Vision or the strength to dream

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
1

‘‘Starry Nights’’… a painting by Van Gough…
Easily one of the most recognized paintings in the world…
but at its heart, what is ‘‘Starry Night’’ about?
It is a painting of the night sky, but not a direct painting
of the night sky, but a vision, a viewpoint about the night sky…
it is a creative viewing of what the night sky could, if we so
imagined, be the night sky…
and in many diverse ways, this is exactly how we see the
universe in general… Our vision, or viewpoint of the world,
like in ‘‘Starry Night’’, is impacted by our internal viewpoint…

We can see this by our very different vision or viewpoint
of the world around us…IQ45 and his MAGA followers
see the world as a dystopian nightmare… we can look at
the exact same neighborhood and see a vastly different
vision or viewpoint… the viewpoint we see the world with
is not an external vision, but an internal vision…
That vision lies within, from our experiences, our ism’s and ideologies,
our childhood indoctrinations, our education, and working experiences…
but that vision, that viewpoint is also changeable, not fixed, not set
in stone… we change our vision of the world all the time…
As children, we see the world, reality with child’s eyes,
and as we age and grow, that vision, that reality changes,
because our experiences and aging changes that reality…
A child of 5 sees the world very different than a child of 12…
very different…just as I have changed my own vision,
my own viewpoint of the world as I have aged… my experiences
have forced me to adapt to a new understanding of what it means
to be human… my own vision, or viewpoint toward death, for
example, has dramatically changed over the years…
Today, I view death as a biological event like puberty or
growing old… I can’t change or stop it, so I must accept it…
it is what it is, nothing more, nothing less…

and I can see, even today, my own understanding of death as
be able to change some more… at some point, I may come to
the ‘‘thank god I am finally leaving this clusterfuck’’ understanding
of death…from fearing death, to understanding death to
finally embracing it…

This points out that our vision, our viewpoint of something
as basic as death, is subject to change… and I am able
to embrace death, not as my enemy, but as a deliverer…
and if I can learn to embrace death, what other visions
or viewpoint can we change or adapt to?

We can learn to see, with the eyes of the ARTIST, such as Van Gough,
we can see reality, our world with Artistic eyes…

One of the main problems with people is that they see
reality with transactional eyes… there must be winners
and losers and what is in it for me, attitude…
I don’t act unless there is some benefit in it for me…
and that is how they approach the world, ''What is in it for me?"
that is transactional thinking and believing…

But that is not how many people view the world…
Did Jesus promise heaven with transactional thinking?
No, the promise of Jesus lies within transformational thinking…
View the world differently, view the world with a new vision,
with a new understanding…

‘‘Love your fellow man’’

that is not transactional thinking, that is transformational thinking…
and we can, if motivated, change our viewpoint, our vision…
My own vision has changed because my reality is that death
is not that far away from me… it is my constant companion
these days…and I use that to motivate me into my ‘‘work’’
my philosophical reading and writings… for at some point,
not too far from now, I will be unable to engage in philosophy
as I do now… and that motivates me… drives me to work
on philosophy every chance I get…

The truth of the matter is that we can, if motivated, we can
change our own vision, our own viewpoint of the world,
we can see the world with very different eyes, if we only
would look…

The change in our vision, our viewpoints can happen,
should and must happen, if we were to overcome our
childhood indoctrinations and education…
the famous ‘‘reevaluation’’ of values… as Nietzsche called it…
What values do have? As opposed to what values have
been indoctrinated into me by the state, society, media, church,
and education…and if we were to honestly ‘‘reevaluate’’
our values, we would see how many values and beliefs, we have,
are simply indoctrinated values of the state/society…
and that in turn impacts, influences how we view, see
the world today…false indoctrinations as a child, can lead
to false beliefs and values today…and by having
a false narrative of actions and values, we are misled into
leading false lives…to change the narrative is one way
to change our vision or viewpoint of the world…

Change is transformational, static is transactional…
to change one’s viewpoint or vision is being transformed…
too overcome one indoctrinated values is to be transformed…
and in this overcoming, this is directed change…
most change in terms of vision, is done randomly,
but the change I am talking about is done deliberately,
with forethought and understanding…

Who do I want to be? Perhaps the Kantian question that should
been asked… “What am I/we to do?”… ''What can I/we know?"
"“What beliefs/values should I/we hold?”

Making a choice as to the person I want to be… not as I was,
or as I am, but who I want to be… we have choices as to
our future… not the past or present, but we clearly can choose
the future visions or understanding we have of the universe…
And philosophy is one means by which we can review our
prior choices of values…and work out new values and
beliefs, as they take us forward into the future…
We can make that choice… if we only had the courage
to become who we want to be, not who we were or are,
but who do I want to become? What values I hold or should
hold to make that choice of ''who I want to become?"

We are far too passive to our future possibilities…
What future possibility do I want to pursue, to engage with?
but for most of us, we blindly follow a vision or understanding
of human beings into our future… without ever asking, is that
vision or understanding really MY understanding of the universe?

Our future, our possibilities, our vision is simply one of
making choices as to what kind of future do I/we want?
What choices are you going to make and why that choice?

