the "Enlightenment project"

so Kropotkin, where have you been?
Retail and labor day! I needn’t say more…

So when last seen, I was talking about how the “Enlightenment”
was stalled by the Romantic Era…Whereas the “Enlightenment”
was all about working out our superstitions, biases, prejudice,
and habits…We are born and instantly, the process of indoctrinations
begin…

There is a god, America is exceptional, White is right, the Jews control the world,
all are forms of childhood indoctrinations…we are “educated” with a vast series
of “TRUTHS” that aren’t… but the society/state, feel’s we need… if you hold to
the “America exceptionalism” you have been brainwashed…or said another way,
“educated”

The “enlightenment project” is about seeking these indoctrinations, all of them,
and engaging in some sort of process that weeds out the “false and dangerous”
indoctrinations…in other words, examine our various childhood indoctrinations
in the light of day and ascertain if these actually our “beliefs” and “values”
or are they just things we have been indoctrinated/brainwashed into believing…
the vast majority of beliefs we hold to be true, are just indoctrinations of
childhood… our “education” as it were…

if you hold to American nationalism, why? Or if you hold to “Jewish domination”
why that belief? Why not another belief?

but to be honest, an honest examination of our values and beliefs is hard work,
is in many way, a terrifying experience… think of the old Zen statement…

before enlightenment the mountains are solid, the sea’s calm, the rivers flow down their banks
during “enlightenment” the mountains dance, the sea is in a frenzy and the river
has overflown its banks
and after enlightenment, the mountain is solid, the sea is calm and the river flows
in its bank once more…

People are afraid of that time period of an engagement with our values and beliefs…
it causes doubts and fears and this unknown, is admittedly scary… very, very scary…
people don’t like to lose control… they will hold on to their prejudices and
superstitions long after they serve any value just to avoid that void of having
no values to support their lives…as Nietzsche said,

“People think it strength to hold onto their convictions,
rather it is strength to attack one’s convictions”

most people would rather hold onto their convictions because
they are scared of what might happen if they were to actual
attack their convictions/values…

an example, of which many exists here is UR and Observe…
they hold onto their convictions because they don’t have the courage
for an attack upon their convictions… because what would happen if
they were to realize/understand that their beliefs and values, were in
fact, more in line with “Liberal” values and beliefs?
I hold that both of them would have a nervous breakdown if their values/
beliefs were discounted, devalued, proven wrong…their values/beliefs
have become part of how they think of themselves… it has become
part of who they are… how lost would they be if they didn’t have this,
crutch to lean upon? and before they start yipping about me, as I have
stated before, that I have changed my political beliefs three times
and my philosophical beliefs several times…can they say that their beliefs/values
have changed in any way, shape or form? no, they cannot…

for them, it is better to hold onto values/beliefs even if those values/beliefs
are wrong, then it is to have an engagement with values/beliefs that are true/
right because of the loss of control that arises when we hold an reevaluation of
values that challenges the values and beliefs we currently hold…

the need to challenge and attack our current prejudices/superstitions/
biases/ and habits, is greater today then it was during the actual
“Enlightenment period” we are full of prejudices and superstitions
that we must engage with to discover what we truly hold to be true…

“America is number one”

is a prejudice and superstition that we must attack to see if it is in fact true,
(it isn’t) but we must reevaluate in order to come to a closer understanding of
reality/the truth…

is the “truth” that “America is number one” a honest evaluation of reality or. or
is it a useful value that makes us feel better about ourselves?

and the question if “America is number one” comes from what standard
we might use to determine that… is our “number one” ranking come from
military spending? then we might conclude that we are indeed “number one”
but that leaves out the question that can be asked, is “military spending”
really a value that makes us “number one?” what “criteria” or standard are
we to use to justify our claim of being “Number one?”

