Monday, December 16, 2019
Inside Out
One way to conceptualize madness is as a social artifact that is used as a smothering weapon, wielded by those with power. This can be hard to articulate, but here: the turbulence which permeates all of society is seized upon as it bubbles up within the individual.
Those beginning glimmers of a turbulence in the individual are simply the gradual emergence of a social turbulence through the path of least resistance: where it percolates up through the most sensitive or vulnerable individuals first. The individual is isolated as "mad" and cast out.
This game of whackamole can continue until there are too many moles to whack, when that inner subjectivity coalesces through the relations of the many and through a process of inversion, emerges then as the whole objective state of society, and the "mad" ones appear as prophets.
For example, my doubts in myself as paranoid have largely been allayed by simply looking outward. I only need to look at basic facts of our current existence and instantly think: nope, not paranoid, everything really is fucked. I still have bouts of paranoia, but it is no longer the problem it once was.
So the belief in "madness" in the conventional sense may then be seen as a superstition itself. It is seen as a separate entity of its own which can be captured and then banished. Which is funny - certainly by design - as the "mad" themselves are often perceived as superstitious.
One way to banish superstition is to entertain the recognition that there is only necessity. What must happen, and where must the energy go? In other words, accumulating traumas are inevitable in a society which refuses to reconcile its own collective traumas. Yes, traumas can be isolated and sterilized in individuals in severely limited ways, allowing the greater system to stagger on. But trauma always occurs as a collective relation.
But unaddressed at their base in this way, eventually those traumas continue to build, and accumulate, and sooner or later, they must be released.
Those beginning glimmers of a turbulence in the individual are simply the gradual emergence of a social turbulence through the path of least resistance: where it percolates up through the most sensitive or vulnerable individuals first. The individual is isolated as "mad" and cast out.
This game of whackamole can continue until there are too many moles to whack, when that inner subjectivity coalesces through the relations of the many and through a process of inversion, emerges then as the whole objective state of society, and the "mad" ones appear as prophets.
For example, my doubts in myself as paranoid have largely been allayed by simply looking outward. I only need to look at basic facts of our current existence and instantly think: nope, not paranoid, everything really is fucked. I still have bouts of paranoia, but it is no longer the problem it once was.
So the belief in "madness" in the conventional sense may then be seen as a superstition itself. It is seen as a separate entity of its own which can be captured and then banished. Which is funny - certainly by design - as the "mad" themselves are often perceived as superstitious.
One way to banish superstition is to entertain the recognition that there is only necessity. What must happen, and where must the energy go? In other words, accumulating traumas are inevitable in a society which refuses to reconcile its own collective traumas. Yes, traumas can be isolated and sterilized in individuals in severely limited ways, allowing the greater system to stagger on. But trauma always occurs as a collective relation.
But unaddressed at their base in this way, eventually those traumas continue to build, and accumulate, and sooner or later, they must be released.
Addiction
A lot of addiction has to do with substances and activities that are designed for rapid delivery and convenience. It is a little more difficult to become addicted to something you are growing yourself, and harvesting yourself, and processing and curing yourself.
It takes quite a bit of work to do this, and the work itself is pleasurable and fulfilling on top of everything else, whereas it is typical for an addiction to supply quick hits of pleasure and fulfillment wherever it is sorely lacking.
Quick hits are rapidly metabolized, and so exhausted, and then more is needed, deepening those channels to be hit.
Much in this society is designed for rapid delivery and rapid distribution, and this is not an accident. And so the quick hits are quickly metabolized, creating bigger and more urgent spaces of lack, drawing in bigger and bigger hits, and constant acceleration is required.
Generalized, there is addiction everywhere. Part of society's function is to cordon off the aspects of this which are a threat to its powerful. And so the designation of "addiction" applies to those substances and activities the powerful do not like. "Illegal drugs" for example are substances which the establishment doesn't have a monopoly on, mainly because their effects are too destructive either to the existing social arrangements or to labor, whose production are taken up by fringe elements looking for their own power.
This is not pure caprice, as the powerful stay powerful by maintaining what living tissue is required to indulge them. But a society such as this is in a constant state of degeneration, which is arguably accelerating far past what degeneration is native to life's elemental processes.