Kropotkin

2

One of the questions of existence lies in the
‘‘peculiar’’ case of ethics/morality…

What does it mean to be ‘‘ethical’’ or ''moral?"
and that is, not as most people think about it,
an ‘‘abstract’’ question… the question of morality
and ethics, is probably the most important one we face
as human beings… the question of ''what does it mean
to be human" is really a question of our relationship
with other human beings… a single person, living
alone, as Robinson Crusoe did, has no need for
ethics or morality… it is irrelevant to one alone…

But two or more people and the question of ethics
and morality come front and center…the question
of being human is a question of our relationships
with others…and as with all knowledge, the key
statement is ‘‘Garbage in, Garbage out’’
if my understanding of how to relate to other human beings,
is ‘‘Garbage’’ then that is how I will treat them…we can
only respond to existence and possibilities and experiences,
with knowledge gained previously…and if that prior knowledge
is ‘‘Garbage’’’ then that is all we know… but how are we
to know or understand about the nature of our knowledge?
and we return to the question of the ‘‘reevaluation’’ of values,
the overcoming of values that we all need in order to
successfully navigate existence… for ‘‘Garbage in,
Garbage out’’ also includes instructions for our lives…
the isms and ideologies that we use to guide our lives
in leu of actual thoughts about what it means to be human…
for if an ism is in fact, nihilistic, as capitalism and communism
is, then we cannot trust them, follow them… as we must also
reject religious isms for the very same reason… Catholicism,
which is a stand in for all religions, is also nihilistic as is
Buddhism and Hinduism and all the other religions…
if you put god first or the reaching of the void, as Buddhism
does, then you are putting human beings second…
and that is nihilism… the negation of human beings
and their values… and the negation of human beings
is Garbage in and Garbage out…

and how do we escape nihilism?
by putting human beings and their values, first,
by working out, clarifying the values we
use in our relationships to others…
and what makes our relationships work are
the values which we use as guides in our relationships…
for example, if we use the value hate for our relationships,
we won’t have a relationship for very long…
if we base our relationships on positive values, such
as love, justice, peace, hope, fun, we are far more likely
to find and hold on to relationships with others…
whereas negative values, such as hate, anger, lust, greed,
violence, prevent relationships…and it is relationships
that make us human… the ‘‘Garbage in, Garbage out’’ theory
works well in understanding why relationships begin and last…
and why they fail…and how our relationship with the state,
or the society can succeed or fail given the
‘‘Garbage in, Garbage out’’ theory…

Kropotkin

3

Are you still crying about orange man?

4

I was reading yesterday, and because I was a little bit
tired, I become, disconnected from the words… which is
to say, I saw a word, courage… and the word itself,
became disconnected from me…it became isolated
and separate from me…I wanted to touch the word,
courage, but realized that writing, any words, are
abstract words… take the word, word…you can’t touch
that word, you can’t physically handle that word… it just
lays there, on the page, which can be reduced further,
to 4 letters… or expanded into a larger world…
I have no physical contact with this word, word…
and yet, it has meaning, but only if everyone agrees
that the word, word, has any meaning…

think about the words we write or speak out loud…
a word only has meaning in relationship with other words…
all of which are abstract, concepts of the mind…
a word is really, a vision, a collective understanding
of an object, words, that cannot be touched by human
beings…words always refer back to something else,
say the word, basketball… are we referring to the
game of basketball or the ball itself? Quite often,
when we use words, language, we are fooled into
thinking that words have a physical presence in the
world, but they don’t… read a page of a language you
don’t understand, say, Chinese… at no point, for me
anyway, do I understand any aspect of the Chinese language…
they are just random markings on a page…they don’t just have
any abstract meaning, they don’t have any meaning at all for me…

for language to be successful, to make itself known,
it must be accepted as words, by all concerned…
words only work if they are collectively accepted,
by the society at large… words are a very abstract
way of thinking… our very dependence on words,
reveals a separation of human beings from things,
objects…when I use the word basketball, I don’t
even need a basketball to be present, it is an abstract
concept from my mind to yours…and because of education
or childhood indoctrinations, or state or society interference,
the word, basketball, which is quite clear to me,
may be unclear to you…or even unknown…

In our modern age, we are completely dependent on
words, but words themselves only refer back to concepts
and ideas that we may or may not be aware of… to understand
a word, one must already be aware of it… Because of my
hearing loss, I mishear words all the time… at work,
someone might ask me, where is the firewood?
and I might mishear them and answer, ‘’ Oh,
the donuts are in the bakery isle, in that corner’’
Now they might think I am insane for mistaking
donuts for firewood, but hearing is a very tricky thing…
and words, words are even trickier… think about the word
bear… but we also have bare and given the context, we may
be using one word or the other… only by context can we tell
which word we are using… that is the nature of abstract words…
we don’t access to the object of the word, we only have a
reference to the object in question… a basketball need
not be present for us to understand what a basketball is,
just as we might use the word, bear, but that is not in
reference to an actual bear, but to someone who is
bearing a great deal of stress… or to bear with someone,
for example, someone might say, ‘‘please bear with me’’
which is another way of saying, please be patient with me…
but in terms of there being an actual event or action to
be taken, there is none in the sentence, ‘‘please bear
with me’’ it is a totally abstract sentence…
that comes from a point of view, or a vision of what may be…

in thinking about it, words are just an abstraction in our minds,
that we have collectively agreed about… but in the fact is,
that words, have no reality within them…a word
doesn’t exist like a basketball might or a bear might,
words and language are abstractions, a mental construct
that only has meaning if we agree to that meaning…