if we were to use another “criteria” or “standard” to use, to understand
if we are “number one” then perhaps we aren’t actually “number one”
so, if we were to use perhaps childhood mortality rate as a criteria
for understanding if we are “number one”, then no, we are not “number one”
for example, Canada has a lower childhood mortality as does Saudi Arabia,
as does Norway…so, we cannot use a standard of childhood mortality rate
to determine if we are “number one”…so what criteria or standard would
you use to determine that America is indeed, “number one?”
and even the standard used is determined by one’s childhood indoctrinations
and “education”…
so we use our already existing bias and superstitions to determine what
standard we use to justify our existing bias and superstitions…

and we reject any standards that doesn’t meet our current/existing bias
and superstitions… in other words, if proof is offered that denies our
current bias and superstitions, it is rejected as “false news” or “fake news”
so anything that doesn’t confirm our current bias and superstitions/prejudice,
it is rejected outright… the only acceptable “evidence” is the evidence that
confirms our already existing bias and superstitions… this is how the right/
conservatives “confirm” their beliefs… only if the evidence confirms their
already existing bias and superstitions, is it accepted…
hence their attack upon reality and the truth… because the reality/truth
is that the right/conservatives have a false/bias/prejudice understanding
of the universe… hence they can believe that IQ45 won the last election…
(spoiler alert… he didn’t) because any information that doesn’t confirm their
already held bias/superstition/ prejudice is rejected…as “fake news”

so the question becomes, how important does it become, to engage with
a reevaluation of values? very important… we have 40% of the
American population holding onto and acting upon values and beliefs that
are simply superstitions/prejudice/ bias… and because their values/
beliefs begin by being wrong, they cannot possible make the journey from
animal to animal/human to becoming fully human…
any journey that has the wrong starting place cannot finish up in the correct/right
ending place…

so the process by which we find our path to becoming “enlighten” begins with
the understanding that we must engage in a reevaluation of values… to remove
the current indoctrinations of country/god/values… to come closer to the truth
even at the cost of our own comfort… to seek enlightenment requires one to
become uncomfortable… to be where the mountains no longer hold firm
and where the seas are unsettled and the river overruns its banks

to achieve enlightenment is a bitter and difficult task that can cause one
to challenged everything they hold to be true… one has to become honest
and truthful regardless of what might happen… and few have the courage to
make such an engagement…

Kropotkin

You are born into a system that has annual holidays, that requires you to BUY presents for everyone you know.

Birthdays. You better not forget to buy a birthday present for everyone you know, every year!
Mother’s day. You are dead meat if you forget to get something for your Mother on this day, EVERY YEAR!
Father’s Day. Same deal as Mother’s day, but double the buying because you have a father too!
Anniversary. You won’t have to worry about next year having to buy for your wife if you forget this year! You won’t have a wife anymore. (but you will have a lawyer bill and she took HALF of your net worth)
Valentines day. Yep, buy presents every year for your loved ones.
Easter. Yep, buy all the fixins, and candy, and don’t forget to go to church and give up 10%.
July 4th. Wave your flag and pledge allegiance to "one nation under GOD. You know, the GOD that’s on the money that says “In God We Trust.”
Halloween. Buy candy and costumes and throw parties every year for people that you DON’T know!
Thanksgiving. Buy all the fixins and be thankful you have a job that pays $7 an hour.
CHRISTMAS. The big day!! Hopefully you’ve been shopping for everyone you know 3 months in advance! Spend spend spend!
…and quit being a Scrooge, get some damn lights and decorations and Christmas tree, it Jesus’s Birthday for the love of God!
…and don’t forget to go to church and give 10%. What’s wrong with you???

Black Friday. BIG DEALS. HURRY!
Cyber Monday. Don’t miss out on the savings this day for ALL your needs!
Amazon day!!! LOL

…and file your “TAXES” and pay Uncle Sam what you owe him. You worked your butt off and made money for God’s sake, you owe him at least 25-50% of what you made!!! Duh?

so what about those who sole goal is to confirm their existing
bias and prejudice? isn’t that what religion does?..