It takes quite a bit of work to do this, and the work itself is pleasurable and fulfilling on top of everything else, whereas it is typical for an addiction to supply quick hits of pleasure and fulfillment wherever it is sorely lacking.
Quick hits are rapidly metabolized, and so exhausted, and then more is needed, deepening those channels to be hit.
Much in this society is designed for rapid delivery and rapid distribution, and this is not an accident. And so the quick hits are quickly metabolized, creating bigger and more urgent spaces of lack, drawing in bigger and bigger hits, and constant acceleration is required.
Generalized, there is addiction everywhere. Part of society's function is to cordon off the aspects of this which are a threat to its powerful. And so the designation of "addiction" applies to those substances and activities the powerful do not like. "Illegal drugs" for example are substances which the establishment doesn't have a monopoly on, mainly because their effects are too destructive either to the existing social arrangements or to labor, whose production are taken up by fringe elements looking for their own power.
This is not pure caprice, as the powerful stay powerful by maintaining what living tissue is required to indulge them. But a society such as this is in a constant state of degeneration, which is arguably accelerating far past what degeneration is native to life's elemental processes.
Binary
One thing about a binary - an on and off system - is that it does facilitate control. It acts as a lever. If you have two options for something to take that you are trying to control, it is easier to make those options distinct, and depending on the outcome you prefer, encourage a certain direction for whatever is subjected to that binary.
The simple binary of life and death is significant to whatever pocket of energy is organized and "living." And so the life side of the coin must be focused and deepened, and the death side of the coin, pushed away and curtailed.
Socially, having two options - such as good and evil - allows one to take one position or the other, which leads to more stark and decisive actions. On the flip side, it also allows those with power to quarantine one or the other designation, and then use that designation as a weapon, while retaining its binary opposite as a shield. Having even a third option - let alone a spectrum of options - makes things a little more unpredictable and a little more complex, which is much more difficult to manage.
One of the peculiarities of this industrial civilization, and probably all civilizations, is that as an entity it is incomprehensibly complex, but what makes it work, or what makes it persist in its current state, is a complexity that is made up of simplified binaries stacked and stacked upon each other.
Because a binary allows a given aspect of civilization to take the shape that is desired. And a binary has to be maintained. Its boundaries and its functioning need perpetual stewards.
The simple binary of life and death is significant to whatever pocket of energy is organized and "living." And so the life side of the coin must be focused and deepened, and the death side of the coin, pushed away and curtailed.
Socially, having two options - such as good and evil - allows one to take one position or the other, which leads to more stark and decisive actions. On the flip side, it also allows those with power to quarantine one or the other designation, and then use that designation as a weapon, while retaining its binary opposite as a shield. Having even a third option - let alone a spectrum of options - makes things a little more unpredictable and a little more complex, which is much more difficult to manage.
One of the peculiarities of this industrial civilization, and probably all civilizations, is that as an entity it is incomprehensibly complex, but what makes it work, or what makes it persist in its current state, is a complexity that is made up of simplified binaries stacked and stacked upon each other.
Because a binary allows a given aspect of civilization to take the shape that is desired. And a binary has to be maintained. Its boundaries and its functioning need perpetual stewards.
On Elementals
The thing about elementals, and which makes them so popular as instructive symbols in countless mythologies, is in their name: they are at the base of everything. Fire, for example, can spread through just about any sort of organic matter, and where it can't spread, or where it dies, a negation can be drawn up which is equally instructive.
This universality points to a basic logic which can be transferred beyond the locality that it arose in. It teaches beyond the confines of its own activity. You can start low, and then work your way up.
This is also why lies, or even logical or social contrivances are more difficult to keep track of. They persist in the web of previous relations they were part of. If one loses sight of those, it becomes possible to get lost, and lose the current lie or contrivance. Matters of the heart however faithfully rise up into whatever is built onto them. One can find the way again by simply returning to the low point.
This universality points to a basic logic which can be transferred beyond the locality that it arose in. It teaches beyond the confines of its own activity. You can start low, and then work your way up.
This is also why lies, or even logical or social contrivances are more difficult to keep track of. They persist in the web of previous relations they were part of. If one loses sight of those, it becomes possible to get lost, and lose the current lie or contrivance. Matters of the heart however faithfully rise up into whatever is built onto them. One can find the way again by simply returning to the low point.
