Spiritual fulfillment like most things loses its individual necessity when the totality is embraced. There is no need to find god for the individual, there is no personal quest. Becoming part of the social advancement lends itself to a certain acceptance that not only is the individual no more important than other individuals, the individual matters as a member of the whole.
All actions have innumerable ripples through space-time, so a personal belief that individuality shapes the totality can become enough. When all actions have by definition unforeseeable and unending consequences, the quest of the individual seeking eternal existence, or salvation, or both, becomes one of the individual participating in (contributing to) existence of the whole.
13 May 2009
21 April 2009
the race worth running even without a finish
Education is not about the knowledge to be acquired, it is about the process of acquiring it.
Social change is not about eliminating the problems of society but rather about choosing a new set of problems that are preferable for the revolutionary.
Just as science would die if a unified theory was finished, life (that is worth living) would die in a Utopian fantasy world.
Social change is not about eliminating the problems of society but rather about choosing a new set of problems that are preferable for the revolutionary.
Just as science would die if a unified theory was finished, life (that is worth living) would die in a Utopian fantasy world.
03 March 2009
fear
In a world without god, or where science is god if you prefer (although the two concepts are vastly different), some argue that personal development becomes irrelevant. I would argue this concept is just plain wrong. Personal, and thus development of the totality is what we should and do live for.
My hope for eternal life lies in my dialectical interactions, shaping and being shaped by the totality. There is a considerable arrogance underlying this idea, however because this type of interaction is shared by all people I feel my arrogance is justified on this point. We are all shaping the future...it is our responsibility to try to shape it for the best (responsibility to who? or what?).
My hope for utopia lies with human technological advancement. Some "believers" may consider this a cold, and as one told me, "hopeless" way to go through life. It is not, it is more than enough. Look at the wonders around us.....that we all contribute to in some small way. God is not necessary to have a life worth living. Advancement has become central to so many. I am just starting to formalize it.
Hopefully the small void I feel in the part of my conscious that I recognize from my youth as my soul is just the unfulfillment of so much of my life's work, or a leftover of my Catholic roots, hopefully....
My hope for eternal life lies in my dialectical interactions, shaping and being shaped by the totality. There is a considerable arrogance underlying this idea, however because this type of interaction is shared by all people I feel my arrogance is justified on this point. We are all shaping the future...it is our responsibility to try to shape it for the best (responsibility to who? or what?).
My hope for utopia lies with human technological advancement. Some "believers" may consider this a cold, and as one told me, "hopeless" way to go through life. It is not, it is more than enough. Look at the wonders around us.....that we all contribute to in some small way. God is not necessary to have a life worth living. Advancement has become central to so many. I am just starting to formalize it.
Hopefully the small void I feel in the part of my conscious that I recognize from my youth as my soul is just the unfulfillment of so much of my life's work, or a leftover of my Catholic roots, hopefully....
21 February 2009
Generations of social thought
It strikes me (after reading Lebowitz's piece in Feb 09 MR) that the first generation after the revolution will be the most difficult, and in many ways dictate the path a new society will follow (how is that for deterministic thinking!).
Nonetheless it cannot be argued that successful socialism and social thinking will be the most difficult when those practicing it are born and raised under capitalism. The true hope for collective democracy will lie with the children of the revolution.
This clearly was not the case in the former USSR, however collective socialism was never attempted there, and I don't know enough of the history to know if successive generations were more accepting of the state capitalism that emerged?
Hope for the future remains slight but bright.
Nonetheless it cannot be argued that successful socialism and social thinking will be the most difficult when those practicing it are born and raised under capitalism. The true hope for collective democracy will lie with the children of the revolution.
This clearly was not the case in the former USSR, however collective socialism was never attempted there, and I don't know enough of the history to know if successive generations were more accepting of the state capitalism that emerged?
Hope for the future remains slight but bright.
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