to confirm the bias, superstition that a “god” exists, one then sees
that confirmation everywhere… god is seen to be in all things… this is
a confirmation of one’s own bias/prejudice…

to seek confirmation in one’s own values and superstitions, is called
religion…theology… a religious man doesn’t seek news or knowledge
that god doesn’t exists… he seeks confirmation that god does exist,
that god is who we think he is …

to seek escape from one’s own values/superstitions/bias,
is to seek philosophy…not religion… we aren’t trying to confirm
our already existing values and bias, we are seeking to overcome
those already existing childhood indoctrinations and prejudices…

so, if I was indoctrinated to hold the belief that “God exists”…
I then use a reevaluation of values to decide or to discover
the truth, that although I have been “educated” given the prejudice
that “God exists”, I by way of overcoming have come to conclude that
god doesn’t in fact exists… it is a superstition, a bias, a prejudice that
I was "educated’ into…if I have overcome this childhood bias, then
I have reached a temporary state of “enlightenment”…
my beliefs and values are actually mine, not some indoctrination from
childhood…I hold to my own values and beliefs, not someone else’s…
and that is the place one is trying to reach in overcoming our childhood
indoctrinations… to be able to say, honestly say, I hold these values/beliefs
to be true and mean it… I am not looking for some confirmation bias to
confirm what I already believe in, I am seeking values that I actual hold to be true…
not indoctrinated with…

it is very important to understand the confirmation bias that we engage with…
to seek confirmation of our already held childhood indoctrinations…
instead we must seek to work out what values and beliefs we truly hold, not
what we have been indoctrinated/educated with, but truly hold…

Kropotkin

K: yes, these are already held bias/prejudices/“education” that we have been
indoctrinated with…our primary concern is to be a “good” citizen which means
to be consumer/producer/worker… that is the point, the entire point of education,
to train us to become “valued” member of society by working or consuming
or producing the goods that can be sold to enrich our corporate overlords…
it doesn’t help us at all, we get a miniscule of the resulting wealth…
leading us to retire with an average, average retirement fund of less
then $500,000… personally, after working for 44 years, have about enough saved
up to buy the fries and burger, not a drink…if I live until I was 78, I will easily run
out of money before I hit that age…my mom is 86 and will run out of money shortly…
and this is quite common… people outliving their retirement savings…now as a point of
reference, I am 62 right now, so Let us say, I retire around 68, I have less then 10
years of savings to hold me to 78… frankly, I can’t retire given how little I have…
and If I can’t retire, what was the point of working for 45 or 50 years? I am not alone…
millions of people have little to nothing to retire on… but hay, as long as the CEO’S
MAKE THEIR MILLIONS IN BONUSES, WHO CARES THAT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE CAN’T RETIRE,
or will starve to death in retirement…

so, do ask ourselves is this system we have really worth the effort? no, we
just blame those who are fucked by the system… it is far easier to simple
blame the victims, instead of taking the time to really see what has happened…

is is easier to blame a girl for being raped, then it is to have an engagement
what it means to be a boy and perhaps receive a moment of that scary
enlightenment… where we are forced to live without the usual bias, superstitions,
prejudice that we use to hold onto and maintain control over our lives…
the usual crap is “boys will be boys” instead of forcing boys to actual
come to grips with who they are and what it means to be a boy/man?
is part of being male actually being violent and engage in such violent
actions as rape? Who knows because such engagement with that
bias, superstitions, prejudice isn’t engaged with…it is swept
under the rug and denied… to challenge what it means to be a man,
a male in this time and place takes courage… where few actual have
the courage to hold and engage with a reevaluation of values regarding
what it means to be a man, a male in our current time and place…

to become “enlightened” means an engagement with the values and
beliefs that one holds and do those values and beliefs really are
who we say we are… we are our values and beliefs… is there a
disconnect between our stated values and beliefs and our actions?

yes, I have always held that we have a major disconnect between
our words and our actions…we must have our words and actions,
be the same thing…

we mean what we say and we say what we mean…

there is no difference between our words and our actions…
and a reevaluation of values will help us to narrow the gap
between our words and our actions…

who am I? only a revaluation of values can allow us to reach or understand
who I am… to remove the indoctrinations of childhood that prevents me from
understanding who I am…If I hold to the indoctrinations of childhood,
then I can’t truly understand who I am… and this is the state for most people,
their words, I am a free person, conflict with their actions, which is their
childhood indoctrinations which hold them hostage to certain values and beliefs, hence
I say I am free, but in reality, I am not free because of childhood indoctrinations that
I haven’t reevaluated…and prevent me from being free…

if you hold to the childhood indoctrination that there is a god,
and you act upon that indoctrination, then you are not free,
you are simply engaged in that childhood indoctrination with no
understanding of how you are being held hostage by that childhood
indoctrination…

how do you free yourself from your childhood indoctrinations?