Kropotkin

5

and think of those who use language to study language…
using words to study words…which are an artificial construct,
words, used to study more artificial constructs… abstract
thought to study abstract thought…what exactly is real here?

and one may equally argue that emotions such as love and
anger and hate don’t exist either…but think about the person
who cannot feel love or joy… we might think of them as
emotionally crippled… and we would be right… those who
can’t feel emotions are handicapped, crippled in a very real
sense… we feel sorry for someone who can’t feel joy or
love…and we also feel sorry for those who can only
feel one emotion, be it hate or anger or lust…they too
are crippled…I have met people who are perpetually
angry and bitter… today, we call those people MAGA…
in their world view, there is no joy, no happiness, no love…
they are emotionally crippled… their happiness, their joy
is lost to hatred of others… I could be happy if it weren’t for
the blacks, Jews, immigrants… whatever the case may be…
because of them, I am unhappy…

but this is where they are wrong… the search for existence
that we know, is not engaged with finding or holding happiness…
for happiness, true happiness is found in our being with others
or in doing something… true happiness is found within
our doing other things…my own happiness is found
in going to baseball games… something I have done
for 40 years… I get lost within the game, working out
the strategy of the mangers, placement of the outfielders,
which pitch to throw to get out a batter… hit and run…
all aspects of baseball… and in my engagement with
the basics of baseball, the fundamentals of baseball,
I find myself being happy…being happy is a byproduct
of my engagement with the game of baseball…
and all happiness is a byproduct of our engagement with
something else… happiness is found in doing something
that engages us… a byproduct of some other action or doing…
if you have to ask yourself, am I happy? that is an admission
that you are not happy… happiness, true happiness lies in
the doing or being or the action of something else… true
happiness happens when we are doing something else…
this tells me that happiness is not found in itself, but
in doing, being, or activity of some sort… happiness is
in reference to something else… I was happy watching the
Cubs beat the Red Socks… Or watching the LA Lakers lose…
that happiness is found in doing something else, tells
me that in seeking happiness, we must be doing, being or
engaged in some action that brings about happiness…
happiness is a byproduct of something else…
so, how can that be the goal of existence?
How can we pursue happiness if it is a byproduct
of doing something else?

my ideal day would be to get up and then spend the
day in reading, writing, contemplation of philosophy…
when I am forced to go several days without that
reading, writing, contemplation, I am grumpy
and I become rather mean… my ‘‘study’’ balances me
out… for me, a day of ‘study’’ is the only day I am not wasting…
for me, working or spending time going to doctors is a waste of
time… the only thing I want to engage with is my study of philosophy…
and that makes me happy… with happiness being a byproduct of
my studying…I am happy when I can study philosophy and
unhappy when I cannot study philosophy… that means it is
the study of philosophy that makes me happy, as does the other
studies I have engaged with over the years, of history, of science,
of literature, poetry, to name a few studies I have done over the
years…it is my engagement with study that makes me happy…
not seeking out happiness itself…

in seeking out happiness, don’t seek out happiness, seek out
some doing, being or activity that makes you happy…
being happy isn’t an abstract action… it is real,
and part of being human…and worth seeking out,
but only as a byproduct of doing, being or activity
of yours…

Kropotkin

6

But Kropotkin, the finding of happiness can’t be that easy…
and it isn’t… we have obstacles before us…and one
of the bigger obstacles is the isms and ideologies
that we have… they are nihilistic in nature…
from capitalism to communism to Catholicism/Buddhism
for example… general belief in god is nihilism because
it negates human beings and their values… if we put god
first, that by definition, puts human beings second…
god is the important thing, not human beings or their
values…if we believe that we can only be saved by
the word of god, then we are devalued as human beings…

The best way to think of isms and god/religions is through
the lens of ‘‘Garbage in, Garbage out""
Read the bible, especially the "Old Testament’’
and see how human beings are expendable in the eye
and actions of god… we have very little value to god…
look to his actions, not his words… and it is estimated
that god in the bible, killed over 2 million people… the devil
killed 10-12 people… who seems to value people more?

these nihilistic beliefs and isms are at the heart of the
problem of being human… we haven’t yet created
an ism that celebrates the value and worth of human
beings…

The rise of dictatorship in America and around the world also
is a negation of human beings and their values… the MAGA
world is one nonstop negation of human beings and their values…
anti-trans, anti-gay, anti-women, anti-human…that is what
MAGA really stands for…the negation of human beings and their
values…and who can accept this nihilism as a pathway into
the future and a pathway into the pursuit of happiness?
Is being human really about the hate and anger that
the MAGA feel toward everyone else? is the hated the
MAGA crowd have toward others who love differently, or
dress differently or worship differently, is that what
it means to be human? is that the path, the one true
path to happiness? by preventing others from having
their happiness?

