Monday, August 22, 2016

The rulers of this world are coming to nothing

The rulers of this world are coming to nothing.
Paul of Tarsus


1. On Perfect Virtue

If you had to wait for the world to stop being corrupt before you could free your soul from corruption, you would wait a very long time. In fact, you would probably die before you achieved the innocence you sought.

Philosophers long ago recognized it would be remarkable if good people and people in power happened to coincide. Instead of waiting and hoping for this rare coincidence, philosophers devised techniques for freeing the soul from corruption in a corrupt world.

Here’s what Plato has to say on the subject—as relevant today as it was two millennia ago:

Worthy disciples of philosophy. ... have tasted how sweet and blessed a possession philosophy is, and have also seen and been satisfied of the madness of the multitude, and known that there is no one who ever acts honestly in the administration of States, nor any helper who will save any one who maintains the cause of the just. Such a savior would be like a man who has fallen among wild beasts—unable to join in the wickedness of his fellows, neither would he be able alone to resist all their fierce natures, and therefore he would be of no use to the State or to his friends, and would have to throw away his life before he had done any good to himself or others. And he reflects upon all this, and holds his peace, and does his own business. He is like one who retires under the shelter of a wall in the storm of dust and sleet which the driving wind hurries along; and when he sees the rest of mankind full of wickedness, he is content if only he can live his own life and be pure from evil or unrighteousness, and depart in peace and good will, with bright hopes.
Worthy disciples of philosophy (ἀξίαν ὁμιλούντων φιλοσοφίᾳ) don’t adopt the values of the corrupt world. We don’t entrust the fate of our souls to the corrupt world. We crouch behind a wall with other innocent souls, meditating, thinking, debating, praying and studying.

In modern terms, we would have to say worthy disciples of philosophy are disabled. Our awareness and understanding of the corruption of the world make us unfit for the social roles the world expects.

Competent souls, souls that are not psychologically disabled, function in the world in one of two ways. They pretend rulers are good. They resign themselves to being bad. The worthy disciple of philosophy isn’t capable of either.

Will the worthy disciple of philosophy be able to persuade the disability office he deserves a pension? Probably not. Perhaps he might try the method of Hindus and Bhikkhus: don robes and sit on the street begging for food. But this might not be practical in winter. So what’s our poor soul, unwilling to pretend the world is good, and unwilling to be bad, what is he to do?

In 13th century Italy, Francis offers one possible answer. If you enter the world with nothing but your perfect virtue, other souls will see your virtue. They will come forward and offer you food and shelter.

What if no one is coming forward with offers?

Don’t be impatient, says Francis. Strive to perfect your virtue even more.

“What if I don’t perfect my virtue in time for winter,” asks the cynic.

If no one comes forward to help us, says Francis, we must become even more virtuous, not adapt to the ways of the world.

We know that path ends on the cross. And we follow it.


2. Ancient languages

When I meet God, I want to be able to tell Him I did my best to learn His word. I haven’t had time yet to learn Hebrew and Latin. But I want to know at least a few dozen words in each, so God will know, at least, I tried.

This is why I’m unemployable. This is why I’m poor. I just can’t imagine what could possibly be more important than the words of salvation, whether from Bhikkhunis or Plato or Aristotle or God. If learning Greek and Sanskrit takes me one step closer to the purity and innocence my soul craves, what could be more important than that?

If, in order to assure the survival of body, I lose the innocence of soul, I have lost something higher for the sake of something lower.


3. The Forest

In order to go deep into thought, it’s helpful to have a time and place free of distractions. This is why the Bhikkhuni goes to the forest to meditate.

The flies distract her. But they aren’t deliberately trying to redirect her attention from the Dhamma to the market.


4. The cynical philosophy

Cynical minds have undoubtedly stopped reading by now. So we can get down to business and discuss their philosophy. The cynical philosophy loves pleasures of the flesh. It ignores pleasures of mind, soul and spirit. It denies mind, soul and spirit even exist.

Here, for the record, is a quick refutation of this cynical philosophy.

