First let us begin with an artistic critique of the state and the left/right political division. This video is a critique leveled by the band Laibach and their artist collective. Though it may appear fascist, it must be analyzed beyond the immediate aesthetics of its presentation. The lyrics, for instance, are not those of a fascist dictator, but rather those of the communist revolutionary Josip Broz Tito. They exalt the supposed virtues of the state while claiming its authority is derived from the people. This juxtaposition of fascist imagery and communist rhetoric has the effect breaking down the divisions of left and right, leaving the viewer faced with pure violent force: the will of the state.
To represent society within the state as the division between left and right is to institutionalize division and violence. Not only are the two sides divided against each other, but they are also divided against themselves: the left is pulled two ways by its stance as socially libertarian and economically authoritarian, while the right is pulled two ways by its stance as socially authoritarian and economically libertarian. Society is thus doubly fragmented by its left-right division as well as its libertarian-authoritarian division. In the end this fragmentation produces a paradigm that is both socially and economically authoritarian: this institutionalization of conflict demands more state control, more violence simply to keep things together.
This is exactly what the state does. The state uses violence to keep the situation (the nation), that it creates and oversees, together. It does this by representing the people of the nation to themselves. In this way, the stateis the people, but only insofar as it is the people separated from themselves.
To divide the conflict within the state into left and right parties is therefore to institutionalize the need for the state. The left/right division -unlike the authoritarian/libertarian division- does not pertain to the nature of the state per say, but rather to the specific expressions of its adherent's individuality. By siding with a side in the left/right division, the individual ignores the nature of the state leaving the state with the task of expressing the nature of leftness or rightness (since it is within the state that the conflict between left and right is embodied). The state is thus left to its own devices: first encroaching on society in a "left" way (pushing through regulations on industry, instituting social welfare programs etc.) and then it encroaches on society in a "right" way (taking away personal liberties, pushing through legislation that benefits big business interests etc.). The more the sate encroaches, the more the divisions within the state become meaningless up to the point where we have a system like we have today: a system where both parties stand for the same principles and the same policies.
It is time that we as Americans do away with this left/right divide (or at the very least, relegate it to the realm of social interaction and personal feeling) and adress the real problem: the state itself...
Dreams
of Liberty (The State)
Feel
the force of the broken ones
Blindly
lashing at the branches
Afraid
to strike the root and see
The
end to their negative solidarity
Streets
seethe under daylight’s pressure:
The
negative solidarity movement marches forth.
But
I remember as I stand here watching on,
That
they say the night is always darkest before the dawn.
In
fear the masses converge
Under
banners devoid of vision,
Understanding,
And
love.
No light of freedom glints in eyes
That look for solutions from above:
“The state will cure the sickness
of self-centeredness,
Greed,
And lust.
It will bring the order to our lives
Our cities,
Our nation,
Our trust.”
But the state can protect us only
From the violence we cause each other
Its touch never brings the love we crave
From every man as our brother.
It cements its rule with force’s power
That in love’s absence, projects a veneer
Of a nation’s people bound together
Though, in fact, they’re bound by fear
The state’s hand touches where we’ve succumbed
To the blind hatred that keeps us enchained
To our selfishness that preys on others
And acts on lies we’ve entertained.
The state lets us live with the folly
Of not looking our fellow man in the eyes
And knowing his pain, troubles and joy
While living with him every day of our lives.
I dream one day we’ll realize the truth
That our nation was not of fiat born
But birthed by freedom’s present light
From which the state has had us torn.
I dream one day we’ll see the truth
That love and freedom must lead the fight
Against state slavery and its chains
But ’till then we march:
Left, right,
Left, right,
Left, right.
Finally, I would like to point out that I am adding a new tag called "ideology in prose" which I will use to tag any post where i lay out a piece of my worldview in prose (as opposed to visual art, music or poetry).
I want to keep my work free and available for public use, therefore I have set up a button for donations on the right hand column of this blog. The donations will be used to support my spartan lifestyle. The remainder will be used in the propaganda effort (self-publishing, propaganda dissemination etc.) or be saved as precious metals until such a time as they can support the former cause.
If this is your first time reading this blog, I would suggest you begin by reading some of my poetry on nature, spirituality and identity.
This is a quick poem inspired by my interactions with the Occupy Wall St movement (an interesting conversation I had yesterday inspired me to finish it). For the most part they seem like good, well-intentioned, mostly liberal people who, when confronted by the current situation are afraid of what it might say about the politics that they've been pursuing for so long. Rather than admit the obvious (the corruption of government as an institution, the need for a decentralized society built on organic community, the fatal contradiction of the leftist worldview that believes one can have personal liberty while the government delivers you your prosperity on a platter), they stand paralyzed in the face of reality saying things like "no one knows what will happen next", "no one knows what to do about this problem" etc.