On Fire
Fire really is an incredible phenomenon: with its relations abstracted, much wisdom can be gleaned from it. The special conjunctive conditions for its emergence can be seen in all sorts of complex phenomena. It may exist as a wink and as a whisper here and there, but then with enough friendly circumstances it spreads and gains strength, generating the conditions which feed it in turn. After enough work and enough magic, it takes on a life of its own, and can become a good friend, spreading heat and warm light, and which only desires to eat here and there in return. Of course it can became a good enemy too, and take everything held dear.
Thursday, December 12, 2019
What's Possible
It is curious to survey the political tussling over words and where those words are applied. It is not usually the instinct of a political professional to inquire into the meaning of a given word, but to pick up and use what is widely available by convention, and what offers advantage or injury to the other.
The words are forged elsewhere, whether by other professionals, intellectuals, or by the perpetually boiling-over crucible of history itself.
Words like "bribe" and "corruption" have very clear emotional and moral registers, which were imbued at an earlier time when the social relations were hot and active and in an intense dynamic state.
There is a certainty behind those words which still echoes on, a certainty which is picked up currently by actors looking to harness the energy of a previous and kinetic time, and direct that energy towards their opponents.
Because right now, there are all sorts of behaviors which are clearly destructive: the proliferation of shell companies and the hiding away and laundering of money flows away from contemporary tax obligations, which are already weak and insignificant in the first place.
And one only has to look at all the money flows into the various organs of political machinery. And because it is how everything currently works, and because everyone is doing it, then whoever has the rhetorical acumen can slide by, equating spending money to the exercise of free speech say, while isolating "corruption" and "bribery" within neat little packages which can be handled and manipulated. I swear, if I hear someone say "quid pro quo" one more time...
There may have been a time when the handing back and forth of money - as a young convention - was frowned on by certain traditionalists, but here was a relatively new technology, and in a time of boom and growth, who is to say what kind of social relation is really forbidden until we reach the terminus of its regular operation, and judge it by its fruits.
It is those who are scrambling underneath the falling, flaming debris of a collapsing social order, who are desperate enough to make the needed changes and prohibitions en masse, that put the imprints into words that are only toyed with on a case by case basis today.
What collective actions are possible in a given period of time? I guess it depends on what is going on, and what everyone is doing.
The words are forged elsewhere, whether by other professionals, intellectuals, or by the perpetually boiling-over crucible of history itself.
Words like "bribe" and "corruption" have very clear emotional and moral registers, which were imbued at an earlier time when the social relations were hot and active and in an intense dynamic state.
There is a certainty behind those words which still echoes on, a certainty which is picked up currently by actors looking to harness the energy of a previous and kinetic time, and direct that energy towards their opponents.
Because right now, there are all sorts of behaviors which are clearly destructive: the proliferation of shell companies and the hiding away and laundering of money flows away from contemporary tax obligations, which are already weak and insignificant in the first place.
And one only has to look at all the money flows into the various organs of political machinery. And because it is how everything currently works, and because everyone is doing it, then whoever has the rhetorical acumen can slide by, equating spending money to the exercise of free speech say, while isolating "corruption" and "bribery" within neat little packages which can be handled and manipulated. I swear, if I hear someone say "quid pro quo" one more time...
There may have been a time when the handing back and forth of money - as a young convention - was frowned on by certain traditionalists, but here was a relatively new technology, and in a time of boom and growth, who is to say what kind of social relation is really forbidden until we reach the terminus of its regular operation, and judge it by its fruits.
It is those who are scrambling underneath the falling, flaming debris of a collapsing social order, who are desperate enough to make the needed changes and prohibitions en masse, that put the imprints into words that are only toyed with on a case by case basis today.
What collective actions are possible in a given period of time? I guess it depends on what is going on, and what everyone is doing.
R's and D's
This is a little late but maybe worth commenting on still. The kerfuffle over the impeachment hearings - which admittedly still manages to smolder on - lacks the perceptive focus exactly where it needs to be: inward and towards the very nature of the system that is proceeding. There is a yawning cavity there, with all of the energy directed outward, toward Russia say, or Ukraine, or even between the Republicans and Democrats. As a result, the system lumbers and grinds on in the direction it has been going, the direction that has led it to this point thus far.