only by understanding that you were indoctrinated as a child…
and are those indoctrinations really your values or beliefs?
you can’t know until you have a reevaluation of values that allows
you to see your childhood indoctrinations as they really are,
indoctrinations or as we might call them, “education”…

Kropotkin

I was kicked out of Sunday School the first day I attended. I was so young I don’t remember how old I was, maybe 5?
I laughed when the Sunday School teacher started with her bullshit! I told her there is no such thing as “God.”
She told my Mom and that was the last time I attended! LOL

K: and thus began your “education”
those who hold the power, try to force upon you their prejudice,
values, superstitions… if you try to hold your values, you are punished…
hence we are “educated”… the first and primary rule of life is this,
the greatest crime one can commit is insubordination…Adam got kicked out
of paradise for this very act… and one can get fired from a workplace for this
very act, and one can receive prison time for this very act…the worse
crime in society is insubordination… and the greatest punishment is
reserved for those who are insubordinate… see Socrates, or Jesus
or Spinoza or Gandhi or MLK or anyone who has had the courage to say,
no… that act of Insubordination to society or anyone give charge by
society/state/culture… is punished severely… for example, the most
common charge the police give someone is… failure to obey a cop…
insubordination…it is the fundamental basis of our or any society…
obey the powers to be or be punished…

Kropotkin

It takes courage to do the right thing.

Weak minded people with no courage to do what’s right are accepted because they don’t present a problem to the overlords.
People that have the courage to stand up for what is right are “Banned” from society. I’ve experienced this my entire life.
It hasn’t stopped me from doing the right thing. I would be homeless and hungry before I would go along with their BS!
I would rather have peace of mind than to agree to their BS!

I am changing directions here…

we are born with what has been called the “human condition”…

that is we are born to suffer as the Buddha has said, we are born,
we age, we become diseased, and we finally die… all of this is,
according to the Buddha is “suffering” and yet, I differ from the Buddha
in this regards… I hold that being born, growing old, getting disease and
dying are not in fact suffering…but are the cost of existence…
the price of admission as it were to life…you want to exist,
great but there is a cost to this existence and that is being born,
growing old, disease and dying…so I don’t hold to this concept of
existence being one of escaping our suffering… by no longer being
reborn as the Buddha preaches… to escape into the nothingness
that is the void from where we all came from… that is what the
Buddha preached… escape from existence in order to avoid
suffering… but I have discovered that suffering isn’t something to escape
from but something to learn from…for example, touching a hot oven is
not a good idea… so we learn from touching a hot oven… and that is why
we avoid touching a hot oven… we have learned it…it is a simple
fact that we now know…and anyone touching a hot oven will also
learn…but lessons such as this is best learned from experience…
I can tell you to avoid a hot oven, but it won’t matter… you have to
learn that fact from your own experience of touching a hot oven…
we human beings learn best from experience and not from
words of "wisdom’'… we have to make our own mistakes to
properly learn from them… I can’t tell you to avoid toxic people,
you have to learn that on your own from your own experience…

so, I have other learning experiences that I have learned but you must
engage with to learn those lessons yourself…

so for example, I say there is no god…I have learned that from
my experiences with existence…
god is an unnecessary hypothesis/ theory for existence…
we can explain aspects of existence without recourse to
a metaphysical explanation… I can exist without any recourse
to a supernatural explanation…my meaning can be found without
any recourse to a superstition… for that is what belief in god is,
a superstition…and yet, millions hold onto this prejudice/ superstition…
in seeking meaning and purpose…