Of course, none of this matters to a ‘‘true believer’’…
logic or reason or facts will not persuade a ‘‘true believer’’
one size fits all in the MAGA world, the only road, pathway
for everyone is to love as they do, to believe as they do,
to pray as they do, to dress as they do, anything else is
‘‘wrong’’ even ‘‘perverted’’…for every single MAGA person,
the path to happiness has only one way, one path that fits all
human beings… in the MAGA world…
a belief in god/Jesus, to love the opposite sex, to be
only a man or a woman, to pursue the trinkets of existence…
of money, titles, fame, material possessions, or power…
that is the one and only true path to happiness…
anything else is a lie…fake news…

to believe that people have another path besides this one, fixed
path is to be a liberal, a democrat, a communist, a traitor,
un-American… but I for one, don’t believe that life is
a one size fits all experience…that it is ok to believe in
the Christian god or the Buddhist god or the Muslim god…
it is ok to love whomever you want, it is ok to be happy with
choices that are not American choices…it is ok not to
pursue the ‘‘American dream’’ or be a producer,
consumer or a worker… we can study philosophy or
history and still be a good human being…one size
does not fit all… and as long as the MAGA crowd
fixates on making everyone be just like them, we shall
be a miserable, unhappy nation…

Kropotkin

7

As noted before, we view the world
with transactional eyes, and not transformational eyes…
and this means what exactly?

We view events, people, ART, even living with a certain
vision… now that vision could be transactional… which is to
say, what is in it for me?.. Information is treated as a stepping
stone to more money, a better job, a greater title… How can
I use this information to gain one or more of the trinkets of
existence…

the real value of information is in the viewpoint expressed by
the information… does this information provide me/us with
a bird’s eye view of being human? Then that information has
some value… the closes example that human beings follow
is the ant… we are, in many respects, very similar to ants…
we grind close to the ground, we rarely if ever look up, we hold
to minor and relatively easy goals and achievements…
our viewpoint is exactly the same as the ant…
Think of an ant… what can the ant see while doing his
busy work? an ant cannot, because of their viewpoint,
see the overall picture of where they are and what they
are doing… for an ant to gain a vision of being an ant, requires
an ant to move higher, have a bird’s eye view of what an ant
does and how they fit into the ant society…
an ant works transactionally… they do work and get
rewarded in some fashion…there is no attempt to
become something other than an ant, because that
thought would never, not in a million years, present
itself to an ant…an ant cannot do anything other
then be, think, act and die, as an ant…

The problem lies with the fact that most people also
think of themselves as ants…there is no up or down or
thinking outside of doing the assigned tasked of being
human, transactional thinking and doing…

Because the thoughts of human beings are so limited,
because we act and think no differently than an ant…
we are, for all practical purposes, ants… doing our little
ant work, of doing the chores of the hive, without any
thoughts as to whether we have any other possibilities
or purpose… but the ant that makes another choice,
the hive or me, has never existed…

but we human beings can and must say, the hive or me…
and of course, as we move forward in our understanding
and knowledge, we will be able to successfully combine
the two… I can be a mindful, transactional ant and still
be useful to the hive…

The quest to become human lies in our understanding
of what it takes to be a human and still have some use
to the hive/society…
Goethe and other Artists like him, Shakespeare for example,
have shown us how to be of value to the hive and still
show us what it means to be human…
Goethe gave us the ‘‘Bildungsroman’’…
Novels of formation… how we become who we are…
and within the hive, being a worker, a producer and a
consumer, we can also work on who we are and what
we want to transform ourselves into…
Human beings think of themselves as ant, but in reality,
they are really caterpillars who can later transform themselves
into a butterfly… the problem lies with the fact that we can’t
get over ourselves being ants… We can be of service
to the state/society and still engage in our search for
becoming who we are… they are not mutually exclusive
events…or to use the language I have been using,
we can be of service to the state/society by both
transactional actions, and, AND transformational
actions… the Artists have shown us the way…
how do we create a transformational life, while
engaging in our transactional society/state?

and we do this the exact same way Artist paint and draw
and sculpt… we begin by seeing our lives with
Artistic eyes, not transactional eyes…
How do I go about creating an Artistic life, not
an ant life or a transactional life…the quest to become
human is an Artistic choice, not a scientific or a
transactional choice…
to become who we are is a transformational choice, not a
transactional choice… to transform ourselves from
a caterpillar to a Butterfly…or an ant to becoming human…

but Kropotkin, tell me how? and therein lies the problem…
we are used to someone telling us how we are to be human,
to listen to experts who claim to know all the answers…
but the answers lie in our ART and the choices we make…
to view ourselves from a bird’s eye view, not an ant’s viewpoint…

But Kropotkin, this sounds awfully vague…
and that is the point… my path is not your path…
my bildungsroman is different than yours…
and that means my viewpoint lies in a different place
than yours…At best, I can only offer you some place
to start and I offer you nothing more…but the journey
is not a collective one but an individual one…
what part of the society collective, to be an ant,
is our choice, not the state or the societies choice…
we partition ourselves and say, this is me and what
happens here is mine and mine alone…
in becoming who we are, is a journey
best done individually… but within the confines
of our collective debt we owe to the state/society…
as we cannot individually survive alone, we must, MUST
engage collectively to meet our bodily and psychological
needs… and that cannot be denied…but that is only
part of the journey…

We have two tracks… one is our individual journey to becoming
who we are and the second track is really best described as
Ant work… and I would be remised if I tried to escape either
path… and so, as a human being, I gladly accept both
paths… the necessary ant work that keeps the state/society
going and, AND the transformational work of becoming who I am…
the Bildungsroman… note that I am not afraid of using the
novel as part of the blueprint of becoming human…
For much of our transformation comes from fiction, Science fiction,
poetry, music, paintings, novels, and the plays and movies…

for within fiction and poetry, lies clues to what will happen if
we take this path or that path…Anna Karenina
is one such path we can take and it is instructive as to
the impact such a path can happen to someone…
for the novel and other such fiction is really a how to
manual… it is educational in terms of what might happen
if we were to act in this fashion or in that fashion…

