1. To a person rooted
in the old brain, with its dominating proton content, anyone who testifies to a
contrary, or new-brain, bias will seem mad; for his view of life will be
radically antithetical to the alpha-stemming untransvaluated
integrity which accrues to the former.
Indeed, so much will the new-brain person differ from his old-brain
rival ... that what is truth to the one will seem like nonsense to the other,
and vice versa. For the electron
preponderance of the new brain or, for that matter, of the superconscious
mind, will encourage a positive, omega-oriented integrity which has the effect
of countering or negating everything the alpha-stemming old-brain person stands
for, whether in politics, religion, science, art, society, sex, or
whatever. What is good for the old-brain
person will be bad to the new-brain one, and, conversely, what is bad for the
old-brain person will be good to the new-brain one. There will be a kind of Father/Holy Spirit
division between them which renders mutual understanding all but
impossible. Either the new-brain person
vanquishes his old-brain opponent or the latter will vanquish him. For neither of them can co-exist on equal,
mutually respectful terms - at least not in an age or society which is tending
towards the omega 'Kingdom of Heaven' on earth.
Only in the world (of relative values) can alpha and omega co-exist,
albeit on relative rather than absolute terms, like the House of Lords with the
House of Commons in Britain, where the Tory peers of the one would correspond
to 'alpha' and the Labour MPs of the other to 'omega', with Labour peers
corresponding to omega-in-the-alpha (like electrons in the old brain), and Tory
MPs to alpha-in-the-omega (like protons in the new brain).
2. Because knowledge has to do with memory and
retention, we can argue that it is more a factor of the proton side of the atom
than of its electron side, since protons retain electrons and thus have an
inherently retentive tendency which doubtless applies just as much to the
mental universe as to the physical one.
Thus knowledge and memory can be regarded as inherently alpha stemming,
in contrast, I would argue, to imagination and faith, both of which are more
inherently omega orientated on account of their association with the electron
side of the atom, the side which, whether found in the old brain or in the new
one, reflects such a centripetal orientation.
One could therefore say that whereas knowledge and memory are objective
qualities, imagination and faith are subjective
qualities, the former conservative and the latter progressive - alpha and omega
qualities which co-exist, in atomic life, as polar opposites. Memory is recollection of knowledge, of
whichever sort, whereas faith is trust in imagination, particularly the
idealistic imagination we associate with the Divine. For just as there can be no memory where
there is no knowledge, so it would be impossible to have faith without
imagination, since imagination pioneers the way forward, and if we are to
follow it we require faith.
3. But there are two kinds of imagination, just
as there are two kinds of knowledge (not to mention faith and memory), and we
may define them broadly in terms of natural imagination (or faith) and
artificial imagination (or superfaith), and whereas
the one pertains to the subordinate electron content of the old brain, the
other pertains to the preponderant electron content of the new brain, thereby
enabling us to speak, once again, of an omega-in-the-alpha/omega division, as
between, say, Christianity and Transcendentalism, or Christ and the Second
Coming. Natural imagination is weaker
than artificial imagination, and if it requires faith then we can certainly
maintain that its omega counterpart requires superfaith,
as, for example, in regard to the concept of post-human life forms, as
developed by me in successive works via a series of imaginative projections. By contrast, however, natural knowledge is
stronger than artificial knowledge, or knowledge accruing to the subordinate
proton content of the new brain, because it pertains to the dominating proton
content of the old brain, like an autocratic monarch vis-à-vis a democratic
president, and can thus be identified with alpha as opposed to
alpha-in-the-omega. Natural memory is
also stronger than artificial memory, at least in people accustomed to an
old-brain, alpha-stemming bias, for whom natural knowledge prevails over
natural imagination, or knowledge of natural things over natural
imaginings. But if imagination and faith
are unlikely to get the better of knowledge and memory in the old brain, this
is not so of the new brain where, even in a knowledgeable age, imagination will
be straining at the leash, so to speak, and preparing itself to gain the
ascendancy over knowledge in the interests of universal salvation, achieved
through an unequivocally omega-oriented superfaith. Only when idealism gets the better of
materialism will the 'Kingdom of Heaven' come to pass ... as messianic leaders
supersede democratic presidents, and 'Civilization', in the Spenglerian
sense of that term, is eclipsed by 'Second Religiousness'. For artificial knowledge is not enough; there
must be artificial imagination, before a true transvaluation
comes to pass.
4. Thus to recapitulate briefly: knowledge and
imagination are alpha and omega antagonists, with monarchs and presidents on
the one side, that of a proton bias, and popes and messianic leaders on the
other, that of an electron bias, and whereas monarchs, corresponding to
naturalism, are alpha, and presidents, corresponding to materialism,
alpha-in-the-omega, popes, corresponding to realism, are omega-in-the-alpha,
and messianic leaders, corresponding to idealism, omega. Just as the monarchical 'Historyless
Chaos' was effectively eclipsed by papal 'Culture', so in due course will the
presidential 'Civilization' be eclipsed by messianic 'Second Religiousness', as
artificial imagination triumphs over artificial knowledge in the name of
spiritual salvation. I have customarily
used the terms 'natural' and 'artificial', but such terms as 'irrational' and
'rational' would suffice just as well in order to describe the difference between,
say, knowledge in the old brain and knowledge in the new one, not to mention
old-brain imagination and its new-brain counterpart. For whereas the one is
conditioned by centrifugal criteria, whether as alpha or omega-in-the-alpha,
the other is conditioned by centripetal criteria, whether as alpha-in-the-omega
or omega. Presidents are
relatively rational, or constitutional, compared to autocratic monarchs,
whereas popes are relatively irrational, or unconstitutional (infallible),
compared to messianic leaders, of which we have not yet seen too many - Lenin
and Mao notwithstanding.
