Introduction
The gap between those who say they care about the world and those who actually do is great. Perhaps there are none. If the human race has a chance (in itself rather doubtful) it has a lot of work ahead of it and for a lot of reasons. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, because it’s worth repeating,
We shouldn’t laugh at the dinosaurs for getting themselves extinct. After all, they lasted a lot longer than we have so far.
Let’s face it. Given our record after thousands and thousands of years, if the human race was wiped out tomorrow it wouldn’t even be a tragedy.
Now how’s that for an intro?
Kind of like a cold splash of water on the face first thing in the morning, or a nudge from a passenger seated next to a driver who’s starting to fall asleep behind the wheel.
And when it comes to The Irreducibles and Social Management, in short, when it comes to maintaining the most complex and unpredictable civilization in the history of the world, something, it will be remembered, that can only be done by developing, acquiring and applying the attributes of wisdom, there’s definitely a lot of falling asleep at the wheel going on. Unforuntately, there aren’t a lot of passengers riding shotgun and ready to give the drivers that much needed wake up call. That’s why we are here.
As someone once told me way back when, You've got to be in to win. Besides, Socrates wasn’t the only gadfly who stung the sluggish horse. Nor will he be the last. One thing’s for sure, when we run out of gadflies we’re on our way to the dinosaurs. We’re nearly there now. But, it’s not enough to leave it at that. Unless you’re going to take your own life, and sadly, many are choosing to do just that (exactly because they’re convinced there’s no way out and, so, no choice to make), you’ve got to be in to win.
And that brings us to today’s entry.
Part I
Hi Everyone! Welcome back! Been a while since our last entry.
Let’s start today's entry by asking ourselves some hard questions and in a manner both simple and direct.
Are we going to make it?
Do we really want to get out of this mess we’re in?
Exactly what is this mess (situation) we're in?
Is it (situation) really a mess?
If so, can it even be described?
There are a lot of great things about asking questions. One of them is that they get the ball rolling. They break the ice. They get things moving. After that, it’s up to us.
So, if it’s up to us, what should we do and how should we do it?
After all, we can’t just sit around all day asking questions. We’ve got to offer answers and then take action. So, we’ll keep the ball rolling here and offer some answers to the above questions from the perspective of PRC as we see things right now.
Q: Are we going to make it?
A: We don't know.
Q: Do we really want to get out of this mess we’re in?
A: Speaking for ourselves here at PRC, Absolutely!
Q: Exactly what is this mess we're in?
A: Civilizational Collapse.
Q: Is it a mess?
A: I'd say civilizational collapse qualifies as a mess.
Q: If so, can that mess be explained and a remedy offered?
A: Sure. Explanations can be offered for anything.
In fact, the purpose of this culture blog is, in part, to offer explanations and suggest solutions. Whether those explanations and suggestions are on the right track or not is something the reader can decide for themselves. Either way, rest assured, we're in to win. After all, we haven't come by this far to give up.
Q: What should we do?
A: Since these are difficult times, the first thing we
should do is muster the courage to face unpleasant facts.
And the most unpleasant fact I can think of that we should
face, the sooner the better, is that The human mind is literally insane. By that I mean, not just our tendency to believe the silliest things imaginable and then convert those beliefs into ultimate truths to be blindly obeyed. But, to actually use that constructed silliness to justify everything from the abuse and neglect of individual children to the wholesale slaughter of millions of people. And the tendency of the perpetrators to victim-blame before, during, and after.
That’s what I mean by insane. Though, obviously, the extent of our insanity is hardly limited to that. But, for now, that'll do.
Reader: Well, if that’s true, what the hell are we going to do about that? What can we do?
PRC:The obvious short answer is, face it and respond accordingly. Meaning, respond in a way we consider appropriate to the situation. The point being, if we’re going to be in to win we have to demonstrate to ourselves, to those we love, and to everyone else, our commitment to reality. Because, certainly one way to define insanity is an inability, or stubborn unwillingness, to face reality. Not our commitment to correctness or truth, but reality. As we said in a previous entry, All evil is the result of turning one's back on reality. In other words, if we’re going to be in to win we have to face unpleasant facts, about ourselves and everyone else, and do it with as much courage, honesty, intelligence and compassion as we can muster.
