Oeaohoo

Interesting point.

I could tell you but I’d have to kill you! Isn’t this outside of the domain of ego-development?

I reject it in principle. In practice, it is just the world we live in, and postmodern philosophy is an accurate assessment of that world — though Nietzsche had already said most of it. Trite as it might be to quote Tolkien: “I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” I wonder how much these really contradict each other…

The difference is that New-Age Spirituality is intellectually woolly, communal, and passive, whereas your approach is intellectually rigorous, highly individualistic and active (“the work”, “personal development”). This can be jokingly summed up as autism…

Autism. Also, this needs a joke punchline…

He embodies a vulgar egotism which is anathema to the Left’s narcissism and self-righteousness. He is also a very symbolic figure.

Do you have any thoughts on how to avoid using spiritual work for self-deception?

They can’t, because history is a manifestation of metaphysical principles. The connection between history and metaphysics is much older than Hegel. It is found in every spiritual tradition. Hegel just secularised the Christian idea of providence. Like Nietzsche said, especially in Beyond Good and Evil, most of Western philosophy since Descartes is just secularised Christianity. Maybe it is just some irrational English ancestral memory, but I have always detested this pretentious French style, which says so little with so much. All of these writers just make the same point over and over: namely, that our concepts aren’t accurate because they imply a falsely fixed reality — a point which Nietzsche had already made in a much more exciting way. Why not just make that point and be done with it? Like Marxism, it is the kind of philosophy which is designed to be attractive to women. This makes sense since, as I understand it, philosophers in France are treated like celebrities. Tolstoy said: “For the French a woman comes before anything else. They are a weak, degraded people. Doctors say that all consumptives are sensual." I believe that women are rarely interested in the truth, in the spirit of this aphorism of Nietzsche:

This made me laugh. I expect it will be a psychosis of extreme, ant-like conformity. On that note, I saw a close up of an ant’s face recently. It was horrifying. Very devilish… I bet you he is a Trump voter!

Don’t we all? Hard drugs are required to survive through the Spenglerian, civilisational winter! This reminds me of the poem by Baudelaire:

Strange coincidence — you have a very similar energy to a friend of mine, who sent me the song “Holy, Holy” from this album the other day. Who could fail to love this beautiful version of I Know It’s Over?

Sadly, it’s true… Though I think there are other ways to get women — “think” being the key word there! How do they help? And what drugs? I have been considering trying 2C-B, since my friend has some.

“And when you’re tied to your mother’s apron, no one talks about castration…” — The Queen is Dead

Of course, he was. And so am I… “They’ve got a name for the winners in the world… I want a name when I lose!” At the same time, his lyrics are very humorous and his music speaks to a hopelessness which is quite common in English life, especially in the lower classes. It’s just the antithesis of American-style self-help or Nietzschean vitalism, in which one can never be a victim. Interesting point. The only Velvet Underground song I really like is Candy Says, since I have also come to hate my body and all that it requires in this world… What do you think I’d see, if I could walk away from me?

Oh, you handsome devil… ‘There’s more to life than books, you know, but not much more!’

Except that it’s a cyclical process of rise and fall rather than a linear and progressive trajectory. The subsiding of survival pressures creates decadence because it allows people to forget the harsher realities of life. This leads to societal collapse, out of which emerges a new, less “free” social order.

Exactly. That’s why they deserve to be ruled by him. Every country has the government it deserves.

Greed is GOOD! Sounds like my idea of hell. I like the bit in American Psycho where he is breaking up with his girlfriend. She says, “What about all of our friends?”, and he says, “You can have them.”

I’ve been thinking about this recently, nice answer.

That makes sense, I just can’t bring myself to play the bit… Maybe someday I’ll have to. What does it look like for you? The trouble with not playing the bit is that you end up in a weak and vulnerable position, more and more conditioned by the very system which you are trying to escape. This has basically happened to me. Well, I feel the same, only the other way around… Then again, I’m not in America! By the way, Trump’s rise reminds me of Spengler’s theory of Caesarism:

I imagine a Wilberian would say that you have regressed to Stage Green. Accepting that model, it makes sense to me that you would do this since you seem quite attached to the pleasures of modern life - partying, girls and so on - which are all very Green in our time. Most “cool” people in European cities are Stage Green. Being Stage Yellow would probably make you feel much more out of the loop…

Yeah, basically.

Interesting. What made you turn away from Ken Wilber? Maybe I had something to do with it… I never got that into Spengler, something about his style always turns me off — it’s like Nietzsche but lacking the same depth of insight. I do like his idea of the “second religiosity”, the debased form of spirituality which one finds in a late and decadent civilisation — it fits the “new age” phenomenon, including most of what you will find in the Spirituality tab on this forum, very well. Anyway, maybe one day I’ll get you reading Guénon and Evola…

“I just want my government to import less migrants.” ”Ah, the dreaded Authoritarian Personality rears its head again! Will we ever learn?! Sit down in my armchair, inmate, we have a lot of work to do on you… Now, tell me about your Mother.”

Why psychologise it? The resurgence of the Right in the West is happening for political reasons, not psychological ones.