for example, notice that an Atheist has never been elected to being President
of the U.S… why is that? people holding onto unnecessary, metaphysical explanations
of the universe to promote a certain viewpoint… it isn’t necessary for one to
believe in a god to be a good president… and in fact, the constitution itself
denies any type of religious test for a president…and yet, we hold to such
a test in our presidents… IQ45 claimed to believe in god, and yet the evidence
is quite clear, he only believes in money and nothing else…
people are painting a picture using their own beliefs to justify supporting
an village idiot…I support him hence he must hold a belief in god…
your own viewpoint influences how you see things, people, places and events…

for example, if all you have is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail…

if all you see is theology, then every problem looks like a theology
problem…if all you see is evil, then every thing/problem looks like evil…
in other words, people can only see what their viewpoint allows them to see…
they cannot see past or beyond that viewpoint… if all democrats are evil,
then that is all you can see…by that viewpoint, there cannot be a “good”
democrat…and yet, we can clearly see that democrats can be good, even
without a belief in a god…bill clinton was good, but according to the GOP/
republicans, he was evil because he had a consensual sexual relationship with
Monica… and yet, IQ45 who has been accused to have raped or sexually
harassed over 25 women is seen to be “good”… one’s viewpoint dictates
how one see’s people, places, things and event…

if you free yourself of your childhood indoctrinations, your “education”
about say, “American exceptionalism” for example, then you can see that
indoctrination as being wrong…so that is the point of becoming “enlightened”,
to free yourself of past indoctrinations/ education to better see the reality
around you…

for example conservatives have been indoctrinated/educated that the
government is “evil”, the old Ronald Raygun belief that the government is
your enemy… and yet, the reality of today is that government isn’t
your enemy…that is the old fight, today your enemy is multinational
corporations that buy governments like we buy soda drinks…

the reality is the conservatives are fighting yesterday battles…
today fight is against big business and the extreme power
and influence that big corp has in today state/society/culture…

an example of big business power and influence is in
how American jobs have migrated to other countries…
big business wants you to believe that it was the democrats
or illegal immigration or lax social policies that drove that
job overseas… and yet the reality is that big business
sent that job overseas…the CEO’S of big corporations
sent those jobs overseas to make themselves bigger bonuses…
and that is the only reason why entire industries have gone
overseas… to lower the cost of big business hence to get
that CEO a bigger bonus check…no other reason…
you want jobs and industries to return to America,
the power resides with big business and the CEO’S
of those companies…government has no control over jobs and
businesses going overseas… but big business can and does control
that… so instead of using a failed and behind the times viewpoint,
that government is the problem, catch up and learn the truth…
big business and CEO’s are the real problem in the world today
and they are the ones to fight and take down, not the government…

your ideology has taught you the wrong lesson… your viewpoint
that the problem in America today is Liberals or democrats
or immigration or the loss of belief in god… these are
state sanction misleading propaganda… the real power is
big business and CEO’S that are the problem and creating
the vast problem existing in America and the world today…

overcome your childhood indoctrinations and learn the truth…

become “enlighten” by overcoming the prejudices/superstitions/bias
of the modern propaganda that big business is producing and selling on
the mass media they own…recall that in America, that 6 corporations own
95% of all, ALL media…and they use that mass media to mislead and
convince you that the danger and problems are from liberals and democrats
and illegal aliens…the truth is far more incendiary…you are being mislead
by big business and their agenda of world wide domination… to be able
to buy and sell everything planet earth… existence itself becomes
a monetary question, not a philosophical problem… the question to ask is not
what is the meaning of life, but how much does life itself costs?

the one true god becomes Mammon…

and with that we are lost…

Kropotkin

As I have already state, the “Enlightenment” never actually happened…
it failed…and what was suppose to happen while being “Enlighten”?