Reader: And then what?
PRC: We can practice what we preach. And do what we say?
Reader: And what do you preach?
PRC: Well, we don’t really preach. We don’t like that word here.
It’s just an expression. We...
Reader: Then why did you say that?
PRC: Because it’s just an expression. Jesu, Maria, Josef! What a pedantic little... Could I please finish?
Reader: Ok. What were you saying?
PRC: I forgot. I was distracted by revenge fantasies because of your obnoxious interruptions.
Reader: Ah, is that what you meant in the previous entry
about “grace under pressure”?
PRC: No. That’s what I meant about Embrace The Fucked-upness.
Reader: Whose? Yours or mine?
PRC: Both. Now can I please continue?
Reader: Sure. So, what were you saying?
PRC: That if you look at the About section of this website you’ll see that we say: We don´t expect what we offer to be believed. The value of our services lie in their being tested and used.
Let’s not forget, this is an educational consultancy, based on the idea of continous renewal and growth, personal and social. We have tools that we can use to solve the problems that are simply a part of being alive. So, let’s put them to use. And we’re confident that the vital system of ideas, as well as the qualities and principles discussed here at PRC, are more relevant and useful than ever. Why? Because, the means to acquiring a knowledge of and experience with the qualities, principles, and ideas, is how we achieve our ultimate goal of developing and applying the attributes of wisdom. And now we’re back to our question,
How can we do it?
Part II
In our previous entry we offered an answer to the question What can we do? by saying that one can, in the words of Nietzsche,
Become Who You Are. But, in asking the question, How can we do it?, How can we become who we are?, We’re asking for a method. And, since there’s no method without a subject matter, we have to determine what that subject matter is so we can better determine what our method should be, or what would be the best method possible. In this case the subject matter is life itself. The method is our response to it. That’s why at PRC we like to say,
The meaning of life is your response to it.
Life has no meaning until we respond to it. Without any response we’re just there. Without being responded to life is just there. There’s nothing doing. And we’ve got to do something. We’ve decided, we’ve got to be in to win. And by that we mean, make our responses as meaningful, relevant and useful as possible. And that will require a lot of heart and head. A lot of fundamental brain work and a lot courage, honesty and preserverance.
Part III
Though we can start anywhere, we’ve got to start somewhere.
So, we’ll start by putting the qualities, principles, and ideas offered here at PRC into practice.
Reader: So far, so good. But what’s the subject matter? And what are the methods for learning, not just the attributes of wisdom, but the above mentioned qualities, principles and ideas?Regarding subject matter, Life is too abstract. What concrete particular can we use as subject matter to apply our methods to?
PRC: Let’s start right here and now. Let’s start with a problem we’re all facing.
Reader: And exactly what are we facing?
PRC: The consequences of the fact that We Are Insane. That, and its many related problems, or, as many of them as we consider appropriate for this entry.
By the way, now is not the time for thought-stopping new-agey cliches like, Life’s not a problem to be solved. It’s a mystery to be lived. Oh brother. Why can’t it be both? Why make it Either /Or when it's obviously Both/And?
We’ll have more to say about Either/Or thinking later. For now, let’s get back to the unpleasant fact that the human mind is literally insane. Isn’t this what we’re really talking about when we say that life is hell? Satre said that hell is other people. But maybe that’s because people said it about Satre, to his face, possibly after reading his great tome on Being. Who could blame them? The point is, we’re disappointed that life is hell because the expectation is it shouldn’t be. It should be easy, or even more than easy, it should be the opposite of hell. It should be heaven.
