Introduction

[philtheosophia]

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

[Nick_A]

Hi Phil

But perhaps I am mad? Mad enough to believe the pyramids should fall…

Yes, this was always known.

Genesis 11:

1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, [a] they found a plain in Shinar [b] and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." 

8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel [c] —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth. 

So much for towers, pyramids, and the like as conceptions of Man in the quest of meaning…

[Submis]

No youre not mad. A real man questions things and a mad man simply follows the real man.

[Lollipop_King]

philtheosophia

But perhaps I am mad? Mad enough to believe the pyramids should fall…

And what would these “pyramids” be replaced with?
A fallen pyramid sounds a lot like a level ground; a field of mediocrity with no uncomfortable heights or dark valleys.
A very Socialist and Christian perspective or, perhaps, a more Buddhist asceticism which denies participation on the grounds of absurdity.

I am not one to deny the unity of existence, the illusion of individuation, the Apollonian façade over a Dionysian chaos, but it seems to me that the essence of conscious life lies in the balance of these two anthropomorphic forces - in a tragic/comedic balance.
Do away with tragedy and you are left with a naïve over-optimistic childishness, a joyous ignorance of ridiculousness, very similar to the culture today.
Do away with the comedic and you are left with an extreme austerity, resulting in excessive asceticism and a loss of self.

I would say that in today’s Alexandrian world, in our Socratic civilization, as Nietzsche put it, what is lacking most of all is a Dionysian madness, some mysticism and Hellenic artistry.

No wonder then that modern western man finds so little fulfillment in being and incessantly tries to cover that uncomfortable abyss, staring back at him, with materialism, with property, with hedonistic degeneration, with scientific promises and with virtuous knowledge.

This desire to destroy distinctness or the fluidic nature of the universe which results in imbalances of power and, ultimately, in pyramids is one of those dreams man uses to try to escape suffering, by pretending altruistic motives, and the meaninglessness of existence, by pretending purpose; to do away with the tragedy and only be left with the frivolous.
We forget that level grounds may lack crevices and holes and gulfs, but they also lack mountains and vistas and up-hills to ascend.

So I ask again:
When the pyramids are done away with – something I doubt is possible for the universe is governed by strife and change and confrontation – what will be left?