marxist-Leninism; Libertarianism; National Socialism; Futurism; Fascism; National Syndicalism; National Bolshevism; European Socialism (of the post-WW II Oswald Mosley variety); Technocracy; Third Positionism; the Green Party. Currently, my thought aligns closest with the following philosophical positions and movements: subjective idealism; cognitive liberty; techno-progressivism; Technocracy; The Venus Project; the Zeitgeist Movement; autarky; post-scarcity; and National Anarchism.
The following need not necessarily be viewed as a systematic, comprehensive elucidation of a priori first principles, implications, postulates, conclusions, etc. Here, I want to quickly lay some groundwork, and claim it as my own. As will be evident, I am deeply indebted to the thinking of such luminaries as C.G. Jung, Friedrich Nietzsche, George Berkeley, Democritus, Thorsten Veblen, Howard Scott, Jacque Fresco, Peter Joseph, Gene Roddenberry, Alexander Bogdanov, Mikhail Bakunin, H.G. Wells, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin, Georges Sorel, Oswald Mosley, Troy Southgate, Russell Clark, and many others.
I. Consciousness is the basic substance of the universe.
II. There is One Consciousness.
III. The One Consciousness is "refracted" through each of our individual organic minds, and given an "individual" signature, constrained by the context of each of our individual histories and unique set of experiences.
IV. Empathy, compassion and understanding are attained when any individual "A" has insight that "B" has the exact same feeling of "I-ness" as "A;" that "B," if "B" has a functioning limbic system, has the exact same subjective sensations of emotion (though not identical, accompanying language or cognitions, if "B" is non-human); and that the only "differences" between individuals are superficial, based on different bodily structure, sense modalities, and individual sets of accidents of personal history and socialization.
V. There is a hierarchy of consciousness, not limited to the sentient creatures of the Earth - perhaps not even limited to our universe, or to our perceived "3 dimensions," or even the conceptual 4 dimensions of "space-time."
VI. There is a hierarchy of Evil, beginning with moments of unintentional self-absorption, thoughtlessness, carelessness or inattentiveness at one end of the scale, and ending with deliberate, conscious, sadistic pleasure at revelling in one's power, the ability to cause unlimited suffering of another. To quote a reference: Winston Smith's definition of "the future" in George Orwell's 1984: "Imagine a boot, crushing a human face underfoot, forever."
VII. Human reality is largely socially-constructed. However, if one's life is examined, and accompanied by flashes of insight and efforts of will, one can transcend the "collective" values of one's social reality. Entropy, as experienced in the human condition, is regression to the collective, unless overcome with glimpses of alternatives, often gained in moments of crisis and/or trauma, when one's life comes to be re-evaluated. Once opened, it takes effort to keep the door of the Collective from "slamming shut."
VIII. The "individual path," Jung's "individuation," can be endorsed and pursued in faith - and often, if we are honest with ourselves, in "fear and trembling." To do so is the source of all creativity - and of individual and social evolution.
IX. A reliable, yet awesome, guide in the individual journey is the unconscious. The guidance of the unconscious should be sought - yet not blindly followed. One should have a dialogue with the unconscious, while having a healthy respect for it. One should be on the lookout for messages from the unconscious, seen in dreams, in Active Imagination, in journaling, in moments of "synchronicity," in meditation, and in prayer. One should be aware of what archetypes are playing out in one's life, including in one's brief fascinations and fads, as well as in established interests and passions.
X. One must also always be conscious of the presence of the Shadow, the opposite, in one's experience. If one is revolted by something, including some collective chandala, one should become analytical and question: what may I be projecting onto this rejected person or thing? Am I rejecting this "opposite" person or thing, simply because I cannot accept that same is an unrealized potential within myself? What can I learn about myself from this entity?
XI. Enlightened social values are based on the compassionate desire to see each individual reach his or her maximum potential, to be as happy as possible, and to be as free from pain and stress as possible.
XII. We do not yet know where the environment leaves off, and genetics takes over, in determining the potential of the individual. We now know that many, seeming genetically-determined limitations on human potential and happiness, may in actuality be caused by stress, malnutrition, hunger, the stress of poverty, abuse, or neglect. We now know that genes can be turned "on" or "off" by the chronic presence of stress hormones in the human body - even beginning in-utero.
XIII. In order to maximize the happiness of as many as possible, we must think outside of the "box" of the Monetary System. It has been known since the first two decades of the 20th Century that technology had reached the level that a sufficiently technically-educated population, with access to enough renewable resources and a sufficiently advanced technological means of production, could produce enough necessities of life, as well as enough opportunites for self-actualization, and access to means of access to richly stimulating experiences and accumulation of knowledge, that previous generations could not imagine the quality of life that would be possible. Since then, however, there has been increasing concentration of monetary wealth (and therefore of Power) in the hands of a global elite, with a growing monopoly on information, and the transmission of cultural values through manipulation of consumer trends, fads, and fashions. Such manipulation is achieved by the encouragement of idolatry of dubious "celebrities," often mere entertainers through the media of modern-day "gladiator" contests (i.e., spectator sports) and base, overstimulating "entertainment" and spectacle. "Social values" are reduced to mindless emulation of such "celebrities," with the end of stimulating business and production cycles based on conspicuous consumption and planned obsolescence, thus resulting in the rape of the Earth's resources, with byproducts of toxic waste and pollution, carbon emissions, global climate change, deforestation and loss of habitat, overpopulation, mass extinction, loss of viable land for agriculture, etc. In addition, the means of distribution of necessities, goods and services via the Monetary System is inherently inefficient, wasteful, corrupt, dishonest, and inequitable, thus creating artificial scarcity, poverty, starvation, disease, and death.
Technocracy, and more recently the Zeitgeist Movement, both defined as "the equitable application of science and technology to human concern," posit the achievement of a post-scarcity society as both possible, and as the top priority.
That's all for now. Hopefully I've laid an adequate foundation. More to come.
-Stuart
Saturday, December 15, 2007
I now have a blog
I now have a blog. Yes, I have a website, at freewebs I think, but I haven't updated it in so long. Perhaps this format of a blog will be easier to update. It may be an easier url to remember, too.
I have nothing profound to say today, other than to be mystified that, as of around 7:00 this evening, I was the only poster on Arthur C. Clarke's birthday blog (his birthday is tomorrow, 12/16)! I had to check the blog instructions repeatedly to make sure I hadn't posted on the wrong site! I would imagine that that site would be inundated with birthday wishes!
-Stuart
I have nothing profound to say today, other than to be mystified that, as of around 7:00 this evening, I was the only poster on Arthur C. Clarke's birthday blog (his birthday is tomorrow, 12/16)! I had to check the blog instructions repeatedly to make sure I hadn't posted on the wrong site! I would imagine that that site would be inundated with birthday wishes!
-Stuart
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