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CRITIQUE
OF
POST-DIALECTICAL
IDEALISM
Supernotational
Philosophy
Copyright
©
2011 John
O'Loughlin
_____________
CONTENTS
Aphs.
1-160
_____________
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 the 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 whatever 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 an
age 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 in 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 'Kingdom' in question accordingly come to pass.
12. One
must be careful to distinguish an alpha curvilinear approach to writing
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.
51. In
returning to Spengler's historical divisions in regard to 'Historyless
Chaos',
'Culture', 'Civilization', and 'Second Religiousness' (in that order),
I would
deem 'Historyless Chaos' the age of bad doing (naturalism), 'Culture'
the age
of bad being (realism), 'Civilization' (the present age) the age of
good doing
(materialism), and 'Second Religiousness' the age of good being
(idealism). Bad doing, which includes
physical strife, I categorize as a proton-particle equivalent; bad
being, which
includes prayer (a 'worldly' form of meditation), I categorize as a
proton-wavicle equivalent; good doing, which includes socialistic
progress, I
categorize as an electron-particle equivalent; and, finally, good
being, which
involves pure meditation, I categorize as an electron-wavicle
equivalent. Doubtless good doing is
preferable, from an
evolutionary standpoint, to bad being, if only because, like all
theological
falls from a higher precedent, it indirectly paves the way for a
superior mode
of being, without which there could be no true salvation.
52. If
Fascism is neo-alpha and Communism omega, then it need not surprise us
that whereas
Fascism will have a military bias, Communism will give due priority to
the
police, who, in relation to the army, correspond to an omega
affiliation. Fascism is militarist on
account of its
neo-pagan and fundamentally autocratic integrity. Communism,
on
the other hand, is what might
be termed 'policist' on account of its transcendental and essentially
theocratic integrity. Protons and
electrons across a neutron divide. Similarly,
although
'Final
Solutions' accrue to both fascist and communist integrities, it
will be found that, as a rule, the fascist form of Final Solution takes
on a
destructive character in line with its proton essence, whereas the
communist
form of Final Solution is more likely to be constructive, in accordance
with
the electron essence of Communism. Hence
where the one ideology seeks to liquidate people(s) perceived as
hostile or
irrelevant to its integrity, the other seeks to transport such
people(s) to
places, preferably abroad, where they can start a new life under
different conditions. Transportation
rather than liquidation is the
essence of a communist Final Solution.
53. Bourgeois
republics are less free-electron societies than societies of compromise
between
neutron (capitalist) and electron (worker) equivalents, with the former
dominating the latter. People's
republics, on the other hand, can and do achieve a free-electron
standing,
albeit of a particle rather than a wavicle bias (such as would accrue
to the
Centre). Constitutional monarchies, by
contrast, are fully atomic, with proton (aristocratic) as well as
neutron
(capitalist) and electron (worker) equivalents, and therefore are not
even
relatively free societies (from proton roots or constraints) but
societies in
which the great majority, both neutron and electron, are bound, as
subjects, to
the proton root ... of the reigning monarch.
Even bourgeois republics are relatively free in relation to such
constitutional monarchies, although somewhat short of the absolute
freedom of
People's republics, which are of course above neutron compromise in
free-electron absolutism. Yet such
absolute freedom, germane to a particle bias, is not an end-in-itself
but the
precondition of a new binding, the ultimate binding of a religiously
sovereign
People to their own divinity, as Holy Spirit, in the electron-wavicle
cohesion
of a Social Transcendentalist Centre.
54. Interesting
how a given subject or context, such as swimming, can be subdivided
into what
appear to be elemental equivalents, as when we equate backstroke with
earth on
account of its fundamentally water-denying nature (face up), front
crawl with
water on account of its water-affirming nature (face down),
breaststroke with
fire on account of its breast-centred, short-breathed, and altogether
more
elevated nature (head well above the water), and butterfly with air on
account
of its air-affirming gulps as arms and chest heave out of the water in
an
almost gravity-defying resolve which suggests not so much swimming as
flying. In my elemental view, using the
term philosophically, backstroke is the lowest and most basic stroke,
corresponding to earth, while butterfly is the highest and most
complicated
stroke, corresponding to air - the one having realistic (British)
implications
and the other idealistic (Irish) implications.
By contrast, front crawl and breaststroke, corresponding to
water and
fire respectively, suggest intermediate stages analogous to materialism
(Americans) and naturalism (Russians), though front crawl must remain the
swimming stroke par
excellence, given its correlation with water and
water-affirming integrity. For swimming
is essentially a materialistic activity, and therefore the stroke which
is most
correlative with materialism will have the speed advantage over all the
others,
which will stand as realistic, naturalistic, and idealistic asides, or
subdivisions, within the overall context of water materialism. One could also argue, in seeking sexual
parallels with each stroke, that whereas backstroke is a heterosexual
stroke,
front crawl is a homosexual one, given the realistic/materialistic
distinctions
which exist between the two lowest (bodily) modes of swimming. By contrast, breaststroke would correlate
with plastic-inflatable and/or vibrator sexuality (depending on the
swimmer's
gender, although, in point of fact, women are more given to
breaststroke than
men as a rule, which is partly attributable to their heart-affirming,
or
emotional, essence), and butterfly with masturbatory pornographic
sexuality,
given the naturalistic/idealistic distinctions which exist between the
two
highest (head) modes of swimming.
55. While
on the subject of subdivisions, it should be possible to detect a kind
of
earth-water-fire-air parallel to the above in the context of artificial
heating, which extends, it seems to me, from electric fires with
artificial
coal impressions (earth) to fan heaters (air) via central heating
(water) and
plain electric fires (fire). Similarly,
I believe an antithetical parallel to such elemental spectra, in the
context of
naturalistic heating, can be posited on the basis of an extension of
coal fires
(earth) to gas fires (air) via oil stoves (water) and log fires (fire),
so
that, placing the two elemental quartets in an alpha/omega antithesis,
we shall
have:-
ALPHA
OMEGA
gas
stoves
fan heaters
log
fires
electric bar fires
oil
stoves
central heating
coal
fires
electric coal fires
with,
by
and large, centrifugal implications on
the one hand, that of the alpha naturalistic, and centripetal
implications on
the other hand, that of the omega artificial, the former relatively
immoral and
the latter relatively or, rather (within certain limits), absolutely
moral,
depending on the spectrum in question.
Certainly, if we can distinguish between alpha and omega heating
extremes in this way, then logic would suggest the likelihood of a sort
of
amoral middle-ground in between, corresponding to each of the elemental
spectra, and doubtless we would do well, as experience has shown, to
divide
such a middle ground into alpha-stemming and omega-oriented
alternatives, so
that each spectrum would afford us two amoral possibilities, were we to
rack
our brains for modes of heating which appear to stand in between the
above-listed antitheses, like, for example, fires that combine both
natural and
artificial alternatives or use coke (smokeless fuel) instead of coal -
definitely alpha-stemming (earth) amoral in relation to electric/coal
option
fires; or bundles of chopped wood instead of logs - doubtless
alpha-stemming
(fire) amoral in relation to multi-filament electric fires; or paraffin
instead
of oil - doubtless alpha-stemming (water) amoral in relation to the
older and
bulkier forms of central heating, and so on.
56. However
that may be, heating no less than swimming provides us with elemental
correspondences and, knowing this, we should strive to heat our rooms
in
accordance with the elemental spectrum with which we most identify and,
if
possible, on the highest, most moral terms.
No-one who is left wing, or who considers himself such, should
use any
of the alpha, or naturalistic, modes of heating; for they more accord,
depending on the spectrum, with either a conservative (bottom two) or a
fascist
(top two) bias than with either a socialist or a communist one. Philosophy can help us divide the wood from
the trees, as it were, and live in the light of our better knowledge.
57. The
natural comes in between two forms of the supernatural, viz. alpha and
omega. The natural is inherently worldly
and, in human terms, democratic, whereas the supernatural is either
hellish or
heavenly, that is to say autocratic in the alpha context, but
theocratic in the
omega one. A distinction, as it were,
between the Father and the Holy Ghost (or, in the strictly diabolic
case, Satan
and the Antichrist), with Christ coming in-between as worldly
naturalism, and
never more so than as a neutron equivalent (Protestant) vis-à-vis
proton and
electron extremes. The worldly natural
stems from the autocratic supernatural but, unbeknown to itself, will
in turn
be superseded by the theocratic supernatural, which stems from it as
surely as
it stemmed from the alpha supernatural.
Neutrons stemming from protons and electrons stemming from
neutrons, as
age supersedes age in the struggle which is historically unfolding.
58. On
the basis that I distinguished between open-topped two-seaters as
Conservative
and enclosed two-seaters as Labourite either side of a four-seater
middle
ground (Liberal), it should be logically consistent to contend that
novels will
be flanked by poetic novellas (novelettes) on the alpha-stemming Right,
and by
philosophic novellas (novelettes) on the omega-oriented Left - indeed,
that
poetic fiction, corresponding to open-topped two-seaters, and
philosophic
fiction, corresponding to enclosed two-seaters, should only be
conceived of in
novella form, given their relatively alpha-stemming and omega-oriented
significance either side of a Liberal middle-ground, in this case that
of
general fiction, which is rather more narrative and even dramatic than
poetic
or philosophic. Similarly, we should
have no hesitation in ascribing an alpha-stemming bodily significance
to
cigarettes smoked in or via cigarette-holders, on account of the
ring-like
constitution of the latter, which, corresponding to poetic novellas and
open-topped two-seaters, would contrast with cigarette smoking of a
more
conventional or, at any rate, independent order, that equivalent of the
philosophical novella and enclosed two-seater to which, on account of
its
uniquely centripetal character, we may ascribe an omega-oriented bodily
significance analogous to the parliamentary Left. In
between
each mode of cigarette smoking,
however, come cigars, paralleling novels and four-seaters, and if
smoking cigarettes
in holders is Tory, then cigar smoking is comparatively Liberal, an
amoral
middle-ground in between relatively immoral alpha and absolutely moral
omega
bodily extremes.
59. Further
to our distinctions between scooters as fascistic and motorbikes as
communistic
either side of the liberal middle-ground ... of cars, I should like to
distinguish between scooters and motorbikes with sidecars and
particle-suggesting sports cars (to which we may ascribe a
materialistic
significance vis-à-vis naturalistic scooters and motorbikes on the one
hand,
and realistic sports cars on the other hand, the former particle
suggesting and
the latter wavicle suggesting), reserving to the sidecar combinations a
head
(brain) materialistic status, so that we can speak of two kinds of
materialism,
viz. purgatorial and worldly, depending on whether we are referring to
sidecar
combinations or to sports cars, with alpha and omega distinctions
between
scooters with sidecars on the one hand, and motorbikes with sidecars on
the
other hand. Unlike realism, materialism
cannot be conceived solely in terms of the bodily, since it also
embraces the
head, with particular reference to the brain, both in its old-brain and
new-brain manifestations. Now while
sidecar combinations are ideologically lower than independent scooters
or
motorbikes, they are nonetheless ideologically higher than
particle-suggesting
sports cars, a superior mode of materialism which, as I have contended,
has
purgatorial rather than worldly implications.
60. As we
descend from protons to neutrons and ascend from neutrons to electrons,
we
ought to distinguish between negative and positive neutrons, as well as
allow
for a strictly neutral middle-ground position in between, since neutron
equivalents are more complex than at first meets the eye.
Take cars in relation to scooters and
motorbikes. A descent, as I have
contended, from a proton absolutism (scooter) to a neutron relativity
(open-topped two-seaters) leading via a more neutral relativity
(four-seaters)
to an ascent from a neutron relativity (enclosed two-seaters) to an
electron
absolutism (motorbikes). Now since the
neutron relativities are not homogeneous but decidedly heterogeneous,
stretching from open-topped two-seaters to enclosed two-seaters via
conventional
four-seaters, it must follow that open-topped two-seaters correspond to
a
negative neutron relativity, enclosed two-seaters to a positive neutron
relativity, and conventional four-seaters to a neutral neutron
relativity,
since they stretch across a bodily spectrum, from alpha to omega via a
strictly
liberal middle-ground and are not, like scooters and motorbikes, akin
to either
proton or electron extremes. The most we
can say for the worldly alpha is that it has a strong proton bias, that
negative neutron relativity is commensurate with a proton bias, just as
positive neutron relativity, its omega-oriented antithesis, has an
electron
bias, a bias which yet falls short (as cars vis-à-vis motorbikes) of a
true
electron status.
61. But
if we can successfully apply such a theory to cars vis-à-vis scooters
and
motorbikes, then what is to prevent us from applying it just as
successfully,
say, to parliament vis-à-vis fascist and communist extremes, and thus
from
seeing in the Conservative-Liberal-Labour parliamentary trinity not a
proton-neutron-electron parallel but, on the contrary, a neutron
heterogeneity
stretching from negative neutron relativity on the Right to positive
neutron
relativity on the Left via a neutral neutron relativity in the
(Liberal)
centre? For, certainly, parliament is no
less an integral genre or context than, say, cars in relation to
scooters or
motorbikes, and if all cars are of a neutron equivalent vis-à-vis
proton and
electron extremes, then it must follow that all parliamentarians are
likewise
neutron equivalents vis-à-vis fascist (proton) and communist (electron)
extremes, in which case we would have no right to hype-up the
parliamentary
Right or Left into some kind of proton/electron antagonism, but would
be
constrained to admit that such antagonism as exists is strictly within
neutron
bounds (as between negative and positive manifestations thereof), and
therefore
will never correspond to the ferocious 'us or them' antagonism which
must
necessarily exist - and has long existed - between Fascists and
Communists or,
for that matter, the analogous antagonism of Mods and Rockers, the
former
proton equivalents (since pertaining to scooters) and the latter
electron
equivalents (since pertaining to motorbikes).
A parliamentary democracy is, precisely by dint of its neutron
integrity,
a bourgeois
democracy; for the bourgeois is nothing if not
a neutron equivalent in between proton (aristocratic) and electron
(proletarian) extremes, a truly democratic and, hence, amoral animal
who fights
shy of both immoral autocratic and moral theocratic alternatives, a
neutron
Christian for whom both proton paganism and electron transcendentalism
are
alike anathema. Only where the electron
proletariat are sovereign can one speak of a People's democracy, but
such a
democracy will only be possible where the People are truly electron
equivalents
and not, as is usually the case in bourgeois democracies, either proton
peasants or neutron artisans, for whom life under a parliamentary thumb
is if
not ideal then, at an rate, far from intolerable. Needless
to
say, this does not apply to that
electron minority of hard-boiled proletarians for whom parliamentary
democracy
is at best a sick joke, at worst an unbearable yoke.
(I am especially thinking of those who habitually
dress in leather jackets and ride around on motorbikes.)
62. Two
further tripartite (proton-neutron-electron) parallels to the above, as
to our
scooter-car-motorbike parallel, would be magazines - books - tapes
(literature), and scores - records - tapes (music), noting that we
proceed from
alpha appearances to omega essences, from the centrifugal to the
centripetal
via a neutron middle-ground which combines appearances with essences in
a
synthesis that could be described as either essential appearances
(negative
neutrons), apparent essences (positive neutrons), or, with regard to a
strictly
neutron integrity in between, a combination of essential appearances
and
apparent essences (neutral neutrons).
Certainly magazines are usually more apparent (photographic)
than
essential (literary), and the more purely photographic a magazine is,
the more
will it approximate to an alpha absolutism, as it were, of far-right
ideological implications. Of course,
there are what might be described as contiguous overlappings between
magazines
with a relatively high percentage of words and books with a relatively
high
percentage of drawings and/or photographs, the latter of which would,
however,
be right wing in relation to purely literary books, especially those of
a
philosophic order, which are less essential appearances (photographs,
drawings,
etc., annotated upon) than apparent essences, essence being 'apparent'
when in
print or conveyed through the medium of print, but becoming purely
essential
when elevated, through cassette recordings, beyond print to a wholly
aural
status. (It is this fact which precludes
me from regarding cassettes in a fascistic light, as scooter-equivalent
ring-like phenomena antithetical, on an alpha/omega basis, to compact
discs,
with records, viz. LPs, singles, coming in-between.
Now tapes cannot be one thing, i.e. omega, in
a literary context and be a completely different thing, i.e. alpha, in
a
musical one. That privilege is reserved,
it seems to me, for scores, both in the 'head' context of jazz and in
the
comparatively 'bodily' context of classical, as concerning fascist and
conservative right-wing alternatives.
For music becomes absolutely essential when confined to cassette
and
even to record, whereas on scores it is apparent, i.e. can be read, and
thus
approximates to an alpha status.) When
books and tapes are combined, as with some language courses, one has a
parallel
to motorbikes with sidecar, which I would regard as a bound-electron
equivalent, in contrast to either a positive neutron equivalent, i.e.
philosophic paperback and/or enclosed two-seater, or a free-electron
equivalent, i.e. philosophic tape and/or free-standing motorbike. For such book/tape combinations are
transitional, it seems to me, between left-wing books and philosophic
tapes -
the ultimate, because truly essential, mode of philosophical
presentation.