The point is to overcome our collective and individual superstitions,
bigotry, prejudice and childhood indoctrinations…

Because I was born into a certain time and place, I have been indoctrinated
with values and prejudices and childhood indoctrinations…

the question becomes, am I able to overcome these indoctrinations to
become who I am? What beliefs and values are actually my values and beliefs
and what values and beliefs that I have that were actually indoctrinated into me?

and the same question goes for all of us collectively… this idea that
we hold collectively about “American exceptionalism”…
that somehow we in America are exceptional because we are “favored”
by god as a nation…but with any good prejudice or superstition,
the lack of facts or evidence doesn’t seem to matter to those who hold this
prejudice or superstition…it is a given that America is exceptional
and doubters are called “traitors” "liberals’’ “socialist”…

so how do we overcome this particular prejudice/superstition?
and that is the point of becoming “Enlighten”… to hold to
truths and reality that is closer to reality… in other words, if we hold
to false beliefs, we will act in error because we have false information
to act upon… our starting point is wrong and anyone who has traveled will
tell you, if you begin in the wrong place, you will end up in the wrong place…
and where exactly is the “wrong place?”

if you hold beliefs that don’t match reality, then you can hold to beliefs
that no longer match reality… a very good example of this is those
who hold that IQ45 won the last election, 2020… and because their beliefs
are based on error, they act in error…the first step to an engagement
with doing the “right” thing is to start with beliefs that match reality,
to what is true…by holding this initial wrong belief, the GOP has begun
a terror campaign against voter rights… when the solution is more voting
by more people… whatever the question, greater democracy is the answer…
but because the GOP “lost” the last election, they have engaged in a battle
to limit those who can vote to the white, middle class who the GOP feels
will vote for them…voter suppression in an attempt to gain and hold power
by the GOP…but I question that the attempt to gain and hold power is the
actual reason for political parties…they are actually an attempt to
influence and create greater rights and options for all their constituents,
not just the ones who voted for them…the point of public service is to
be a service to others, not just as a power play to make money…
which is what the GOP does… power the sake of making money…
and that is the highest value of the GOP/ Republicans… money…
Mammon is their god…

the “enlightenment project” is an attempt to begin again in a discovery
of what are our values, superstitions, prejudices, and childhood indoctrinations,
that we hold and to overcome them to engage with the values that we hold,
not the values that were indoctrinated into us…

so you might hold to “America is the greatest country on earth”
and that prejudice, indoctrination that you hold, is it true?
does it match reality? I say no, no it doesn’t… for example,
the “Human development report” is a method of measuring
human development beyond just purely economic measures like
the GDP… and in this, the United States ranks, 17 worldwide…

so how do you get an idea of “American exceptionalism” from a world wide
ranking of 17 in the HDI? (Human development index)

by facing reality/truth, we can then begin the long hard work of
becoming that “Shining City on the hill”… that “Beacon of light” that
has been America over the last 200 years, but no longer is…

I have pointed out before, that sports teams must every single year,
work long and tirelessly to get to the top of their sport… winning
the championship one year is great, but you start over every single
year… and if you fail to work on that, you are no longer a champion…

this is true in any sport… In the English Premier League, a champion
from one year is not guaranteed success the next year… they have to work
tirelessly to improve and become the best team they can be…
So one year Arsenal for example can win the championship and because
they don’t work at it, they might fall down to 7th in the standings the next year…

the same holds true for countries… we might have been number one, years ago,
but we have grown lazy and we are not working every single day to return to
the number one country… and so, we are, in fact quite clearly, also-ran at
this point…it is only by a commitment to work hard and discover what is wrong
with America at this point, can we return to becoming the best…

it is with this in mind that I attack and denounce those values
and childhood indoctrinations that prevent us from us becoming
the best country on earth… it is still possible, but we cannot
take anything for granted and we cannot assume anything…
and it is a battle that we must engage with EVERY. SINGLE. DAY…

a day without improving ourselves is just another lost day…

so this “enlightenment project” does have a practical goal…
to remove the values and prejudices and superstitions that
prevent us from becoming who we are… from
improving ourselves enough to become the “Shining city on the hill”
once more…to become the best requires that we begin to outwork
everyone else…something that we in America will not do… and that
is to outwork the other guy… we have become to lazy to do that
and so we will continue to languish as the 17 ranked country in the world…

