Found you on Twitter, really enjoying your posts. I think what you said in your Twitter thread about the necessity of first adopting artificial roles placed on you by society and parents before properly transcending them has real resonance for our society as a whole. So much of current philosophy and politics is premised on the notion of a rebellion against tradition: things like rejecting traditional gender roles, "decolonizing" the Western Canon, complicating long-standing historical narratives, even deconstructing notions like "truth" or "objectivity" themselves. The theorists who originally spawned these postmodern ideas did not grow up with them. They were well-trained in the classics, in the Canon, in history. Their teachers still believed in things like "Truth"; some of them may still have even believed in God. And so those rebels first had to go through the "systemic valley" you are describing before reaching their (undeniable) insights. There was actually a real, living tradition against which those early theorists could rebel, against which their theories could be tested and formed into their mature shape.
Today, this philosophy of rebellion *is* the tradition young intellectuals grow up in. But rebellion is no basis for a tradition; traditions require order, lineage, structure. And so we, at least as an intellectual culture, are the equivalent of the spoiled, narcissistic "children of hippies" that you describe in your Twitter thread. We got to the rebellion stage without even knowing what we were rebelling against. We never passed through the "systemic valley" of having to really learn a tradition. We think that our every fleeting fantasy or poorly conceived idea is valid and worthy of intellectual respect (see, e.g., "abolish the police"). I think this is at least part of the origin of the Woke ideology that is wreaking so much havoc right now in our intellectual, political, and moral culture.
Thinking further about this, it occurs to me that closed, initiatory societies are the form supposedly used for sheltering truths which will be misinterpreted or will be mentally and spiritually destructive if handled unskillfully. Knowledge of post-modernism is a kind of esoteric truth that requires the initiate to go to the trouble of fully immersing him or herself in a tradition before they can appreciate it and apply it skillfully - like an initiation into a lodge or mystery cult which only gradually peels back the layers around a central truth.
This makes a lot of sense. I think our modern reaction to esoteric knowledge and secret societies is that they are dumb; knowledge should be free, and who are you to tell me what I can and cannot learn? But, as with a lot of things, it would seem that our ancestors may have actually been on to something when they restricted access to certain dangerous truths.
I've really enjoyed reading your posts and your Twitter, and so I thought you might be somebody with good book recommendations. I was wondering if there are any books that you think are especially helpful to understand the world, significantly shaped your thinking, or just that you'd generally recommend. (This could also include essays or other pieces of media)
Found you on Twitter, really enjoying your posts. I think what you said in your Twitter thread about the necessity of first adopting artificial roles placed on you by society and parents before properly transcending them has real resonance for our society as a whole. So much of current philosophy and politics is premised on the notion of a rebellion against tradition: things like rejecting traditional gender roles, "decolonizing" the Western Canon, complicating long-standing historical narratives, even deconstructing notions like "truth" or "objectivity" themselves. The theorists who originally spawned these postmodern ideas did not grow up with them. They were well-trained in the classics, in the Canon, in history. Their teachers still believed in things like "Truth"; some of them may still have even believed in God. And so those rebels first had to go through the "systemic valley" you are describing before reaching their (undeniable) insights. There was actually a real, living tradition against which those early theorists could rebel, against which their theories could be tested and formed into their mature shape.
Today, this philosophy of rebellion *is* the tradition young intellectuals grow up in. But rebellion is no basis for a tradition; traditions require order, lineage, structure. And so we, at least as an intellectual culture, are the equivalent of the spoiled, narcissistic "children of hippies" that you describe in your Twitter thread. We got to the rebellion stage without even knowing what we were rebelling against. We never passed through the "systemic valley" of having to really learn a tradition. We think that our every fleeting fantasy or poorly conceived idea is valid and worthy of intellectual respect (see, e.g., "abolish the police"). I think this is at least part of the origin of the Woke ideology that is wreaking so much havoc right now in our intellectual, political, and moral culture.
Anyways, thanks for your post. Keep them coming!
This is a good insight, some implications I had not considered. Possibly another blogpost unto itself! Much to think about.
Thinking further about this, it occurs to me that closed, initiatory societies are the form supposedly used for sheltering truths which will be misinterpreted or will be mentally and spiritually destructive if handled unskillfully. Knowledge of post-modernism is a kind of esoteric truth that requires the initiate to go to the trouble of fully immersing him or herself in a tradition before they can appreciate it and apply it skillfully - like an initiation into a lodge or mystery cult which only gradually peels back the layers around a central truth.
This makes a lot of sense. I think our modern reaction to esoteric knowledge and secret societies is that they are dumb; knowledge should be free, and who are you to tell me what I can and cannot learn? But, as with a lot of things, it would seem that our ancestors may have actually been on to something when they restricted access to certain dangerous truths.
Thanks for continuing the conversation!
I've really enjoyed reading your posts and your Twitter, and so I thought you might be somebody with good book recommendations. I was wondering if there are any books that you think are especially helpful to understand the world, significantly shaped your thinking, or just that you'd generally recommend. (This could also include essays or other pieces of media)