Here's a pithy little formulation by Schuon that bears somewhat on doing nothing, AKA non-doing. "Spirituality," he writes, "includes four principal elements," the first of which
cuts man off from the current of profane life; the second empties the soul of illusory contents; the third infuses the discursive intelligence with divine Light; the fourth essentially brings about deification.
Alternatively,
This could be formulated as follows: in renunciation the soul leaves the world; in purification the world leaves the soul; in meditation God enters the soul; in continual prayer the soul enters God.
(This reminds me of the pneumaticons in the book -- e.g., (---), (o), (↓), and (↑) in relation to O.)
Along these lines, over the past several weeks a phrase keeps popping into my head: Christian nihilism. Of course, this shares nothing in common with the vulgar nihilism of the left, nor with mere fatalism, stoicism, or resignation.
For one thing, it's a joyous nihilism (or innocent and childlike) because it has only to do with this (or that, rather) world, not the next; moreover, the latter is already here, bisecting this one, i.e., The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Living at the intersection of heaven and earth is where it's at. If not, to hell with it.
Elsewhere in the same book Schuon alludes to the rottenness of this world, for which there are compensatory graces unique to the challenges posed by the civilizational decay surrounding us; come to think of it, this is like an inverse analogy of the communist idea of "the worse, the better" (better because it means the glorious revolution is that much closer).
Schuon agrees that "there are advantages to this [cultural] evil itself," but (obviously) for totally different reasons from those purely destructive Marxist devils such as Piven & Cloward; specifically,
the world has become so emptied of substance that it is hard for a spiritual man to be too attached to it.... In former times worldliness was all the more seductive for having aspects of intelligence, nobility, and plenitude; it was far from being wholly contemptible as it is in our day.
Our elites and their institutions are indeed wholly contemptible. What spiritually awakened person could ever wish to take part in this malevolent farce except in opposition to it?
But this opposition is the precise opposite of "reactionary," because it is rooted in the loving affirmation -- intellectual, spiritual, and experiential -- of a higher reality (or just say reality).
Note also that "lower reality" makes no sense except in the context of the higher; to the extent that it becomes an autonomous dimension detached from its vertical source, this devolves to the vulgar nihilism of the tenured, i.e., accidental intelligence combined with axiomatic stupidity.
If we were merely opposed to this principled stupidity of the left, it would be a form of counterfeit slack, still rooted in an attachment to the world and its seductive appearances. But our attachment is again to truth, AKA the real. Compared to this reality, the world is literally but a dream, or even "a dream woven of dreams." What else could it be if the intellect weren't an adequation (in potential) to the real?
We cannot doubt that truth is infinitely real and precious and that its absence must therefore imply a sort of inverted infinity.
Exactly. Absent our adherence to Truth -- at once saving and liberating -- the material world becomes a vast and necessarily meaningless psychiatric prison. Which it is, but the doors are locked from the inside.
Modern man, even when he stumbles upon a truth, never follows it all the way back and up; and any truth detached from the Absolute becomes no truth at all; one might say it takes revenge on the intelligence that pretends it can exist apart from Intelligence as such, i.e., Celestial Central.
(Quoted material from Spiritual Perspectives and Human Facts https://www.amazon.com/dp/193331642X/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_til?tag=onecos-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=f86b12483b9ef2311a292cf307aed833&creativeASIN=193331642X)
12 comments:
Speaking of functional stupidity of the left, we have still-Communist China. With two thirds the arable land of the USA, they get double the agricultural production. And 96% of them don’t even believe in God!
This “functional stupidity” must mean something I’m just not getting. And yes, I know I'm confused, ignorant, DK and all the other smears.
Dems will never give up on slavery.
There's nothing wrong with the left wing. That is a tired fallacy some people never tire of trotting out. Ignore.
There is nothing wrong with the USA, or with China. Let all comparisons go.
There's nothing wrong with the right wing, either. The two wings are not so very different. The most extreme left bumps verges into the farthest right and they make love on the fringes. That's right they f*ck each other and the offspring look just like anyone else.
