Thank you. It needs re-written, and is not very good. This sort of writing doesn't come naturally to me, but I wanted to write something positive and inspiring to balance out the last one. Have to keep at it.
What madness has befallen us? The great reset may just be a new set of godZ taking over the simulation that adorns this ant farm we live in... or are we even alive?
"If modernity was characterized by spiritual sobriety, our present condition is one of spiritual autism."
--- Which do you think is better to address this: Integral Theory via Ken Wilber or Meta-modernism via Hanzi Freinacht? Some meta-modernists critique Integral as being overly focused on personal transformation to the exclusion of practical socio-political evolution. Wilber has his own critiques of the current meta-modern movement, which I haven't looked into yet. I gather that Integral appeals largely to a Boomer, Gen X and older Millennial crowd while the contemporary Meta-modern Movement appears to draw the younger half of Millennials and Gen Z.
"Foucault didn’t kill meaning, he’s with you at the funeral, striving to lift your spirits. Postmodernism’s sin is not that it kills, but rather that it draws out death. "
--- Most internet peeps these days throw around the term "postmodern" without ever even having heard of Foucault. Glad to see there's someone who does.
"Inevitably, Western anthropology discovered such ubiquity, and, for a few decades in the 20th century, wondered why modern man was excepted."
--- Modern people are not excepted. They find this through religion, which happens in community. One example being the chatechism and confirmation of Catholic youth. It's not a one day event. They spend several months preparing and shadowing a chosen saint. Similarly Judaism has it's bar and batmizvahs. Similarly the initiatory rites of traditional tribes past and present (the few that are left) take place within a community of related people one has known since birth. The initiatory rituals are not a one day thing but several months are spent preparing the child. What non-religious modern man is missing is this community and the extended family bonds that make all this possible. I guess Bly tried to recreate that amongst non-related men who were not living amongst each other but would meet every now and then at some retreat center in the woods. Absent an actual blood family one can create a family amongst friends but they must be living together in community. Not spread out and flying in every 4 months to attend a retreat.
It is this absence of lived community that is most hurting non-religious people today. It is this absence of lived community that will ensure that men on the internet will never get together in real life and actually create anything meaningful for suffering men.
"Lived community" is for a man akin to deep sleep, clean food, secks, gf. That is, it is something which, when present in moderation, is conducive to the organism's good health. However, it cannot create meaning or sustain the spirit, which in any healthy man looks up from the ground (these things I mention) and towards the sky (winning glory, organizing the world according to one's genius, securing the others' destruction and ruin).
When it comes to the question of how to live, Heraclitus is definitive: the best men seek ever-flowing glory among mortals, the rest stuff their faces (including with communitay) like cattle.
However, I grant that there are men lacking community, and hurting because of it. I do not think these men would be best-off pursuing "localism" or religious gatherings (unless they truly fear the gods involved, of course). Don't pour good wine into old skins - those things are long dead. They should seek to form cults with other good and like men. Even 3 or 4 can do this.
In particular, I like the Cult of Mithros. Young men who gather to slaughter strong bulls and bathe in their hot blood, demarcate neighborhoods dedicated to fucking prosties and training for war. We could use a successor to this, one amenable to our time.
-
You are right that few understand postmodernism. I personally do not think it should be a badge of honor to understand them - having read them, I would not do it again. But, it is shameful to misunderstand them and thence blame our current rot on them. This is low IQ scapegoating. They did not produce our ruin.
-
What do I think of Meta-Modernism? Hi there Luke Turner. I appreciate that you're engaging with my ideas instead of screaming hysterically.
But to answer the question, I do not think integralism is a "fruitful hypothesis." Hopefully some of the people who wasted hours learning it disagree with me! Meta-modernism at face value is a cute artistic lens but not sufficient for matters of the spirit.
"Lived community" is for a man akin to deep sleep, clean food, secks, gf. That is, it is something which, when present in moderation, is conducive to the organism's good health. However, it cannot create meaning or sustain the spirit, which in any healthy man looks up from the ground (these things I mention) and towards the sky (winning glory, organizing the world according to one's genius, securing the others' destruction and ruin)."
