human beings are always trying to merge with, become
one with something bigger than they are…
I often hear of soldiers saying that they joined the Army,
or Navy or what have you, to become ‘‘part of something bigger’’
you hear this all the time from people… and why this
need to ‘‘become part of something bigger?’’
I hold its because of the ‘‘ad hoc’’ nature of our lives…
we are apart, separate from each other and from the state/society…
that is the nature of being in regards to the human existence…
As for me, I exist within the realm of ideas and intellectuals…
that is my existing within something larger, bigger than I am…
and the explanation of much in the world… the MAGA world
lives there to give themselves a place within the world…
MAGA exists to create something bigger within people’s lives…
as does our allegiance to sports teams, and political parties
and those in various communities like D & D communities,
the Chess community… and any other community like this…
and this goes true for other attempts at community…
like the need for Patriotism… we take pride in nation because
we lack connection, community in other aspects of our lives…
A vital aspect of being human is this sense of connection…
to be human is to be connected to something…
the Ancient Greeks recognized this in their understanding
of what it meant to be human…for the Greeks, it was only
within community that we can be human…the high point of
being human laid within the city/state of Athens, or Sparta,
or any of the hundreds of Greek city/ states…
it wasn’t the religious that made us human, it was the political,
at least according to the Greeks…
and unlike Marxists, it wasn’t the economic that made us human,
for being in business, being what we would call a ‘‘Businessman’’
was for both the Greeks and the Romans, an insult,
for the businessman was one of the lower form of life,
at least according to the Greeks/Romans…just slightly above
the slave…In the Roman world, business was conducted,
in large part, by current or former slaves…No self respecting
Roman/or Greek, would have self-identified as a Businessman…
That’s because their aim is much higher… becoming part of something
larger didn’t mean working in business, as it is today in Modern day America…
the height of being human didn’t rest within one’s bank account…
as it is today…because being wealthy is just another attempt at
belonging to something larger than we are… the well to do club…
and those who promote seeing out wealth as a sign of being human,
fail to see or don’t care, is that seeking out wealth, to the exclusion
of other human aspects, that is called an addiction…
wealthy people are addicted to gaining wealth, just like the alcoholic
is addicted to drink and the gambler is addicted to gambling..
an addiction is an addiction, regardless of whether it is to drugs,
booze, or money… the truth is that becoming wealthy isn’t
part of becoming something larger than we are, as is becoming
a soldier or being a Christian is…in fact, wealth as is now being
used, is a means of the fatal flaw in becoming… for it is nihilism…
for the pursuit of money is nihilistic because it put money over
people and their values…
and in a very real sense, thus joining in something bigger than
we are, can be considered to be nihilistic…for it puts that
entity, the something bigger, as being more important than
human being and their values…if I can be sacrificed for
the greater good of the state/society/entities like the Army, then
that entity is more important than I am… and that is nihilism…
But Kropotkin, you call everything in our modern world,
nihilism… but frankly, most of the modern world is nihilistic
in nature… it is where they put things human as not as important
as things such as money, pride, nation, or entities like the Armed forces…
for to negate, devalue human beings and their values, no matter for what,
is still nihilism…and that doesn’t impact the Greek belief in the state,
for the values of the state, weren’t the values that were forced on others,
one could pick the values one wanted to live under… and that is
the opposite of nihilism…Socrates often discussed those values
worth living under… justice, love, power, to name a few values
discussed in Plato… values if followed, highlight the human
aspect of existence, not the nihilistic values that negated
or devalued human beings and their values…
So, this question of finding ourselves and the values worth
living, can come down to the nature of values…
are the values we live under indoctrinated to us,
or do we come to these values honestly and willingly?
are the values and beliefs we need or want as human beings,
are they bottom up values or top down values? In joining
something bigger than we are, are we joining to create new
values for us, or to honor those values that came before us?
What is the reason that we decide to join something bigger than
we are? are we seeking conformation of our values/beliefs or
are we finding new values to believe in?
Kropotkin
