I think the lack of self-understanding in this age of knowledge may turn out to be the enlightenment's fatal karmic sin. We all navigate and negotiate our psyches through projecting them on each other, and when we seek to destroy our shadow we need a proxy, like a voodoo doll, to fight, shame, kill, destroy. People who are not aware that, in fact, we all hold this darkness within us, and that trying to be pure and perfect is the hallmark of movements that become totalitarian regimes, are an enormous danger; and unfortunately, the wave of intolerance and puritanism is gaining momentum at a moment when society is increasingly disrupted by paradigmatic shifts coming from multiple directions. There's a line in a U2 song that has always stuck with me:
"A man came on the radio late last night
said he's gonna kick the darkness till it bleeds daylight."
That's where we're at on the Left these days--people believe that they can shame and abuse the evil out of the world, all the while making the world more shame-filled, abusive, paranoid, intolerant, offensive, outraged, and increasingly violent.
We've got to get back to basics:
Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity.
Walk a mile in someone's shoes before you judge them.
Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you. (RBJ)
I think the lack of self-understanding in this age of knowledge may turn out to be the enlightenment's fatal karmic sin. We all navigate and negotiate our psyches through projecting them on each other, and when we seek to destroy our shadow we need a proxy, like a voodoo doll, to fight, shame, kill, destroy. People who are not aware that, in fact, we all hold this darkness within us, and that trying to be pure and perfect is the hallmark of movements that become totalitarian regimes, are an enormous danger; and unfortunately, the wave of intolerance and puritanism is gaining momentum at a moment when society is increasingly disrupted by paradigmatic shifts coming from multiple directions. There's a line in a U2 song that has always stuck with me:
"A man came on the radio late last night
said he's gonna kick the darkness till it bleeds daylight."
That's where we're at on the Left these days--people believe that they can shame and abuse the evil out of the world, all the while making the world more shame-filled, abusive, paranoid, intolerant, offensive, outraged, and increasingly violent.
We've got to get back to basics:
Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity.
Walk a mile in someone's shoes before you judge them.
Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you. (RBJ)
Think globally, act locally.
and the Golden Rule:
Treat others as you would have them treat you.
Postmodernists talked about disillusionment with science; I never thought it would become this literal.
It is the only thing that prevents its collapse.