Posted by Abby on October 21, 2000, at 18:37:07
In reply to Re: SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT US ALL, posted by GLYN on October 20, 2000, at 7:21:59
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> If there is one consistent thread of belief to be seen amongst the masses it is this: "Ours is not to reason why. Ours is but to do and die." ARe we all people whose metal capacity will not allow us to do otherwise than to "reason why" and question the (utterly illfounded in my opinion) excuses and constructs which society has developed to make excuse for the otherwise meaningless, dangerous and remarkably subjective world that we all live in - but few share.
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> Anyway, I'm rambling and I can't think clearly due to the drugs I'm on but what if.....
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> We embrace our uniqueness and stop fearing it as "abnornmal" but recognise it as a form of genius - yes, genius - we are genetically incapable of delluding ourselves and can't help but "reason why"???????
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> We recognise that we do live in a world where meaning, contentment, happiness and security are based on mass dellsuion which our minds are incapable of purchasing wholesale and so we must seek out our own meanings and wrestle with them.
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> I should say though that perhaps religion or belief in a transcendant and intelligent God offer many solutions to our problems - though unless we buy our own bible and explore them for ourselves we simply embrace another set of contructions - however, if you can embrace them then this is probably not such a bad thing.
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> One thing that set me off thinking was Freud's statement towards the end of his career that he now realised that psychoanalysis was itself the very disease is sought to cure - in other words, an analytical fascination and sometimes morbid concern with our mental processes, their meaning and their relationship to the "norm" may in itself be the root of many of our problems and a symptom which sustains them.
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> PS - I know I'm talking rubbish and others such as the philosopher Foucault have said it all much better - in fact, I'm going to read his works on madness now!
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> Love to hear your ideas....Glyn,
I'm not generally fond of deconstruction, and I think that Foucault is hugely overrated. I do, however, highly recommend Aldous Huxley's "The Doors of Perception" Huxley describes his experience of taking the hallucinogen mescalin. (Then in the companion volume "Heaven and Hell" he describes some of the problems). Huxley talks about teh value of seeing the complete reality but also the biologic necessity of seeing what is useful for us to get on with our lives. It seems to me that what he wanted to do in approaching that full reality was to knock us down from prideful arrogance. He NEVER thought it would be a good idea to live in such a state permanently. The terrible pain of the "schizophrenic", a term he used to refer to one who can not filter out the biologically extraneous information, was too great and a waste of the sheer wonder of creation.
I hope you enjoy it.
Abby
poster:Abby
thread:46800
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001012/msgs/47023.html