Kropotkin

so what is another goal, often unstated in discovering values
and beliefs that one holds, not values and beliefs indoctrinated into
you…

the value that is often found in overcoming one’s prejudices and superstitions
is freedom… If I am held bound by values, beliefs, prejudices and superstitions
that are not mine, but in fact values, beliefs, prejudices and superstitions
of the society/state… I am not free if I hold values and superstitions
that the state has forced upon me… I can only be free if, if I hold
to values and beliefs that I have engaged with and have come into…
thus one of the goals of overcoming the societies prejudices
and superstitions is to become free… how can I be free if the very
values and beliefs I hold are not my own?

as I have overcome the values, prejudices, and superstitions of my childhood
indoctrinations, I am freer then those who are still held hostage by
their childhood indoctrinations…

having overcome those childhood indoctrinations, I can express my own
values and beliefs as my values and beliefs… I am free to do so…
if you haven’t overcome your childhood indoctrinations, then you are
not free, but you are then held hostage by values, beliefs, prejudices
and superstitions of your society/state/church/family…

are you free? that question can only be answered by those who have
overcome their childhood indoctrinations…

have you?

Kropotkin

let us work out one such prejudice/superstition…
that of the “immortal soul”

it is held, even by those who are not Christians, that the soul is immortal…
it last even after the body is dead…so, we ask ourselves, what is the value
of this belief?

The true value of this belief/prejudice is to make us less afraid of death… our bodies
may die but our soul, that which makes us, us, lives on…

so the point of having an belief in an everlasting soul is to be less fearful
of death…not a point about the soul, but about our fear about death
that we hold to an immortal soul…

I view death as just another step, nothing different then puberty or
growing old or becoming ill…it is the price of admission to life…
that we die… and a price that I am willing to pay… if it, death, is
just another step along the way, then death has no fear for me…
I am no longer in need of holding to the belief in an immortal soul…
I am not afraid of dying… and my soul, my soul dies with my body…
and that is ok… I have no need to live forever… in fact, life forever
is quite a fear of mine… I would much rather die then live forever…
a fate worse then death is a life forever…

the finality of my life doesn’t frighten me… it is what it is… and I cannot
ever stop it from happening…so I don’t worry about it or make it a central
idea of my life the way Christians make it so… so I can think/worry about other,
more pressing matters, like what’s for lunch…very important…
(most likely a sandwich from a local sandwich place… ummmm…)

what other prejudices and/or superstitions should we/you look at?

well, that is the point of the “Enlightenment project” to seek out what
values and beliefs one has and discover if they are values and beliefs
that society/state/culture has indoctrinated into us… so we can
hold values and beliefs that are our values and beliefs, thus allowing
us to be free to hold the values and beliefs that is ours, and not societies
values and beliefs…

Kropotkin

and to what end do I engage, (and ask you to engage with)
in regards to the “enlightenment project?”

the point is not only to become free in our values/beliefs/superstitions,
but to engage in a new way of thinking, believing… change the mindset
of the modern world… to institute change…that is what I am
endeavoring to do… and change isn’t just about actions, one
has to change one’s mental and psychological, emotional aspect before
a physical change must be engaged with… to understand why one is
changing is as important as the change itself… the why helps us
to better be able to change…as to not knowing why we change is
detrimental to our ability to change… we as human beings, need to know
why we are changing… and us seeking to become free of our childhood
indoctrinations is as good as any reason to seek change…

to change to match the reality/truth of any situation is a valid reason
to change… and a reason that we must hold to…

Kropotkin

Was it? Says who?
The thing about “The Enlightenment” is that the participants were not aware that such a thing was happening, and it was not invented until Kosina did a book on the 18thC in the 1930s.
The “enlightnment” seems to be whatever you want it to be. Some have it as an atheist rethinking; a scientific revolution. Others consider it a surge in christian religiocity.

All this is poure 20thC bullshit.

I suppose that means that AMericans are not enlightened - who knew?? :laughing:

It’s all vanity!!
American nationalism/exceptionalism is just another sharia. And it’s the so called libertarians that are the worst offenders in this affront to rationalism.