63. Concerning
the subject of our scooter-car-motorbike triad, it seems to me that
mopeds
should be regarded as a sort of cross between scooters and motorbikes,
since
they are both alpha stemming and omega orientated at the same time,
having a
scooter-like gap in between the seat and the steering column, but
otherwise
resembling a motorbike to the extent that the overall design is usually
more
essential than apparent, with particular regard to the engine being
largely 'on
view' rather than hidden behind scooter-like panelling.
Thus with mopeds, in both wavicle- and
particle-suggesting kinds, we have a sort of paradoxical
proton/electron
integrity which, whilst indubitably middle ground in relation to proton
(scooter) and electron (motorbike) extremes, is nevertheless distinct
from the
neutron middle-ground status of cars - indeed, as distinct from such a
status,
I would argue, as melody from harmony in music, both of which are
comparatively
middle ground in relation to rhythm on the one hand and to pitch on the
other
hand. In fact, with such a
proton/electron middle-ground one has, it seems to me, a parallel with
anarchism, which is surely a head-level middle-ground in between
Fascism on the
one hand and Communism on the other, while being in an analogous
position
vis-à-vis bodily Liberalism as mopeds to cars or, for that matter,
melody to
harmony. However that may be, a
proton/electron middle-ground is certainly amoral in relation to
immoral alpha
and moral omega extremes - only it is dynamically as opposed to
statically
amoral, like neutron cars, harmony, Liberalism, etc.
64. On
the subject of alternative middle-ground parallels flanked by alpha and
omega
extremes, it seems to me that Catholicism is a proton/electron
'dynamic' form
of middle-ground Christianity in between paganism and
transcendentalism, that
is to say proton alpha and electron omega extremes, while Protestantism
corresponds to a neutron 'static' form of middle-ground Christianity
directly under
the Catholic variety, rather like harmony to melody in music, or cars
to mopeds
in road transportation, or liberalism to anarchism in politics. Thus whereas Catholicism is a 'head' level
form of middle-ground religion, Protestantism is decidedly 'bodily',
germane to
a more democratic and, hence, worldly type of humanity.
Certainly we are less concerned, in
Protestantism, with an 'abraxas' Christ who alternates between alpha
and omega
extremes, damning and saving as the context demands, than with a
mundane and,
on the whole, democratic Christ, rooted in worldly wisdom and fighting
shy of
both autocratic (Father) and theocratic (Holy Spirit) extremes - the
extremes
of alpha and omega supernaturalism. The
Protestant Christ, like Protestantism itself, is comparatively natural
and
humanistic, and therefore a neutron equivalent.
65. As
regards the pagan and transcendental absolutes which would appear to
flank
anarchism (to be sure, Catholicism is an anarchic mode of Christianity,
alternating
between alpha and omega, protons and electrons, sins and graces, though
relatively stabilized through the Confessional, that focal-point,
outside
Christ, of Catholic paradox), I tend to regard Ecology as probably the
most
striking form of contemporary 'paganism', bearing in mind that,
strictly
speaking, Ecology is not politics or a political movement so much as a
religious movement concerned less with human beings than with their
relationship to and survival in the natural environment - in other
words, a
supra-human context which transcends politics through its concern with
the
more-than-human or, more correctly in this case, the less-than-human,
namely
nature. No, Ecologists are not
politicians but unconscious proponents of a highly topical form of
neo-paganism, and against them, as motorbikes against scooters, I posit
omega-oriented Transcendentalists, more specifically such Social
Transcendentalists as myself, whose concern with the more-than-human
places
them in a diametrically antithetical relationship to those who, for
alpha-stemming reasons best known to themselves, would have us reverse
the
trend of evolution towards the transcendent Beyond in the name of an
earthly
paradise in which men live, like contented animals, in harmony with and
enslaved
to nature. Ecologists are to religion
what Fascists are to politics: neo-alpha reactionaries who strive to
defend
nature from those who would transcend it in pursuit of artificial and
spiritual
progress towards the omega supernatural, those truly moral men for whom
the
electron internal is more important than the proton external, and who,
whether
as Communists or Transcendentalists, whether, that is to say, in
relation to
man or to that which transcends him, strive to bring about a truly
moral society
on earth, one which negates nature in both its human and pre-human
manifestations.
66. From
computer appearances (keyed-in words/graphics) to radio essences
(spoken
words/music) via television essential appearances/apparent essences
(actions/speech) - a triadic parallel to our
proton-proton/electron-electron
distinctions, with, in all probability, record players corresponding to
the
neutron middle-ground underneath the proton/electron middle-ground of
television. For record players, with
their rectilinear speakers, are certainly bodily in relation to
televisions,
not to mention computers and radios.
67. If
the proton alpha position is naturalistic (fire) and the electron omega
position idealistic (air), then the proton/electron position in between
is materialistic
(water) and the neutron position underneath realistic (earth). Consequently whereas extreme right-wing
politics is naturalistic, extreme left-wing politics is idealistic,
whereas
middle ground 'head' politics is materialistic and middle ground
'bodily'
politics realistic. Fascism corresponds
to fire but Communism to air. Anarchism
corresponds to water but Liberalism to earth.
In fact, we could alternatively choose to say that fire is a
fascist
element but air a communist one, or that water is anarchic but earth
liberal.
68. However
that may be, the same applies to religion, with paganism (Ecology)
corresponding to fire (soul) and transcendentalism (Social
Transcendentalism)
to air (spirit), but Catholicism corresponding to water (intellect) and
Protestantism to earth (will), fire and air no less horizontally
antithetical
than water and earth are vertically antithetical, if we bear in mind
the
overall T-shape of our contentions, with fire, water, and air at the
top but
earth at the bottom or, more specifically, corresponding to the lower
end of
the vertical sign. Atomic Truth, it
seems, is a T-like arrangement of protons, neutrons, and electrons in
such
fashion, with Father, Son, and Holy Ghost implications - the Father a
proton
absolute, the Son either a neutron middle-ground, as in Protestantism,
or an
oscillation between (Virgin Mary) protons and (Second Coming)
electrons, as in
Catholicism, and the Holy Ghost an electron absolute - the omega goal
of
spiritual striving. Verily, the truth
about
atomic Truth is that only when the Holy Ghost is triumphant ... will
mankind be
saved, saved from both protons and neutrons for an electron heaven -
the coming
post-Human(ist) Millennium of proletarian peace!
69. Words
like 'individualism' and 'collectivism' are relative and, therefore,
neither
indicative of a good nor of a bad state-of-affairs per se.
Individualism, like collectivism, can be
either good (essential) or bad (apparent), depending on the context. There is good individualism and bad
individualism,
good collectivism and bad collectivism.
Reverting, once again, to the Spenglerian distinctions between
'Historyless Chaos', 'Culture', 'Civilization', and 'Second
Religiousness', one
could contend that 'Historyless Chaos' was commensurate with bad
individualism,
i.e. autocratic rule (apparent); that 'the Culture' (broadly
corresponding to
the Catholic Middle Ages) was commensurate with good collectivism, i.e.
Christian fellowship in a 'brotherhood of man' (essential); that 'the
Civilization' (the contemporary democratic age par
excellence) is commensurate with bad
collectivism, i.e. democratic sovereignty (apparent); and that 'Second
Religiousness' will be commensurate with good individualism, i.e.
spiritual
self-realization (essential). Thus it
would seem that individualism flanks collectivism on both alpha and
omega
terms, corresponding to apparent and essential extremes, while
collectivism is
divisible, within bodily or worldly terms, between Church and State,
'Culture'
and 'Civilization' - the former essential (wavicle) and the latter
apparent
(particle), with religious and secular implications respectively. From proton particles (alpha bad
individualism) to proton wavicles (omega-in-the-alpha good
collectivism), and
from electron particles (alpha-in-the-omega bad collectivism) to
electron
wavicles (omega good individualism) - the metaphysical distinctions, if
you
like, which underlie the more concrete manifestations of individualism
and
collectivism, both good (catholic/transcendental) and bad
(feudal/democratic).
70. Truly,
individualism can be both morally inferior and superior to
collectivism,
depending on the type of individualism in question.
From the autocratic One to the theocratic
Many, and from the democratic Many to the transcendental One - a
devolution
from bad individualism (autocracy) to good collectivism (theocracy) on
the one
hand, and an evolution from bad collectivism (democracy) to good
individualism
(supertheocracy) on the other hand, as regards the Father and Christ
where the
devolutionary polarity is concerned, but with regard to the Antichrist
and the
Holy Spirit in relation to the evolutionary polarity.
In between the Father and Christ we have the
Blessed Virgin, and in between the Antichrist and the Holy Spirit we
shall find
the Second Coming, both of whom are rather akin to neutron equivalents
vis-à-vis alpha and omega extremes, serving as a link between Christ
(electrons) and the Father (protons) in the one case, i.e. that of the
Blessed
Virgin, but between the Antichrist (protons) and the Holy Spirit
(electrons) in
the other, i.e. that of the Second Coming.
For just as no outer communion with the Father is possible for
Catholics
except through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, so no inner
communion
with the Holy Spirit will be possible for Transcendentalists except
through the
intermediary medium of the Second Coming.
71. Modern
music, with particular regard to jazz and rock, provides us with the
paradoxical phenomenon of acoustic instruments (saxophone, trumpet,
flute,
trombone, etc.) often played in a pitch- and, by implication,
omega-oriented
way, in contrast to the rhythmic and, by implication, alpha-stemming
way in
which electric instruments (guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, etc.) are
often
played, the former largely pertaining to jazz and the latter to rock,
the
instruments usually employed in the one context (jazz) being of a
largely
centrifugal and hence alpha-stemming design, those usually employed in
the
other context (rock) being of a largely centripetal and hence
omega-oriented
design, the contradictions between instruments and methods of
performance in
each context all the more paradoxical for the above-mentioned reasons. Yet such an apparent paradox doubtless
conforms to the atomic, open-society pressure which contemporary
musicians live
under in their resolve not to be too absolute, and thus idealistic or
extremist, but to achieve a 'realistic' compromise between the moral
nature of
their respective instruments, whether of a centripetal or a centrifugal
bias,
and a contrary way of performing on them - jazz apparently immoral
(from the
instrumental point-of-view) but essentially moral (from the musical
point-of-view), rock apparently moral (from the instrumental
point-of-view) but
essentially immoral (from the musical point-of-view); the one
predominantly
pitch orientated and the other predominantly rhythmic.
Exceptions to the general rule
notwithstanding, the age of a truly pitch-oriented music played on
centripetally-biased
electric instruments has still to come, and then only, in my opinion,
following
the eclipse of worldly atomicity by free-electron absolutism. Such an age, besides transcending the
paradoxical atomicities between omega-oriented instruments, like
electric
guitars, and alpha-stemming musical integrities, would also transcend
centrifugally-biased instruments like trumpets and saxophones, and thus
get
beyond jazz. It would be communistic
through and through.
72. Consciousness
is a neutron equivalent flanked by negative and positive will, proton
and
electron emotions. By itself,
consciousness is not will, neither in its subconscious nor its
superconscious
manifestations. A man does not act at
the sight of a woman unless she is extremely attractive and arouses
positive
feelings in him which can then be acted upon.
He kisses a woman he is in love with, but does not usually act
in such a
fashion towards women if he is not in love.
Love is a powerful positive emotion, and hence a manifestation
of
electron will. Hate, by contrast, is a
powerful negative emotion, and hence a manifestation of proton will. Hatred can lead to violence, but violence
will not arise from consciousness alone, which, as already noted, is
neutral in
its stance before life. It is precisely
the soul and the spirit that are not neutral, since pertaining to both
proton
and electron substrata of the brain on either negative or positive
terms ...
with wavicle and particle distinctions, spirit being a wavicle
substratum,
whether negative (proton) or positive (electron), soul being a particle
substratum, whether negative (proton) or positive (electron) - the
difference,
in effect, between light and heat at both alpha and omega poles. The best and most courageous people do not,
like the Buddha, seek no pleasure (or pride or love or joy) in order to
avoid
pain (or humiliation or hate or sadness), since that merely entails a
neutral,
neutron stance in between negative and positive extremes of will. On the contrary, they pursue the positive
principle in a spirit of electron defiance, and take such proton
drawbacks as
may arise from their behaviour with stoical perseverance.
For there can be no Heaven where there is no
will to Heaven, even if your Heaven be less than truly divine (say,
worldly),
and the will to Heaven is our most noble aspiration, without which we
would
either be moored to Hell, as to some negative resolve (which,
unfortunately, a
minority always are), or stuck in a Buddhist middle-ground of neutron
neutrality, condemned to a perpetual stasis of bourgeois mediocrity. Better the will to Heaven than no will at
all!
73. The
passive eye of neutron neutrality, the reactive eye of proton
negativity, and
the attractive eye of electron positivity x 4, which is to say,
interpreted in
regard to elemental spectra. For
example, the hateful eye of naturalistic (fiery) negativity vis-à-vis
the
loving eye of naturalistic (fiery) positivity.
Or the sad eye of idealistic (airy) negativity vis-à-vis the
joyful eye
of idealistic (airy) positivity. Hells
and heavens flanking neutral eyes of neutron passivity.
74. We
should learn to associate the way a man walks or, more correctly, the
direction
of his feet, with a moral stance in life.
For it seems to me that a man gives himself away as much by the
style of
his footsteps as by the position of his hands in relation to how he is
dressed. Thus we can distinguish between
feet turned outwards (centrifugal), feet turned inwards (centripetal),
and feet
pointing straight ahead (neutral), which will give us immoral, moral,
and amoral
alternatives or, if you prefer, parallels.
To my mind, outwards-turned feet would confirm an immoral bias
appropriate to a hand-out-of-trouser pockets, open-collar stance before
the
world; inwards-turned feet would confirm a moral bias appropriate to a
hand-in-(zipper-jacket)-pockets,
T-shirt stance before the world; and straight feet would confirm an
amoral bias
appropriate to a hand-in-(trouser)-pockets, buttoned-collar stance
before the
world. The man with out-turned feet
would suggest a proton bias applicable to an extrovert temperament. The man with in-turned feet would suggest an
electron bias applicable to an introvert temperament.
And the man with straight feet would suggest
a neutron bias applicable to a neutral, or bourgeois, temperament. Wills and consciousness.
75. To be
bourgeois is to have a bias for the conscious mind.
To be grand bourgeois is to have a bias for
the subconscious mind. To be petty
bourgeois is to have a bias for the superconscious mind.
To be other than bourgeois is to have a bias
for will, whether negatively or positively, good or ill, heaven or hell. Only the world is conscious (or subconscious
and superconscious). Autocratic negative
will, democratic consciousness, and theocratic positive will - Fathers,
Sons,
and Holy Ghosts.
76. The
subnatural Father, the natural Christ, and the supernatural Holy Ghost,
with
the pro-natural Blessed Virgin and the anti-natural Antichrist flanking
alpha
and omega respectively.
77. Poetry
treats of the appearances, particularly when beautiful, of life;
philosophy, by
contrast, treats of its essences ... truthfully. It
is
for this reason that, where computers
are concerned, Word-Processor Operators are akin to poets, whereas
Computer
Programmers are akin to philosophers.
More accurately, one could describe Word Processing as
'poetical' but
Computer Programming as 'philosophical', since the one is primarily
concerned
with appearances and the other with essences.
Alpha and omega of the computer.
78. Only
an androgynous muddlehead would say,
à
la Keats: 'Truth is
beauty, beauty truth'. For the one is
not the (inner or outer) equivalent of the other, since they are
effectively
opposite. Truth is the outer
manifestation of joy, beauty the outer manifestation of love, and
consequently
it would be no less foolish to say: 'Joy is love, love joy' than what
the
Romantic poet, who evidently understood little of essences, said or,
rather,
wrote.
79. If
true to itself philosophy is so profound (essential) that it will be
hidden to
all but the deepest penetration. On the
other hand, poetry is so superficial (apparent) that it can only be
'seen
through' by the philosophical mind.
80. Musically
speaking, one is not saved until dead to rhythm and alive to pitch.
81. Art
and music are no less antithetical than poetry and philosophy - indeed,
it is
the attraction of opposites which makes bedfellows of art and
philosophy on the
one hand, and of music and poetry on the other hand.
For poetry and art would be no less 'lesbian'
than philosophy and music ... 'homosexual' - relationships which, in
sex as in
culture, are rather the exception to the general rule, unattractive if
not
repellent.
82. Art -
and here I use that word in its broadest sense - is the spirituality of
materialism. For all art, whether
musical, pictorial, literary, or sculptural, is materialistic, i.e.
dependent
on and produced by material means. Where
such means were taboo because infra
dignum, there could be no art but only pure spirituality,
as befitting divinity.