5. Of course, the basic alpha/omega dichotomy
we are adumbrating is not only between political and religious figures, though
they are perhaps the most prominent, but is also between, say, scientists and
artists. Now I fancy that whereas
knowledge and imagination are the terms which best characterize the
scientist/artist distinction, memory and faith are more characteristic of the
political/religious distinction, since politics, or the art of statesmanship,
requires memory no less than religion requires faith, and it would be difficult
to imagine the one without the other, particularly (with politics) in deeply
traditional or conservative societies where, arguably, memory, institutionalized
as tradition, plays a greater role than knowledge.
6. However that may be, it would seem that
whereas science and art deal, through knowledge and imagination respectively,
with concrete particulars, politics and religion deal, by contrast, with
abstract generalities, of which the State and the Church are the two principal
manifestations. Should art become
abstract and general, it will be because it has subordinated itself to
religious faith and thus functions as religious art. Should science become abstract and general,
it will be because it has subordinated itself to political memory and thus
functions as political science. Both of
these paradoxical tendencies were symptomatic of twentieth-century art and
science respectively, and signify a sort of quasi-idealistic redemption of the
concrete and particular in the abstract and general.
7. Artificial knowledge may also be regarded in
terms of information technology, and doubtless the rise of such technology in
the twentieth century was symptomatic of a shift in emphasis from natural to
artificial knowledge, as we grow ever-more accustomed, through a new-brain
bias, to receiving information artificially ... whether via radio, television,
computer, telephone, video, or whatever.
But if the modern age is one when knowledge largely takes the form of
information, it is not on that account a religious age but, on the contrary, a
profoundly materialistic age commensurate with Spengler's
'Civilization', in which not omega but alpha predominates, whether as knowledge
and science or memory and politics. The
dawn of a religious age, by contrast, will require that artificial imagination
and faith supersede the artificial knowledge and memory so characteristic of
the contemporary West, and for this to happen the world will doubtless have to
pass through a major transformation the likes of which it has never before
witnessed, since omega must struggle for its right to exist and cannot expect
alpha to hand that right to it on a plate, so to speak, as though alpha led to
omega as a matter of historical course!
The sort of artificial imagination I would equate with the highest art
will only be possible through recourse to LSD and other such hallucinogenic
drugs, and this 'art' will be in the service of a religious faith which
embraces, in its omega-oriented intensity, the ultimate abstraction ... of
positive pure spirit conceived as the goal of all religious striving.
8. Sense in which messianic leaders correspond
to positrons, or positive electrons, vis-à-vis the proletariat, who tend to
reflect a more passive electron bias.
Such leaders are truly moral, and they contrast with both the immoral
bias of 'proton' rulers and the amoral integrity of 'neutron' representatives,
or the majority of democratic politicians, of whom prime ministers are the
chief exemplars. Rulers can be monarchs
or presidents, though a titular as opposed to an executive president will
approximate more to the amoral than to the immoral. For an executive president
conforms to the category of immoral ruler, albeit in terms of new-brain
rationality rather than, like an autocratic monarchy, of old-brain
irrationality, and thus on a relative (alpha-in-the-omega) as opposed to an
absolute (alpha) basis.
9. To my way of thinking, guitars and pianos
are alike bodily instruments, the only difference being that whereas guitars
are omega, either absolutely in the case of advanced electric guitars or
relatively in the case of acoustic guitars, pianos are alpha, whether
relatively in the case of uprights or absolutely in the case of grands. Thus we can
distinguish acoustic guitars from electric guitars in terms of
omega-in-the-alpha and omega, reserving for pianos a distinction between
alpha-in-the-omega in the case of uprights and alpha in the case of grands. For the
alpha, remember, is centrifugal, whereas the omega is centripetal. The one is broadly horizontal and the other
vertical. Consequently grand pianos and
acoustic guitars may be regarded as forming an alpha/omega-in-the-alpha
antithesis, as between naturalism and realism, whilst upright pianos and
electric guitars may likewise be regarded as forming an
alpha-in-the-omega/omega antithesis, as between materialism and idealism. The acoustic guitar is no-less compromised by
the convolutional nature of the alpha, with its
horizontally-biased centrifugal tendencies, than the upright piano by the involutional nature of the omega, with its
vertically-biased centripetal tendencies.
Acoustic guitars are relatively moral in relation to electric guitars,
which are absolutely moral. Upright
pianos are relatively immoral in relation to grand pianos (including baby grands), which are absolutely immoral. There is all the difference in the world,
which is to say, as much difference as in the case of a full-sized umbrella and
a waist-length hooded zipper, between grand pianos at one end of the
instrumental scale and electric guitars at its other end. In fact, being absolute, such instruments
tend to be mutually exclusive, in contrast to acoustic guitars and upright
pianos, which approximate to a worldly and, in particular, bourgeois
middle-ground compromise. For there is
contiguity between alpha-in-the-omega and omega-in-the-alpha, but no contiguity
between alpha and omega!