Watchword of the Enlightenment Sapere Aude

let us make another test case: autonomy…

if we are to have autonomy, then we must hold to idea’s and values
that are our values… if we hold another’s values/beliefs/idea’s…
then we are not being autonomous… we are being controlled by
the thoughts of another… that is about as far from being Autonomous
as can possible be…if you hold to the belief of god from your childhood
indoctrinations, then how exactly are you being autonomous?

to be autonomous means/requires us to investigate our values to see what
values we actually hold…or as Nietzsche said, a reevaluation of values…
which means we seek out what values and beliefs are actually our values and beliefs…
and what values/beliefs were installed by our childhood indoctrinations…

and one cannot know until an examination of values is conducted…

my parents believed in… god… I believe in god… so, was I indoctrinated into
believing in god? the short answer is yes…unless you have conducted an
true, honest self evaluation of values to decide which values are your values,
otherwise, you are a victim of a childhood indoctrination…

I don’t need to be involved in any sort of reevaluation of values you might have… I have
spent the last 40 years of my life in an evaluation of my own values…

do as you wish but don’t pretend to be free or autonomous if you fail
to engage in some sort of a reevaluation of values by and of yourself…

don’t talk to me about others being a sheep if you yourself have failed
to have some engagement with the values and beliefs you hold by
an examination of those values and beliefs…

many here pretend to be an aristocrat or superior, but until you actually
do the work and own up to who you are and what are you believes/values,
you are nothing… but a pretender/ a wannabe like Historyboy…

BTW: this has nothing to do with Sculptor’s post…

his post is his post…

Kropotkin

why our age needs an “New” Enlightenment is shown by such
superstitions, prejudice and bias of those who hold to
conspiracy theories… as in the TFH party… anyone who says,
“the election was stolen” is engaged in a conspiracy theory which
is just a superstition, prejudice, bias of the holder of that belief…

what is the danger of holding such prejudices? well, we can see
that danger in the attempted Government takeover on Jan 6, 2021…
and in the violence that has been threatened since then from the right wing…

now more then ever, we need to have an engagement with the ideals of
the enlightenment… where we free ourselves from the biases, superstitions,
prejudice and habits… where we engage in the quest of becoming “enlightened”
in which this case means, we are not bound to or held hostage by beliefs
that fail to be understood by reason, logic, rationality… to hold that
the 2020 election was stolen is to hold a belief by emotions, the “gut”
psychological reasons… but not by looking at the election of 2020
with reason or rationality… because in doing so, one can easily see
that Biden won the election quite easily… there is nothing wrong with
or illegal about Biden winning the election… only those who are driven
by emotions, irrationality, psychological reasons, would see the 2020 election
as being “stolen”…

we must have a reevaluation of values in which we reexamine our values
and beliefs to see or find the truth in them… we must identify and remove
those beliefs that are held by prejudice/superstition/ irrationality…
the beliefs held by the TFH party…where everything is a conspiracy of
some sort or another… observe is still around but at least UR is gone…
addition by subtraction…it is sad when a website is improved when someone
leaves… the same will happen with observe finally gives up…

anyway, they hold to failed conspiracy theories… and that is holding to superstitions,
habits, prejudice and bias… and we must work to overcome these superstitions
and prejudice by examining them in the daylight as to their value and worth…

and in fact, nothing can be gained by holding onto such superstitions
and prejudices… such as the holding onto the superstition of god
and heaven and hell… to hold that one is punished forever by alleged
“benevolent” god is holding onto the indoctrinations and prejudice of
your family, state, culture and society that you were born into…
what god looks like is strictly defined by the society/state you were born into…
it has been indoctrinated into you… do you have the courage to overcome such
indoctrinations and superstitions you were born into?

free spirit isn’t free nor is he an autonomous individual because
he is held hostage by the indoctrinations of this childhood… where his family,
the state, the church and the society has indoctrinated him with values
and beliefs and superstitions that he now holds onto…will he be able to
free himself from his childhood indoctrinations of god, state, family,
church? I can’t say… only he has the power to free himself from the
tyranny of such beliefs that hold him hostage…

I have done my reevaluation of values and I outgrew my childhood
indoctrinations… and I hold quite different beliefs then I was taught
as a child… but most importantly, my beliefs are my beliefs, not beliefs/superstitions
taught by the society/state/church/ family/culture… that I grew up in…

Kropotkin