Bard Bart
A Summation
Master/slave mindset behind illegitimate totemic authoritarianism.
The metaphysical view of humanity is seein' life as a spiritual journey, individually and collectively. Biggest danger on journey is illegitimate totemic authoritarianism, thinkin' with the boss which manifests itself as kjer: knee jerk emotional responses passin' as reason. Which is what Socrates found when he held up the light of reason to peoples belief systems, and why he had to drink the cup of hemlock.
Nietzsche talked about most people being caught in a master /slave relationship. Not just physical but mental as well. Even when the physical is overcome the mental chains remain.
That is the mindset behind this phony "drug war" when it's really drug prohibition. The "masters" had these laws passed back in the '30's and the "slave" mentality still supports them. Free speech, facts and science for the most part bein' ignored. Censorship of illegitimate totemic authoritarianism. The root of that is human perversity regardless of gender, class, color, creed, sexual orientation, ethnicity: in other words regardless of background.
Whether one calls it the human condition, alienation, sinfulness, it's the same thing:wretchedness. Shakespeare thru one of his characters put it this way: "If to do good were as easy as to know what were good to do." If only doin' the right thing was as easy as knowin' the right thing to do is another way of puttin' it.
The American sayin' "it ain't easy bein' easy" captures the sublime as does the Irish "tisn't aisy bein' aisy".This means peace of mind which implies the wretchedness of the human condition has been overcome. Something we all desire whether we know it or not: serenity.
Lenin reputedly said on his deathbed "what Russia needs are 10 St. Franciss' ". St. Francis is the one who said "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change , courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference."
George Bernard Shaw claimed most people who talked about capitalism, socialism and communism didn't have a clue what they were talkin' about. As true today as it was in his day.
Karl Marx, considered the father of communism, believed class was the dominant form of social relations since the time of "primitive communalism" which he understood to be a classless society. These earlier hunters and gatherers cooperated in the hunt and in gatherin' the fruits of the land which were then divided among the people. There wasn't any ownership of resources by an elite group. This is where he came up with the idea of "from each man according to his ability to each man according to his need".
I believe it's fair to say in the case of Marx man was used generically to mean men and women. So I'm goin' to remove the sexism of his day and express it thus: from each accordin' to ability to each accordin' to need.
Marx was the son of a rabbi. The value system of each accordin' to ability to each accordin' to need is a metaphysical idea comin' out of his religious background. Only he threw out the meta, which is akin to throwin' out the baby with the bathwater.
The physical world of materialism with its beliefs of randomness and chaos, reduced to the fundamental particles of matter,doesn't explain sublime thought.
Socrates made the distinction between the physical and metaphysical by seein' an invisible hand in the universe which he referred to as the muse, the spirit of inspiration firin' the imagination.
To the materialist, beliefs in soul ,spirit are foolishness and akin to talkin' about pink elephants. An American writer and philosopher, Bob Morrison, explains what Aristotle meant by metaphysics : his book on metaphysics besides,next to his book on the physical world. Bob capped it off about materialist seekers of truth: "men who lose God to find God."
Common ground between the physical and metaphysical views of virtue is the good Samaritan story: showin' compassion comin' to the aid of someone in need regardless of the background of person in need.
A virtuous life is not havin' blood on ones hands, that is the blood of innocent people. Deprivin' anyone of their human rights; political, religious and/or economic means you have blood on your hands, and it's not the kind one can wash off with soap and water.
socrates was right
those chained to a wall
seein' only shadows of reality
resistin' freedom
with all their fears and might
no room for the muse
in a material world
this recurrin' phenomenon
itself bein' evidence of sameness
in an ontological perspective
rejectin' randomness and chaos
as bein' the plan
only part of it
Here's a poem I heard from my old man, I'm just puttin' a title to it.
wholly innocence
nothin' wrong with makin' mistakes
as long as you learn from them
but don't keep on makin' the same mistakes
any old fool can do that
go out and make new ones
He didn't think of it as a poem, it just poured out of him as advice for me. It literally rocked me on my heels. Another gem he threw at me : "walk on your heels , not on your toes". Definitely metaphysical.