10. Doubtless we should also speak of amoral
instrumental equivalents in between the immoral and moral ones, and especially with
regard to the artificial alpha/omega spectrum which stretches from upright
pianos to electric guitars, since we are more familiar, these days, with the
artificial than with the natural, and can readily identify middle-ground
positions between uprights on the one hand and electric guitars on the other -
positions, I mean, in relation to, say, electric pianos and semi-electric guitars,
both of which types of instrument have 'androgynous' characteristics, if I may
use such an ambiguous term, which distinguish them from the immoral and moral
extremes. For if electric pianos are
less centrifugal than acoustic guitars, then semi-electric guitars are less
centripetal than electric guitars, the most advanced of which have nothing
centrifugal, or ring-like, about them at all.
11. Because the Y-like emblem [An inverted CND
sign, to which (in certain later texts) I subsequently suggested the addition
of feminine and masculine symbols.] of Social Transcendentalism will be
enclosed by a curvilinear band, significant of a theocratically
centripetal morality, it is fitting that the emblem be displayed on a
curvilinear plaque rather than on a rectilinear flag, since flags are
fundamentally worldly phenomena which, as a rule, have a nationalist
significance, whereas the emblem in question would be designed to convey a
supra-national significance appropriate to its theocratic essence. To have this emblem on a flag would amount to
a contradiction in terms, since it is a refutation of nationalism and indicates
an omega 'head' integrity above and beyond all
rectilinear 'bodily' norms. Thus if the
ultimate emblem were to be displayed on curvilinear plastic plaques mounted on
aluminium poles, it would be beyond flags and allegiances thereof - indeed, as
far beyond flags as Heaven is above and beyond the world, since the omega
'Kingdom of Heaven' could not be symbolized in rectilinear form. Therefore the ideology of 'Kingdom Come'
would not be interested in adding yet another flag to the vast number of flags
which already exist in the world, but would require that, wherever it obtained,
flags be superseded by these curvilinear plaques in indication that the head
had triumphed over the body and the heavenly 'Kingdom' in question accordingly
come to pass.
12. One must be careful
to distinguish an alpha curvilinear approach to literary composition from an
omega curvilinear approach to it, since whereas the former tends to be centrifugal
and apparent, the latter will be centripetal and essential. By which I mean that whereas alpha 'head'
writings tend to reflect a technical cycling from book to book or part to part
and chapter to chapter within each book, as in the case of the most academic
philosophy, Sartre's Critique of Dialectical Reason not excepted, omega 'head'
writings will reflect a thematic cycling from subject to subject within the
confines of a single book, thereby cycling centripetally rather than
centrifugally, as with alpha 'head' writings.
It is effectively the difference between a ring and a badge, between
protons and electrons, convolution and involution, and the one mode of cycling
necessarily excludes the other, since they are as far apart as alpha and omega. By contrast, worldly, or 'bodily', writings
tend to proceed, as with the novel, in a rectilinear fashion ... from A to Z,
or in successive chapters from a beginning to an end, with neither apparent
(centrifugal) nor essential (centripetal) cycling very much in evidence. Where, however, there are
divisions of a novel into separate books or parts, each of which begins afresh
at a first chapter, as in The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien
or both Man of Nazareth and A Clockwork Orange by
Anthony Burgess, we are dealing, I believe, with decadent 'bodily' writings -
writings which are neo-alpha without being genuinely 'of the head', like most
traditional philosophy. (In this respect
they correspond to a sort of Mosleyite order of
Fascism). On the other hand, a thematic
cycling within the novel context would amount to a 'bodily' intimation of
omega-oriented philosophy - the ultimate 'head' writings which, eschewing
apparent divisions, concentrate the reader's attention on essential cycles in
the interests of a post-worldly theocratic integrity. For unless a work cycles thematically it will
not be curvilinear and centripetal but either rectilinear and neutral or -
assuming a division into several books, parts, chapters, etc., - curvilinear
and centrifugal, like a fascist or neo-pagan reaction to transcendental
communist liberation.
13. Fascist autocracy,
liberal democracy, communist theocracy. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
of ideological distinctions, with pre-atomic (proton), atomic (proton &
electron and/or neutron), and post-atomic (electron) implications, as
pertaining to alpha, the world, and omega. Liberal democracy sits on a neutron fence in
between the proton reaction of fascist autocracy and the electron attraction of
communist theocracy - a worldly middle-ground in between alpha and omega
extremes.
14. Cycle books, parts, chapters, etc. (in an
apparent, or centrifugal, manner) and there will be a fascist implication of
neo-alpha criteria. Cycle subject-matter
(in an essential, or centripetal, manner) and there will be a communist
implication of omega-oriented criteria.
Do neither and you have the world ... with its rectilinear, or 'bodily',
indifference to curvilinear, or 'head', alternatives.
15. In relation to the internal trip ... of LSD,
the external trip ... of space exploration is like a return to the alpha, a
return to the Creator rather than an advancement towards the Holy Spirit, and
can therefore be regarded in a negative, or immoral, light - a light, so I
believe, rather more fascist than communist, insofar as stars (including
planets) are the alpha roots of the Universe as opposed to its hypothetical
future culmination in positive pure spirit.
To trip in the internal sense is to approach the omega; the opposite of
what it means to trip externally ... through the medium of space
exploration. This is not to say that
Communists have no business in space, but that the stars can never be the goal
of evolving humanity. Its goal, on the
contrary, is salvation from the flesh.
And one of the ways of achieving such a salvation is through internal
trips.