83. To
some extent it could be argued, in elemental fashion, that music is the
art
form of air (waves), painting the art form of fire (paint), literature
the art
form of water (ink), and sculpture the art form of earth (clay), since
there is
evidently a connotation, in each case, with one of the four main
elements and
thus, by implication, with (in descending order) idealism (air),
naturalism
(fire), materialism (water), and realism (earth), the air/idealism
connotation
of music having spiritual implications, the fire/naturalism connotation
of
painting having emotional implications, the water/materialism
connotation of
literature having intellectual implications, and the earth/realism
connotation
of sculpture having wilful implications, i.e. attesting to the defeat
or
triumph of will. It could therefore be
argued that music is the heavenly art form par
excellence, painting the hellish art form par
excellence, literature the purgatorial art form par excellence,
and
sculpture
the worldly art form par excellence.
84. It
was only comparatively recently, in fact towards the end of the
nineteenth
century, that Western art became partly subjective and thus
centripetal, as
though subject to the influence of oriental mysticism.
Prior to the Impressionists and,
subsequently, the Expressionists, Western art had been either objective
in a
classical manner or subjectively objective in a romantic one, which is
to say,
either concerned with the objective depiction of external phenomena, as
in Classicism,
or with the objective depiction of the self conceived externally as
phenomenon,
as in much Romanticism where, in contrast to the classical concern with
others,
self-portraiture becomes the focal-point of objectivity, a paradoxical
procedure which I have termed subjective objectivity.
However, if the objectivity of the self
reflects a progression over that of the other, a progression
commensurate with
omega-in-the-alpha as opposed to the alpha as such, then it was not
until
artists began to concentrate their energies on the other from a
subjective
viewpoint that what I shall term the objective subjectivity of
alpha-in-the-omega came to pass, commensurate with a progression from
Romanticism (essentially a thing of 'the Culture') to
Impressionism/Expressionism
(more germane to 'the Civilization'), and a sort of alternative paradox
wherein
the other is coloured by or depicted through the feelings and/or
impressions of
the subjective self. If the subjective
objectivity of Romanticism was a kind of masculinized femininity, then
the
objective subjectivity, for example, of Expressionism was a sort of
feminized
masculinity, truly a transvaluated and anti-Western tendency which
paved the
way, in due abstract time, for the unequivocally subjective art of the
abstractionists,
whether impressionist or expressionist, which was to shift the focus
back to
the self conceived subjectively as feelings, emotions, impressions,
etc., and
thus bring art to a centripetal climax, a climax no less moral than its
inception and continuance in 'aristocratic' Classicism was
fundamentally
immoral - which is to say objective, and hence feminine.
From being 'aristocratic' (more correctly
grand bourgeois) and absolute, art had become first 'bourgeois' and
relative
(whether from a Romantic or, subsequently, an
Impressionist/Expressionist
point-of-view) and then 'proletarian' (more correctly petty bourgeois)
and
absolute. It had progressed from the
autocratic to the theocratic via the democratic, from the Father to the
Holy
Ghost via the Son, from protons to electrons via neutrons, from the
centrifugal
to the centripetal via a paradoxical and wholly worldly cross between
the
two. No less than objectivity was the
alpha of art, subjectivity was its omega.
After which, art could only be transcended by the truly
proletarian
superart ... of light art of one kind or another.
85. In
relation to hardbacks, which reflect a realistic relativity between
(soft)
paper and (hard) cover, paperbacks suggest a materialistic relativity
commensurate with their (soft) cover and (soft) paper, which places
them in a
position, vis-à-vis hardbacks, analogous to water (coldness) vis-à-vis
earth
(darkness) or, alternatively, purgatory vis-à-vis the world, neither of
which
truly transcend the body ... except to the extent that tapes are used
as a
supplement to paperbacks, as in some language courses at present. However, if books are either worldly or
purgatorial, then, to extend our analogue, tapes are diabolic and thus
of an
essence more emotional than either wilful (as with hardbacks) or
intellectual
(as with paperbacks) by dint of their dependence on and association
with the
aural transmission of words. Superior,
however, to tapes (as paperbacks to hardbacks) are computer discs and
the
correlative optical appreciation of words as light on a VDU, in which
words are
redeemed and brought to a quasi-divine standing, a spiritual equation
which
stands to tapes as air (light) to fire (heat), or as heaven to hell. Speaking less analogically, one could argue
that whereas tapes are naturalistic by dint of their correlation with
emotions,
computer discs are idealistic by dint of their correlation with
awareness, and
consequently we have a correspondence with soulful and spiritual
substrata of
the superconscious psyche - in complete contrast to the intellectual
and wilful
correspondence with the new brain and the body elicited by paperbacks
and
hardbacks respectively, the former materialistic by dint of their
correlation
with thoughts, and the latter realistic by dint of their correlation
with
sensations, as well, of course, as in the rather more concrete sense we
discovered with regard to each medium of literary presentation at the
beginning
of this entry.
86. However,
whatever the parallel we choose, whether analogical or literal, it has
to be
concluded that the computer disc is the highest medium of literary or,
more
specifically, philosophical presentation, as superior to cassettes as
paperbacks to hardbacks, and that proper justice cannot be done to
divine Truth
until it has been presented via computer for VDU appreciation, wherein
its
intrinsic illumination will have the appearance of light (centripetal)
and thus
best serve the Divine. When it finally
comes to pass, the 'Kingdom of Heaven' will require that computer discs
supersede not only books but, to a lesser extent, tapes as well, since
the
latter will be a sort of diabolic shortfall from its own divine
integrity,
standing to discs as heat to light, or red to white, and thereby
constituting a
kind of sin.
87. 'Liberal'
hardbacks, 'Socialist' softbacks, 'Communist' cassettes,
'Transcendentalist'
computer discs - an ideological progression from realism to idealism
via
materialism and naturalism.
88. From
the objectivity of fools to the subjectivity of the wise.
From the folly of birth to the wisdom of
rebirth. (Fools are born but wise men
are 'born again', i.e. transvaluated from an alpha-stemming to an
omega-oriented disposition.)
89. In
the distinction between LPs, compact discs, cassettes, and music videos
... we
have elemental parallels to earth, water, fire, and air, with
realistic,
materialistic, naturalistic, and idealistic implications respectively,
which,
transposed to a theological key, suggest the probability that LPs are
worldly,
compact discs purgatorial, cassettes diabolic, and music videos divine
... as
we ascend from darkness to light via cold and heat equivalents. Thus LPs - earth/darkness, realism/world;
compact discs - water/coldness, materialism/purgatory; cassettes -
fire/heat,
naturalism/hell; music videos - air/light, idealism/heaven.
90. Pornography
is the appearance of sex; sexual gadgets ... its essence.
Both of these modern sexual extremes flank
natural sex and, for that matter, antinatural sex, or homosexuality, as
Fascism
and Communism flank Liberalism/Socialism.
For pornography is no less an alpha-stemming phenomenon than
sexual
gadgets are omega orientated, and if the one is largely immoral by dint
of the
centrifugal nature of legs spread wide apart, then the other is
comparatively
moral by dint of the centripetal nature of the gadgets in question, and
may be
said to transcend the largely amoral nature of heterosexuality as such. An omega-oriented society could only be
anti-appearance and pro-essence (for which read: against pornography
but for
sexual gadgets), since it would be highly moral.
91. Pornography
stands to sexual gadgets as music scores to compact discs, tapes, etc.,
which
is to say, as appearance to essence, or the immoral to the moral. Now just as heterosexuality is an amoral
middle-ground in between the fascistic immorality of pornography on the
one
hand and the communistic morality of sex gadgets on the other, so
musical
concerts are an amoral middle-ground, analogous to heterosexual
relations, in
between music scores and recorded music, particularly on disc or tape. In fact, musical concerts are no-less
worldly, and hence liberal, than heterosexuality, each of which is
flanked by
alpha and omega extremes.
92. Just as
music is classical when compact and romantic when free to expand in a
variety
of not necessarily related musical directions, so it can be contended
of
pornography that it is 'classical' when the model and/or models are
modestly
displayed, but 'romantic' when limbs, and particularly legs, are spread
wide
apart in an unequivocally centrifugal fashion.
From which it can be deduced that whereas pornographic
'romanticism' is
immoral, pornographic 'classicism' is comparatively amoral, if from an
alpha-stemming point of view.
93. We
should distinguish between particle and wavicle equivalents in
pornography no
less than with regard to sexual gadgets.
For it seems to me that whereas the one focuses attention upon
the
sexual organs alone, the other maintains a more general, and thus
comprehensive, perspective which should be described as idealistic
rather than
naturalistic. Hence sex dolls, as
opposed to vaginal and/or phallic gadgets, for the omega-oriented
wavicle
equivalent, but discretely displayed models, as opposed to highly
erotic ones,
for the alpha-stemming wavicle equivalent, both of which would accord
with
divine (immoral and moral) as opposed to diabolic (likewise immoral and
moral)
parallels.
94. Compact
discs and computer discs are alike materialistic in relation to the
realism of
LPs and books (paperbacks not excepted), the naturalism of cassettes
(whether
verbal or musical), and the idealism of videos (whether verbal or
musical). In other words, they assume a
brain equivalent in between the bodily equivalent of books and/or LPs
on the
one hand and the psychic equivalent of (soulful) cassettes and
(spiritual)
videos on the other hand, standing in a kind of purgatorial light to
worldly,
hellish, and heavenly options. Probably
computer discs are not - contrary to what I thought earlier - the
ultimate mode
of literary presentation but, rather, one coming in-between books and
tapes
(both audio and video), since such discs suggest a new-brain equivalent
which,
by dint of its atomic nature, can only be ideologically inferior to the
superconscious particle (soulful) equivalent of cassettes and the
superconscious wavicle (spiritual) equivalent of videos, while yet
being
ideologically superior to the bodily equivalent of books.
Thus it would seem that spoken videos are the
truly spiritual mode of literary presentation, an air/light equivalent
above
the fire/heat equivalent of cassettes, the water/coldness equivalent of
computer discs, and the earth/darkness equivalent of books. Therefore whereas books are a worldly medium
of literary presentation, computer discs would be a purgatorial,
cassettes a
diabolic, and videos a divine medium of literary presentation. And this corresponds to the media of musical
presentation ... beginning with LPs and culminating, via compact discs
and
cassettes, with videos.
95. Paperbacks,
divisible into those with wraps and those without, are an
alpha-stemming
worldly equivalent in the former context and an omega-oriented worldly
equivalent in the latter one, and may be said to flank hardbacks, with
or
without wrap, much as cigarettes (with or without the use of a
cigarette
holder) flank cigars, and two-seater cars (enclosed or open-topped)
flank
four-seaters. Indeed, paperbacks stand
to hardbacks as homosexuals to heterosexuals, with a lesbian parallel
accruing
to those with wrap and a gay parallel to those without it, the very
parallels
which apply no less to cigarettes and two-seaters (depending on the
type), as
well as to a host of other worldly phenomena which, in contrast to
proton and
electron extremes, assume a neutron significance with either a proton
or an
electron bias ... depending on the type of extreme worldly phenomenon
in
question. Thus whereas hardbacks are a
neutron middle-ground, softbacks are a proton-biased neutron equivalent
with
wrap and an electron-biased neutron equivalent without it, falling
short of the
proton extremism of magazines (both literary and photographic) on the
one hand,
and the electron extremism of tapes (both audio and video) on the
other, just
as two-seater cars fall short, as extreme worldly phenomena, of
scooters and
motorbikes - those alpha and omega 'head' equivalents above, with
proton and
electron implications ... corresponding, in sexual terms, to
pornography and to
sex dolls and/or gadgets respectively.
Doubtless computer discs signify a proton/electron oscillation,
as
opposed to either a neutron middle-ground (as with books) or an
extremism of
proton (magazine) or electron (tape) equation, and may be regarded as
paralleling mopeds vis-à-vis scooters on the proton Right and
motorbikes on the
electron Left - in other words, as a sort of atomic equivalent,
corresponding
to the new brain, in between the elemental extremes of new-brain
subconscious
and superconscious parallels.
96. Politically
speaking, books are liberal, either literally in the case of hardbacks
or in
terms of a radical Tory/Labour opposition in the case of paperbacks,
with, so I
contend, a radical Tory parallel applying to those with wrap but, by
contrast,
a Labour parallel applying to those without one. Magazines
are
fascistic and tapes
communistic, whereas computer discs may well be anarchistic, since
assuming a
middle-ground 'head' standing in between the 'psychic' absolutes of
magazines
and tapes respectively, while yet being ideologically superior (as the
brain
vis-à-vis the body) to books, just as mopeds are in a sense
ideologically
superior to cars, given their atomic (proton/electron) oscillations as
opposed
to neutron standing in between (proton) scooters and (electron)
motorbikes. Of course, where magazines
and tapes are concerned we have to allow for a particle/wavicle
dichotomy
corresponding to naturalistic and idealistic, or diabolic and divine
distinctions, so that word-biased magazines and audio tapes are
perceived to be
in the particle category and image-biased magazines and video tapes in
the
wavicle one, with alpha and omega implications respectively, that is to
say between print-biased magazines and
audio tapes on the one hand (naturalistic/diabolic spectrum), and
photographic
magazines and video tapes on the other hand (idealistic/divine
spectrum), the
former a proton-particle/electron-particle antithesis, the latter a
proton-wavicle/electron-wavicle antithesis, with subconscious and
superconscious implications to each antithesis, albeit within the
framework of
the new brain as opposed to the old brain.
97. Returning
to the subject of sex, it could be argued that oral sex corresponds to
an
atomic (proton/electron) middle-ground in between (proton) pornography
and
(electron) plastic inflatables and/or gadgets, so that its relationship
to
conventional heterosexuality is rather akin to that of the brain to the
body
or, speaking analogically, of mopeds to cars, compact discs to LPs, and
computer discs to books, with an amoral status somewhat more
oscillatory (as
between the vagina and the penis) than one-sided (as with conventional
coitus,
which corresponds to a neutron middle-ground, as befitting a bodily
equation). 'Giving head' is thus a lunar
or purgatorial mode of sex above the worldly mode, which is probably
more
congenial to Catholics and intellectuals than to (bodily) Protestants
and men
of action, and it is flanked, on a psychic basis, by the immoral and
moral
sexual extremes referred to above.
98. The
more peace or the less war there is in the world, the less sex or the
more
celibacy there will be. For war and sex
are two sides of the same naturalistic coin, and if you transcend war
you can't
reasonably expect to perpetuate or increase sex. Thus
a
peaceful world would necessarily be
one which was also above sex, and therefore dependent upon artificial
means of
reproduction. As to sport, which some
regard as a substitute for war, it could be argued that sport is no
less a sort
of playing at war than dance a sort of playing at sex, both of which
are as
complementary as war and sex, and neither of which is therefore a
substitute
for war or sex. By which I mean that
sport won't necessarily lead to or facilitate sex (unlike war), any
more than
dance lead to or facilitate war (unlike sex), but, on the contrary,
that they
will facilitate each other in keeping with the criteria of a more
artificial
and supernatural age. Thus an age
without sport would also be one without dancing, since the former is
largely
dependent on the latter, and as soon as you transcend the one the other
will
also be transcended. An unaggressive
male is not only above sex, he is above dancing as well, since the
reduction or
elimination of male aggression through war and sport makes for a
passive
attitude vis-à-vis the female, thereby cancelling-out sex and dance. Such a male is still rather the exception to
the rule. Yet there may come a time, I
venture to speculate, when not only war and sport, but sex and dance
will be a
thing of the past.
99. Not
for the first time logic compels me to re-evaluate a former position
and to
question whether, in fact, sex dolls and/or gadgets could be regarded
as
forming an omega pole to pornography, bearing in mind the bodily as
opposed to
head nature of such phenomena, their use by and on the penis or vagina,
depending on the gender (male or female) in question and the
appropriate
aid. Rather, it now seems to me that,
just as music cassettes and videos form an omega pole or, more
correctly, poles
to music scores, so, by a like-token, it can be argued that sex videos
form an
omega pole to pornographic magazines, bearing in mind the obvious
'head' status
which must accrue to something watched as opposed to physically
experienced as
an artificial substitute for coitus, i.e. a sex gadget.
Thus if music videos are antithetical to
music scores, as the artificial to the natural, so sex videos must be
antithetical to sex magazines on an analogous basis, with sex gadgets
and/or
dolls taking a comparatively bodily status analogous to LPs and compact
discs
vis-à-vis cassettes and videos. In fact,
the sex gadget, be it artificial penis or vagina, would stand to sex
dolls
pretty much as compact discs to LPs, with sex cassettes (pre-recorded
phone
sex) and sex videos standing as an obvious parallel to music cassettes
and
videos ... to name but one alternative, albeit analogous, context. Here we arrive at the seemingly paradoxical
but nonetheless credible conclusion that whereas sex magazines are
fascistic,
sex videos are communistic, alpha and omega approaches to 'head' sex
which
flank, on an immoral/moral basis, oral sex - that amoral 'head' sex
above
conventional heterosexuality.
100.