Assertion 1. The legacy of information passed from one generation to the next includes both genomic material and textual material.

Assertion 2. Human behavior is influenced by both genomic and textual material.

Conclusion. Human behavior can’t be explained by a reductionist theory that excludes textual material from its domain of study.

The cynical philosophy refuses to entertain the possibility that the words “Love thy neighbor as thyself” might have as profound an influence on the behavior of a human specimen as any nucleic acid ever could. The specimen of homo cynicus (anthropos kynikos) has decided to acquiesce to genome and give up any attempt to make the neurological alterations that occur with the study of texts. And, to protect its pride, the specimen adopts a philosophy in which indolent acquiescence to the genome is characteristic of the species.

The canine genome can be overcome by training. But the human genome cannot?


5.1 First step of the training

Consider how a worthy disciple of philosophy might fare in Hollywood.

“Should we really appeal to the base animal instincts of our viewers, their lust, pride and greed. Won’t that be a bad influence on their souls?”

“In Hollywood we do whatever it takes to get attention. Attention means viewer share. Viewer share means revenue. Revenue means profit.”

“But is it right to show beautiful faces? Won’t that teach people to admire the external beauty, and fail to see the beauty within?”

“You’re fired.”


5.2 Second step of the training

A passage from Augustine:

In how many of the most minute and trivial things my curiosity is still daily tempted, and who can keep the tally on how often I succumb? How often, when people are telling idle tales, we begin by tolerating them lest we should give offense to the sensitive; and then gradually we come to listen willingly! I do not nowadays go to the circus to see a dog chase a rabbit, but if by chance I pass such a race in the fields, it quite easily distracts me even from some serious thought and draws me after it—not that I turn aside with my horse, but with the inclination of my mind. And unless, by showing me my weakness, thou dost speedily warn me to rise above such a sight to thee by a deliberate act of thought—or else to despise the whole thing and pass it by—then I become absorbed in the sight, vain creature that I am.
What serious thought is the circus of Hollywood distracting you from?

The mass media profits handsomely telling idle tales and seducing vulnerable minds.

You need a deliberate act of thought to rise above the circus and find the most sacred texts. Don't let the profiteers of spectacle, the ringleaders of the modern circus, choose them for you.

Moving pictures are a snare. They seduce eyes meant for study to love pleasure instead. They teach us to adore beautiful, rich people and despise the poor and oppressed.

Monday, August 15, 2016

Conspiracy Theorists and First Century Christians

The mindset of conspiracy theorists, who are thoroughly convinced their rulers are corrupt, is actually very close to that of first-century Christians, also thoroughly convinced their Roman rulers were corrupt. Even if conspiracy theorists are wrong about the details, their mindset is right. Rulers are corrupt. Don’t obey them. Decide for yourself what it true and right.

Rulers never rule for the benefit of their subjects. They seek power for the sake of power.

Rulers elevate themselves to idols. They insist the currency they dispense must define your values.

First century Christians were fed to the lions because they defied Caesar and stood up for what is true and right. They put genuine human virtues above the virtue of obedience.

Obedience is only a virtue when we obey virtuous rulers. Those in power are those who choose to seek power. They are corrupt. They will always be corrupt. First century Christians and conspiracy theorists understand. Everyone else deceives themselves.

The word cynical has two very different meanings. There is the good, plebeian sense of cynicism, always looking power in the face and seeing what it really is. And there is the evil, bourgeois sense of cynicism, which cynically manipulates the mind into pretending rulers are good.

Rulers are evil. They seek power for the sake of power. The good are powerless. We die on crosses.

This is not cynicism. It is fact. Cynicism is the choice to ignore this fact and obey anyway.

Don’t ignore the evil in your rulers. Ignore your rulers. Defy your rulers. Define your own values. Each of us has our own relationship to virtue and wisdom. No ruler can ever be admitted to that place where ultimate moral decisions are made. There, in the core of the heart, we are always alone.

Jesus was asked if it was righteous to pay taxes. He asked to see the coins in which the taxes would be paid. “Whose image is on the coin?” he asked.