I hope all my OWS brothers and sisters who read this realize (and here, I speak from my deepest of personal experiences) that the first part of accepting reality and your place in it is admitting you are wrong. I have been through this process. It was hard living in an ideological limbo where I paid attention to so many things I was unable to form an opinion on, but admitting that my previous conceptions (I was, you could say, a generic statist) that set my course of action were wrong started me on the woodland path that I am still walking today. Your former self will fall to ashes but you will rise a phoenix from the fires of change.
The world must become your church, life must become your ministry and humanity must become your congregation.
Before I begin, let me say that I am entirely indifferent to matters of religion. At worst, religion binds the
individual to a community defined by dogma, structure, zealotry and the
illusory identification with "the community of the faithful". At best, religion is merely a means to an end -and it is this end (identification with God, existence, the One etc.) as means that I am concerned with. Because of this, I do not discriminate among the different faiths -including atheism-, but instead, I examine the personal spirituality of the individual. Religion provides a language and a structure in which to express this spirituality but ultimately, spirituality is an individual's personal expression of how they relate to the divine/Self. One can participate with all one's efforts and energy in religion but have no spirituality -that is, no relation to the divine. Likewise, one can have no religion but be the most spiritual person in the world. To the society of his day, Jesus Christ appeared as the latter person. The son-of-man broke with the religious traditions of his day to such an extent that he appeared a dangerous heretic to all that heard him but did not understand. Jesus did not identify as an individual (he was/is Christ: he identified with/as God) but this did not mean that he wasn't afraid to stand out (in his society) as an individual: he spoke truth in an age and a society of lies. For this reason he was crucified.
Now more than ever, the righteous must not be afraid to stand out as individuals. Now more than ever, we find ourselves in a society of lies: the lie of the selfish consumer, the lie of false prosperity provided by the Federal Reserve, the lie of the false sense of power brought about by endless global war, the lie of the greatness of the wealthy and of celebrities, the lie of a society of atomized individuals. Like Jesus Christ before us -who refused to identify as born of the corrupt Roman/Jewish world around him, but rather identified himself as the one born of God (of truth, Identity, One etc.)- the time has now come for the faithful to forge a new society, and with it, a new identity by which the corrupt society of our time might know us. If I had to circumscribe myself as an individual (something I am loathed to do) I would do so by identifying as a libertarian (neither right nor left, capitalist nor socialist). Ultimately this identification as libertarian is more of a belief in the abandonment of one's own individuality -and thus the liberation of Self (God, Identity, One etc.)- than it is an identification of oneself as a lone individual.
The first step in moving towards this new society consists not of making war on our "enemies" nor silencing those who disagree with us (for these are the tactics of the followers of lies) but rather, personal spiritual purification. This consists not only of changing our lifestyle (involving ourselves more in the community and world around us, providing ourselves and our neighbors with more of the things we need to live, having a personal connection with the earth as well as with the sustenance the earth provides etc.) but also in changing that with which we identify:
When we fixate on "our" past and future, we bring "ourselves" away from the creator as we are drawn to the worldliness of creation. God is the creator (God is Identity/One). Though creation arises and passes away, the creator stands eternal -indifferent to the flux and flow of creation such that only God is capable of all creation and all creation exists only through its active revelation by the creator. All that is revealed is (in) God. Revelation/creation is ongoing. Sin is identifying as created. Jesus' ministry was founded in order to guide humanity away from identifying as created/worldly and towards identifying with/as the creator. Identity is God. Identification with Identity takes place as (in) God.
God Touches A Stone (Christ Revealed)
Suddenly,
A loving smile radiated from his lips
Whose truth they understood more than his
words:
“take,
eat;
this is my body”
Peter took the bread.
Peter put it to his lips.
Peter did not understand.
Puzzled stares
Dart towards each other
Finding no answers in their search.
The moment’s silence
Draws
Out.
(Though they felt his light,
they understood not his words.
But he could feel it in their eyes…)
His hands lifted the clay cup from the wood
table.
“drink from it,
all of you”
Peter stepped forward.
Peter drank from the cup,
Peter felt the warmth radiate from his center,
And yet he did not understand
Still fettered in the shackles of his worldly
birth
He watched
Puzzled
As the others put it to their lips.
The wine
Presented no sign to those expecting:
The simple drink from the rough cup
Sat humbly in the shepherd’s hand;
Worldly to those who did not yet know Him.
“This is my blood”
But no blood flowed from his veins.
No cut violated his body
And no bitter taste of salt and iron lingered
in their mouths.
But suddenly Peter understood
As his thoughts brushed against God’s
perfection.
Breaking free from the world’s tethers,
To accept his present, divine birth:
Given by Himself.
Given by Christ’s revelation:
He revealed himself in the cup,
In the wine,
In the faces of his followers,
In the dirt floor and thatched ceiling,
In the eyes:
For the first time
He shared the eyes of his beloved teacher
Who cast his gaze into the depths of his own.
Behind the eyes of the son of man
He saw the infinite identity of his father’s
smile
That bore itself on the son’s complexion
Who lived there in his father’s words
As they were given to him by his faith
That kept him in the moment of his father’s
unfolding creation.
