Hey all…my introduction
I’m currently studying for a BA Philosophy degree somewhere in the middle of deepest darkest Wales, far beyond the borderland hills of England.
Over the past couple of years I have continued to toy with the term ‘Philosopher’, moving from intrigue to disgust. However, after a terms study of selected works of Nietzsche I began to move towards the continental tradition. After reading Hediegger I wasn’t so sure, there seemed to be such an over-emphasis on human truth, almost as if he was describing the system of ‘truth’ WE have created, not TRUTH. My common sense had escaped me here for I was later to find out that Philosopher’s were not seeking the truth in an absolute sense, that would, of course, be completely inaccessible, the thing-in-itself is not something one can find! My interepretation of Sophia had always been associated with truth. After Nietzsche however this interpretation seem to lie more closely with the dream-like image of the god Apollo. I started to see things much like Rubicon (Mad Philosopher Journal 2). Perhaps Philosophy was simply that quest “the attempt to understand the process which resulted in a ‘philosophising ape’ “ (Philosophy Is… Mad Philosopher’s Journal 2).
After a mind-expanding Heidegger course I returned to my Theosophical readings, something I took much interest in during my teenage years. My major study in this area focused around the Gurdijeff/Ouspensky tradition and associated figures. This re-introduced the idea of mysticism but from an intensely Nietzschean perspective. The mystical path here concerned no God, no ultimate Being, in fact it left open all religious speculation. “There is no religion higher than the truth†- stands as the emblematic motto of the Theosophical society. Mystical union here was not about joining the deity who stands high about of civilised pyramid but was personally anthropocentric, the transcendence begins with recognition of the inner pyramid, disolving our many egos until consciousness is pierced creating a sustained permanent sense of self.
By this time it became clear to me that whenever man seems to create something, a system that is based on things-unhuman, for example, observations are far from coherent. The anthropomorphising of nature has caused some interesting creations – hierarchical food pyramids with man at the top, a hierarchical music system – not to mention the thousands of human creations that exist within our world – everything from business to religion follows this same intuition – the hierarchy, the pyramid.
I began to live in disgust – our creation, civilisation systematically allows domination – if one has acquired some hieght in the pyramid in whatever system, or merely if he/she believes it internally this gives the right to dominate, to control.
Then I discovered Bataille, furiously Nietzschean, overwhelmingly dionysian andinherently anti-hierarchical. I seemed to have moved far away from Philosophy, from the tradition and from the academy. Bataille denied being a Philosopher, Nietzsche preffered the term ‘Free Spirit’ and longed for new philosophers and then theres Ouspensky – some of his work is considered Philosophical but biographically he is certainly a Mystic of the Fourth Way.
So, perhaps I am not a Philosopher, but a lover, a seeker, a researcher of man’s divine wisdom.
But perhaps I am mad? Mad enough to believe the pyramids should fall…
Favourite Readings:-
The Ecology of Freedom by Murray Bookchin
On Truth and Lying in a Non-Moral Sense by Frederich Nietzsche
The Dionysiac World View by Frederich Nietzsche
Thus Spoke Zarathrustra by Frederich Nietzsche
The Birth of Tragedy by Frederich Nietzsche
The Peacock and the Buffalo - The Poetry of Nietzsche Translated by James Luchte and Eva Leadon
fireandice.uk.net/
Tertium Organum by P.D. Ouspensky
The Fourth Way by P.D. Ouspensky
In Search of the Miraculous by P.D. Ouspensky
In Search of P.D. Ouspensky by
On Nietzsche by Georges Bataille
Inner Experience by Georges Bataille
Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille
Ma Mere by Georges Bataille
Food of the Gods by Terence McKenna
Sexual Desire – A Philosophical Investigation by Roger Scruton