Caesar’s face is on the coin. Caesar's empire is what gives the coin its value. Who decided, to begin with, that Gold—not Nickel or Copper—would be the metal that served as the store of value? Who, for that matter, decided that something tangible would define economic value?

Who decided economic life would serve Caesar and the metal he appointed as his deputy?

At this point the value of gold seems so firmly stamped on our hearts, it is hard to question. But in the first century, it was a real question. Why are we accepting that these coins are stores of value? Why aren’t our values defined by our own, higher values?

Love of God, love of neighbor, love of truth, love of virtue, love of wisdom—these qualities are hard to identify. It’s much easier to just exchange coins.

But is it really so much easier? As we destroy our planet in a suicidal spiral of consumption, perhaps now would be a good time to ask, might the first century Christians perhaps have had the right idea, when they ignored Caesar, gave him back his coins, and braved the lions and crosses for the sake of what they held most sacred?

Remember, Paul said, “The rulers of this world are coming to nothing.” Why would you want to go down with the establishment?

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Reactions to Collective Guilt. Argument? Or Penitence?

I'm part of a culture of greed destroying our planet in a suicidal frenzy of consumption. My sermons often include such confessions of collective guilt. But I haven’t really provided a sound argument, my critics complain. “Where's the evidence supporting this alleged decline of morality?”

What evidence do I need when I already know in my soul I am guilty? My soul is full of greed. I was nurtured from infancy by Hollywood and Madison Avenue executives, who taught me to desire manufactured products as fervently as an earlier culture might have taught me to desire God.

“There you go again with your unsubstantiated claims. Where are the statistics?”

What statistics do I need? I see in my own soul, I am guilty. My culture taught me, every moment the radio was on, buying is commendable, desire is a virtue, owning is a mark of piety, greed is good, profit is noble, rate of return is God.

The mark of a good man is that he demands little in things of the body, while he demands much in things of the spirit. He asks for a minimum of food and shelter, but he demands new feats of intellectual and moral excellence from you, and shows you how to achieve them.

Is this the man television presents to us as a role model? Television was supported from the start by advertising, and adopted the values of that culture. Its aim from the start was to turn parishioners into consumers, to turn us away from desiring virtue and wisdom to desiring goods and services.

“Greed is good—particularly an insatiable greed for the product I happen to be selling.” The message of advertisers and their accomplice entertainers has infected my mind and spirit to a degree that will require a lifetime of careful thought to undo.

But there I go again with my unsubstantiated claims.

No, I can’t offer any statistics. I can only tell you what I see in my own soul.

No, I have no way to quantify and measure the effect I’m describing. I only know my mind was destroyed by it.

And it seems to me those asking for arguments and evidence are unsound in their method. When someone tells me I’m complicit in some collective sin, my first reaction is to repent. Even if the speaker isn’t so guilty as he imagines himself to be—even if I don’t so easily find in myself what the speaker finds in him—even then, I know there’s some other sin I can find. And I can repent for that.

When I talk about collective guilt, and people respond by asking for evidence, they miss the point. The point is, look into your own soul, see where guilt might lie. The point is, examine yourself. Ask yourself, “Is there an unjust institution in my society I know in my heart is wrong?” “Could I do something to stop it?” “Could I stop supporting it?” “How could I be a better person today?”

But the bourgeois doesn’t enter into the true spirit of repentance. He responds to every accusation by defending himself. He’s a lawyer by nature. And he mounts such a good defense, he will never see his own guilt. And he will never repent. And he will never truly experience the kingdom of God.

I’m part of a culture of greed destroying our planet in a suicidal frenzy of consumption.

Do you find this culture of greed in your soul too?

Maybe you don’t. But I know you have some ideal, some principle you could uphold and embody with more vigor and courage than you do now. We may not agree about the nature of the sin. But I know you can join me in the spirit of repentance.

Monday, August 8, 2016

A mind with integrity

A mind with integrity thrown into world of systematic cruelty and injustice is faced at every moment with the impossibility of its continued existence. There is no way to function in the world without accepting the system. And there is no way to accept the system without destroying the integrity of the mind. One possible response, which every mind with integrity has certainly considered, is deliberately exiting from the world. This might take the form of withdrawal into solitude. It might take the form of suicide. I have often considered both these options.