16. The whole point about a skyline in
architecture is that it symbolizes an alpha-stemming centrifugal
state-of-affairs, which, whilst acceptable for a given period of time within an
open-society context, can only be judged unacceptable, and hence as something
to avoid, from a closed-society standpoint ... where not the horizontal but the
vertical is what architects would wish to emphasize, in conformity with the
centripetal bias of such a standpoint - one suitable to an omega-oriented age,
in which skylines were taboo. Obviously,
to avoid a skyline one must design buildings in such a way that they tower up
at different heights from those in the immediate vicinity, like different-sized
penises, and thereby refrain from creating a horizontal and, hence, centrifugal
impression. An alpha-stemming person,
whether male or female, will doubtless find such architectural arrangements
unattractive, if not downright repugnant.
But for anyone with an omega-oriented disposition there could be no
other arrangements if the vertical is to receive due emphasis and be respected
as an integral principle in itself, independently of others and with a view to
the advancement of a centripetally-biased state-of-(architectural)-affairs.
17. The being of
philosophy is subjective being, not existence or objective being, but the being
of spiritual enlightenment. Objective
being, by contrast, corresponds to the given and is a field of reality more
congenial to science. In fact, objective
being proclaims its physicality and has nothing metaphysical about it. It stands to subjective being as realism to
idealism, and could only be made the subject of philosophical inquiry by a
bogus or degenerate philosopher like Sartre, who was really a playwright and
thus a man more disposed to the given than to being. It may be that Existentialism was more a
French revolt against German metaphysics, including Jaspers, than a symptom of
Western decadence or a brazen attempt to accommodate philosophy to a
materialistic age. Probably it was a
combination of all three. Yet if
philosophy is not to languish beneath the shadow of French Existentialism, it
must proclaim itself afresh as the one true intellectual light which shines in
the name of subjective being and the future salvation of humanity from the
World, including the world of physical existence, or objective being. For philosophy should not dilute itself with
either dramatic or scientific concerns, but must proceed on its self-appointed course
towards total enlightenment.
18. As stupid for
literature to become poetic as for philosophy to become dramatic, that is to
say, for subjective doing (the becoming) to seek an accommodation with
objective doing ('doing' as I have hitherto defined it, as, for example, in Elemental
Spectra). Either the literature in
question is decadent or it's really no literature at all but poetry in disguise
- a sort of poetic prose which seeks to mystify rather than to entertain or,
more correctly, to entertain through
mystification. Subjective doing should
go its own way as alpha-in-the-omega and leave poetry to those for whom the
objective doing of alpha is the creative norm, that is to say, to
poets-proper. Literature does not
enhance itself through poetry but only through philosophy, where,
paradoxically, it seeks to entertain through enlightenment, as with Aldous Huxley.
19. The objective doing (action) of my walking
across the room. The
objective being (existence) of my sitting still in a chair. The subjective doing of my thought
processes. The
subjective being of my consciousness.
Alpha/omega-in-the-alpha/alpha-in-the-omega/omega. I act, I exist, I think, I am.
20. A Protestant can have no true sense of the
Second Coming because, in adhering to a neutron mode of Christianity, he will
only relate to a middle-ground 'bodily' Christ who, unlike the Catholic Christ,
does not oscillate between proton and electron extremes, or alpha and omega,
but remains stable in a specifically worldly fashion. Such a man can only oppose or belittle the
concept of a Second Coming, which corresponds to an electron bias, because true
morality is beyond the sphere of his amoral neutron allegiance, being
intelligible only within an oscillatory framework (though solely with regard to
the electron omega as opposed to the proton alpha). Having a moral dimension the Catholic will
relate to the prospect of an electron absolute, a Second Coming who, in his
unequivocally transcendental integrity, will correspond to the post-Resurrectional Christ rather than to a Christ who is both
alpha and omega by turns within the necessarily relative, and ambiguous,
context of (dualistic) Christianity.
21. Like Protestantism,
liberal democracy sits on a neutron fence in between the proton reactions of
fascist autocracy and the electron attractions of communist theocracy - a
worldly middle-ground in between alpha and omega extremes.
22. If one is to distinguish between objective being,
subjective being, and being-in-itself, as Jaspers does, then one should also
distinguish between objective doing, subjective doing, and, for want of a
better term, doing-outside-itself, since otherwise one may give the impression
that being-in-itself comes between objective being and subjective being as a
sort of neutron middle-ground corresponding to basic consciousness, when, in
point of fact, objective being and subjective being do not form an antithesis
on the basis of an alpha/omega distinction but are parallel omega postulates -
the one as omega-in-the-alpha and the other as omega per se. Thus if being-in-itself comes in-between
anything at all, it will be in between subjective doing on the one hand and subjective
being on the other, as a positive amoral postulate in between immoral and moral
extremes. Likewise doing-outside-itself
can be regarded as a negative amoral postulate in between objective doing and
objective being, which is to say immoral alpha and a (relatively) moral
omega-in-the-alpha, however we choose to identify this doing-outside-itself:
presumably as intestinal action or possibly even the processes of
digestion. Thus an
omega-oriented mode of amorality in the case of being-in-itself, an
alpha-stemming mode of amorality in the case of doing-outside-itself. The subjective conditioning a centripetal
and, hence, being-oriented tendency; the objective, by contrast, conditioning a
centrifugal and, hence, doing-oriented one - as germane to moral and immoral
attributes.