Fictional novels have characters that face
the same problems and questions we face every single day…
and how they deal with it is educational in terms of what
we can learn in reading about their choices and responses…

The Artist has much to teach us about being human
and the choices we can and should make…

Kropotkin

8

and to bring it back around… we have lost the vision
or the strength to dream large dreams…we engage
in ant dreams… not human dreams… of our possibilities
of being human… and beyond…we dream of being tiny
and next to the ground and not being able to know where
we are… because we are unable to see human beings
from afar, from a bird’s eye viewpoint… I see myself
as being small and tiny and that is because that is all
I do, I am a worker ant and as such, I am unable to rise
above myself… but if I were to rise to see myself
from a bird’s eye viewpoint, I could see what is possible
for me to reach and achieve…if I an ant,
I could never try to become a great anything…
but I have a far greater viewpoint and as such,
I can see myself as a great philosopher…
it is possible and I work every day to make it happen…
while others stay in ant mode and are happy with
their small, tiny world of being societies drones…
being antlike is the highest compliment one can get in
modern day America… for me, that would be the
highest insult… for I aspire to become something
far greater than an ant…what do you aspire to?

Kropotkin

9

Ant thinking is thinking about the
trinkets of existence…of titles, of money,
of gaining power, of fame and of course,
the biggest ant thinking in America today,
material possessions… we scrimp and save for
a new car, which we begin to think about replacing
in a couple of years… much ado about nothing is
the motto of the trinkets of existence…

One might say, I am driven to succeed, but even that
criteria changes as we grow older… what I thought
was success when I was younger and today, success itself
has change in its value for me…

someone who has climbed the corporate ladder to become
a CEO or an executive, for me, isn’t a success… but is someone
who has wasted their life with nonsense…
the wealthier a person, the more wasted life they have had…

I would consider Socrates to have a far better life then Musk
or Gates… and why? Because Socrates explored what it
means to be human, something far more valuable than wealth
or power or material possessions…
for having an understanding of what it means to be human,
is what gives us meaning and understanding of being a human being…
whereas having wealth just means you have wasted your life in
with an ‘‘ad hoc’’ situation… for there is no permanence in
seeking out wealth or fame or material possessions…
it is of the moment, ‘‘ad hoc’’… the latest toy being the
latest craze in material possessions… and worth nothing
in a very short time… which is why a ‘‘trade in’’ are so important…
one can trade back a phone or a car, for a ‘‘newer’’ model…
and that speaks to the permanence of the trinkets
of existence? they are meant to be traded in for newer models…

what values are value worth pursuing?

Kropotkin

10

Think about what it means to be human? …

What exactly does that entail?
There are a couple of aspects that are involved…
one: The physical…we are animal in that we are
engaged in the physical… we build, we paint, we
we are workers and producers, take a look around the room
you are currently in… what do you see? I look about the kitchen,
where I am currently typing from, the kitchen table… and what
do I see? I see the table in question, and I see a couple of
bookcases in the living room, I see some lamps, a couch,
I see the kitty condo and on top, a cat…

Outside of the cat, everything in my field of vision is manmade…
we are physical beings who produce objects for our needs…
is that what it means to be human?

or is being human something quite different?
I am listening to music, that is both manmade and
something I cannot touch… How does one grab onto
music? and what created music? music and my many books
are also manmade and yet, words in my books are not physical…
The book I am currently reading sits on the table, ‘‘Poetry
and Mysticism’’ by Colin Wilson…I can physically touch the
book, but the words inside, I cannot touch them…
for they are language… words are about making
mental connections… I see the word, Poetry… I
cannot touch that word… it has no physical presence in
the universe… Language happens inside the mind…
it is a connection we make between written lines and
something that connects within us… and here is our first clue
as to what it means to be human… it is a connection within us,
not something outside of us… being human is not a physicality,
it is not building bookcases or sitting on our pretty couches,
no, being human happens within us, it is our emotions, it
is our intellect, it is our making connections, being human
is about the relationships we have with other people, animals,
events, objects… what is the one relationship we have that
defines us as human beings? it is being in love with another…
and the physical contact with might engage with is really just
about the connection we feel inside of us toward the object
of our love…I love, so I touch the other person…
it is internal, something that happens within us, I cannot touch
that which is love inside of me, but I can feel it in my body…

that which makes us human is not outside of us, it is not
external touching that makes us human, but what makes
us human is the mental, emotional, psychic connections
we make within our mind and heart…
we are human because of what happens inside of us, not
outside of us… it is our consciousness, it is our emotions,
it is our relationships, it is our creating connections to another,
being human is an internal act, not an external act…