Further to the above, we should be able to posit an antithesis,
or even
antithetical poles, on an alpha basis to sex dolls and/or gadgets,
since we
have done so with regard to sex cassettes and videos - namely, sex
magazines. But to do so it seems to me
that one would have to divide pornography more comprehensively between
'bodily'
and 'head' modes, i.e. 'soft' and 'hard' options, in order to have
sufficient
alpha poles to cover for such an antithesis, so that, contrary to the
above,
soft-core pornography would be antithetical to sex dolls and/or
gadgets, and
hard-core pornography antithetical to sex cassettes and/or videos, each
of
which would again be divisible into wavicle and particle alternatives
... in
order to do proper justice to the full-gamut of elemental poles, with,
so I
contend, a wavicle equivalent for soft-core pornography which takes a
comprehensively bodily perspective (antithetical to sex dolls), and a
particle
equivalent for that which, by contrast, focuses photographic attention
upon the
sex organ of the participating model (antithetical to sex gadgets). Above this one would find the 'head' level
particle equivalent of sexually explicit and/or narrative hard-core
pornography
(antithetical to sexual cassettes) on the one hand, and the 'head'
level
wavicle equivalent of a more comprehensively representative hard-core
pornography (antithetical to sex videos) on the other hand, each of
which would
be comparatively fascistic in relation to the
authoritarian/arch-Conservative
nature of the soft-core varieties.
101. Having
dealt with the above in a more or less satisfactory manner, I now find
that I
must do the same with regard to the other context we have been
discussing,
namely music, and thus broadly divide music scores into two categories
in order
to have antithetical alpha poles to music videos and audio cassettes. These two categories, corresponding to
idealistic and naturalistic parallels, will be solely treble staff in
the case
of an antithesis to music videos, and treble-and-bass staffs combined
in the
case of an antithesis to audio cassettes, since it stands to reason
that a
music score with only treble staff will be more idealistic and, hence,
light
equivalent ... than one with bass and harmony also, the totality of
which may
well add-up to something more naturalistic and, hence, heat equivalent
- the
very equivalent we have reserved for audio tapes in contrast to video
ones. However, if music scores of one
kind or another suffice to cover the antithetical poles to video and
audio
tapes of a musical persuasion, then it seems to me that we are in want
of equivalent
antithetical poles to compact discs and LPs, since the latter are no
less
deserving of something antithetical which is as much apparent and
immoral as
they are essential and moral. Now what
is this something if not Pianola rolls of one size or another which,
unlike
music scores, suggest a more physical and, hence, bodily equation,
broadly
antithetical to compact discs and LPs.
Thus if my theories are correct, the antithesis to an LP will be
a large
pianola roll, whereas the antithesis to a compact disc will be a small
pianola
roll, perhaps even one dependent upon some relatively superior
technology which
would elevate it as far above conventional pianola rolls as ... compact
discs
above LPs, not forgetting that neither pianola rolls nor discs are
anywhere
near the psychic elevation of scores and tapes respectively - those
subconscious and superconscious new-brain antitheses divisible, as I
have
shown, into soulful and spiritual, or naturalistic and idealistic,
alternatives
roughly corresponding to hell and to heaven at both alpha and omega
poles.
102. The
proper subject of sculpture is will. The
proper subject of literature is intellect.
The proper subject of music is soul.
The proper subject of art is spirit.
Thus earth-water-fire-air or, rather,
darkness-coldness-heat-light,
whether for good or bad, positively or negatively, alpha or omega,
apparent or
essential, etc., depending on the type of sculpture, literature, music,
or art
in question.
103. Since
earth corresponds to the world, water to purgatory, fire to hell, and
air to
heaven, it could also be said of the above that sculpture is the
worldly art
form par
excellence,
literature the purgatorial art form par excellence, music the
diabolic
art form par excellence, and art (painting) the divine art form
par
excellence, with realistic, materialistic, naturalistic, and
idealistic
implications respectively. Of course,
each of the main branches of the arts is subdivisible into
approximately four
categories, corresponding to the elements and thus, by implication, to
every
one of the above (theological) positions, with, for example, literature
- the
purgatorial/materialistic art form par excellence -
subdivisible into
dramatic, narrative, poetic, and philosophic categories, the first of
which,
viz. drama, corresponds to the world and is thus the most wilful of the
literary arts; the second of which, viz. fiction, corresponds to
purgatory and
is thus the most intellectual of the literary arts; the third of which,
viz.
poetry, corresponds to hell and is thus the most emotional of the
literary
arts; and the fourth of which, viz. philosophy, corresponds to heaven
and is
thus the most spiritually aware of the literary arts.
Doubtless the same divisions, with similar
implications, could be applied to music within a broadly classical
framework,
so that we would have, say, ballet in the position of drama as the
worldly form
of music by dint of its bodily bias; the symphony in the position of
fiction as
the purgatorial form of music by dint of its intellectualized approach
to
relationships between the various instruments (analogous, in a way, to
literature's reference, via the intellect, to social relations); opera
in the
position of poetry as the diabolic form of music by dint of its strong
emotional bias; and, finally, the concerto in the position of
philosophy as the
divine form of music by dint of its spiritual idealism, which, taking
the guise
of preponderant pitch, appertains to awareness.
Of course, what applies to classical music applies no less to
modern
electric music, or supermusic (as I usually prefer to call it), with
fourfold
divisions between pop, rock, soul, and jazz, the divisions thereof
having
worldly, purgatorial, diabolic, and divine implications respectively,
such that
likewise pertain to its 'superliterary' counterpart which, taking the
forms of
cinema, video, radio, and television, has rather more reference to
artificial
visionary and audio experience than to verbal concepts of the sort
usually
encountered between the pages of a book.
104. Since
we have dealt with literature and music (not to mention
'superliterature' and
'supermusic') in a fourfold manner deriving from our basic
elemental/theological divisions, it behoves us to do the same with
regard to
art and sculpture, the 'divine' and 'worldly' arts par
excellence, and thus to divide art into
four basic categories, viz. ceramics, painting, etching, and drawing,
with
worldly, purgatorial, diabolic, and divine implications respectively
which, in
elemental terms, correspond to earth, water, fire, and air - the very
terms
applying no less to the division of sculpture into figure (the worldly
form of
sculpture par excellence); busts (the purgatorial form of sculpture par
excellence); relief (the diabolic form of sculpture par
excellence);
and, finally, carving (the divine form of sculpture par excellence). Obviously there is a realistic parallel, in
both elemental and theological terms, between ceramics and figure
sculptures, a
materialistic parallel between paintings and busts, a naturalistic
parallel
between engravings and reliefs, and an idealistic parallel between
drawings and
carvings. Now what applies to the
division of 'art' and 'sculpture' in this fourfold manner must surely
apply
just as much to 'superart' and 'supersculpture', which exist rather
more in
terms of light art and holography, respectively, than of any
'naturalistic'
distinctions between, say, clay and paint or stone and wood, although
plastics
cannot be ruled out - at any rate, not in the context of
'supersculpture',
where they would take the worldly or, rather, superworldly position
occupied by
figure sculptures in sculpture-proper, and thus have a bodily
connotation
beneath purgatorial abstract sculpture, the latter of which would be
flanked by
'light' sculpture on the one hand and by holograms on the other, as
between
diabolic and divine, fire and air equivalents.
As regards 'superart', one is obviously thinking in terms of
light art,
though only the alpha and omega poles of our diabolic and divine
equations
would truly be of light, doubtless in the form of a
neon-tube/laser-beam
divide, while the worldly and purgatorial equations would suggest the
likelihood of Op and Kinetics respectively, the former standing to the
latter
as body to brain or, what amounts to the same, earth to water, and
having its
'supersculptural' parallel in those plastic inventions which stand in
an
analogous relationship to abstract sculptures, i.e. the purgatorial
middle-ground in between the 'light' sculptural extremes.
105. Of
course, I have been generalizing and sketching far more than
particularizing
and filling-in the details as to why I believe such-and-such an art
form or
subdivision thereof should be regarded in one or another of our
elemental/theological categories, and doubtless this is desirable if
one is to
acquire a more wide-ranging perspective and avoid getting bogged down
in
pedantic details such as would detract, in any case, from the reader's
use of
his own imagination - something by which I have always set great store! Certainly the T-like impression created by
the fourfold divisions of each of the arts (and 'superarts') does not
do
justice to the fact that the alpha and omega poles are divisible into
diabolic
and divine options in each case, so that there is an alpha
divine/diabolic
distinction no less than an omega divine/diabolic distinction, with
wavicle and
particle implications. In consequence of
which, alpha arts, whether literary (poetry), musical (opera), visual
(etching), or sculptural (reliefs), can be divine or diabolic,
Fatheristic or
Satanic, depending on the type of alpha art-form in question, i.e.
whether of a
wavicle or a particle bias, as can omega arts, albeit on a
diametrically
antithetical basis ... as befitting their Christic/Antichristic
implications. And the same of course
applies to the
'superarts', where the division is rather more extreme in each case ...
as
befitting their 'super' status. Even the
purgatorial middle-ground is to some extent divisible in such fashion,
as
between 'soft' rock and 'hard' rock, although the latter is often
rather more
physical, and hence muscular, than intellectual or cranial, and
therefore
pertinent not so much to a divine/diabolic dichotomy as to two types of
purgatorial dichotomy, of which it is the lesser. For
the
real divine/diabolic dichotomy in
'supermusic' will be between 'light' soul and 'heavy' soul on the alpha
poles,
and between 'light' jazz and 'heavy' jazz on the omega poles, with
rock,
whether 'soft' or 'hard', as a sort of amoral middle-ground in between
essentially immoral (emotional) and moral (spiritual) extremes. Probably, to further complicate the picture,
funk and punk come in-between soul and rock, whereas blues and rhythm
'n' blues
come in-between rock and jazz, the former type of music in each
category
pertaining to the divine spectrum and the latter type to the diabolic
one, funk
and blues flanking soft rock, punk and rhythm 'n' blues flanking hard
rock, the
latter of which towers above pop as the head (in both its cranial and
intellectual manifestations) above the body, including the muscle body
of
pop/rock.
106.
Here, for the sake of diagrammatic clarity, are some relevant
correlations, necessarily generalized, with regard to the 'T' design,
viz:-
MORAL
IMMORAL/DYNAMIC
AMORAL/MORAL
|
|
|
|
|
|
STATIC
AMORAL
IDEOLOGICAL
NATURALISM/MATERIALISM/IDEALISM
|
|
|
|
|
|
REALISM
ATOMIC
PROTONS/ATOMS/ELECTRONS
|
|
|
|
|
|
NEUTRONS
ELEMENTAL QUANTITIES
FIRE/WATER/AIR
|
|
|
|
|
|
EARTH
ELEMENTAL QUALITIES
HEAT/COLDNESS/LIGHT
|
|
|
|
|
|
DARKNESS
THEOLOGICAL
HELL/PURGATORY/HEAVEN
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE
WORLD
ARTS
MUSIC/LITERATURE/ART
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCULPTURE
LITERATURE
POETRY/FICTION/PHILOSOPHY
|
|
|
|
|
|
DRAMA
MUSIC
OPERAS/SYMPHONIES/CONCERTOS
|
|
|
|
|
|
BALLET
ART
ETCHINGS/PAINTINGS/DRAWINGS
|
|
|
|
|
|
CERAMICS
SCULPTURE
RELIEFS/BUSTS/CARVINGS
|
|
|
|
|
|
FIGURE
'SUPERLITERATURE'
RADIO/VIDEO/TELEVISION
|
|
|
|
|
|
CINEMA
'SUPERMUSIC'
SOUL/ROCK/JAZZ
|
|
|
|
|
|
POP
'SUPERART'
NEONS/KINETICS/LASERS
|
|
|
|
|
|
OP ART
'SUPERSCULPTURE'
LIGHT
SCULPTURES/BIOMORPHICS/HOLOGRAMS
|
|
|
|
|
|
PLASTICS
PHYSICAL
SUBCONSCIOUS/BRAIN/SUPERCONSCIOUS
|
|
|
|
|
|
BODY
METAPHYSICAL
SOUL/INTELLECT/SPIRIT
|
|
|
|
|
|
WILL
COSMIC
SOLAR/LUNAR/STELLAR
|
|
|
|
|
|
PLANETARY
HUMAN
SUBMAN/MAN/SUPERMAN
|
|
|
|
|
|
WOMAN
THE TRINITY
THE
FATHER/THE SON/THE HOLY SPIRIT
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE
BLESSED VIRGIN
POLITICAL
ROYALISM/REPUBLICANISM/TOTALITARIANISM
|
|
|
|
|
|
LIBERALISM
CHRISTIAN
EASTERN
ORTHODOXY/PURITANISM/ROMAN CATHOLICISM
|
|
|
|
|
|
ANGLICANISM
SARTORIAL
LEATHER
PANTS/DENIM JEANS/PVC PANTS
|
|
|
|
|
|
CORD
JEANS
RECORDED MUSIC
AUDIO
CASSETTES/COMPACT DISCS/VIDEO CASSETTES
|
|
|
|
|
|
LPs
INSTITUTIONAL
TEMPLE/CHURCH/CENTRE
|
|
|
|
|
|
STATE
'SUPERPOLITICAL'
FASCISM/ANARCHISM/COMMUNISM
|
|
|
|
|
|
SOCIALISM
MILITARY
ARTILLERY/MARINES/PARAS
|
|
|
|
|
|
INFANTRY
LIBERALISM
CONSERVATIVES/LIBERAL
DEMOCRATS/LABOUR
|
|
|
|
|
|
GREENS
‘SUPERLITERARY’ FORMATS
CASSETTES/COMPUTER
DISCS/VIDEOS
|
|
|
|
|
|
PAPERBACKS
FREIGHT
RAIL/SEA/AIR
|
|
|
|
|
|
ROAD
PEOPLE'S TRANSPORTATION
SCOOTERS/MOPEDS/MOTORBIKES
|
|
|
|
|
|
CARS
TYPEWRITERS
ELECTRONIC/ELECTRIC/WORD
PROCESSORS
|
|
|
|
|
|
PORTABLES
GUITARS/KEYBOARDS
ELECTRONIC/ELECTRIC/SYNTHESIZED
|
|
|
|
|
|
ACOUSTIC
SPENGLER
HISTORYLESS
CHAOS/CULTURE/SECOND
RELIGIOUSNESS
|
|
|
|
|
|
CIVILIZATION
SENSES
HEARING/SMELL-TASTE/SIGHT
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOUCH
SELF-INDULGENCE
SMOKING/DRINKING/SNIFFING
|
|
|
|
|
|
EATING
SELF-TRANSCENDENCE
TRIPPING/SINGING/MEDITATING
|
|
|
|
|
|
DANCING
SELF-EXPRESSION
DREAMING/TALKING/THINKING
|
|
|
|
|
|
WRITING
SELF-IMPRESSION
LISTENING/LEARNING/VIEWING
|
|
|
|
|
|
SYNTHESIS
SELF-EXPRESSION/SELF-IMPRESSION/SELF-TRANSCENDENCE
|
|
|
|
|
|
SELF-INDULGENCE
107. In relation to man, woman is a neutron
equivalent upon whom man either descends or falls ... if he is of a
disposition
to, which is to say if he is of either an autocratic proton bias or a
democratic atomic (proton/electron) bias, and thereby perpetuates the
world. However, in the future there
should be neither descending nor falling upon the world, since only
electron equivalents,
viz. supermen, and quasi-electron equivalents, viz. quasi-supermen,
will exist,
and in such an omega-oriented 'head' society, commensurate with the
'Kingdom of
Heaven', all propagation will be conducted on a post-worldly, and hence
artificial, basis, with spermbank facilities and artificial
insemination
available to the quasi-superhuman 'equals' of the supermen-proper. Saved from both the neutron world and the
proton hell and atomic purgatory alike, the supermen will partake of
the
electron heaven in an omega-oriented spirituality (of self-realization)
which
will be beyond all such previous realities.
108. Strength is the virtue of the Father
(Almighty); goodness (an ethical choice between good and evil, or truth
and
strength) the virtue of the Son; truth the virtue of the Holy Spirit;
beauty
the virtue of the Blessed Virgin.
Expressed in terms of our T-like design (diagram 1), we shall
find:-
1.
QUANTITATIVE VIRTUES
STRENGTH/GOODNESS/TRUTH
|
|
|
|
|
|
BEAUTY
Thus
strength
is the quantity of the alpha
Divine (the Father); goodness the quantity of the purgatorial Divine
(the Son);
truth the quantity of the omega Divine (the Holy Spirit); and beauty
the
quantity of the worldly Divine (the Blessed Virgin).
Conversely, weakness is the quantity of the
alpha Diabolic (the Antifather, i.e. Satan); evil the quantity of the
purgatorial Diabolic (the Antichrist); illusion the quantity of the
omega
Diabolic (the Antispirit); and ugliness the quantity of the worldly
Diabolic
(the Antivirgin), as in diagram 2:-
2.
QUANTITATIVE VICES
WEAKNESS/EVIL/ILLUSION
|
|
|
|
|
|
UGLINESS
Turning,
however,
from quantities to qualities,
as from appearance to essence, we shall find that pride is the quality
of the alpha
Divine; love the quality of the purgatorial Divine; joy the quality of
the
omega Divine; and pleasure the quality of the worldly Divine (see
diagram 3).
3.