23. Certainly I have no hesitation in equating
doing with protons and being with electrons, though the distinction between
objective and subjective, which is centrifugal and centripetal respectively,
would seem to entail an additional consideration ... of particle and wavicle options which, taken in conjunction with doing and
being, will allow for a further distinction between, say, the proton-particle
bias of objective doing and the proton-wavicle bias
of subjective doing on the one hand, and the electron-particle bias of
objective being and the electron-wavicle bias of
subjective being on the other, with doing-outside-itself and being-in-itself
corresponding to particle-neutron and to wavicle-neutron
middle grounds vis-à-vis the objective and subjective polarities respectively. If consciousness corresponds, in its positive
neutrality, to being-in-itself, then thought must correspond to subjective
doing and feelings, by contrast, to subjective being. If instinctive action corresponds, in its
negative neutrality, to doing-outside-itself, then calculated action must
correspond to objective doing and existence, by contrast, to objective being.
24. Yet one must of course distinguish between
the alpha and omega, or negative and positive, poles of each mode of doing and
being, whether objective or subjective.
There is a positive objective doing no less than a negative objective
doing, a positive subjective doing no less than a negative subjective doing,
and so on ... with regard to each category of doing and being. Feelings can be negative or positive,
thoughts likewise, and we can no more subsume all feelings under an electron-wavicle bias than ... all thoughts under a proton-wavicle one, even if the majority of thoughts and feelings
can be so subsumed or, at any rate, those which are most characteristic of a
true subjective doing or being, as the case may be.
25. Rather than saying,
with Descartes: 'I think, therefore I am', we should say: 'I am, therefore I
think', since without subjective being, there could be no subjective
doing. Likewise we should not say, à la Descartes: 'I act, therefore I exist', but, rather: 'I
exist, therefore I act', since existence is a precondition of action in human
affairs.
26. The art of objective doing is dance; the art
of doing-outside-itself is acting; the art of objective being is sculpture; the
art of subjective doing is literature (including poetry); the art of
being-in-itself is painting; the art of subjective being is music. Dance corresponds to alpha, whereas music,
with its emotional emphasis, corresponds to omega. Sculpture, with its emphasis on phenomenal
existence, corresponds to omega-in-the-alpha, whereas literature, the emphasis
of which is intellectual, corresponds to alpha-in-the-omega. Both acting and painting
are amoral, or neutron, arts - the former objectively so in between dance and
sculpture, the latter subjectively so in between literature and music. Not that all literature or dance is immoral
and all sculpture or music moral, since each art is itself divisible into alpha
and omega extremes, as well as into a neutron middle-ground, but that, when
most true to itself, any given art will more reflect its essential nature - for
instance, subjective being in the case of music - than the nature of any of the
other arts, aiming at the highest and most positive manifestation of its
peculiar essence. Thus the best music
will aim to convey the most positive feelings, such as love, joy, etc., while
the worst music will convey - assuming it hasn't abandoned subjective being altogether
and effectively become some other art in disguise - the most negative feelings,
such as hate, sadness, etc. The best
will be absolutely moral and the worst relatively immoral (music being a moral,
or omega, art-form essentially), though intermediate degrees of musical quality
will also exist ... as an amoral middle-ground in between the negative and
positive extremes of subjective being.
Yet subjective being has the capacity to become absolutely moral, whereas
subjective doing, for example, can only become at best relatively moral on
account of its fundamentally immoral nature as alpha-in-the-omega.
27. Further to the above-mentioned amoral
distinctions between doing-outside-itself and being-in-itself, I should like to
add two subordinate modes of amoral neutrality in the forms of doing-in-itself
and being-outside-itself, conceiving of the one as an omega-oriented mode of
objective doing (contiguous with objective being) and the other as an
alpha-stemming mode of subjective being (contiguous with subjective
doing). Thus doing-in-itself will be a
relatively positive mode of objective amorality, and being-outside-itself a
relatively negative mode of subjective amorality - the former subordinate to
doing-outside-itself and the latter subordinate to being-in-itself. Possibly, digesting would be a manifestation
of doing-in-itself, dreaming a manifestation of being-outside-itself; though if
we are to take art forms which appear to correspond to each of these subordinate
modes of neutron amorality, then it seems to me that singing is the art of
doing-in-itself, modelling the art of being-outside-itself.
28. Thus, further to our earlier contentions, we
can maintain: The art of objective doing is dance; the art of
doing-outside-itself is acting; the art of doing-in-itself is singing; the art
of objective being is sculpture; the art of subjective doing is literature; the
art of being-outside-itself is modelling; the art of being-in-itself is
painting; the art of subjective being is music.
And it seems to me that an appropriate closeness, or qualitative
contiguity, can be inferred to exist between, for example, acting and singing
on the one hand and modelling and painting on the other, not just in terms of
their sharing a common neutral status in between objective and subjective modes
of doing and being but, more concretely, in terms of their interdependence and
even interchangeability as two sides of the same
(amoral) coin, one of which is phenomenal and the other noumenal,
as relative to particle (objective) and wavicle
(subjective) distinctions. Certainly
actors can be singers and singers be actors, and more
than a few painters have also been models, both for themselves and for
others. However, in general, actors and
singers remain separate categories, as of course do models and painters.
29. The computer is a
medium of artificial thought, the television a medium of artificial
consciousness, the radio a medium of artificial emotion (particularly when used
in conjunction with music). Thus from
computers to radios via televisions - a triadic distinction between subjective
doing, being-in-itself, and subjective being.
To which one could add video as a medium of artificial dreaming and/or
fantasizing (home-made videos) corresponding to being-outside-itself, which
therefore takes a position in between subjective doing and being-in-itself as a
form of negative subjective amorality.
30. The philosopher stands to the scientist as
the writer (novelist, essayist) to the poet; that is to say as a freer, more
imaginative person who, when true to his vocation, has an omega-oriented as
opposed to an alpha-stemming disposition.