=== Without community that gf you mention ends up becoming the sole source of a man's emotional and social life. She becomes his community. Which is why men do so poorly living single and why we have such a huge population of depressed lonely men in this country. I've been to countries where men form more social bonds amongst each other than women do amongst women. For some reason in the USA men just don't brotherhood and friendship anywhere near they do in other countries. Maybe it's a relatively recent phenomena due to the internet and maybe I'm just too young to remember when American men formed lasting bonds. The rest of the things; winning glory, organizing the world, and securing others' ruin? All fairy tales for the American man who can't even leave his mom's house due to social anxiety. And all things done in cooperation with other people. Nobody ever has "won glory" or "organized the world" or "secured others' ruin" on his own.
The solution is for the "manosphere" to walk their talk and reach out to these men and form communities by buying houses where 4-6 men can live and work and play and bond together. Or simply renting apartments where 2 to 3 can live together. Or better yet, buy some land where 10-20 can homestead and grow food and hunt and build and create and live life meaningfully together.
But it won't happen. Because the men who claim to care about "men's issues" really don't. Otherwise they would be foster parenting teen boys or adopting male children or being a mentor with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program or visiting lonely old men in nursing homes, or volunteering with homeless men or ... SOMETHING.
"We need to rediscover the spirit in the unconscious mind with meditation, psychedelics, and talk therapy. An autist will find emotional texture in his C++ Bayesian model before these things yield soul to you."
=== Talk therapy's purpose is not to "yield soul" but to process life experiences, often traumatic ones. It's the work of "growing up". Meditation and psychedelics can yield soul to you. It's the work of "waking up." However the way meditation and psychedelics are marketed in consumerist culture, simply as means to the end of becoming a "conscious capitalist", no, they won't yield soul. They yield soul to those who were born and raised in the indigenous cultures that have utilized them for thousands of years. If one humbly seeks out these cultures and gets accepted into them and engages in these practices under the strict guidance of a "guru" or elder, then even if one is not born into it, it can yield soul for him too. Meditation is safer and more accessible than psychedelics for this purpose. One can convert to religions/take initiation into paths that have strong meditation practices. Even Orthodox Christianity has kept Hesychasm alive.
"Meta-modernism at face value is a cute artistic lens but not sufficient for matters of the spirit."
=== They have created some lived communities. It looks like Buddhism is their path of choice for matters of spirit. I plan to check out a community this summer. At least they're creating something in the real world instead of just hanging out online and calling it "community".
Have the blood Gods been whispering to you?
Very poetic
Thank you. It needs re-written, and is not very good. This sort of writing doesn't come naturally to me, but I wanted to write something positive and inspiring to balance out the last one. Have to keep at it.
What madness has befallen us? The great reset may just be a new set of godZ taking over the simulation that adorns this ant farm we live in... or are we even alive?
Incredible
"If modernity was characterized by spiritual sobriety, our present condition is one of spiritual autism."
--- Which do you think is better to address this: Integral Theory via Ken Wilber or Meta-modernism via Hanzi Freinacht? Some meta-modernists critique Integral as being overly focused on personal transformation to the exclusion of practical socio-political evolution. Wilber has his own critiques of the current meta-modern movement, which I haven't looked into yet. I gather that Integral appeals largely to a Boomer, Gen X and older Millennial crowd while the contemporary Meta-modern Movement appears to draw the younger half of Millennials and Gen Z.
"Foucault didn’t kill meaning, he’s with you at the funeral, striving to lift your spirits. Postmodernism’s sin is not that it kills, but rather that it draws out death. "
--- Most internet peeps these days throw around the term "postmodern" without ever even having heard of Foucault. Glad to see there's someone who does.
"Inevitably, Western anthropology discovered such ubiquity, and, for a few decades in the 20th century, wondered why modern man was excepted."
--- Modern people are not excepted. They find this through religion, which happens in community. One example being the chatechism and confirmation of Catholic youth. It's not a one day event. They spend several months preparing and shadowing a chosen saint. Similarly Judaism has it's bar and batmizvahs. Similarly the initiatory rites of traditional tribes past and present (the few that are left) take place within a community of related people one has known since birth. The initiatory rituals are not a one day thing but several months are spent preparing the child. What non-religious modern man is missing is this community and the extended family bonds that make all this possible. I guess Bly tried to recreate that amongst non-related men who were not living amongst each other but would meet every now and then at some retreat center in the woods. Absent an actual blood family one can create a family amongst friends but they must be living together in community. Not spread out and flying in every 4 months to attend a retreat.
It is this absence of lived community that is most hurting non-religious people today. It is this absence of lived community that will ensure that men on the internet will never get together in real life and actually create anything meaningful for suffering men.