QUALITATIVE VIRTUES
PRIDE/LOVE/JOY
|
|
|
|
|
|
PLEASURE
Conversely,
humiliation
is the quality of the
alpha Diabolic; hate the quality of the purgatorial Diabolic; woe the
quality
of the omega Diabolic; and pain the quality of the worldly Diabolic
(see
diagram 4).
4.
QUALITATIVE VICES
HUMILIATION/HATRED/WOE
|
|
|
|
|
|
PAIN
109. Consequently,
whereas strength and pride are the quantitative and qualitative
concomitants of
the Father (Almighty), the quantitative and qualitative concomitants of
the
Devil (Satan) are weakness and humiliation.
Similarly, whereas goodness and love are the quantitative and
qualitative concomitants of the Son (Christ), the quantitative and
qualitative
concomitants of the Antichrist (for which read: Republicanism in
relation to
Puritanism) are badness and hate.
Likewise, whereas truth and joy are the quantitative and
qualitative
concomitants of the Holy Spirit, the quantitative and qualitative
concomitants
of the Antispirit (for which read: Marxism, with its
anti-Transcendentalism)
are illusion and woe. And, finally,
whereas beauty and pleasure are the quantitative and qualitative
concomitants
of the Blessed Virgin, the quantitative and qualitative concomitants of
the
Antivirgin (for which read: Liberalism or, in the American context, the
Democrats in relation to Catholicism) are ugliness and pain.
110. Furthermore,
it would seem that whereas the Divine has a wavicle connotation, the
Diabolic
has a particle one, and that while wavicles connote with the individual
(especially in an internal, or spiritual, sense), particles connote
with the
collectivity, as regards society in general, so that we have a kind of
religious/political distinction between the two contexts which obliges
us to
perceive God in the one camp and the Devil in the other, or, at any
rate, to
perceive a divine/diabolic dichotomy in regard to positive and negative
alternatives, viz. Judaism and Monarchism, Puritanism and
Republicanism,
Transcendentalism and Communism, Catholicism and Liberalism, the first
and
third of which are alpha and omega (as of the Trinity), the second and
fourth
... purgatorial and worldly, as befitting their comparatively
middle-ground
standings. Thus for the divine, or
wavicle-biased, positions, we shall find (see diagram 1):-
1.
JUDAISM/PURITANISM/TRANSCENDENTALISM
|
|
|
|
|
|
CATHOLICISM
Whereas
the
diabolic, or particle-biased,
positions will be as follows (see diagram 2):-
2.
MONARCHISM/REPUBLICANISM/COMMUNISM
|
|
|
|
|
|
LIBERALISM
with
appropriate
quantities and qualities in
each case.
111. It would
be wrong to suppose, as one could so easily do, that religion and
science truly
extend from alpha to omega, as from the Father to the Holy Ghost when,
in point
of fact, they are rather more alpha and worldly than purgatorial and
omega. By which I mean that religion has
been
eclipsed by ideology no less than science by politics, and that while
religious
and scientific terminology may still have some applicability in the
contexts of
Puritanism and Republicanism on the one hand (purgatorial), and of
Transcendentalism
and Communism on the other hand (omega), we are really talking about
ideological and political distinctions between the options in question,
distinctions which indicate that whereas Puritanism and
Transcendentalism are
ideological (the former relatively so and the latter to an absolute
degree),
Republicanism and Communism are political (again the former relatively
so and
the latter to an absolute degree), and thus not strictly classifiable
as
religion or science. In contrast,
therefore, to a more generalized pattern of thought, it could be said
that
religion is alpha, science worldly, politics purgatorial, and ideology
omega,
with naturalistic, realistic, materialistic, and idealistic
implications in
each case, as below (see diagram 1):-
1.
RELIGION/POLITICS/IDEOLOGY
(naturalism)(materialism)(idealism)
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCIENCE
(realism)
where
we
have four quantities corresponding to
fire, earth, water, and air respectively, with religion and ideology
horizontally antithetical (as regarding naturalism and idealism), but
science
and politics vertically antithetical (as regarding realism and
materialism). However, such quantities
(appearances) are of little interest or significance without their
qualities
(essences), and I have no hesitation in correlating religion with art,
science
with jurisprudence, politics with economics, and ideology with
psychology, as
follows (see diagram 2):-
2.
ART/ECONOMICS/PSYCHOLOGY
|
|
|
|
|
|
JURISPRUDENCE
Clearly,
art
is the qualitative concomitance of
religion no less than psychology the qualitative concomitance of
ideology, and
it is difficult to see, for example, how ideology could be furthered
without
recourse to psychological techniques which act upon the inner world the
way art
once acted, on behalf of religion, upon the outer one.
Similarly economics is the qualitative
concomitance of politics no less than jurisprudence the qualitative
concomitance of the science of law, and it is equally difficult to see
how
politics could be furthered or advanced without recourse to economic
changes
which act upon the collective the way jurisprudence once acted, on
behalf of
the science of law, upon the individual.
112. Whereas
politics and science are 'truer' to themselves in the relative than in
the
absolute, i.e. as Republicanism and Liberalism as opposed to Monarchism
and
Communism, religion and ideology are 'truer' to themselves in the
absolute than
in the relative, i.e. as Judaism and Transcendentalism as opposed to
Catholicism and Puritanism. This is
because
whereas in the former case politics is under the shadow of ideology and
science
under the shadow of religion, in the latter case, by contrast, religion
is
under the shadow of science and ideology under the shadow of politics.
113. The
twentieth century having been a political age par
excellence, ideology was no less under
the shadow of politics than ... religion had been under the shadow of
science
in the nineteenth century - the scientific age par excellence.
114. From
what we have discovered regarding the theocratic/democratic
distinctions which
exist between Puritanism and Republicanism on the one hand and between
Catholicism and Liberalism on the other, it should be apparent that, in
Ireland, Republicanism will be as abhorrent from a Puritan point of
view ... as
Liberalism from a Catholic one, the reason being that in the former
case we
have a Christ/Antichrist dichotomy, whereas in the latter case we have
a
Blessed Virgin/Antivirgin dichotomy, neither democratic manifestation
of which,
viz. Republicanism and Liberalism, could be acceptable to those who
uphold
their respective theocratic counterparts.
However, while this is evidently true of Ireland, it is by no
means the
case in America where, by contrast, Puritans are usually Republicans
and Catholics
... Democrats, the reason being that, contrary to Ireland, democracy
takes
precedence over theocracy and is, in a very real sense, the prime mover
there. Hence Americans are more likely
to be Republicans or Democrats first and foremost than Puritans or
Catholics,
in contrast to
115. Since
I am disposed, in the light of new theories and discoveries, to
re-evaluate my
position from time to time (and take an especial pride in doing so,
since it
confirms that I am mentally alive and still prepared to try out a
variety of
alternative theories ... with a long-term view to discovering what is
the most
credible one overall), I should like to put forward a fresh theory,
based on our
strength-goodness-truth trinity, that poetry and drama should be
regarded less
in an alpha and worldly light than in an order the converse of what
they were
perceived to be before, so that we would have drama in the alpha
position and
poetry in the worldly one, and this on account of the fact that,
philosophy
being equated with truth and fiction with goodness (or the good act),
logic
compels one to associate drama with strength and poetry with beauty,
which
stand to truth and goodness (the other two virtues) as alpha and world
to omega
and purgatory, as in the following diagrams:-
DRAMA/FICTION/PHILOSOPHY
(alpha)(purgatory)(omega)
|
|
|
|
|
|
POETRY
(the
world)
STRENGTH/GOODNESS/TRUTH
(alpha)(purgatory)(omega)
|
|
|
|
|
|
BEAUTY
(the
world)
where
it
is evident that poetry, being
associated with beauty, is a thing of the world and, hence, a worldly
form of
literature, in contrast to drama ... as the alpha form of literature par
excellence, on account of its
association with strength, the alpha virtue.
Consequently it could be said that, in theological parlance,
drama is of
the Father, narrative literature of the Son, philosophy of the Holy
Ghost, and
poetry of the Blessed Virgin or, at any rate, each of these forms of
literary
production should be such if pursued on a virtuous as opposed to a
vicious
basis (in which case one would be talking rather more in terms of
weakness,
evil, illusion, and ugliness respectively, as befitting the 'anti'
manifestations of each genre).
116. However,
it has to be admitted that if drama is not always associated with
strength, and
hence pride, it is more likely to be because it has been associated,
rightly or
wrongly, with weakness, and hence humiliation, and is therefore less a
thing of
the alpha Divine (the Father) than of the alpha Diabolic (Satan). The distinction between tragedy and comedy is
largely, it seems to me, one in which the roles of strength and
weakness, or
the strong and the weak, have been reversed, so that, in the first case
(that
of tragedy) the strong are beset by great failings and rendered weak,
whereas
in the second case (that of comedy) the weak are elevated to positions
of
apparent strength by sheer accident or in consequence of a fortuitous
circumstance. The misfortunes of the
strong
are only amusing to us when they are in consequence of the incidental
acts of
the weak, as when a strong man is knocked over by a revolving plank
being
carried by a comparatively weak man who has no knowledge of the effect
of his
actions. But if the strong man is
knocked over as a consequence of the premeditated acts of other strong
men or
even of several weak men acting in conjunction, we are in the realm of
tragedy,
about which there is nothing funny. One
could argue that if the Devil unwittingly gets the better of God, we
are in the
realm of comedy. But if God gets the
better of Himself or is consciously worsted by the Devil, then we are
in the
realm of tragedy, from which comedy is a diabolical fall.
117. Whether
one chooses to speak or write in religious terminology, viz. hell,
purgatory,
heaven, and the world, or in scientific terminology, viz. naturalism,
materialism, idealism, and realism, or in political terminology, viz.
right,
centre, left, and moderate, or in ideological terminology, viz.
fascism,
anarchism, communism, and transcendentalism, will to some extent
obviously
depend upon the personal or professional bent of the individual and to
some
extent upon the suitability of whatever terminology to the context in
question,
be it religious, political, ideological, or scientific.
However, it would be wrong to suppose, as
some writers have done, that the use of terms like naturalism,
materialism, and
idealism (which are scientific) is more applicable to contemporary life
than
terms such as hell, purgatory, and heaven (which are religious), given
that,
quite apart from the fact that we do not live in a scientific age but
in a
political one, both sets of terms stretch from alpha to omega, and if,
for
example, 'heaven' is less good or relevant than 'idealism' from a
contemporary
- though in point of fact scientific - standpoint, then so must
'naturalism' be
less relevant than 'hell' from a traditional - though in point of fact
religious - standpoint, bearing in mind the greater applicability of
religious
terminology to alpha contexts. Yet we
can no more limit scientific terminology to omega contexts than limit
religious
terminology to alpha ones, without falling into a logical contradiction
such
that makes 'idealism' more acceptable in the one context and 'hell'
more
acceptable in the other, granted that 'heaven' is inferior to
'idealism' in the
omega context and 'naturalism' to 'hell' in the alpha one.
118. However,
notwithstanding the fact that scientific terminology has less
applicability to
omega contexts than ideological terminology like communism,
transcendentalism,
socialism, etc., we have to concede that, by and large, each of the
terminological frameworks is interchangeable, and that we can no more
limit
ideology to 'communism' than, say, science to 'realism', politics to
'centrism', or religion to 'hell'.
Ideological terminology is obviously more applicable to an
ideological
context (omega) than religious terminology would be, but this does not
mean
that religious terms like heaven should be confined solely to religious
contexts (alpha) and not extend into an ideological age, else there
would be no
point in regarding the Trinity as successive in an alpha-to-omega
sense, and
therefore no justification for conceiving of heaven in an omega as
opposed to a
purely alpha context. However, I am
obliged to confess that, even given my own fairly liberal use of
religious
terminology in the past, an ideological terminology is indubitably more
applicable to an ideological age than ... religious or scientific or
political
terminologies, and should accordingly be used in preference to them. Certainly it is better to speak in terms of
the post-Human Millennium than of 'Heaven on Earth' or 'Kingdom Come'
or 'Kingdom
of Heaven', where the future ideological society is concerned; though,
alas,
old habits die hard and few of us can lay claim to total immunity in
this
respect! Even terms like 'salvation',
'paradise', and 'divine' are essentially religious.... Personally, my
own view
of religious terminology is that, while largely alpha orientated, it
has also
been used (by proto-ideologues) to intimate of ideological possibility
and has
therefore assumed, in the course of evolutionary time, an omega
connotation
whether or not we approve of the fact.
However, such a connotation can only pale to insignificance
beside the
burgeoning sense of ideology which the age has engendered, behoving us
to speak
ideologically rather than religiously, and to regard terminological
excesses of
the religious order as a mode of Western decadence.
119. It is
wrong to assume, as I was formerly inclined to, that doing and being
are
antithetical, as between alpha and omega, when, in point of fact, doing
is both
alpha and omega, depending on the type of doing in question,
and being,
contrary to appearances, is of the world, which is to say a bodily
condition of
sentient beings which may be positive or negative, as when we speak of
wellbeing on the one hand and of being ill or sick on the other hand. Fundamentally, being has no other reality
than that, and to ascribe to it some kind of divine or omega-oriented
significance is to confound the real with the ideal and mistake the
world for
the Beyond. If being has an antithesis,
it is not doing but existence, which stands to being as the moon to the
earth,
or materialism to realism. For existence
is without sentience, a mechanical or otherwise technological
phenomenon which
can be either positive or negative, depending on its condition, whether
for
good or bad, functioning or malfunctioning, and existence is flanked,
as it
were, by negative doing on the one side and by positive doing on the
other, as
in the following by-now familiar T-like diagram:-
NEGATIVE
DOING/EXISTENCE/POSITIVE
DOING
|
|
|
|
|
|
BEING
where
existence
is shown in a kind of
middle-ground light in between the alpha of negative doing and the
omega of
positive doing, each of which, like existence and being, is divisible
into
divine and diabolic or, as I should say, idealistic and naturalistic
alternatives, corresponding to wavicles and particles on both proton
(alpha)
and electron (omega) terms. Thus
idealistic negative doing (proton wavicles) will be a
doing-against-oneself, an
introverted form of self-assertion, whereas naturalistic negative doing
(proton
particles) will be a doing-against-others, an extroverted form of
self-assertion. By contrast, idealistic
positive doing (electron wavicles) will be a doing-for-oneself, an
introverted
form of self-realization, whereas naturalistic positive doing (electron
particles) will be a doing-for-others, an extroverted form of
self-realization.
120. Speaking
in religious terms, one could say that idealistic negative doing is of
the
Father and naturalistic negative doing of the Devil, whilst idealistic
positive
doing is of the Holy Spirit and naturalistic positive doing of the
Antispirit
(Marxism), in contrast to the positive existence of the Son and the
negative
existence of the Antichrist, the positive being (wellbeing) of the
Blessed
Virgin and the negative being (malbeing) of the Antivirgin (condition
of
pregnancy). However that may be, it
should be clear that the 'heavenly' condition, conceived in regard to
the omega
absolute, would be a condition of idealistic positive doing, of
electrons in
perpetual attraction, and thus the introverted form of self-realization
taken
to its ultimate point. Rather than a
condition of being, like sentient phenomena, the most idealistic
condition
would be profoundly doing orientated, a centripetal dance of electrons
in
perpetual motion - the ultimate flame.
121. Being
and existence are the positive and negative poles of a 'Christian'
antithesis
between the Blessed Virgin and Christ - Catholicism and Puritanism. Being and existence are alike phenomenal,
except
that whereas being has associations with the sentient, existence is
purely
phenomenal and, hence, largely if not entirely materialistic. This helps to explain the difference between
the Catholic crucifix, which has the figure of Christ, and the
Protestant
crucifix which, by contrast, is purely existential, that is to say,
without
even expiring sentience (in the form of the dying Christ), but wholly
phenomenal and thus, by implication, materialistic.
One could even argue that whereas being has
associations with death-in-life, existence is the life-in-death, the
mechanistic life of phenomena, in contrast to the organic life of
sentient
beings, of which the Blessed Virgin is the principal traditional
religious
symbol in the West. For being is indeed
feminine, like 'Mother Earth', and correlates with time, whereas
existence,
having no gender, is timeless.
122. No
more than it could be said that doing is the antithesis of being, can
it be
said that eternity is the antithesis of time.
For eternity is the essence of doing and therefore not
antithetical to
time but divisible into negative and positive antitheses on both a
divine and a
diabolic basis, which is to say as alpha and omega, the Father/Satan
and the
Holy Spirit/Antispirit. As I have
already intimated, timelessness, the essence of existence, is the
antithesis of
time, whereas time is the essence of being and thus, by implication,
the
world. The antithesis of worldly time is
accordingly purgatorial timelessness, not the heavenly or hellish
eternities
which, by contrast, are their own antitheses - properly theological in
the case
of alpha heaven (central star) and hell (sun), ideological in the case
of the
omega millennia (communist and transcendentalist).
