Now what does this mean?
we are the same material as the universe, matter/energy.
we human beings are the same, matter and energy.
And as matter/energy, we have the same needs and same wants
and same desires…… It becomes a matter of degree’s… some
need love a bit more then others and some need to feed a bit more then
others and some need to control a bit more then others, but the same
needs and wants and desires that exists in me, exists in you and in everyone…
the question becomes, if we all have needs and wants and desires, how do
we approach that? In other words, the formation of the state is simply
a means for us to achieve our needs, wants and desires without infringing
on the rights of other? If we want order and stability in our society,
we cannot act upon our impulses, impulses are simply needs, wants and desires,
for society to function, we must control our impulses. To think of a society
where we are unfettered in our attempting to achieve our needs, wants
and desires is to think of Hobbes original society…where it is every
person against every other person and “Life is nasty, short and brutish”.
this question of how are we supposed to answer our needs and wants
and desires without destroying the society we live in, may be the primary
question we humans face. Needs, wants and desires must be directed
toward some objective that doesn’t also damage society. We must be able
to have some means to achieve our needs, wants and desires but remain within
the framework of maintaining society. Now most theories of doing so are theories
of sacrifice, of renunciation, of asceticism, theories which try to deny those
needs, wants and desires. And to a certain degree, we must sacrifice who we
are to maintain order and stability within every organization we are part of, but
renunciation is not a action we can maintain and hold. Renunciation cannot
be a way of life, it must be a part of, but not the key factor in our life.
One of the key questions of life is this, how do we deal with our needs, wants
and desires that exist within us?
It could be properly said, that a human being is simply a creature that
makes it needs, wants and desires,a primary goal in its life.
Now one of the things to understand is we often desire and pursue
things that are harmful and detrimental to us… we pursue such harmful
things as related to our negative instincts. We pursue and expend energy
on such things as hate, anger, greed, lust… negative instincts…
but what we should be doing is pursuing positive instincts, love,
hope, peace, justice… we should be expending energy on matters that
are beneficial and help us, not destroy us.
we must become aware of and understanding why we must pursue positive
goals, wants, desires and needs. Again, it becomes a question of energy.
Positive goals create positive energy, we can expand and build upon
positive energy like love and hope and justice… negative energy like
hate and anger and greed decreases the amount of energy a person has.
when we are angry, we cannot build upon or expand upon that energy.
It can only destroy, not build and that is the problem with negative energy.
so the next aspect of society/the political is to make the pursuit of positive
energy to be a desired goal. And to a certain degree, society/state does that,
but the society/state also, to a certain extent, promotes the negative,
anger, hate, greed and lust. The materialism of our modern age is a
negative pursuit, buy our goods and become more popular or sexier or
more desirable. This materialism is built upon our negative instincts of
greed and lust among others. In other words, this pursuit of materialism
is another form of society trying to get its individual members to expand
energy on something. But it is a wasted goal to expend energy on such
negative instincts because it can never fully satisfy our needs, wants and
desires because we always want, need and desire more and more and more…
Materialism is really just another addiction like drugs and booze and gambling…
and it is a convenient addiction for society because it allows powerful
and wealthy individuals to become even more powerful and wealthier
because they hold the means of production… they own the businesses that
are tied into this addiction of materialism. YOU want people to become addicted
to your products because they will buy more and more and more…
Just like a drug dealer, you need people to be addicted to your product,
be it material goods like cars and TV sets or even be addicted to the
concept of materialism… recall what the Bush jr. said after 9/11 in
response to a question about what people should do?
He said, “people should go out and buy stuff”.
Yep, he said that. a good drug dealer he is. Keep the people addicted to your
product…
so what is the answer? we must become aware of the dangers of our materialism
and our futile attempt to feed our needs and wants and desires with materialism.
We must begin a reevaluation of what is our needs, wants and desires…
in truth, we really don’t need that much. we can happily survive with very little
and that is the answer of the mystics and the religious… be happy without
materialism because that materialism isn’t important and it isn’t that
important. and we must redo society and the state to address this question
of what is truly important… and thus we have Marx and his ilk……
you can understand political and social theory better if you think about
this question of how are we to achieve our goal of meeting our needs, wants
and desires without disrupting society…………
Kropotkin