11-19-2018, 03:48 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-19-2018, 04:26 PM by Eric the Green.)
What is it with you?
Philosopher Alan Watts, whom I just finished listening to, has an interesting way of looking at this whole thing. I don't agree with him necessarily, but it is at least a good starting point.
He says that you don't know who you are without an enemy. You define yourself by putting down all those other people. But Jesus said love your enemies. But what does this really mean? It means, says Watts, that you must recognize that you need your enemy. Where would Sen. McCarthy have been without communists to hunt and put down? Where would Marx have been without capitalists? He would have had no reason to create his theory, by which he made a name for himself. If there are no criminals, then the police need us to pass a law against something so they can make a living and have something to do enforcing it. So we pass a law against gambling and the mafia takes it over and pays the police to look the other way, and both sides are happy. St. Thomas Aquinas said that the saints in heaven look over the battlements and watch the poor souls in hell, so they know who they are in heaven. Those on the good side of the tracks call the poor dirty and lazy, while the poor look upon the rich as squares who don't live authentic lives. Today we look down on and try to defeat terrorists, or the rednecks in the red states, or as he called them in his time, those awful white southerners. Every in group defines itself by opposing the outgroup. It's a mutual dependency. So, you don't want to make your enemy into your friend; that would spoil the show and just make you a wimp. But conflict must be contained and not get out of hand. There needs to be chivalry and respect for our enemies, rather than just destroying them and today maybe blowing up the world.
That's what he said. He was also not a big believer in progress, but as a progressive, I must have some hope that the enemy can be reformed, or may reform itself. Capitalism does not need to be cutthroat, and communism can have a human face, and so on. Part of that is having respect for those who may be different within your own group, as for example in a capitalist country those on the better side of the tracks who benefit would respect those on the opposite side who use the government to take some of their money, and vice versa, or hard-line communists would respect the revisionists, and vice versa, and so on.
In life, we always have obstacles to face, otherwise life is not a game or an adventure, and we don't learn and grow and there's no story; there's no music without low and high notes; no roller coaster ride without going up and down; etc.
Philosopher Alan Watts, whom I just finished listening to, has an interesting way of looking at this whole thing. I don't agree with him necessarily, but it is at least a good starting point.
He says that you don't know who you are without an enemy. You define yourself by putting down all those other people. But Jesus said love your enemies. But what does this really mean? It means, says Watts, that you must recognize that you need your enemy. Where would Sen. McCarthy have been without communists to hunt and put down? Where would Marx have been without capitalists? He would have had no reason to create his theory, by which he made a name for himself. If there are no criminals, then the police need us to pass a law against something so they can make a living and have something to do enforcing it. So we pass a law against gambling and the mafia takes it over and pays the police to look the other way, and both sides are happy. St. Thomas Aquinas said that the saints in heaven look over the battlements and watch the poor souls in hell, so they know who they are in heaven. Those on the good side of the tracks call the poor dirty and lazy, while the poor look upon the rich as squares who don't live authentic lives. Today we look down on and try to defeat terrorists, or the rednecks in the red states, or as he called them in his time, those awful white southerners. Every in group defines itself by opposing the outgroup. It's a mutual dependency. So, you don't want to make your enemy into your friend; that would spoil the show and just make you a wimp. But conflict must be contained and not get out of hand. There needs to be chivalry and respect for our enemies, rather than just destroying them and today maybe blowing up the world.
That's what he said. He was also not a big believer in progress, but as a progressive, I must have some hope that the enemy can be reformed, or may reform itself. Capitalism does not need to be cutthroat, and communism can have a human face, and so on. Part of that is having respect for those who may be different within your own group, as for example in a capitalist country those on the better side of the tracks who benefit would respect those on the opposite side who use the government to take some of their money, and vice versa, or hard-line communists would respect the revisionists, and vice versa, and so on.
In life, we always have obstacles to face, otherwise life is not a game or an adventure, and we don't learn and grow and there's no story; there's no music without low and high notes; no roller coaster ride without going up and down; etc.