"Lived community" is for a man akin to deep sleep, clean food, secks, gf. That is, it is something which, when present in moderation, is conducive to the organism's good health. However, it cannot create meaning or sustain the spirit, which in any healthy man looks up from the ground (these things I mention) and towards the sky (winning glory, organizing the world according to one's genius, securing the others' destruction and ruin).
When it comes to the question of how to live, Heraclitus is definitive: the best men seek ever-flowing glory among mortals, the rest stuff their faces (including with communitay) like cattle.
However, I grant that there are men lacking community, and hurting because of it. I do not think these men would be best-off pursuing "localism" or religious gatherings (unless they truly fear the gods involved, of course). Don't pour good wine into old skins - those things are long dead. They should seek to form cults with other good and like men. Even 3 or 4 can do this.
In particular, I like the Cult of Mithros. Young men who gather to slaughter strong bulls and bathe in their hot blood, demarcate neighborhoods dedicated to fucking prosties and training for war. We could use a successor to this, one amenable to our time.
-
You are right that few understand postmodernism. I personally do not think it should be a badge of honor to understand them - having read them, I would not do it again. But, it is shameful to misunderstand them and thence blame our current rot on them. This is low IQ scapegoating. They did not produce our ruin.
-
What do I think of Meta-Modernism? Hi there Luke Turner. I appreciate that you're engaging with my ideas instead of screaming hysterically.
But to answer the question, I do not think integralism is a "fruitful hypothesis." Hopefully some of the people who wasted hours learning it disagree with me! Meta-modernism at face value is a cute artistic lens but not sufficient for matters of the spirit.
"Lived community" is for a man akin to deep sleep, clean food, secks, gf. That is, it is something which, when present in moderation, is conducive to the organism's good health. However, it cannot create meaning or sustain the spirit, which in any healthy man looks up from the ground (these things I mention) and towards the sky (winning glory, organizing the world according to one's genius, securing the others' destruction and ruin)."
=== Without community that gf you mention ends up becoming the sole source of a man's emotional and social life. She becomes his community. Which is why men do so poorly living single and why we have such a huge population of depressed lonely men in this country. I've been to countries where men form more social bonds amongst each other than women do amongst women. For some reason in the USA men just don't brotherhood and friendship anywhere near they do in other countries. Maybe it's a relatively recent phenomena due to the internet and maybe I'm just too young to remember when American men formed lasting bonds. The rest of the things; winning glory, organizing the world, and securing others' ruin? All fairy tales for the American man who can't even leave his mom's house due to social anxiety. And all things done in cooperation with other people. Nobody ever has "won glory" or "organized the world" or "secured others' ruin" on his own.
The solution is for the "manosphere" to walk their talk and reach out to these men and form communities by buying houses where 4-6 men can live and work and play and bond together. Or simply renting apartments where 2 to 3 can live together. Or better yet, buy some land where 10-20 can homestead and grow food and hunt and build and create and live life meaningfully together.
But it won't happen. Because the men who claim to care about "men's issues" really don't. Otherwise they would be foster parenting teen boys or adopting male children or being a mentor with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program or visiting lonely old men in nursing homes, or volunteering with homeless men or ... SOMETHING.
"We need to rediscover the spirit in the unconscious mind with meditation, psychedelics, and talk therapy. An autist will find emotional texture in his C++ Bayesian model before these things yield soul to you."
=== Talk therapy's purpose is not to "yield soul" but to process life experiences, often traumatic ones. It's the work of "growing up". Meditation and psychedelics can yield soul to you. It's the work of "waking up." However the way meditation and psychedelics are marketed in consumerist culture, simply as means to the end of becoming a "conscious capitalist", no, they won't yield soul. They yield soul to those who were born and raised in the indigenous cultures that have utilized them for thousands of years. If one humbly seeks out these cultures and gets accepted into them and engages in these practices under the strict guidance of a "guru" or elder, then even if one is not born into it, it can yield soul for him too. Meditation is safer and more accessible than psychedelics for this purpose. One can convert to religions/take initiation into paths that have strong meditation practices. Even Orthodox Christianity has kept Hesychasm alive.
"Meta-modernism at face value is a cute artistic lens but not sufficient for matters of the spirit."
=== They have created some lived communities. It looks like Buddhism is their path of choice for matters of spirit. I plan to check out a community this summer. At least they're creating something in the real world instead of just hanging out online and calling it "community".