That sh*t is not where the action is. Read the post, and you will understand. The world will take care of itself; you have to move past, onward and upward. The Bob knows.
Our elites and their institutions are indeed wholly contemptible. What spiritually awakened person could ever wish to take part in this malevolent farce except in opposition to it?
Indeed. Makes it tricky when we are stuck in the midst of it, though.
Psychology has fallen so far in my erstwhile professional lifetime that no normal person would be attracted to the field. From the brochure of this year's APA conference:
Trans Liberation is for Everybody: Moving Toward a Psychology of Liberation for All Genders
In this collaborative, dynamic, and challenging 20-minute keynote, Tori Cooper and Anneliese Singh discuss key directions for trans liberation in psychology and how these directions can inform liberation practices for all genders. Tori and Anneliese draw from a collective 60 years plus of community organizing and activism expertise developed in challenging trans-negative and white supremacist healthcare systems, with a special focus on trans liberatory mental health approaches.
Anneliese Singh, PhD, LPC (she/they) is a Professor and Associate Provost for Diversity and Faculty Development and Diversity/Chief Diversity Officer at Tulane University. Dr. Singh engages in NIH-funded longitudinal research with trans and nonbinary people exploring their experiences of resilience, trauma, and identity development, with a focus on young people and BIPOC people. Anneliese is the author of The Queer and Trans Resilience Workbook and The Racial Healing Handbook: Practical Activities to Help You Challenge Privilege, Confront Systemic Racism, and Engage in Collective Healing.
Brown Skin, White Minds: Exploring Oppression’s Most Insidious Consequence
Centering the experiences of Filipino Americans – a historically forgotten, understudied, and underserved group – this talk will discuss how internalized oppression may exist and operate within us and outside of our awareness, intention, or control.
E. J. R. David, PhD is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Alaska Anchorage, specializing in ethnic minority psychology. He has produced four books: Brown Skin, White Minds: Filipino -/ American Postcolonial Psychology, Internalized Oppression: The Psychology of Marginalized Groups, The Psychology of Oppression, and We Have Not Stopped Trembling Yet.
That's just nauseating.
And so, here we are...
Whose Freedom of Speech?: Power and Voice on College Campuses
In this talk Cole considers how a psychological understanding of power and voice are missing from current national conversations on free speech. She argues this omission constitutes a "missing discourse." She will discuss the ways that research on social norms, gendered self-silencing, stigma, and activism complicate questions of whether to speak, who gets the floor to speak, and whose speech is considered legitimate by listeners. Cole concludes with a discussion of the implications of power and voice for debates about diversity, inclusion, and free speech on college campuses.
Good heavens Robert and Julie, you are like a couple of frat boys.
All of the supposedly objectionable and nauseating are perfectly fine and explore legitimate social issues.
You people have shot yourselves in the foot with this post and comments. You have revealed that if anyone is contemptible, well...
Ever been a trans person? No? Then how would you know anything about that experience.
Didn't think so.
The patriarchy is Custer and his men, and the brown people are the Sioux. You know the outcome. Don't stand with Custer unless you want to fall with Custer. He should have never come on to brown turf looking for trouble.
And you Julie. What do you know about brown people living in the white patriarchy? Are Filipino? No? Any kind of brown? No?
Then you guessed it. Shut the pie h*le.
Anon, you have no idea. Feel free to shut your pie hole.
But we need to explore this functional stupidity of the left further.
China is ascendant because the Dems will never give up on slavery. Indeed. Nor will they give up on gays, trannies, terrorists, Sharia Law, Cancel Culture, Trump smears, Critical Race Theory or any of their other dabblings with witchcraft.
I blame public schools. In all the books describing witches, witches were always pictured as old white women. So I ask you all, where are the gay, trannie, Muslim, woke, Dem, black, antifa, psychology PhD and hipster witches? Our children's minds have been poisoned with Dem propaganda.
The Shrinks have shrunken themselves.
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