and what drives our external actions? the values and beliefs
we have about ourselves and the world… and values and
beliefs are also internal, not external…I hold that the primary
value we should hold, both individually and collectively, is
justice… which is another word for equality… to be just is to
be equal… treating everyone as equal is justice…
but that notion is not a physical one, but an internal one…
justice is a mental concept that has no existence outside of us…
as with other mental concepts such as math, science, philosophy,
love, peace… a list of mental concepts is basically a list
of everything we hold to be true… to be human is basically
a mental concept… not a physical one… I am human not because
I eat or drink or sleep or suffer as all physical beings must suffer,
no, I am human because being human is a mental, emotional
concept… we are animals because we came from an animal
background… we must do as animals do, eat, sleep, screw,
remove waste, our biological needs is what makes us animals,
but it is our internal aspects that make us human…

look at other animals, do they have a society, a civilization
that equal human beings? No, for animals are engaged
in an individual acts of seeking out their needs… but
human beings, must, because of our physical limitations,
engage with other human beings to meet our physical
and psychological needs… by myself, I cannot meet my
own biological or psychological needs… I just can’t…
and neither can you… and that is what it means to be human,
we must engage with other human beings to gain our bodily
and psychological needs… being human is not an external,
physical activity… it is mental, emotional, psychological…
being human happens inside of us, not outside of us…
and the needs of human beings to build a society, a state,
a civilization, which is unlike any other animal currently living,
tells us that this building of a state or a society, is a necessary
thing for us to remain human… for this is how we meet our
physical and psychological needs… by the creation of a state
or society/civilization… which is not a physical act, but a
mental action…

the journey to be human is not a physical one, but a mental,
psychological action…

and so, when we hear of Socrates motto, the ‘‘unexamined life
isn’t worth living’’… or to ‘’ to know thyself’'… we see this
internal reminder that existence for a human being is not
physical, but mental and psychological…
for as we age, we become infirmed from the daily grind
of growing old… I am 65 and I know what I am talking about…
the physical act of growing old is tough on the body…
but seeing as how the body isn’t what it means to be human,
being human is internal, within us, not outside of us…
and the mind, the mind can be working right up until the
day we die… all the while our bodies are day by day,
slowing decaying… and what does this suggest to us?

That we are confused in thinking that being human is a physical
attribute and it isn’t… the question of being human is a
mental, psychological one… we are human because of
our minds, thinking, emotions, and the psychological aspects
of being human…

and what does this suggest to us?
that being human is an internal action…
and it lies within us, inside of us…
so, the act of a reevaluation of values, as suggested by Nietzsche,
is a human act, overcoming our inherited values and beliefs, that
is what it means to be human, to become who you are,
not physically, but internally, within us, that is what it means
to be human… that which separates us from the animals is
the internal side of being human…

for the physical side of being human, can easily be changed,
damaged, repaired, lost or impeded…but we can hold onto
being human within us…think about the Holocaust…
despite the physical despair and torture, they suffered,
the people in the concentration camps didn’t lose sight
of their being human…because being human is internal,
not external… thus they could and did survive the holocaust
because of the internal concepts they held to, not what
their bodies suffered through…

being human is a mental concept, not a physical one…

and what else does that mean?

Kropotkin

11

to do, as human beings do, which is to deny others rights
that they themselves have acted upon… in other words,
claiming the right to love another, as long as its the opposite
sex or marrying another, as long as its socially acceptable,
or to deny rights that others have, that is to declare
those people as non-human… if you deny gays the right
to love other gays, to prevent them from marrying,
that is to deny them their humanity… for that is what
being human is… to love another… to deny that is to deny
gays the right to be human… or to prevent trans people
from being who they are, that is to deny them their
humanity, the right to be human… which as I have pointed
out is not physical, but mental, internal…
to deny other human beings rights, we have given to others, is to
deny human beings their right to be human…

the basic rights of all human beings is the right to food, water,
shelter, education, health care… those are the physical,
bodily rights we have, we also have psychological rights,
that of love, safety/security, that of having esteem, of a
sense of belonging… those basic human rights must also
be granted, given… to all human beings, because they
are human beings… to deny health care because some
people are trans gender, is do deny them their basic human
right to health care, to deny them love based on some
anti-human values is wrong… to deny human beings
their basic human values, is wrong…

but it goes deeper than this… to attack immigrants because
they are immigrants is to deny them their humanity… to
deny them the rights of being human…

because beneath it all, being an immigrant or being gay or
cross dressing, is a part of, part of being human…
they are part and parcel of the overall aspect which is
being human… to deny someone the right to be human
because they hold to something that is part of what they are,
is to be anti-human… the part of being human is within
us, not the physical, but the mental, internal aspect of being
human is to love, to belong, to be part of something…
and to deny that is to deny them their nature of being human…
and if we deny human beings their internal nature, we deny
them their humanity… we say, they are not human beings…
if they are gay, or if they cross dress, or if they are LGBTIA,
they are not human beings… is to be anti-human…for being
human is internal, within us, not external… and to deny
human status because of who they love, or how they dress
or who they marry is anti-human…

Kropotkin

12

I just came off of working 8 days straight… as each
day passed, my vision, my viewpoint narrowed,
until by the end, I was living with an ant’s viewpoint…
of only being able to see what was before me…
I worked and I slept, I ate food and that was all
I could focus on… my world narrowed down to
what was before me… the busyness of being an ant…
I had nothing else before my conscience…

but today, I am free from my busy work and I am able
to expand my vision to expand beyond just busy work…
or my 6 am to 2 pm working day…and then home to rest
and recover from standing on my feet all day…
this expansion of my vision has allowed me to see
a larger vision than just an ant vision…