To Hoard or Not to Hoard
The archetypal hoarder is really just the concentration of a tendency that is in everyone more or less: the tendency to grasp. At its extreme, the concentration is made into a media spectacle and as such, can be isolated as an aberration, usually for the sake of fascination and entertainment for those witnessing the spectacle. What starts as a private social problem is made public through this media spectacle, as it is the media that perpetually reproduces the public at the scale we are at today.
Through typical media transmission, the hoarder is a character who dependably hoards, and everyone looks on in agitation and pity. It is up to the individual to break the cycle of grasping and let go, with a little bit of help from family and friends. This is a character that has less social power, whose living conditions are perfectly acceptable terrain for shame and pity, and thus suitable for an intervention.
Reckoning with the structural social conditions that bring about this concentration - at a certain frequency and probability - is a little more difficult, and not as appealing a subject for a TV show. This becomes more apparent the further you get into the meat and bones of the structure, those parts of the structure that are a little more difficult to shift around and alter without affecting meaningful change. In other words, resistance grows as attention is shifted to those with higher social power.
For example, the phenomenon of the billionaire is not yet readily accepted as a horrifying and shameful state of affairs (at least in the carefully censored public realm), even though the associated hoards are far more extensive, and are far more destructive to far greater swathes of community than the garage filled with crap. Yes, negative talk against billionaires is more present than ever in certain regions of the political spectrum, and is even permitted to be aired in media venues, but this is a far cry from actually going to someone's house, pointing fingers and tut-tutting, and then with tears and heartfelt hugs, liquidating and setting free that whole unsightly mass of material and abstract wealth.
And for something like this to happen without the complete razing of the entire political economic structure, and the wiping out of the classes most committed to it, it would take a massive and widespread change in consciousness, of one's perception of the nature of the cosmos and one's own visceral feelings and relations to the universe. I know what you're thinking: not likely.
After all, the greater hoards bring about the conditions for desiring hoards in the first place, and those conditions brought about earlier hoards, and so on. I have my own little collection of stuff I'm quite attached to, and looking out over the world and its current state, I think: well I better hold onto this stuff a little longer. The billionaires can go first!
At least for the time being, some things can be let go, especially through one's own private spiritual and living practices.
Through typical media transmission, the hoarder is a character who dependably hoards, and everyone looks on in agitation and pity. It is up to the individual to break the cycle of grasping and let go, with a little bit of help from family and friends. This is a character that has less social power, whose living conditions are perfectly acceptable terrain for shame and pity, and thus suitable for an intervention.
Reckoning with the structural social conditions that bring about this concentration - at a certain frequency and probability - is a little more difficult, and not as appealing a subject for a TV show. This becomes more apparent the further you get into the meat and bones of the structure, those parts of the structure that are a little more difficult to shift around and alter without affecting meaningful change. In other words, resistance grows as attention is shifted to those with higher social power.
For example, the phenomenon of the billionaire is not yet readily accepted as a horrifying and shameful state of affairs (at least in the carefully censored public realm), even though the associated hoards are far more extensive, and are far more destructive to far greater swathes of community than the garage filled with crap. Yes, negative talk against billionaires is more present than ever in certain regions of the political spectrum, and is even permitted to be aired in media venues, but this is a far cry from actually going to someone's house, pointing fingers and tut-tutting, and then with tears and heartfelt hugs, liquidating and setting free that whole unsightly mass of material and abstract wealth.
And for something like this to happen without the complete razing of the entire political economic structure, and the wiping out of the classes most committed to it, it would take a massive and widespread change in consciousness, of one's perception of the nature of the cosmos and one's own visceral feelings and relations to the universe. I know what you're thinking: not likely.
After all, the greater hoards bring about the conditions for desiring hoards in the first place, and those conditions brought about earlier hoards, and so on. I have my own little collection of stuff I'm quite attached to, and looking out over the world and its current state, I think: well I better hold onto this stuff a little longer. The billionaires can go first!
At least for the time being, some things can be let go, especially through one's own private spiritual and living practices.
Sunday, December 01, 2019
Tahoma in the Fall
Not sure how many posts and pictures I'll get to within the next month. I've been derelict in my duties again, but hey, the writings will come when they are ready. Lots of traveling, catching up with family and friends, etc.