123. Although
film is essentially a divine, or idealistic (light), mode of
communication by
dint of its wavicle essence, it is more usually a superalpha and
therefore
immoral equivalent, especially when taking place within the context of
cinema,
where we are conscious of its projection (from a film projector) onto
the
screen in front. For such a projection
is centrifugal and, consequently, it pertains to the immoral alpha as
opposed
to the moral omega pole of life. Indeed,
even when film is 'redeemed' through transmission via television and/or
video,
which are less centrifugal than centripetal phenomena by dint of
shining
inwardly, as it were, in independence of an external projector of the
type
germane to cinema, it is still fundamentally alpha stemming and thus
less than
truly moral. One could say, in
colloquial parlance, that it is then merely 'the best of a bad job',
since such
a 'redemption' is far from a transvaluation along the lines of an LSD
trip,
whereby artificially-induced visionary experience is internalized and
effectively becomes the Superchristic precondition of true essence
thereafter,
that is to say of a superspiritual meditative experience.
Even video is still essentially superalpha,
though (in relation to cinema film) in a somewhat attenuated and even
apparently omega-oriented way, so that we could be forgiven for
positing a
trinitarian analogue on the basis of cinema - television - video,
reserving to
radio an analogue with the Blessed Virgin on account of its seemingly
feminine
essence as a beautiful darkness (without light) which pertains to the
worldly
realm underneath the heavenly realms of masculine light in the contexts
of
strength (cinema), goodness (television), and truth (video), as in the
following diagram:-
CINEMA/TELEVISION/VIDEO
|
|
|
|
|
|
RADIO
124. However
that may be, film is incapable of true redemption, and film actors
remain
'stars' and thus, by implication, superalpha equivalents in a largely
immoral
world. If there is
a distinction between divine and diabolic films, as, for example,
in regard to romance and horror, it is more likely to be on the basis
of the
former being light (within an alpha strength context) and the latter
the
light-aside of heat, which is to say something analogous to the light
from an
electric fire as opposed to an electric-light bulb as such, and
therefore
subordinate or, depending on your standpoint, inferior to music in the
purely
diabolic context. Certainly, negative
music like hard rock will be more genuinely diabolic than negative
film, like a
horror movie, and thus the heat (emotional) essence of the context in
question. Conversely, alpha divine music
like trad jazz will be inferior to film in the divine context, since
only the
heat-aside of the light essence of the context in question, like the
heat from
a light bulb. (Strictly speaking, the literal heat-aside to film light
is of
course film music, while the literal light-aside to music heat - at any
rate
where rock concerts and the like are concerned - is a light show,
though for
analogical and academic reasons I have distinguished 'light' music from
heat
music, and 'heat' film from light film on the above basis, in order to
clarify
the basic moral differences which I believe do in fact exist between
them.)
125. However,
neither film nor music can attain to or be extended into the truly
divine realm
of internal essence, which is omega as opposed to alpha and therefore
beyond
the phenomenal reach of each. The
Superchristic revolution to come will be neither filmic nor musical but
pharmaceutical,
availing itself of artificially-induced visionary (and auditory)
experience as
a precondition of truly supernoumenal essence in the superspiritual
Beyond. If film-viewing is of the State,
then LSD-tripping can only pertain to the Centre, and there will be as
much
difference between the two as with regard to Christ and the Father or,
transposed into institutional terminology, the Church and the Temple. The centrifugal immorality of 'film stars'
will be eclipsed by the centripetal morality or, at any rate, positive
amorality of hallucinogenic supermen ... preparatory to the eclipse of
all
appearances, even internalized ones, by the centripetal morality of the
meditating supra-men, whose omega orientation will be as unequivocal as
it is
possible to be on such terms ... before cyborg-to-millennial
progressions
repeat the process and 'up the stakes' to a degree beyond human
comprehension.
126. Although,
like rock, jazz is fundamentally alpha stemming and therefore immoral,
it can
be redeemed to the extent that solo playing takes over from and
replaces
ensemble playing. For in relation to the
latter, solo playing is individualistic and therefore centralist as
opposed
(like the collectivism of ensemble playing) to decentralist and, hence,
immoral. No art form can become truly
omega orientated and thus essential, but it can be made less alpha
stemming and
apparent ... to the extent that individual tendencies eclipse
collective ones
and pitch accordingly predominates over rhythm - that alpha of
contemporary
music.
127. In music,
the juxtaposition of decadent bourgeois (more specifically
petty-bourgeois)
trends with barbarous proletarian trends usually takes the form of
overly
rhythmic classical music on the one hand and overly rhythmic rock music
on the
other - the former acoustic and the latter electric.
In economics, this juxtaposition of bourgeois
and proletarian alternatives takes the form of popular capitalism, or a
wider
distribution of shares on the one hand, and popular socialism, or
literal
ownership of the means of production at any given factory by the
workers
themselves on the other hand. However,
just as the 'redemption' of rock music can only come via pitch-oriented
solos
of a jazzy nature (and thus effectively on the basis of jazz-rock), so
the
'redemption' of popular socialism can only be achieved on the basis of
State
Socialism, which centralizes the proletarian ownership of the means of
production and accordingly replaces Marxian anarchy - or the chaos that
would
ensue in the wake of too literal an interpretation of worker ownership
of the
means of production - with a sort of Leninist control.
Yet this, like jazz-rock (its musical
equivalent), is no more than 'the best of a bad job' and, hence, a
redeemed
barbarism. For until a transvaluation is
established on the basis of Centre trusteeship, the People will
continue to be
burdened, if only in theory, with economic sovereignty and thus fall
short of
being saved from the State ... to a religious sovereignty which will
transcend
all lower sovereignties, including the political and judicial, and so
bring
about the 'Kingdom of Heaven' on a Superchristic and, hence, positive
amoral
basis - the basis of institutionalized tripping as a precondition of
institutionalized meditating in the purely moral phase thereafter,
analogous to
a switch from rock-jazz (not to be confounded with jazz-rock) to pure
jazz, as
amoral synthesizer absolutism is superseded by moral synthesizer
absolutism,
and the rhythmic element hitherto integral to the rock-jazz context is
effectively consigned to the rubbish heap of musical history, there to
languish
alongside LSD and Social Transcendentalism.
For of course the amoral transvaluation commensurate with Centre
trusteeship and rock-jazz is Social Transcendentalist, and this
Superchristic ideology
should be transcended by its supertheocratic successor in the purely
moral, and
hence superspiritual, phase of the 'Kingdom of Heaven', when the Holy
Spirit,
as it were, will be the presiding norm, and truly essential criteria
accordingly prevail.
128. But
long before Social Transcendentalism is superseded by
Supertranscendentalism,
Transcendental Socialism, or the centralized and hence 'civilized'
barbarism of
Marxism-Leninism (and its jazz-rock counterpart), will have to be
consigned to
the rubbish heap of ideological history, since a redeemed immorality,
whether
filmic, musical, economic, political, or whatever, is still an obstacle
to
Superchristic progress, and must be overcome if civilization is finally
to
emerge in a positive amoral guise. Verily,
‘the best of a bad job', namely Transcendental Socialism, will have to
be
consigned to the rubbish heap of history before progress from 'the
worst of a
good job', namely Social Transcendentalism, towards 'the best of a good
job',
namely Super-transcendentalism, can be anticipated.
That is the dialectical struggle to come, and
if omega is to achieve a victory over alpha, state socialism,
jazz-rock, and
televideos will have to be eclipsed by centre trusteeship, rock-jazz,
and LSD
tripping. For such is the Superchristic
precondition of true morality in the purely essential phase of the
omega '
129. Just
as we can speak, on an elemental basis, of contemporary music or, if
you will,
supermusic ascending from pop to jazz via rock and soul ... as from
earth to
air via water and fire or, alternatively, from realism to idealism via
materialism and naturalism, so it should be possible to speak of such
an
ascension in connection with the division of musical instruments into
string,
keyboard, percussion, and wind families, beginning with strings as the
earth/realistic equivalent, continuing up the elemental spectra to
keyboards as
the water/materialistic equivalent, continuing still further to
percussion
instruments as the fire/naturalistic equivalent, and culminating with
wind as
the air/idealistic equivalent, so that our ascension in some sense
parallels
the pop-rock-soul-jazz progression referred to above, and should
likewise
correlate with wilful, intellectual, soulful, and spiritual options,
depending
on the instrument family/type of supermusic in question.
130. Furthermore,
it should be no less possible to distinguish between an alpha-stemming
and an
omega-oriented subdivision of each instrument family on the basis of a
reactive/attractive dichotomy, so that the string family, for instance,
will be
divisible not simply in terms of violin, viola, 'cello, and double
bass, but,
more comprehensively, in terms of plucked instruments of one kind or
another on
the one hand, i.e. the alpha-stemming reactive subdivision, and
bowed
instruments of one kind or another on the other hand, i.e. the
omega-oriented attractive
subdivision, given the reactive/attractive distinction which
unquestionably
exists between plucking and bowing. Thus
guitars will pertain to the former category and violins, violas,
'cellos, and
double basses to the latter, though both categories would be alike
wilful, or
biased towards the will, granted the earthly and realistic nature of
stringed
instruments vis-à-vis the other instrument families, a nature which
accords
with a worldly and, hence, bodily status as opposed, say, to a
purgatorial and,
hence, cranial one - as applicable to the keyboard family.
131. For
keyboards are encased, as a rule, and thereby resemble the brain and
its
skull. Although, once again, we have to
distinguish between reactive and attractive alternatives (almost on the
basis
of an old-brain/new-brain dichotomy), if we are to do adequate justice
to the
alpha-stemming/omega-oriented subdivisions of this instrument family. Now it is my belief that those keyboard
instruments which, like the xylophone and vibraphone, require to be
played with
sticks ... appertain to the former category, while those which, like
the piano and
organ, are played with fingers ... appertain to the latter one, and
never more
so than when played with the sustain pedal, which creates a legato
sound the
essence of which should be rather more attractive - and watery - than
reactive. Indeed, it seems to me that
the piano is less omega orientated than balanced between alpha-stemming
reactive and omega-oriented attractive options, given the damper-pedal
alternative which, as anyone familiar with piano music will know,
creates a
staccato sound that, on account of its brittle nature, is rather more
reactive
than attractive - in fact, almost percussive when used in conjunction
with
rhythmic playing.
132. However
that may be, we can and, I believe, should distinguish between keyboard
instruments on the above basis, while reserving for each category,
whether
reactive or attractive, a correlation with water and materialism, the
very
correlation which would indicate an intellectual (as opposed to a
wilful)
standing, in accordance with the purgatorial, and hence cranial, nature
of this
particular instrument family, a family especially congenial to
intellectuals.
133. Likewise,
the division of percussion instruments into alpha-stemming reactive and
omega-oriented attractive categories can be achieved less on the basis
of a
sticks/brush dichotomy - though that obviously has some relevance -
than with
regard to distinctions between one type of percussion instrument and
another,
especially in relation to what could be termed traditional drum-like
instruments, or drums, and the more recent block-like electronic
instruments. Now it is my belief that
while the former are alpha stemming and reactive, the latter will be
omega
orientated and attractive, as though indicative of a
centrifugal/centripetal
distinction. However, both categories of
percussion instrument warrant a correlation with fire and naturalism,
the very
correlation which will indicate a soulful (as opposed to an
intellectual)
standing, in accordance with the diabolic,
and hence particle-mind, nature of percussion.
134. But
if the percussion family is usually congenial to 'soul devils', then
the wind
family above will have especial appeal to 'spirit gods', and it is my
belief
that the division of this family into brass and woodwind categories is
largely
symptomatic of the kind of alpha/omega dichotomy we have been
discussing, with,
for instance, saxophones especially significant of the reactive
category and,
by contrast, clarinets no less significant of the attractive one, since
the
former have a centrifugal design whereas the latter are more
centripetal, as
befitting an omega orientation. However,
irrespective of their shape and material construction, all wind
instruments
should be correlated with air and idealism, which would indicate a
spiritual
(as opposed to a soulful) standing, in accordance with the divine, and hence wavicle-mind, nature of wind, the
ultimate instrument family in the ascension of musical instruments from
earth
to air, and one having especial applicability to jazz - that
divinely-biased
type of contemporary music or, rather, supermusic, whether with regard
to alpha
or omega, the Father or the Holy Spirit or, indeed, to some Christ-like
compromise in between the two absolute extremes, for which the flute
might well
be the most appropriate wind instrument.
135. However
that may be, it will not have escaped the reader that virtually all
instruments
and instrument families can be synthesized and thereby lifted above
their
individual standings towards a more uniformly collective and
homogeneous
status. One could argue that such a
procedure parallels the drift from nationalism towards internationalism
in
politics, and that, whilst it is preferable to the unsynthesized, there
is
accordingly still scope for a further convergence from the Many to the
One, as
it were, and thus towards a supra-national parallel which, in music,
should
take the form of an ultimate synthesizer - a synthesizer that is no
mere
adjunct to a given instrument, but a totally transcendent phenomenon
which
eclipses the traditional instrument families in the interests of a
unitary
perfection the ultimate aim of which is the most omega-oriented and
attractive
mode of divinely-biased supermusic.
136. Where
formerly I thought of synthesized guitars and violins as somehow more
omega
orientated than their unsynthesized counterparts, I now believe that
the
addition of a synthesizer dimension to each instrument makes it rather
more
middle ground than would otherwise be the case, since the dimension in
question
is a common denominator which, in a manner of speaking, can only bring
both
types of instruments closer together on a largely amoral basis - the
synthesized guitar from alpha immoral (electric guitar) to
alpha-stemming
amoral, the synthesized violin from omega moral (electric violin) to
omega-oriented amoral. In fact, it seems
to me that a parallel exists between the above and television on the
one hand
and LSD trips on the other, with television (or video) paralleling the
electric
guitar and 'trippy' TV (or video) paralleling the synthesized guitar,
but LSD
trips paralleling the synthesized violin and transcendental meditation
paralleling the electric violin, so that 'trippy' TV and LSD trips are
no-less
amorally contiguous in relation to straight television and
transcendental
meditation respectively, than the aforementioned synthesized guitars
and
violins in relation to their purely electric counterparts, straight
television
(or video) being no less immoral in relation to 'trippy' TV ... than
electric
guitars in relation to synthesized ones, and, conversely,
transcendental
meditation being no less moral in relation to LSD trips than electric
violins
in relation to synthesized ones - theories which lead me to the
conclusion that
whereas the most appropriate instrument to listen to when tripping
would be the
synthesized violin, the most appropriate instrument to listen to when
meditating would be the electric violin (although it has to be restated
that
neither guitars nor violins, whether synthesized or not, are strictly
'head'
instruments, but largely bodily in relation to wind instruments on the
one
hand, and to wind-emulating synthesizers on the other hand).
137. Further
to the above, one should distinguish between acoustic guitars and
violins as
naturalistic alpha and omega 'bodily' instruments, and electric guitars
and
violins as artificial alpha and omega 'bodily' instruments. For the acoustic/electric distinction is
nothing less than that between naturalistic tradition and artificial
modernity,
and instruments suitable for one type of music are emphatically not
suitable
for another! It would be - and, indeed,
is - no less illogical to use acoustic instruments in, say, pop or rock
music
than to use electric ones in, say, folk or classical music.
138. War
is to autocracy what sport is to democracy - modes of competition in
the one
case lethal and in the other case non-lethal.
For whereas war corresponds to a proton absolute of death and
destruction, sport, its democratic extrapolation, corresponds to an
atomic
relativity wherein the competitive essence of protons is mitigated and
to some
extent transmuted by the co-operative essence of electrons. The more autocratic the society, the more
prone it will be to war, and, conversely, the more democratic the
society, the
more partial it will be to sport. War is
immoral and sport amoral, and in a truly closed society orientated
towards the
goal of omega transcendence ... neither war nor sport would exist. Eclipse autocracy, in both natural
(monarchic) and artificial (presidential) contexts, and you transcend
war. Eclipse democracy, in both natural
(parliamentary) and artificial (republican) contexts, and you transcend
sport. A society which has been saved
from both war and sport is truly theocratic or, rather, supertheocratic
... to
the extent that it is concerned not with worship (of the alpha), but
with
self-realization (in the omega).
139. It
could be said that in the twentieth century the star eclipsed the
cross, though
the star in question was not the alpha star of an unequivocally
centrifugal
character, but what (in relation to my philosophy) could be called the
alpha-in-the-omega star of centripetal compromise, which differs from
the
absolutely immoral star to the degree and in much the same way that
new-brain
rulers (presidents) differ from old-brain ones (monarchs).
That said, we need be in no doubt that the
contemporary star is not an end-in-itself but the final manifestation,
barring
amoral compromises, of an immoral tendency which must some day be
challenged by
the omega cross, which will bring the moral to a head in an
unequivocally
centripetal way, contrasting with the omega-in-the-alpha cross of
Christian
precedent ... to the extent and in much the same way that new-brain
spiritual
leaders (transcendentalists) contrast with old-brain spiritual leaders
(priests). Thus not only will the Y-like
emblem of this
unequivocally centripetal cross supersede the contemporary star, it
will
replace the traditional cross in the name of ultimate morality and the
coming
to pass of the omega '
140. The modern
bottle, with its centripetal tapering and ribbed cap, corresponds to
the modern
star, as a relatively immoral phenomenon equivalent to
alpha-in-the-omega, in
contrast to the (modern) can which, given its largely phallic
connotations,
effectively corresponds to the supercross as an absolutely moral
phenomenon
equivalent to the omega of centripetal-tending idealism.