What makes the world even more intolerable is that the mind with integrity finds itself surrounded by minds entirely unsympathetic to its plight. Other minds have chosen survival over integrity. They refuse to confront the cruelty and injustice of the system that rules them. They have accepted they must play their role in a cruel and unjust system in order to survive. Some pretend the system is benevolent and just. Some confine their thinking to their assigned roles. Some refuse to think at all.

Why do virtuous, noble, kind people starve while selfish, cunning, cynical people rule? Why are those who live in luxury while others suffer admired and respected? A mind with integrity will never stop asking these uncomfortable questions.

One source of hope for a mind with integrity comes from studying great minds of the past that preferred to die rather than sacrifice their integrity. The system and those who work for the system have, of course, appropriated these minds for their own purposes. Martyrs died because they failed to accommodate their honest and straightforward minds to the twisted logic of the Roman system of exploitation and cruelty. These same martyrs subsequently became icons of Constantine’s empire. Socrates carefully distinguished the use of language for discovering truth from the use of language for advancing personal aims. Now lawyers use his dialectic to advance their careers by persuading the victims of private property ideology they must never question it. Marx untangled the web of deceptions used to justify the exploitation and greed of capitalist rulers, only to have his words used to justify the exploitation and greed of socialist rulers.

And yet, surprisingly, we can still find the original thoughts of these courageous thinkers in what many scholars believe are original, uncorrupted texts. Here is a source of hope for a mind with integrity. Here, finally, is a reason to go on living.

I am thankful I found texts that show genuine uncompromising intellectual integrity before I ended my life in despair. Others are not so fortunate. Our educational institutions are, of course, part of the system. They seek to transform students into useful components of the system. Intellectual integrity, when it exists, is thoroughly and ruthlessly destroyed. Texts that show genuine intellectual integrity are not part of the curriculum.

The living human beings we encounter are a biased sample. They are, with rare exceptions, minds that have chosen survival over integrity. That’s why they have survived. A mind with intellectual integrity won’t find companions among the living. It finds companions in those who died because they couldn’t survive in the corrupt system. It finds companions in those whose survival is tenuous, whose lives might end at any moment in desolation and despair.

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Reserve your ambitions for the perfection of your mind and spirit

The aristocrat of matter accepts nothing but fine accommodations and sumptuous meals. The aristocrat of spirit accepts nothing but perfect humble devotion to God and the neighbor. If modesty is a virtue, we must distinguish the precise sense of the word. Not our aspirations to virtue should be modest, but our sense of having attained it. We should be humble about what we are, and set no limit to what we might be.

We often hear about the American dream. But we ought to remember there is more than one. Thoreau, a true aristocrat of spirit, offers a dream of intellectual and moral excellence. Madison Avenue offers a dream specially manufactured for you, in which their products happen to play a conspicuous role.

There’s far more money to be made from those who crave the pomp and splendor of Caesar than from those on the humble path of sages. Madison Avenue wants to steer our ambitions away from the aristocracy of spirit toward the aristocracy of matter.

When people ask why I study, I tell them I am preparing my soul to meet God. Even for those who don’t believe in God, the idea that we must make the intellect more perfect with each passing year, so that at the end it is prepared to find its place among the great minds of history, is one that might inspire even the most cynical.

Give up your aspirations for worldly success. All you can get is what others are born with. It’s a wasted life. Revive your aspirations for intellectual and moral excellence. Begin studying again. It’s never too late. Your mind is special. It has it’s own unique way to get close to God and your neighbor. It has a unique form of love, which your mind, and yours alone, can express. Don’t deny yourself the opportunity to discover your own unique, irreplaceable path to perfection. Sit alone with God. Sit alone with your neighbor. Talk about what you hold most sacred.

Don’t let the aristocracy of matter intrude on your aspirations. Reserve your ambitions for the perfection of your mind and spirit.