Disciples of the Mysterium by Michael Tsarion

Author:Michael Tsarion [Tsarion, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Philosophy, Objectionism, Personalism, Existentialism, Taoism
Publisher: Unslaved Media
Published: 2012-12-21T05:00:00+00:00

War Against Oneself

Terry Kellog believes that abusive behaviors – whether we direct them towards ourselves, other people, or other species – are not natural to human beings. People enact such behavior because “…something unnatural has happened to them. I and they have become deranged” – Chellis Glendenning

What is man able to do that animals cannot? He is capable of observing and analysing the world around him, and capable of observing and analysing his own thoughts about what he sees. He can think about himself in relation to the world and observe his own mental processes. He can think about thought. Apparently, animals cannot think about the future or contemplate their own nature. They exist in this moment only and are not aware of what they are to become in the future. Animals have memories of the past and do have great intelligence. However, they are not able to question whether there is a "meaning" to their existence. This is a human being's unique ability.

And because thinking about thought and reality is the province of human beings, we might ask whether this special capacity has always been available to humanity. When did it begin? According to the findings of psychologist Julian Jaynes, it came into being recently. It is a concomitant of man's subjectivity, which was not always in existence. It was, in our opinion, the result of the terrible Age of Catastrophe, and is a result of the same trauma that formed the ego. In other words, man's subjectivity has a date of birth. As we said above, philosophers would have profited had they given ancient cataclysm the consideration it deserves.

We reproduce catastrophe because we ourselves are traumatized – both as a species and individually, beginning at birth. Because we are wounded, we have put up psychic defences against reality and have become so cut off from direct participation in the multidimensional wilderness in which we are embedded, that all we can do is to navigate our way cautiously through a humanly designed day-to-day substitute world of symbols - a world of dollars, minutes, numbers, images and words that are constantly being manipulated to wring the most possible profit from every conceivable circumstance. The body and spirit both rebel – David Watson (The Pathology of Civilization)

With man's subjectivity came the ability to think about thought. However, the capacity for subjective cognition brings about serious problems. Firstly, because subjectivity is the state of man's ego, man is able to choose what to do and think. He is free to direct his own actions. He can choose whether to do this or that, and decide whether his actions are wrong or right, good or bad. Man acts, but unlike an animal he must take responsibility for his actions, and if needs be, live with guilt and shame. In other words, man must pay a heavy price for being conscious.

Secondly, subjectivity means that not everything in consciousness falls under the dominion of the hierarchically-structured ego. What exists

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