Desire
Desire doesn't tend to simply just go away, or even be willed away. It usually has to be exhausted, whether through its fulfillment, or through its failure.
Bugs
Flying insects which encounter difficulties in built environments are often ungenerously thought of as "stupid" or "dumb," such as when they bob their way pathetically across a pane of glass, or hover hopelessly around an outdoor light. Setting aside the numerous social problems attached to those words and concepts in the first place, this initial judgment also obscures more than it reveals.
Perhaps a more interesting question to think about is this general sense of bewilderment in the animal kingdom, in which the many beings that share the earth with us are simply at a loss when it comes to coping with this massive and spectacular human built environment, which in geological and evolutionary timeframes, has suddenly materialized into view like the sudden arrival of the Star Wars star destroyers as they exit hyperspace.
For that matter, human beings themselves are bewildered in the face of their own kaleidoscopically morphing creations. Perfectly intelligent and perceptive people often run right into the very screen doors they install and manipulate on a daily basis, when they aren't paying full attention to their surroundings.
Now, the poor insects haven't had the time to evolve responses to the baffling planes of glass which appear out of nowhere and stretch on seemingly into infinity, or the never ending constellation of outdoor lights which replace their natural forms of guiding light. These are some of the many environmental sinks which have suddenly materialized within the last 200 years, and which are hoovering up the lives of whole clouds of insects, as they are burned on light and flame, or exhaust themselves fruitlessly following false light, or are picked off by predators waiting by the lights.
We've been wondering where all of the insects have been going, as any anecdotal remark about the decline of the windshield "bugsplat" can attest to. There are many exits from the mortal coil that they have been taking. These are just a few of them.
Perhaps a more interesting question to think about is this general sense of bewilderment in the animal kingdom, in which the many beings that share the earth with us are simply at a loss when it comes to coping with this massive and spectacular human built environment, which in geological and evolutionary timeframes, has suddenly materialized into view like the sudden arrival of the Star Wars star destroyers as they exit hyperspace.
For that matter, human beings themselves are bewildered in the face of their own kaleidoscopically morphing creations. Perfectly intelligent and perceptive people often run right into the very screen doors they install and manipulate on a daily basis, when they aren't paying full attention to their surroundings.
Now, the poor insects haven't had the time to evolve responses to the baffling planes of glass which appear out of nowhere and stretch on seemingly into infinity, or the never ending constellation of outdoor lights which replace their natural forms of guiding light. These are some of the many environmental sinks which have suddenly materialized within the last 200 years, and which are hoovering up the lives of whole clouds of insects, as they are burned on light and flame, or exhaust themselves fruitlessly following false light, or are picked off by predators waiting by the lights.
We've been wondering where all of the insects have been going, as any anecdotal remark about the decline of the windshield "bugsplat" can attest to. There are many exits from the mortal coil that they have been taking. These are just a few of them.
Hoard
Whether crammed into the garage or bursting throughout the house itself, the hoarder's stash serves as a compelling emblem of our pathological material relations in the modern era.
At first appearance the hoard is incredibly disorderly and vaguely disrespectful. Those things might be true in some ways, but underneath this phenomenon is an exquisite tenderness and a perpetual strain towards long term order and control.
The innumerable and varied objects - many of which appear as useless, trivial, and/or junk - accumulate around a terrible trauma, and the accompanying fear of an uncertain future.
Each new object in the stash could "come in handy" someday, or otherwise is imbued with a powerful sentimentality that would be quite painful to break. This is a strange ontological realm in which the vast abundance that the industrial middle class has access to is nevertheless scarce and could be swept away at any moment, never to return again.
To contrast, within a fertile forest, the objects of one's needs are constantly being regenerated, and indeed are striving to reproduce and perpetuate themselves, and lie in a relationship to oneself as a web of mutual support. At least, before winter arrives.
Alas, winter is here for the hoarder all the time. Life is a taught tightrope walk in which one's precious resources are relentlessly squirreled away, as the context that they were generated in is eternally suspect as a cold and hostile vacuum. The only choice is to accumulate whatever one can get one's hands on, and never let those things out of one's sight. The whole sprawling future and all the promise that it brings is compressed and concentrated into the tight space of one's own provincial domain.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)