But maybe the expectation that life should be easy is the source of our insanity, at least one part of it. As we said in a previous entry, Heaven is a place where no one creates, where no one learns, or innovates. Maybe that’s the bottom we’re hitting right now. Not that we are suffering from unrealized expectations, but from unrealistic expectations. Then again, since expectations are so often resentments waiting to happen, maybe we're simply suffering from expectations. It certainly looks as if the age of expectations has come to a crashing halt and all we're left with is the resentments. Having a resentment, it's been said, is like you taking poison and waitng for me to die. That's no way to live.
But today it seems as if the resentful have figured out a way to force feed everyone else the poison of their many resentments. How weary one gets of it all. In any event, the belief that life for all of us, or, for a select few, should be heaven on earth is the justification here for saying that the human mind is literally insane. The resentments simply fan the flames of that insanity.
So, from all of this we could say that
The need to create heaven makes life hell. Or, A fake heaven is a real hell. Or, An unreal heaven is a living hell. However you want to put it, the point is, Utopias Don’t Work. They never have and they never will. But, that we keep coming up with them every now and then and force them on each other is why we’re insane. That, and the fact that we've never really answered the question Why don't utopias work? or, Why are utopias impossible? In one Indian tradition human life is literally hell, and who in the East or West would entirely commit themselves to denying it? Goethe said The Illiad convinced him of it. Maybe our unrealistic, though understandable, expectations have something to do with that. But, as Nietzsche rightly observed, constantly saying the world is mad and bad has helped make the world mad and bad. Instead of throwing away one's life and the life of others for an impossibility, which is what utopia amounts to, wouldn't it be better to muster the courage to face unpleasant facts so that we might overcome them, or at least make an attempt. In short, better the difficult than the impossible.
Of course, the whole point of PRC in general and this entry in particular is that our health and happiness is found, in part, in acquiring the power to face unpleasant facts, so that we might turn tragedy into triumph. That's why the phrase Embrace The Fucked-upness is central to our consultancy. It's just another way of saying Accept Our Imperfections. Or, to at least make an attempt to move in that direction, and on a more consistent basis. Which is fitting, since attempt is what the word essay means.
And that’s all this entry is, an essay, an attempt.
Reader: An attempt at what?
PRC: An attempt to look life in the eye without flinching. An attempt to exercise a little grace under pressure, or, at least as much as we can manage, along with the necessary courage that we’ll need to move forward. A courage that comes from accepting ourselves as we are. Which, again, is what Embrace The Fucked-upness means - Accepting Imperfection.
Given how imperfect we are, what else have we got better to do with our time? Of course, accepting limitations and imperfections is easier said than done. Even the mere suggestion that we make an attempt to solve important problems is going raise questions that we don't have the answers to, or, worse, present us with information about ourselves that we don't want to have. And now we’re back to the title of today’s entry. How Can We Do It?
How can we respond to the world in a way that makes life meaningful?
Concluding Remarks
Obviously, there are as many answers to that last question, or any question, as there are people who ask it. And, though we have no interest in speaking for everyone, we would like to speak to anyone willing to listen or read what we have to say or write.
So, again, how can we do it?
We can do it by, not only accepting imperfection, but by directing our attention to something that unites us all - human experience - while at the same time helping each other focus on and better understand both subject matter (life itself) and method (our response to it). And the best record of that experience, available to us all, is in the Arts & Sciences. Especially, though not exclusively, in our literature. In short, books. And not just any book, but the kind associated with the only still living tradition that helps us develop and acquire the attributes of wisdom.
And, as we said at the beginning of today's entry, without the attributes of wisdom the successful maintenance of the most complex and unpredictable civlization in the history of the world is impossible.* Since great books are an important method for acquiring the habits of mind associated with the attributes of wisdom, to that subject in our next entry we shall turn.
Join us as we offer an answer to the question, Why Read?
*Whether or not that civilization can be maintained doesn't change a thing. The attributes of wisdom, and the great books that are clearly the best method for acquiring the habits of mind associated with those attributes, will still be of great value in regard to problem-solving and the creative imagination. Whether we are living through the destruction of one civilization, or the construction of another.
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