I have more of a bird’s eye view of my own existence,
and thus, a vision of what it means to be human…
I have a day off, in fact, I have two days off…
and thus, I have the time, the leisure to explore
what it means to be human… I am not trying to do
something or be something today… we spend way
too much time trying to ‘‘accomplish’’ something…
we are too busy having experiences, or trying to
get errands done, or trying to recover from our work days…
we have no time to sit and just reflect on what it means to
be human… who waste their time engage in just thinking?
and that in itself is what is wrong with our modern-day society…
we don’t reflect on our actions or our day to day lives insofar
as it brings us closer to further away from becoming human,
fully human…we fail to think about what our journey actually
means… to go from animal to becoming, becoming human…
and what does that entail? Who knows because no one
thinks about that…we are too busy trying to become
‘‘someone’’ or some attempt to achieve things…
the real path to being human lies in the moments
of silence and doing ‘‘nothing’’…
the man who spends his days just trying to survive, to
being a consumer or a producer, isn’t really being a
human being… the path to becoming human lies in
reflection and thought, not in action and doing…
it is in the quiet moments of reflection that makes
us human… the struggle to become is an internal one,
not an external path… to remake one’s vision to
be less doing and less action and more reflection
and thought into what makes us human…

the particular American path of constantly being busy,
denies the reflection one needs to become human, truly
human… it is no longer about doing something or making
something or consuming something, but in taking the time
to gauze into our soul and answering the question, the only
question worth asking… What would it take to become human?
and the answer begins with going from an ant viewpoint to
a bird’s eye viewpoint… to see us human beings in terms
of the larger picture of a state, society, a civilization…
that begins the path to understanding, truly understanding
what it means to be human… not in doing but in reflection…
thinking, contemplation… the path to becoming human lies, not
in being ant like, but in being human… which is internal,
and in having a bird’s eye viewpoint…

So, how are you going to become more human?

What viewpoint are you going to adopt?
the ant’s or the human being?

Kropotkin

13

In thinking about the distinct lack of vision in
our modern world… and why this lack of vision?
we are, in all aspects of life, transactional, not
transformational…
and what does that mean?

transactional thinking, a transactional vision is a static one,
a never moving understanding of the world…
Transactional thinking cannot change, it cannot move, it
cannot become something else…
what was, what is and what will be, remains the same,
it fails to change with the times…

transformational thinking, transformational understanding moves
and changes with the times… and that is why science is
transformational, it changes and waxes and wanes, as the
time change…and the times often change because of
the science, not despite it… and unlike transactional thinking,
transformational thinking asks the why questions, ''Why am I here?"
''What does it mean to be human?" and of course, ''What is in it
for US?" ‘‘not what is in it for me’’ ‘‘How do I personally benefit from
this’’ is a transactional question, not a transformational question…

When I was young, I read poetry… all kinds by all kinds of people…
it moved me and transformed me… today, I read the same poetry
and it didn’t change one heartbeat of mine, unlike yesterday…
is that progress or not? I can’t tell…as I am now old, is
transactional thinking my only possibility? or can I change,
can I transform my vision, my understanding of being human,
even today? Therein lies the tale of Kropotkin…
Is change possible for someone like me, as old as me,
as cynical as I am these days. I have to hope that change,
transformational thinking is possible for me…
Otherwise, I am just occupying the stage until my part is over
and then, I exit… stage left… to be forgotten…

but I ask, can one be forgotten if one was never remembered?

Kropotkin

14

and what of philosophy? is that transactional or
transformational? Does it change or is it fixed, set,
unchangeable? Therein lies the tale of philosophy…
good philosophy, practiced by good philosophers,
engages in changes and movement and is
transformational… Kant doesn’t move or change…
it is transactional… especially its morals and ethics…
do unto others as you would have them do unto you…
that moral stance doesn’t leave a lot of room for
movement or change…it is a ‘‘deontological ethical
theory that emphasizes the importance of duty and
the Categorical imperative’’ an emphasis on duty
does not bode well for change or movement…

as most ethical theories are transactional, not transformational,
they lack in the ability to change with the times… or said
another way, what is our motivation for being good, as oppose
to the transactional theories that drive religious theory…
if one is good, one is rewarded, if one is bad, one is punished…
what would a transformational moral theory be?

a transformational ethical theory might be where we
understand that we need private good, to make
a public good… unlike our current transactional theory
that private vices, in some unexplained fashion, create
a public good… greed is not good… greed is a vice
that is transactional, and doesn’t change or transform
anyone… and hate is also not good, nor is it transformational,
only transactional… and anger, lust, violence also are
transactional…

an eye for an eye, transactional, not transformational…

so, the question becomes, how do we go from
transactional ethics to transformational ethics?

Kropotkin

15

think of the MAGA/conservative fixation on
punishment, retribution, hated, and dictatorship…
those are a transactional viewpoint of the world…
Change is to be feared and not to be trusted…
that is why the conservatives fixates on the past,
on tradition… emotionally, the past is much safer,
even if it is made up, then any possible future…

transformational acceptance means one accepts
and even actively engages in creating a new future…
and can you name someone today, who is engaged
in transforming our understanding? I can’t because
all the ‘‘attempts’’ at change, come from transactional
thinking, not transformational thinking… trying to
create change to increase one’s profits or power,
that is not transformational thinking… and what thinking
allows us to engage in transformational thinking/understanding?

if you want a better world, one has to work at creating
a better world, not with traditional, transactional thinking
but with values that take us into the changes we want to
see happen… it takes a vision to see where we want
the future to go…

What is the point of existence, if not change?

