Friday, June 22, 2018

The Infrahuman Left

The first essay in Schuon's The Play of Masks, Prerogatives of the Human State, is one of his most dense and concentrated, essentially summarizing the whole existentialada.

This was his penultimate book, appearing in 1992, which was followed by the equally short and dense Transfiguration of Man in 1995. Then it was all poems until his death a few years later at age 90.

This first essay is packed with so much essential truth that it's worthy of a line-by-line exegesis. Not only is the book a fractal of the cosmic interior, but so too is each essay, right down to the last sentence. What? Okay, here's the last sentence:

Without objectivity and transcendence there cannot be man, there is only the human animal; to find man, one must aspire to God.

That sentence is very abstract -- i.e., universal -- and yet applicable in a fully concrete way. For example, one can readily apply it to the leftist hysteria of the week, i.e., THE CHILDREN!!! Is there a single MSM journalist who is being objective about this? Of course not. If they were, then they couldn't indulge in the virtuous pleasure of crying in front of the camera, or calling us Nazis, or hounding law-abiding officials from restaurants.

One wishes they were only human animals, but they are something much worse, for a man who fails to transcend himself sinks beneath himself, and that is what we are witnessing this week.

One could cite hundreds of examples, but consider just Peter Fonda. Imagine how lacking in insight one must be in order for him to call someone else a Nazi while wishing to "rip Barron Trump from his mother's arms and put him in a cage with pedophiles" and see Kristjen Nielsen "stripped naked and publicly whipped."

The field of psychology, like everything else the left touches, has been ruined. However, this should not detract from the importance of its genuine discoveries, such as the defense mechanism of projection. Fonda shows us exactly how this works, as he projects his own inner Nazi into others and attacks them for it.

But this is simply what the left does, in all times and in all places.

Put conversely, remove projection from the human repertoire and the left would have little to talk about. They would be deprived of the bulk of their obsessions; or, they would have to hate themselves instead of us, which is precisely what they wish to avoid, hence the massive projection. I mean, imagine being morally instructed by the likes of Sean Penn, or Robert DeNiro, or Harvey Weinstein!

Let's get back to our exegesis: again, no objectivity and transcendence, no humanness. What was the error of our first parents? Clearly it was a plunge into subjectivity, i.e., the rejection of an objectivity that can only be rooted in God. What else is new? As the only thing new in the world is the history you don't know, you might say that the only new behavior is the archetypal fall that's about to be replayed.

Let's circle back to the very first sentence:

Total intelligence, free will, sentiment capable of disinterestedness: these are the prerogatives that place man at the summit of terrestrial creatures.

Now, that is a mythfull! It cuts through reams of lies, sophistry, indoctrination, and tenure. First of all, it affirms that there is a summit of intelligence, which is in stark contrast to the first principle of the left, which collapses the cosmic hierarchy in favor of a barbarous leveling. An immortal aphorism comes to mind:

Liberty is the right to be different; equality is a ban on being different.

bʘʘm.

Back to our human trinity: Intelligence. Free will. Disinterested sentiment. Many people manage one or two, but we need all three. Think, for example, how any intelligence in the psychic world of the left is totally undermined by their unhinged passion. Or, think of scientism, which flames out when it must account for free will.

Next sentence or two:

Being total, the intelligence takes cognizance of all that is, in the world of principles as well as in phenomena [i.e., vertical and horizontal]; being free, the will may choose even that which is contrary to immediate interest or to what is agreeable; being disinterested, sentiment is capable of looking at itself from without, just as it can put itself in another's place. Every man can do so in principle, whereas animals cannot...

These observations are at once deeply obvious and endlessly profound. Think of how man uniquely transcends the bounds of his neurology, and instead "opens out" to everything. Science -- either science as such, or such-and-such a science -- can in principle never account for this. It is an a priori principle that animates science, not one that is "discovered" by science.

The very purpose of free will is to choose between good and evil. The left, of course, either denies this distinction or affirms that it is simply a matter of opinion. Once again, the plunge into subjectivity and away from God.

Sentiment capable of looking at itself from without and putting itself in another's place. The left cannot possibly be more lacking in insight and self-awareness than it is today. Really, the next step is violence. Not that it isn't already occurring, only that the violent acting out will have to become more pervasive. The left is about to go full Palestinian on us.

By the way, when I call the left "infrahuman," does this mean I want to kill or torture them, like Peter Fonda? Of course not. I am not a leftist. It means I want to elevate and liberate them from their own self-imposed shackles of unhinged passion enclosed in horizontality.

To be continued....

21 comments:

Gagdad Bob said...

This looks intriguing: a brain sensing headband for meditation training, to help calm your own mental weather.

Gagdad Bob said...

Makes one wonder about the psychic weather inside the heads of global warming fanatics.

Gagdad Bob said...

Like James Hansen: "Why should people world-wide pay drastic costs to cut emissions when the global temperature is acting as if those cuts have already been made?"

I know! Because it calms the anxiety of leftists.

julie said...

Re. the headband, it's an interesting idea. However, I can't help wondering about all the ways it could go wrong. If nothing else, the idea of having your brain waves in any form uploaded to the internet (which, if it's linked to your phone, is almost certainly going to happen) seems... unwise. Right up there with signing away your DNA for a questionable report on your ancestry.

Call me paranoid, I guess.

Anyhoo, back to the post,
Put conversely, remove projection from the human repertoire and the left would have little to talk about. They would be deprived of the bulk of their obsessions; or, they would have to hate themselves instead of us, which is precisely what they wish to avoid, hence the massive projection.