Over against the alpha-stemming immorality of
drinking straight from the bottle or the omega-oriented morality of
drinking
straight from the can, one can posit as alpha-stemming amorality the
drinking
of liquid refreshment from a bottle via a glass, but as omega-oriented
amorality the drinking of liquid refreshment from a can via a glass, so
that we
have here, as in other contexts, two types of amorality in between the
contemporary immoral and moral extremes.
Now if, as I firmly believe, immorality is naturalistic and
morality
idealistic, then the alpha-stemming amorality will be realistic and the
omega-oriented
amorality materialistic, given the fact that realism succeeds
naturalism in
devolutionary terms, while materialism precedes idealism in
evolutionary terms,
as in the following diagram, which, true to the T-like structure used
hitherto,
should adequately illustrate this point:-
BOTTLE/GLASS-CAN/CAN
(naturalism)(materialism)(idealism)
|
|
|
|
|
|
BOTTLE-GLASS
(realism)
and
on
the basis of a parallel with, say,
Father - Son - Holy Ghost above and the Blessed Virgin below, or,
alternatively, Hell - Purgatory - Heaven above and the World below.
141. However
that may be, the fact of artificial alpha immorality - omega
morality/alpha
amorality - omega amorality confirms and transcends the tradition of a
naturalistic parallel to the above, with, for example, decanters and
kegs in
the alpha and omega positions, but large or more relative glasses (with
handle)
in the amoral positions in between. Now
it is my view that whereas drinking from a decanter, or large corked
bottle,
corresponds to alpha immorality, the use of a keg will correspond to
omega-in-the-alpha, and thus to a relatively moral tendency. Liquid poured into a glass from either
extreme will, of course, confirm an amoral standing relative to
naturalistic
tradition as opposed to artificial modernity.
Thus whereas the amorality associated with cans has a pop
connotation,
the amorality associated with kegs can only have a folk connotation, as
germane
to the traditional pub. Similar, albeit
alpha-stemming, distinctions will also apply to the naturalistic and
artificial
types of amorality in relation to their associations with bottles or
decanters.
142. They
speak of 'the sin of Onan', but masturbation is only 'sinful', or
immoral, when
conducted on the centrifugal basis of ejaculation into 'thin air', with
or
without - though these days usually with - the aid of a sex magazine. Such masturbation is fascistic and contrasts
absolutely with what may be termed moral masturbation (more
specifically,
stimulation), or recourse to a vaginal sex gadget such that establishes
a
centripetal context suitable for use with a sex video, a no-less
centripetal
medium of photographic reproduction, and one that, given an
ideologically
correct subject-matter, will permit of a communistic alternative to the
blatantly centrifugal, and hence immoral, mode of masturbation. Therefore since masturbation conducted in
conjunction with photographic stimuli is idealistic in relation to
other and
lower types of sexuality, including heterosexual realism and homosexual
materialism,
we have alpha and omega absolutes in the above-mentioned antithesis,
absolutes
which flank the relativities of bodily sex on both immorally fascistic
and
morally communistic terms, and if the world is destined to be eclipsed,
and
everything alpha stemming be consigned to the rubbish heap of history,
then
only moral sex will prevail ... on both idealistic (video) and
naturalistic
(inflatable) terms, though especially with regard to the former in the
divine
contexts of a supertheocratic resolve.
143. One
should distinguish between flounced dresses (which are effectively
centrifugal)
and tapered dresses (which are effectively centripetal) as alpha and
alpha-in-the-omega, which is to say, as paralleling or appertaining to
two
types of autocracy - the monarchic autocracy of royalist tradition and
the
presidential autocracy of hard-line republican modernity, while
reserving for
both flounced and tapered skirts an alpha-stemming amoral status
relative to
the alpha and alpha-in-the-omega distinctions described above. Thus it should be apparent, if this theory is
valid, that whereas skirts are amoral, dresses will be immoral, whether
absolutely or relatively (depending on the type of dress in question,
i.e.
flounced or tapered), and that dresses can no more be limited to the
traditional alpha context than skirts ... to the contemporary worldly
one. Both dresses and skirts can be either
traditional or contemporary, which is to say absolutely immoral/amoral
on the
one hand, that of the alpha, and relatively immoral/amoral on the other
hand,
that of the alpha-in-the-omega, with centrifugal and centripetal
distinctions,
irrespective of their lengths. For we
can no more regard a short flounced dress as strictly contemporary, in
the
relatively immoral sense I have attached to that term, than regard a
long
tapered dress as traditional, in the absolutely immoral sense of a
centrifugal
implication appropriate to naturalistic autocracy.
To revert to our monarchic/presidential
analogue, which is applicable to the traditional and contemporary (or
naturalistic and artificial) distinctions in question, the short
flounced dress
will parallel an autocratic devolution on the monarchic side, whereas
the long
tapered dress will parallel the most undevolved, and hence dictatorial,
of
presidential autocracies. It is not
length but style which is the clue to the moral nature of any given
dress or
skirt, and although naturalistic tradition will generally favour long
dresses
and/or skirts and, by contrast, artificial modernity their shorter
counterparts, the crucial moral determinant is whether we have a
centrifugal or
a centripetal distinction between them such that reflects the different
immoral
and amoral natures of alpha and alpha-in-the-omega.
144. It is
my belief that the existence in Israel at the time of writing of but
one
television channel signifies a contemporary parallel to the historical
traditions of Judaic monotheism, and that such one-channel TV is as
morally
superior - albeit within the necessarily circumscribed context of
'external
heavens' - to the multichannel TV, for example, of the Western world
... as
Judaic monotheism vis-à-vis the pagan polytheism of the ancient world,
to which
the superalpha idealism of television channels would appear to offer a
contemporary parallel. Thus whereas
America, the most 'superpolytheistic' nation on earth, stands at one
extreme,
with its multichannel TV, Israel, the most 'supermonotheistic' nation
on earth,
stands at the other - an exponent of single-channel TV and, hence,
moral
exemplar within the framework of superalpha idealism.
However, should superomega idealism
eventually come to pass, if only on the comparatively amoral basis of a
Superchristic 'internal heaven' initially, there can be little doubt
that its
insistence on the one drug, viz. LSD, will follow from a deeply-held
conviction
regarding the moral sanctity of 'supermonotheistic' idealism.
145. Whereas
the open-neck shirt is alpha when of the short-sleeved variety and
alpha-in-the-omega when of the more contemporary long-sleeved variety,
the former
shirt worn with a cravat is of a negative amoral status in the alpha
(naturalistic) context, and the latter one worn with a T-shirt
underneath (in
the American manner) is of a negative amoral status in the
alpha-in-the-omega
(artificial) context, so that we have a parallel, emblematically
speaking, with
contiguously encircled stars as opposed to stars which stand alone in
either
absolutely (naturalistic) immoral or relatively (artificial) immoral
fashion,
and which therefore parallel the purely open-neck types of shirt. Now, doubtless, whilst it is morally
preferable for collar shirts to be done-up at the neck in a strictly
middle-ground amoral fashion, the collar shirt worn in conjunction with
a
T-shirt is no-less morally preferable, from a contemporary standpoint,
to the
bare open-collar shirt ... than contiguously encircled stars to plain
ones, and
is thus less immoral to the extent that it is relatively amoral, or of
an
alpha-stemming amoral standing.
146. Now
what applies to shirts in the contemporary 'presidential' context
should apply
no less to those of a more traditional, or 'monarchic', nature, where
we will
be distinguishing between the presence or absence of cravats in
relation,
strictly speaking, to short-sleeved collar shirts, though also
effectively in
relation to long-sleeved shirts the sleeves of which have been rolled
up. In contrast to the immoral and
negative
amoral contexts cited above, we can posit as positively amoral those
collarless, and hence implicitly centripetal, T-shirts which have
buttons, and
the buttons of which will be left underdone by their wearers ... in a
sort of
sartorial parallel to what could be termed the military supercross, the
supercross which is not contiguously encircled but free-standing - Y -
in
amoral opposition to the star, and from this to the moral or
contiguously
encircled supercross is but a short step, one paralleling that from
button
T-shirts to their more centripetal, and hence buttonless, counterparts.
147. In
fact, taking both alpha and omega alternatives into account, it is
clear that
we have three options either side of the moral divide, viz. bare
open-necked
collar shirt, open-necked collar shirt worn in conjunction with a
T-shirt, and
collar shirt done-up at the neck on the one hand, effectively that of
the star,
but open-necked button T-shirt, button T-shirt done-up at the neck, and
buttonless T-shirt on the other hand, effectively that of the
supercross. Thus in between the immoral
and moral extremes
of the open-necked collar shirt and the buttonless T-shirt come two
opposing
types of amoral middle-ground, viz. militant and civil, and while the
open-necked collar shirt worn in conjunction with a T-shirt and the
open-necked
button T-shirt will be of the militant varieties of amoral
middle-ground, the
collar shirt done-up at the neck and the button T-shirt also done-up at
the
neck can only be of the civil varieties of amoral middle-ground,
varieties
which have their emblematic parallels no less than each of the extreme
moral
positions.
148. Generally
I speak of supercross and star rather than of supercross and superstar,
and
this is because, to my mind (which is finely attuned to the distinction
between
devolutionary and evolutionary extremes ... as pertaining to alpha and
omega
respectively), the contemporary star corresponds to alpha-in-the-omega
as
opposed to alpha and is thus a more devolved type of star than cosmic
stars,
which of course are primal, and hence 'super', in relation to their
'humanized'
lesser brothers, much as traditional absolute monarchs would appear
'super' in
relation to latter-day presidents, with their comparatively mundane and
constitutional status. Thus because I
see the primal star as 'super', it behoves me to regard the
contemporary and,
in some sense, relative star in a more down-to-earth light, such that
contrasts
with the absolute status of 'superstars'.
Likewise, the cross is morally relative in relation to the
projected
'supercross' of my ideological integrity, since it corresponds to
omega-in-the-alpha as opposed to omega, and therefore is not only more
down-to-earth, and hence mundane, but weaker vis-à-vis the star, since
the star
to which it forms an antithesis is less the contemporary star (which,
in any
case, has overhauled it in a great many countries) than the
traditional, or
primal, star, the 'superstar' of pagan precedent, and the Son is
forever
enslaved to the Father. Such enslavement
will not apply, however, to the supercross vis-à-vis the star; for the
supercross
is effectively of the Holy Spirit, which is absolute, whereas the
contemporary
star, with its tapering relativity, is of an antichristic 'Father'
(Marx) much
less pure and certain of himself than the primal Father from which
worldly
devolution sprang. This contemporary
star may have the appearance of great power, but its essence is
twisted, and
the pure essence that will be brought to bear on it will have all the
potential
for certainty of the ultimate absolute behind it, the omega absolute
which
alone can overcome and eventually consign to the rubbish heap of
history all
alpha-in-the-omega stars and their relatively immoral/amoral autocratic
offspring.
149. No
less than we can distinguish between centrifugal and centripetal
attire,
whether male or female, on the basis of a naturalistic/artificial
dichotomy, so
a distinction can be drawn between those who have sex in a horizontal
position
and those, by contrast, who have it vertically, with corresponding
correlations
between the way a person dresses and the most appropriate mode of
heterosexual
intercourse. In other words, not only
will a certain type of feminine or masculine attire - a dress, say, in
the case
of females and an open-neck shirt in the case of males - be
correlative, on a
moral or ideological basis, with either an horizontal or a vertical
approach to
sex (depending whether a centrifugal or a centripetal bias is
preponderant),
but each kind of correlative attire will have a corresponding type of
intercourse, as I hope to demonstrate in the following pages. Take, for example, short-sleeved open-neck
shirts and flounced dresses, the alpha kinds of masculine and feminine
attire par
excellence. Not only am I prepared to
contend that a
female in a flounced dress is more likely to be fancied or found
acceptable by
a man in a short-sleeved open-collar shirt than by one in, say, a
T-shirt, but
that only such a man is logically entitled to fancy or
find her
acceptable, and that, being effectively autocratic, and hence
absolutist in a
centrifugal way, he will be entitled and, indeed, morally required to
mount the
woman in question from behind in a context of horizontal copulation. For a man who regularly dresses in such a
fashion but either does not like or respond to women who wear flounced
dresses
... is sartorially illogical, and if, in addition to this, he does not
regularly mount women or, at any rate, his particular woman from behind
in a
horizontal position, he is sexually illogical or, at the very least,
inconsistent. For that is precisely the
way in which a woman who dresses in a flounced dress should be
mounted,
and logic compels me to affirm that the man most entitled to have sex
in such a
way with such a woman is precisely the one who dresses in a
short-sleeved
open-collar shirt. Thus, strictly
speaking, it could be argued that the man who doesn't dress in such a
manner
but in some other more civilized fashion ... has absolutely no business
mounting a woman from behind, unless, of course, he happens to be more
an
alpha-in-the-omega type than an alpha type of shirt-wearer, in which
case his
long-sleeved open-collar shirt should logically dispose him to women in
tapered
dresses who both require and deserve to be vertically mounted from
behind, in
accordance with the more contemporary, and hence artificial, criteria
of
alpha-in-the-omega. That said, I must
progress to the relativity of 'democratic' as opposed to 'autocratic'
heterosexual intercourse, where we are less concerned with the
absolutism of
unidirectional copulation (stomach-to-back of male and female partners)
than
with the relativity of bidirectional copulation (stomach-to-stomach of
male and
female partners), and it is my firm contention that whereas women who
dress in
flounced skirts should be mounted on a stomach-to-stomach basis by men
who wear
cravats, those, by contrast, who wear tapered skirts deserve to be
mounted in
an upright stomach-to-stomach posture by men whose sartorial norm is
rather
more T-shirt under long-sleeved open-neck shirt. Conversely,
it
could be argued from a
positive amoral point-of-view that women who wear trousers (not jeans)
should
be on top in a stomach-to-stomach heterosexual relativity, and on top
of males
the collars of whose short-sleeved shirts will
normally be done-up at the neck, whereas women who wear cord
jeans
deserve to be sexually assertive in an upright stomach-to-stomach
posture with
males the collars of whose long-sleeved shirts are normally buttoned-up
at the
neck, since such shirts, both in the naturalistic and artificial
contexts, are
specifically neutral and effectively sexless.
150. However,
from democratic relativity of both right- and left-wing persuasions to
far-left
'democratic' or, more correctly, 'anti-democratic' absolutism ... is
but a
logical step in both horizontal (traditional) and vertical
(contemporary) contexts,
with women in slacks or otherwise tight-fitting trousers requiring, in
the
logical unfolding of my thesis, to be horizontally penetrated from
behind in a
stomach-to-back heterosexual relationship in which the male is
underneath and
the female on top, the latter of whom will be more sexually assertive
within
the necessarily indeterminate (and possibly anal-biased) context of
this
extreme mode of heterosexual copulation, a mode for which males who
dress in
gown-like collarless shirts would logically seem to be the most
appropriate
sartorial candidates. However that may
be, the vertical equivalent of this inevitably pertains not to
omega-in-the-alpha, as with the foregoing extreme, but to the omega of
heterosexual relations, and would suggest the likelihood that the
female will
be sitting on the male and effectively being penetrated from behind or,
rather,
underneath in a stomach-to-back vertical relationship in which, once
again,
sexual indeterminacy (with a possible bias towards anal penetration) is
the prevailing
norm, a norm expressly suited to females who wear tight-fitting denims
and to
males whose sartorial norm happens to be a T-shirt.
(I limit myself to denims and T-shirts
because, quite frankly, they have a bodily correspondence and are thus
suitable
for extreme heterosexual activity, whereas leather pants and muscle
shirts, PVC
pants and vests, are ideologically more extreme and therefore
implicitly
transcend, on their respective ideological terms, the heterosexual
contexts of
bodily sex.) Now if my overall theories
are correct, then it must follow that a person's usual mode of dressing
will
correlate, as I have endeavoured to show, with a particular mode of
sexuality
or approach to heterosexual relations, and that as a person dresses ...
so can he/she
fuck/be fucked. It would be as illogical
for a woman who wears a flounced dress to object to being horizontally
penetrated from behind (in predatory fashion) by a male whose sartorial
norm is
a short-sleeved open-neck shirt ... as for such a male not
to
approach
sex from an autocratic, and hence
absolutist, point of view. Indeed, it
would be no less illogical, and perhaps even more so, for people whose
sartorial norms were markedly different from the above to approach or
demand
sex from that autocratic point of view, one which, judged from the
omega, is
absolutely immoral in the naturalistic, or centrifugal, context, and
relatively
immoral in the artificial, or centripetal, context, as between
monarchic and
presidential extremes ... in psychologies conditioned by the old brain
and the
new brain respectively. A truly
omega-oriented man will no more be capable of penetrating a woman from
behind,
in predatory fashion, than of either fancying a woman in a dress
(flounced or
tapered) or dressing in an open-collar shirt.