Kropotkin

16

one of the questions facing those who engage in
transactional thinking instead of transformational thinking,
is that why transactional?

I believe it is because transactional thinking is easier
to do… it takes no effort to think transactionally…
just follow the herd… and follow one’s base instincts…
eye for an eye…

but real thought is required when faced with the question,
how do we get from transactional thinking to transformational
thinking? What changes ought we make and why those changes,
and not other changes? Why this road and not another?

as transactional thinking is stationary thinking, there is very
little movement with transactional thinking, but with transformational
thinking, not only is change expected, but should be directed,
if not by the individual, at least by the state/society…

The state/society is here, and it should be there… how
do I get from here to there? this type of thinking comes with
some thought as to what is the point, the purpose of existence?
is there a common goal that can unite us into meaning or purpose?
I believe so… and what might that be?

Kropotkin

17

In reading Jacob Needleman book, “The Heart of Philosophy”,
he brings up an interesting point, that people are interested
in Philosophy if, if it is ‘‘authentic philosophy’’ and how are we
to discern ‘‘authentic’’ philosophy from ‘‘inauthentic’’ philosophy?

Philosophy only has power if it is connected to us, personally,
as a ‘‘way of life’’…as a means of understanding who we are
and what it is, we are to do? The Kantian questions…

And by that definition, most of the posts/threads here are not
‘‘authentic philosophy’’… There is no engagement with
philosophy as a ‘‘way of life’’… or any engagement with
what it means to be human… and how can there be
engagement with ‘‘authentic philosophy’’ if philosophy
only reacts to the day-to-day affairs of human beings…
much of philosophy is reactive, not proactive…
which makes philosophy much more ‘‘ad hoc’’, then it ought to be…

‘‘Authentic’’ philosophy engages us in its overall approach to
existence, not just in its part and partial aspect of existence…

My objections to IQ45 and the entire MAGA/conservative crowd…
lies not just in the day-to-day aspects, but in overall understanding
of what it means to be human… Conservatives and the MAGA
crowd believes in transactional existence… short term,
what is in it for me, rewards and punishments existence,
‘‘Quid pro quo’’ ‘‘Eye for an Eye’’ these are examples of
transactional existence… and philosophy oftentimes
follows this track of ‘‘What’s in it for me’’ thinking…
Max Stirner, or Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer are also
types of this thinking… (and to an extent, Nietzsche)

‘‘Authentic philosophy’’ not only questions who we are
individually, but questions who we are collectively…
''What does it mean to be human in a society/state?"
For it seem evident, that being human within an
individual context is different than being human within
a collective context… and I suspect part of the modern
day struggle is this inability to separate the two out,
the individual human being and the collective human being…

For we all have this division within our lives, our individual self
and our collective self…and ‘‘Authentic Philosophy’’ is
an attempt to unite the two sides… for the bottom line is
that I cannot, cannot be myself within a social, collective
context… The pursuit for freedom and happiness, is
a different pursuit individually, then it is collectively…
but we think, mistakenly, that they are one and the same…
the drive, quite a strong drive, is for us to engage in life
individually, as ourselves, but we cannot do this
within a public, collective type of existence…

The fact is, we must sacrifice much of who we are
individually, for the society, the collective…
and it makes us, well frankly, rather cranky…
this is our transactional values competing with
our social, collective values…

The trick is not to be completely individual or
completely social, collective, but to work out
some mix of the two…how to fit in collective
society with our individual traits and beliefs?

Virtually every philosopher has engaged in this question…
the one, the individual role within the society/state?
How do we successfully unite the two aspects of human
existence? the private, transactional self vs the collective
society/state?

And ‘‘Authentic Philosophy’’ tries to answer this fundamental
question, what is the role of the individual within the state?
If there was a more fundamental question than this in 2025,
I don’t know it…and transactional thinking, understanding
cannot get us to anything close to an answer…
But transformational thinking, what can we become,
can get us closer to understanding what it means to be
human and what does that mean for us collectively?

I am here, and where should I be tomorrow? that is not
transactional thinking, that is transformational thinking…
and that is where ‘‘Authentic Philosophy’’ should be engaged in…
‘‘I am here’’ and where should I be and why there, and not
another place? and the same holds true for our understanding
of the state/society… We are here, and where should we,
as a society, be? That is ‘‘Authentic Philosophy’’

Kropotkin

18

One cannot minimize the collective has on the
individual self… As the Ancient Greeks noted,
that the individual cannot be completed without
the state…perhaps, one might think of the state
as a sort of finishing school on our individual selves,
perhaps…in any case, we cannot hope to meet our
own individual needs without the state/society…
my own physical needs of food, water, shelter, health care,
education, love are all met within the state/society…
as is our individual psychological needs of love,
self-esteem, a sense of belonging, and safety/security…
these psychological needs can only be met within the
state/society… there is no chance of me or you or anyone,
becoming human without the state/society help and assisstence…

What does it mean to be human? if we have the vision or
the strength to be creative as to what it means to be human,
we can arrive at some idea and thereby be able to work out
a path into the future… individually and collectively…

Kropotkin