Of course, philosophers can be alpha or omega, obscure or enlightening,
though the best and most genuine of them will be enlightening, whereas the
worst and least genuine tend to obscure, like poets who mystify. In fact, genuine poets tend rather to mystify
than to enlighten, and thus it could be contended that the obscure or
mystifying philosopher is really a poet-in-disguise, just as, conversely, the
clear and enlightening poet is really a philosopher-in-disguise: a man who
should have worked in philosophy instead of in poetry.
31. As for the
paradoxical notion that poetry should only be a vehicle for conveying feelings,
emotions, passions, etc., it has to be admitted that even the most emotive
poetry or literature will be inferior to music in this regard, by dint of its
dependence on thought and projection, through words, as subjective doing. In fact, words are as good or, depending on
your viewpoint, useless at conveying emotions as (musical) notes at conveying
thoughts, and for this reason will seldom succeed in an emotive endeavour
except when spoken or, more appropriately, sung in conjunction with music,
where, thanks to rhythmical accompaniment, a greater approximation to
subjective being can be achieved.
However, such an approximation can only fall short of pure subjective
being, for which music alone will suffice.
For notes are the voice of the emotions, whereas words
are the voice of the intellect, which compels to subjective doing.
32. Justice, or the concept of 'an eye for an eye
and a tooth for a tooth', pertains to the proton side of the atom, which is
inherently reactive. It is a mode of
alpha-stemming behaviour which will remain valid only as long as humanity is in
its heathen youth and has not yet grown to the Christian maturity of 'turning
the other cheek'. For to turn the other
cheek is to refrain from exacting revenge, and only that man who is
sufficiently mature and, hence, more disposed to the electron side of the atom,
which is inherently attractive, will be capable of such an achievement. In other words, unless a man is omega
orientated, and therefore 'born again', [Or 'transvaluated',
in Nietzschean parlance.] he will be unable to 'turn
the other cheek' but always be seeking justice, or revenge, in the manner of a
youthful heathen. Unfortunately, when
whole societies are largely composed of such men there is no escaping justice
or the need for revenge. Obviously,
where most people are bad, 'turning the other cheek' could prove a
time-consuming, not to say hazardous, venture, resulting in injury or even
death. Only in societies where most
people are good can one reasonably make a virtue of 'turning the other cheek',
since violence will then be the exception to the rule. Yet such societies cannot exist on an
open-society, alpha-stemming basis, where justice continues to be the norm, but
only on a closed-society, omega-oriented basis where, in contrast, heavenly
criteria become the (electron) norm, and man ceases to exploit man in either a
heathen or semi-heathen fashion. Only
then will the '
33. A society which prides itself on being just
is fundamentally a foolish one, which does not or cannot 'turn the other
cheek', because it is insufficiently evolved to be truly Christian. Yet being truly Christian is not enough. For, as often as not, the true Christian is a
victim of violence and may even occasionally feel the need for a degree of
justice. Better if, living in a
transcendental society, one doesn't have to 'turn the other cheek' because
there is no wrongdoing but only righteousness.
'Turning the other cheek' is really the electron side of an atomic
integrity. In a free-electron society,
on the other hand, where protons or proton equivalents had effectively ceased
to exist, no-one need 'turn the other cheek' because there would be little or
no wrongdoing. Neither would there be
any justice, only blessedness. Probably
such a perfect society could only truly emerge on a post-human basis, and by
then there would be no 'cheeks' to turn, or hit, anyway. Only brain collectivizations
artificially supported and sustained.
34. Of course, 'turning
the other cheek' is really a metaphor, not something to be taken
literally. I 'turn the other cheek'
when, instead of slamming my door because a neighbour or fellow-tenant has just
slammed his, I continue to sit still in my room and resign myself to the
noise. Likewise I 'turn the other cheek'
when, instead of using my stereo speakers when someone elsewhere in the house
or next-door is playing music rather too loudly through his stereo speakers, I
turn to my headphones and listen to music through them. For there is also a sense in which 'turning
the other cheek' enables one to keep to one's own (head) level rather than
descend to the (bodily) level of someone else - for example, a commonplace
person who always plays music through speakers (which are a bodily equivalent
vis-à-vis headphones). Moreover, I may
not wish to play music just because some neighbour is playing it rather too
loudly for my liking. It may not be my
usual time for listening to music and I may well prefer to carry-on with what I
am doing - say, reading a book or watching television - rather than adjust my
habits just to suit someone else or, more correctly, in order to block out
someone else's noise. No, if I cannot
put up with it, I can always resort to wax earplugs, which will enable me to
carry-on with what I am doing and thus effectively 'turn the other cheek'. For if I go out, I will be altering my habits
or preferences because of him, and if I resort to playing music as loudly as
him and on similar terms, i.e. through speakers rather than headphones, I will
(besides possibly altering my habits against my deepest wish) be behaving on
the same low (bodily) level, and thus be no better, morally speaking, than my
noisy neighbour.
35. Alternatively I can impose directly upon him,
if his music is too loud, by complaining about the noise. But while that may not be 'an eye for an eye
or a tooth for a tooth', like a stereo-speaker response from me, it will be an
imposition of my own sense of moral acceptability and/or outrage upon another,
and although it may produce desirable results for me, such as his apologizing
for the noise and agreeing to turn the music down, it will fall short of the
ideal solution, being a mode of action somewhere in between 'an eye for an eye
...' and 'turning the other cheek', which is not always guaranteed of positive
results, particularly when there is a significant age or temperamental or even
ethnic distinction between us, with a corresponding moral disparity. One might describe it as a form of amoral
justice-seeking as opposed to the immoral justice-seeking of 'an eye for an
eye', a neutron middle-ground in between the proton reaction of pagan justice
and the electron attraction of transcendental quietism,
and I fancy that it is more congenial to a Protestant or bourgeois temperament
than to a Catholic or proletarian one.