He will have his own closed-society moral integrity and stick by
it,
come what may!
151. For
most people, life is either hell or purgatory during the day (depending
on
whether they are employed by others or self-employed), and either the
world or
heaven at night (depending on whether they are playing with another's
body or
with their mind).
152. With
regard to the T-like design of Truth (which we shall continue to hold
in
imagination throughout the following entries), it seems to me that
newspapers
can broadly be classified as bodily in relation to magazines, so that
they
effectively pertain to the foot of the design in question rather than
to its
head, and can thus be regarded as of the World ... as opposed to the
diabolic-purgatorial-divine options above it.
Newspapers, then, are the wordy 'darkness' under the
photographic
'light' of magazines. The 'Virgin' under
the 'Trinity', and are divisible into three basic categories, viz. a
large
quality middle-ground, a tabloid right wing, and a small quality left
wing,
much as we earlier distinguished between cars on the basis of a
four-seater
middle ground, an open-topped two-seater right wing, and an enclosed
two-seater
left wing. For it seems to me that a
correlation can be inferred to exist between large quality newspapers
and
four-seater cars, tabloids and open-topped two-seaters, and small
quality
newspapers and enclosed two-seaters, with similar political or moral
implications in each case, that is to say, with regard to the broadly
amoral,
worldly nature of cars and newspapers, and their subdivisions into
relatively
immoral and moral extremes. However,
from the relative immorality (within the broadly amoral framework) of
open-topped two-seaters and tabloids to the absolute immorality of
scooters and
photographic magazines is no less a step backwards and upwards into
Fascism ...
than the absolute morality of motorbikes and textural magazines is a
step
forwards and upwards into Communism from the relative morality (within
the
broadly amoral framework) of enclosed two-seaters and small quality
newspapers,
since newspapers are flanked by magazines of one kind or another no
less than
cars by scooters and motorbikes, i.e. two-wheeled vehicles of one kind
or
another, both of which extremes (and the magazine ones as well) are of
the
'head' rather than of the 'body'. In
fact, being of the 'head' as opposed to the 'body', it could be said of
magazines no less than of scooters and motorbikes that they are
'masculine'
rather than 'feminine' phenomena, albeit on diametrically antithetical
terms,
as between autocratic and theocratic extremes.
153. However
that may be, we can no more omit the 'democratic' middle-ground in
between the
'head' extremes than we can omit Christ from the Blessed Trinity, and
in
relation to magazines the type of magazine which most seems to accord
with such
an existence will be the one finely balanced between photographic and
textural
extremes in such a way as to suggest an analogue with a moped, the type
of
'head' mode of two-wheeled road transportation which holds a parallel
position,
philosophically speaking, in between the centrifugal and centripetal
extremes
of scooters and motorbikes respectively, and which may therefore be
regarded as
pertaining to the upper pole of the vertical bar of our T-like design
in a sort
of Christic or purgatorial antithesis to its lower pole which, taking
the form
of cars (and especially four-seaters in the strictly neutron
middle-ground),
has a worldly, and hence bodily, status commensurate with the Blessed
Virgin. Indeed, no less than Christ
arose from the Virgin, as Son from Mother, so certain magazines of the
type we
are discussing 'arise' from and gain popularity in conjunction with
newspapers,
particularly those of the large quality middle-ground, and it will be
these
above all others which most accord, it seems to me, with the kind of
'head'
amorality (in between proton and electron extremes, as opposed to
within a
neutron context which may lean in either a proton or an electron
direction, as
it were, depending on whether right- or left-wing bodily options are at
issue)
under consideration in this entry.
154. Now
that I have written the above, I find that whilst I am relatively happy
with
the notion of certain types of magazine 'arising from' and being
published in
conjunction with large quality newspapers, not to mention Christ from
the
'Mother of God', I find that I am less happy with the notion, say, of
mopeds
'arising from' cars, which is the implication of our current analogue. Quite frankly, mopeds are rarely sold in
conjunction with cars, and if they could be said to have arisen from
anywhere
... it would surely have to be from bicycles, which would therefore be
the mode
of road transportation that ties-in not only with mopeds above but, no
less
importantly, with scooters and motorbikes as well, given that they are
all
two-wheeled vehicles. In which case, we
would have to substitute bicycles for cars and accord them a more exact
parallel with newspapers, dividing bicycles, like cars, into three
broad
categories, viz. tourers, racers, and tracksters, with touring bikes in
the
strictly cycling middle-ground position, racing bikes in the right-wing
position (analogous to tabloids), and track bikes in the left-wing
position
(analogous to small quality newspapers), and this on account of the
fact that
whereas racing bikes suggest a centrifugal bias ... relative to their
large
wheels and low curved handlebars, track bikes, by contrast, suggest a
centripetal one ... relative to their more compact wheels and high,
gently
curving handlebars - the former emphasizing a horizontally-biased
riding
posture and the latter a vertically-biased one, as germane to
centrifugal and
centripetal alternatives. Well, if our
new theory is more credible than the one concerning cars in this
context, then
newspapers and bicycles would form a parallel analogue no less than
scooters-mopeds-motorbikes and magazines of one type of another, an
analogue
applicable to our T-like design and having the political and moral
implications
already discussed. Now in this regard,
we could no more equate newspapers with cars than, say, books with
bicycles,
assuming that a similar parallel may be inferred to exist between books
and
cars as we now argue exists between newspapers and bicycles. But what kind of books? And
should
the division between paperbacks
and hardbacks be regarded as paralleling the division between
newspapers and
magazines, or would that be an oversimplification?
Are there, in fact, 'bodily' paperbacks no
less than 'head' hardbacks, and does the size of a book determine its
status as
either 'bodily' or of the 'head', quite apart from the presence or
absence of
photographs and the ratio of words to pictures, or vice versa? Doubtless some of these questions could be
answered in the affirmative, and I, for one, have no trouble in
equating word
books with the 'body' and picture books with the 'head', although the
ratio of
words to pictures, or vice versa, will vary according to whether we are
describing the 'fascist' Far Right or the 'communist' Far Left, not to
mention
some in-between compromise between words and pictures which may well
signify a
sort of 'anarchist' middle-ground head position over the bodily
'liberalism' of
the textual middle-ground, a middle ground that, like newspapers, is no
less
divisible into relative left- and right-wing positions (as described
elsewhere)
either side of itself, so that an analogue with two-seater cars of one
kind or
another can be inferred which, however approximate, will do relative
justice to
the statically amoral nature of the context in question.
Certainly hardbacks can have just as many or
as few pictures as paperbacks, so that we can no more limit pictures,
say, to
paperbacks than photos to magazines, bearing in mind the photographic
bias of
the tabloid press. In general, however,
it will be found that the more photographic and the less textual, the
more
effectively right wing the publication, and if pictorial hardbacks are
extreme right
wing, and hence fascistic, then pictorial paperbacks (analogous to
tabloids)
will be relatively right wing, and hence Conservative or Low Tory. For it seems to me that large hardbacks and
magazines are just as parallel in their respective contexts ... as
paperbacks
and newspapers in theirs, with the implication that whereas the former
are by
and large of the 'head', the latter are 'bodily', and that an analogue
between
large hardbacks of one kind or another and vans would no more be
out-of-place,
in this context, than the one between magazines and
scooters-mopeds-motorbikes
in the other, whilst a parallel analogue between paperbacks and cars of
one
kind or another would no more be out-of-place here than that between
newspapers
and bicycles, as already discussed.
155. But
if hardbacks and vans are no less parallel than paperbacks and cars, we
have
only to decide upon the respective types of hardbacks and vans, or
paperbacks
and cars, to have a credible argument to place alongside the one
concerning the
respective kinds of newspapers/magazines in their relation to
two-wheeled modes
of road transportation. Now, in this
regard, it seems to me that open-topped vans will be extreme Right in
contrast
to enclosed vans, whereas vans or, rather, Land Rovers will be the
'head'
middle-ground in between the van extremes, and therefore signify a sort
of
dynamic amoral phenomenon that could be said to have 'arisen from'
four-seater
cars no less than, say, mopeds from touring bikes or the Sunday
magazine from
its quality newspaper. At any rate, I
have no doubt that Land Rovers are to cars in general what mopeds are
to
bicycles, and that the type of hardback which parallels this will be
finely
balanced between the fascistic and communistic extremes of pictorial
and
textual alternatives, much as the paperback directly beneath it in the
worldly
middle-ground of a 'Catholic' softness will be finely balanced between
the same
extremes within the more relative context of a 'bodily' amorality, one
paralleling that of newspapers vis-à-vis the magazine 'head'.
156. Having
distinguished between newspapers/magazines and paperbacks/hardbacks on
the
above T-like basis, it behoves us to ask the question: What are the
relative
metaphysical, or elemental, standings of the two contexts, and do they
pertain
to the old brain or to the new brain or, indeed, to a combination of
both? Taking the second part of this
question
first, it could be argued that books, being historically older than
newspapers/magazines, pertain to the old brain and are thus effectively
naturalistic or traditional vis-à-vis the artificial or contemporary
status of
newspapers/magazines. But this would be
a rather facile argument, in view of the fact that neither the one nor
the
other context is ultimate, since both contexts have been superseded by
radio/television and computers which, so I shall argue, are germane to
the new
brain rather than to the old one.
Therefore it seems to me that both contexts are essentially
pertinent to
the old brain and thus naturalistic or traditional, as opposed to
artificial or
contemporary. The only difference
between them is that whereas newspapers/magazines, being journalistic,
are
collective and intensive (informative), paperbacks/hardbacks, being
literary,
are individualistic and extensive (narrative), with the implication of
a
particle/wavicle dichotomy between the two contexts.
Hence the paperback/hardback context is
morally superior to the newspaper/magazine one, and on the basis of a
world/heaven or earth/air as opposed to a purgatory/hell or water/fire
polarity, since the paperback/hardback T-like distinctions pertain to
realistic
and idealistic wavicles, while the newspaper/magazine T-like
distinctions
pertain to materialistic and naturalistic particles, as befitting the
respective natures, for example, of literature and journalism. To descend from the abstract metaphysical
realm to the concrete physical realm, it could be said that if one
finds the
idea of a woman reading a book, particularly a paperback, easier to
accommodate
than that of one reading a newspaper, it is probably because the former
is
effectively more germane to the feminine than the latter, even if, in
its own
context, the newspaper is also worldly and therefore germane to the
feminine,
albeit in a particle and, hence, fallen sort of way, such that would
appeal
more to Liberals than to Catholics.
157. However
that may be, I have no doubt that while the paperback/hardback context
is
inherently superior to the newspaper/magazine one, both alike are of
the old
brain and therefore naturalistic in relation to the more contemporary
contexts
of radio/television and computers, which are their new-brain
counterparts, and
counterparts which, likewise, can be divided, from one another, on a
T-like
basis - in other words, with a sort of worldly and, hence, 'bodily'
middle-ground (analogous to the Blessed Virgin) and a
diabolic-purgatorial-divine trinity (analogous to the Blessed Trinity)
of
competing 'head' alternatives above it.
Taking the radio/television context first, I should like to
argue that
radio pertains to the 'bodily' middle-ground in a sort of new-brain
parallel to
paperbacks, whereas the 'head' trinity above will be represented by
video-television-teletext (in that order), given the more apparent
(action-packed) nature of video in relation to the essential (textual)
nature
of teletext; television itself being a sort of pictorial/textual and/or
verbal
compromise in between the two visual extremes.
Of course, the 'bodily' middle-ground down below is also, as
with
paperbacks, relatively divisible into three alternatives, albeit more
in terms
of an audiovisual appendage (right-wing apparent) and an audio-tape
appendage
(left-wing essential) to radio in a sort of midi or cassette-recorder
context
than in regard to the actual radio itself, even given intrinsic
distinctions
between, say, sports commentary and news bulletins.
For while such programme distinctions are not
without significance in this respect, the crucial distinction is not
the
content but the way in which it is conveyed, i.e. through pictures,
words
alone, or a combination of both, and this applies no less to the 'head'
media
above than to the 'bodily' medium in question.
Even satellite television is less an omega equivalent (of the
Holy
Ghost) than a higher type of 'head'-level middle-ground, analogous, one
could
argue, to a sort of resurrectional purgatory above conventional
television.
158. However,
in turning from the radio/television context to the computer context,
we shall find
it convenient to draw similar distinctions between a 'head' trinity and
a
'bodily' middle-ground underneath, and if I am not seriously mistaken
then the
trinity, to reverse the order this time, will be represented by games
computers
at the pictorial alpha, word processors at the textual omega, and
graphics/textual computers in the purgatorial, or Christic,
middle-ground,
whereas in the 'bodily' middle-ground underneath we shall find
microfilm
machines, which, in their ability to store and present data, whether
graphic or
textual, resemble computers without actually having their memory
facilities ...
as germane to the 'brain'. Thus it is my
contention that microfilm machines are to computers what, on this same
new-brain
level, radios are to televisions, and what, on the old-brain level
paralleling
it, newspapers are to magazines - namely, the feminine middle-ground
under a
trinity of masculine 'divinities' stretching (relative to its own
specific
context) from alpha to omega via a purgatorial compromise coming in
between. Now just as we argued that
paperbacks/hardbacks were metaphysically superior to
newspapers/magazines, so
it can be argued that the radio/television context is metaphysically
superior
to the microfilm/computer one, since the former is more susceptible to
a
narrative continuum, as germane to film, whereas the latter is usually
designed
to accommodate a number of unrelated documents or programmes which, in
their
respective brevities, are fundamentally more 'journalistic' than
'literary', and
thus, like newspapers/magazines, more suited to business than to the
arts. It is not for nothing that computers
are
generally regarded as 'business machines', whereas, despite its
capacity for
serious content, we tend to regard television primarily as a source of
entertainment.
159. Now
that I have sorted out the relative metaphysical and physical standings
of all
four contexts under discussion, beginning with paperbacks/hardbacks and
newspapers/magazines, and proceeding to radio/television and
microfilm/computers,
I am no longer any more free to draw analogies between, say, newspapers
and
bicycles than between paperbacks and cars, for the simple reason that
analogies
involving naturalistic and artificial phenomena are no more strictly
correlative than would be those between, say, television and carts or
computers
and horses. Clearly, if
newspapers/magazines and paperbacks/hardbacks are respectively
old-brain
naturalistic phenomena in relation to microfilm/computers and
radio/television,
whereas bicycles/motorbikes and cars/vans are respectively new-brain
artificial
phenomena in relation to ponies/horses and carriages/carts, then we can
no more
correlate newspapers with bicycles than, say, computers with horses. Old-brain equivalents should be correlated
with old-brain equivalents and new-brain equivalents with new-brain
equivalents; else we shall find ourselves at cross-purposes in a world
torn
between naturalistic and artificial criteria.
Obviously, if cars/vans are artificial in relation to
carriages/carts,
then cars/vans will pertain to the new brain no less than
carriages/carts to
the old one, and we shall have to correlate the former with
radio/television
and the latter with paperbacks/hardbacks.
Likewise, if bicycles/motorbikes (or, more fully,
bicycles/scooters-mopeds-motorbikes)
are artificial in relation to, say, ponies/horses (or, more fully,
ponies/donkeys-mules-horses), then bicycles/motorbikes will pertain to
the new
brain no less than ponies/horses to the old one, and we shall have to
correlate
the former with microfilm/computers and the latter with
newspapers/magazines. Too bad if, in
doing so, one finds that the correlations arrived at are not as
flattering to
one's sense of personal integrity or impersonal history as one would
have liked! For instance, that
paperbacks/hardbacks are
acceptable to one but not carriages/carts, or that newspapers/magazines
have a
part in one's life but horsey quadrupeds don't.
It is only with the help of logically credible correlations of
this
nature that the true status or worth of paperbacks/hardbacks and
newspapers/magazines can be gauged, since they are effectively on the
level of
carriages/carts and ponies/horses respectively, and anyone who prefers
four-wheeled mechanical vehicles to their horse-drawn counterparts, or
two-wheeled mechanical vehicles to horsey quadrupeds, should logically
prefer
televisions to hardbacks and computers to magazines ... if he is not to
confound the artificial with the naturalistic and thereby remain at
cross-purposes with himself in an open-society chaos of old- and
new-brain
alternatives.
160. Logic
does not come easy, as my work should amply demonstrate, but it is
possible to
be logically consistent and to live one's life accordingly, and that,
after
all, is the test of true greatness, or perhaps I should say
philosophical
togetherness. If my work helps people to
become more logically consistent in both their thinking and
their living, then it won't have been entirely in vain!
Whether they are naturalists and
newspaper/magazine readers or realists and paperback/hardback readers,
materialists and microfilm/computer users or idealists and radio/
television
addicts, or indeed whether, in addition to all of this, they are fiery
quadruped riders or earthy carriage/cart drivers, watery riders of
two-wheeled
mechanical vehicles or airy drivers of four-wheeled mechanical
vehicles, they
should hopefully become more adept in the art of drawing credible
correlations
between one subject and another, and acquire a deeper understanding of
themselves in consequence!