Was watching the Simpsons episode where Sideshow Bob runs for mayor the other day. Even though it from one of the older and better seasons, the amount of pure projection in that one was over the top. Everything they claimed about republicans then is actually true of the Democrats even today. This line was a gem, considering all the human trafficking reeeeing this week: "No children have ever meddled with the Republican Party and lived to tell about it."

julie said...

The left is about to go Palestinian on us.

Signs point to "yes." That said, they'll do their best to make it look like it was our fault, as always.

Gagdad Bob said...

Yes, Simpsons humor suddenly becomes unsophisticated and unsubtle whenever it caricatures Republicans. I'm happy to be ridiculed so long as it is with a little wit and not a blunt object.

Gagdad Bob said...

If you truly believe someone is a Nazi, then it is a moral imperative to stop them by any means necessary, including violence. That's where we are.

Gagdad Bob said...

Like, what are they waiting for?

julie said...

Well, effective gun control for one...

julie said...

As if it's even possible to wrest 400 million guns out of the hands of ever more disillusioned Americans.

BZ said...

Good morning, I enjoyed your post. I appreciate your postings, I've been reading for years, comprehending to less or more depending on how many cups of coffee or how well I slept and so on.
Re: Peter Fonda: I was sad for him, he's in his 70's, and lost. The only ray of hope is he offered what might be a sincere apology, that might be his ticket from Hell if he follows that sentiment. He'd best hurry!
Again, my gratitude for including me in your ongoing conversation. One day I suppose you'll have had enough, and I'll be sad but grateful. Regards...

Anonymous said...

Hello Robert, Julie, BZ.

When Nazis are identified beyond any question, they have been in all instances extirpated physically. This is because a true Nazi is found intolerable across all party lines and ideologies. The Nazi is always connected to a verified bad outcome (deaths, beatings, confiscation of property, destruction of property, denial of basic human rights).

We may be certain Nazi-calling is mostly mud-slinging in our times. Persons wearing swastikas, however, will eventually harm others, this we know from experience. These are generally confronted when they move off of their personal property and assemble in groups, etc.

The situation at the border is not true Nazism, for a variety of good reasons, however, it is comforting the citizenry is as reactive as it is. Like the immune system, the antibodies to Nazism are sensitive and easily triggered, and will help us not to get a systemic infection.

The Republicans and Democrats, Left and Right, are probably more unified than you might think. I have extensive contact with both groups, and both are composed overwhelmingly with kind and decent people.

Gagdad Bob said...

Whatever. We're at a tipping point between civilization and Tribulation. The era of conservative liberalism was nice while it lasted, but it will likely prove to have been a brief summer between two long winters.

Gagdad Bob said...

On a more pleasant note, some scholarly backup from the book Sufism and Taoism by Toshihiko Izutsu:

"The Absolute itself draws a circle in the sense that it starts from the primordial state of Unity, 'descends' to the plane of concrete beings and diversifies itself in myriads of things and events, and finally 'ascends' back into the original non-differentiation."

In each moment, and vertically speaking, of course. Same as Aquinas:

"The overall scheme of the Summa, like that of the universe, is an exitus-redditus an exit from and return to God, Who is both Alpha and Omega." The structure of the cosmos "is not like information in a library, but like blood in a body." Which passes through the interior of the human subject quintessentially.

The eternal spiral of (⇅).

Gagdad Bob said...

Izutsu also explains the whole One Cosmos thingy:

Man "not only synthesizes all the forms of the Divine manifestation which are scattered over the world of Being, but also is conscious of this whole. This is why true comprehensive unity is established by Man, corresponding to the Unity of the Absolute. Man is in this sense the Imago Dei."

The Raccoon vocation.

Petey said...

Conversely, fallen man is Imago D'oh!

julie said...

Speaking of leftists, projection, and Godwin's Law, it's quite a "coincidence" that the official flag of Antifa looks almost exactly like the flag of the German Communist Party, before they literally became Nazis.

I'm sure that doesn't have any particular implication...

Gagdad Bob said...

What would be the inverse image of the Perfect Man? It would have to be someone totally lost in the illusory world of fragmentary mayaplicity, with no coherence, continuity, memory, unity, or principles, just moment-to-moment passion, hysteria, projection, and acting out, devoid of insight.

That rings a bell.

Anonymous said...

Hello Dr. Godwin:

You are a psychologist, a respectable man, erudite and well read. However, it is axiomatic we can't see our own foibles as well as we can see them in others.

I'm must point out, respectfully, your view of our nation's people as sharply divided on ideological and theological lines is easily disproved. Average and routine personal issues, and usually one or two thorny life problems, occupy the lion's share of what people do, think, and talk about.

When asked, people speak volumes on the issues du jour, and offer opinions, but once the soliloquy is self-righteously delivered, that ends the matter. Anyone can corroborate this.

A daily dose of media watching will quickly reveal huge, menacing political tensions and hot button conflicts. Well yes, people need things to talk about, eh?

Your endless inquiries and preoccupation with God are another thing. While not religious mania, it does point to some kind of discomfort you may be having. How are you feeling about yourself and your life?

Step back and take a look at yourself, sir. Just take a look as if you were someone else.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your concern trolling, anonymous. If there is a God, then it would seem to be appropriate to be preoccupied with Him.

Unknown said...

“Liberty is the right to be different; equality is a ban on being different.”

Liberty is a much better alternative than the
Insane Clone Posse

Theme Song

Theme Song