In fact, Catholics are more apt, in the paradoxical nature of their
temperaments, to oscillate between pagan justice and transcendental quietism, whereas Protestants will normally tend to favour
justice seeking through complaint. Yet
only he who is intermittently capable of 'turning the other cheek' will be in
favour of a transcendental society, since he alone has intimations of moral
sanctity and can thereby relate to the need for and desirability of such a
society. The amoral man will remain a
slave of his justice seeking, forever indisposed to the moral high-ground,
forever - worldly.
36. Finger rolls, fish fingers, microlight headphones all correspond to an electron-wavicle equivalent, in contrast to round rolls, fish cakes,
and conventional headphones, which correspond to an electron-particle
equivalent. On the one hand, a
transcendental communist parallel, on the other hand a democratic communist
parallel. Idealism and
naturalism of an omega-oriented order.
37. To distinguish scooters from motorbikes on
the basis of an alpha/omega dichotomy, with scooters alpha stemming because of
the ring-like impression created by the space between the seating section and
the steering column, but motorbikes omega orientated on account of the more
centralized impression created by the centrally-positioned engine within a
continuous frame - in short, a kind of centrifugal/centripetal distinction
with, on the one hand, fascist and, on the other, communist implications. In fact, one should also distinguish between
'fascist' scooters and 'nazi' scooters on the basis
of a wavicle/particle dichotomy, with Lambretta-type scooters suggesting a wavicle
equivalent but Vespa-type scooters a particle one ...
on account of the distinction between, in the one case, narrow and, in the
other case, bubble-shaped panelling - a distinction which corresponds to alpha
divine (Fatheristic) and alpha diabolic (Satanic)
alternatives, the one more applicable, as I have contended elsewhere, to
Fascism and the other to Nazism. Thus
whereas one could imagine Mussolini on a Lambretta,
one would have to reserve for Hitler the possibility of a particle-suggesting Vespa.
38. However that may be, a particle/wavicle dichotomy should also be borne in mind for
motorbikes at the omega-oriented, or communist, poles of their respective
(idealistic and naturalistic) spectra, with lightweight motorbikes, especially
when highly streamlined, suggestive of a wavicle
equivalent, but heavyweight motorbikes, particularly when comparatively unstreamlined, suggestive of a particle equivalent -
transcendental and democratic alternatives within a communist framework, which,
as with their alpha counterparts, implies a divine/diabolic dichotomy, as
between the Second Coming and the Antichrist.
However, whereas the alpha dichotomy is negative, the omega one is
positive - electrons rather than protons, centripetal as opposed to centrifugal
idealism and naturalism.
39. Taking our fourfold earth, water, fire, and
air distinctions (in that order), one should be able to find military
correlates for each of the elements, starting, so I shall contend, with the
infantry (earth), progressing to the marines (water), progressing up to the
artillery (fire), and culminating with the paras
(air). Thus there are military
divisions, as it were, which correspond to each of the elements, and it is my
belief that such divisions can be conceived in terms of an hierarchy stretching
from infantry at the bottom (earth) to paratroops at the top (air) via marines
(water) and artillery (fire) in-between, with realistic, materialistic,
naturalistic, and idealistic implications respectively, given the correlation
between realism and earth, materialism and water, naturalism and fire, and
idealism and air.
40. Consequently we should have no hesitation in
contending that countries will excel or specialize in one or other of our
military divisions according to whether there is an overall elemental
correspondence between the country in question and the type of division we have
in mind, i.e. that realistic countries will excel or specialize in the
infantry, materialistic countries in the marines, naturalistic countries in the
artillery, and idealistic countries in the paras. This can be confirmed, I believe, by the
prestige and dependability accruing to the infantry in Britain (long a
realistic State), the marines in the USA (the world's foremost materialistic
State), the artillery in Russia (until the collapse of the Soviet Union the
world's foremost naturalistic State), and the paras
in ... well, all predominantly idealistic States, including Israel, Ireland,
and (I would guess) Germany.
Accordingly, one should have no hesitation in equating the marines with
the main or most characteristic American military division par
excellence. Now if
41. Thus one could describe the infantry as
worldly, the marines as purgatorial, the artillery as diabolic, and the paras as divine, and whereas a worldly (earth) army would
be overwhelmingly composed of infantry battalions, a divine (air) army would be
no-less overwhelmingly composed of parachute battalions, whilst in between
would come the purgatorial and diabolic armies of a predominantly marine and
artillery composition respectively. Of
course, no country is or ever can be entirely one thing, i.e. totally
corresponding to a single elemental spectrum.
But a bias will normally be perceptible, and such a bias is both a key
to the country in question and - who knows? - an
indication of what to expect from it and how best to handle it in the event of
hostilities.
42. It has to be admitted that whereas woman is
subjective about appearances but objective about essences, man is objective
about appearances but subjective about essences.
43. Better to be unwell and free than well and unfree.
44. An elemental distinction between camp beds,
water beds, sun beds, and air beds, with earth-water-fire-air correlations
respectively. Doubtless ordinary
mattresses correlate with earth, given their mundane construction.
45. Even now there are people who are foolish and
unimaginative enough to persist in believing that, one day, Christ will
literally return to the world in order to set up His 'heavenly kingdom'
there. But where, one wonders, would He
go, in the event of such a return?
46. Just as we distinguish between barbarism and
civilization, so we should distinguish between a barbarous civilization and a
civilized barbarism, reserving for the former an equation with
omega-in-the-alpha and for the latter an equation with alpha-in-the-omega,
barbarism per se of course corresponding to alpha and civilization (in the non-Spenglerian sense of that term) to omega. Thus in between the historical extremes of
barbarism and civilization (the latter of which has still to come) one will
find the barbarous civilization, for example, of the Catholic Middle Ages, and
the civilized barbarism of the modern Industrial/ Technological Age,
particularly as applying to the capitalist West. For it has to be admitted that we live in a
barbarous age, when material values and the economic competition underlying
them are paramount, to the detriment of any true spirituality such that alone
accords with civilization in the most genuine sense of that term. The West is less a civilization than a
civilized barbarity, and only with its future eclipse will the light of true
civilization be able to shine in the spirits of a superhumanity
orientated towards the omega goal of evolution in pure transcendence. Certainly we are not yet - except in
comparatively rare instances - truly civilized.
Only when the centripetal triumphs over the centrifugal will true
civilization, and thus ultimate morality, finally come to pass.
47. On a parallel basis
to the above, one could argue that whereas a three-quarter length hooded zipper
corresponds to barbarous civilization, a collapsible umbrella corresponds,
especially when sheathed, to civilized barbarism. Full-sized umbrellas, by contrast, would
correspond to the barbarous, and waist-length hooded zippers to the
civilized. Many other parallels could be
cited, including that between acoustic guitars and upright pianos on the one
hand (barbarous civilization and civilized barbarism), or grand pianos and
electric guitars on the other hand (barbarism and civilization). For in the one case we are
dealing with an omega-in-the-alpha/alpha-in-the-omega dichotomy, whereas in the
other case we have a straight alpha/omega dichotomy, as regarding the
absolutely centrifugal (immoral) and the absolutely centripetal (moral).
48. Since my work is largely based on elemental
spectra or, at any rate, the four basic elements and their correlations on
Earth, I should like to return to the subject by positing a connection between
each of the Seasons and the elements in question, beginning with what I
perceive as a connection between Spring and earth, proceeding to the connection
between Summer and fire, proceeding still further to the connection between
Autumn and air, and concluding with the connection between Winter and
water. Thus in conjunction with my
previous theories outlining correlations between earth and realism, water and
materialism, fire and naturalism, and air and idealism, I should like to define
Spring as the realistic season (earth), Winter as the materialistic season
(water), Summer as the naturalistic season (fire), and Autumn as the idealistic
season (air), bearing in mind the correspondence between earth and plants, water
and snow and/or ice, fire and the sun, and air and wind, which correspond to
each of the Seasons.
49. However, the progression of the Seasons is
not on an hierarchical basis from realism to idealism, as from Spring to Autumn,
with Winter and Summer coming in-between, but follows a non-hierarchical ascent
from Spring to Summer, as from realism (earth) to naturalism (fire), and
thereafter a descent from Autumn to Winter, as from idealism (air) to
materialism (water), Winter being no less the antithesis of Summer (as water of
fire), than Autumn is the antithesis of Spring (as air of earth). One could contend, in reverting to a former
analogy, that whereas Winter is an American season and Summer a Russian one,
Autumn is an Irish season and Spring a British one, bearing in mind our
equation of America with materialism (water), Russia with naturalism (fire),
Ireland with idealism (air), and Britain with realism (earth), so that,
exceptions notwithstanding, each of the peoples cited would be happiest and
most 'in their element', so to speak, during the season which appeared to
correspond to their respective elemental biases. Perhaps it is more than mere coincidence to
the above contentions that whereas the climax to the English football season is
in late spring, i.e. with the F.A. Cup Final, the climax to the Irish, or
Gaelic, football season is in early autumn, i.e. with the Maguire Cup. Certainly the evidence would suggest as much!
50. If scooters are absolutely centrifugal (ring-like)
on account of their alpha-stemming 'head' status, then it seems to me that
open-topped two-seater sports cars are relatively centrifugal on account of
their 'bodily' status as cars, and that one can therefore plot a descent from
alpha divine and/or diabolic parallels (depending on the type of scooter) to
alpha worldly and/or purgatorial parallels (depending on the type of sports car
in question), after which point a link with conventional four-seaters will lead to enclosed two-seaters of an omega
worldly and/or purgatorial parallel (depending on the type of sports car in
question) which, by dint of their 'bodily' status, we can designate as
relatively centripetal (badge-like) in relation to the absolutely centripetal
'head' status of motorbikes, whether of an omega divine or diabolic parallel
(again depending on the type of motorbike).
Thus from scooters to open-topped two-seaters on the one hand, and from
enclosed two-seaters to motorbikes on the other, with four-seaters
coming in-between as a kind of Liberal middle-ground vis-à-vis Conservative and
Labour extremes in relation to two-seaters, and Fascist and Communist extremes
in relation to scooters and motorbikes respectively. Hence alpha and omega flanking the World
(including its purgatorial partner), as two-wheel vehicles flank four-wheel
ones. If scooters are absolutely
immoral, then open-topped sports cars are relatively immoral. If motorbikes are absolutely moral, then
enclosed two-seaters are relatively moral.
Four-seaters, situated in between, are simply
amoral, like Liberalism - that neutron equivalent vis-à-vis proton and electron
extremes.
