101. Hearing is the subjectivity of Hell, listening … the objectivity of the World, both of which are necessarily subordinate to speaking and reading respectively.

 

102. To hear what is spoken is to receive subjectively what is conveyed objectively; conversely, to listen to what is read is to receive objectively what is conveyed subjectively.

 

103. Hence the attraction of opposites ... as speaking objectively calls forth hearing subjectively, and reading subjectively calls forth listening objectively.

 

104. Seeing is subjective, and follows from the phenomenal objectivity of the written word.  Looking, by contrast, is objective, and follows from the noumenal subjectivity of the thought word.  I look at, or reflect upon, what is thought.  I see what is written.

 

105. Looking is the objectivity of Heaven, seeing … the subjectivity of Purgatory, both of which are necessarily subordinate to thinking and writing respectively.

 

106. To look at, or examine, what is thought is to perceive objectively what is conceived subjectively; conversely, to see what is written is to perceive subjectively what is conceived objectively.

 

107. Hence, once again, the attraction of opposites ... as thinking subjectively calls forth looking objectively, and writing subjectively calls forth seeing objectively.

 

108. The poet has a better understanding of the philosopher, and hence of philosophy, than ever the novelist or dramatist would have.  Hence Coleridge, Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, etc.

 

109. Conversely, the novelist has a better understanding of the dramatist, and hence of drama, than ever the poet or philosopher would have.  Hence J. B. Priestley, Lawrence Durrell, Camus, Sartre, etc.

 

110. The poetic philosopher, viz. Nietzsche, is the lowest type of philosopher, and the philosophic poet, viz. Eliot, the highest type of poet.  (Nevertheless the lowest type of philosopher is still superior to the highest type of poet.)

 

111. Conversely, the novelistic dramatist, viz. Shaw, is the lowest type of, dramatist, and the dramatic novelist, viz. Greene, the highest type of novelist.  (Nevertheless the lowest type of dramatist is still superior to the highest type of novelist.)

 

112. From the literary barbarism of drama to the literary culture of philosophy via the literary civilization of fiction and the literary nature of poetry.

 

113. A society rooted in drama will generally spurn philosophy, just as a deeply philosophical society will tend to steer clear of drama.

 

114. Where drama is king, then philosophy will be effectively 'beyond the pale', and therefore a sort of outcast, to be derided by the literary establishment.

 

115. Fiction and poetry are always possible and even laudable in a society rooted in drama, provided they remain deferential to the prevailing literary genre, like middle- and working-class elements vis-à-vis the upper class.

 

116. The philosopher, who is a classless individual, cannot expect any encouragement from the class-bound status quo, since he is a living refutation of everything for which it stands and a threat, implicitly if not explicitly, to its class-ridden values.

 

117. That which is not cultural is philistine ... in one degree or another.  Hence nature, and thus poetry, in relation to culture, and thus philosophy.

 

118. That which is not civilized is barbarous in one degree or another.  Hence supernature, and thus drama, in relation to civilization, and thus fiction.

 

119. Philistinism is to culture what barbarism is to civilization - its natural alternative.

 

120. Philistinism, or nature, stands to culture as sin to grace.

 

121. Barbarism, or supernature, stands to civilization as punishment to crime.

 

122. The philistine writer, or poet, stands to the cultural writer, or philosopher, as woman to God, or the World to Heaven.

 

123. The civilized writer, or novelist, stands to the barbarous writer, or dramatist, as man to the Devil, or Purgatory to Hell.

 

124. The philistine writer shares in common with the cultural writer a subjective bias, albeit one that, in his case, is phenomenal rather than noumenal, and hence of a mundane character.

 

125. The civilized writer shares in common with the barbarous writer an objective bias, albeit one that, in his case, is phenomenal rather than noumenal, and hence of a purgatorial character.

 

126. The philistine writer, or poet, is less good, morally considered, than the cultural writer, or philosopher, but is nevertheless not evil.

 

127. The civilized writer, or novelist, is less evil, morally considered, than the barbarous writer, or dramatist, but is nevertheless not good.

 

128. Morally considered, the philistine writer ranks higher, in the sight of God, than the civilized one, since the relative goodness of phenomenal subjectivity is closer to the absolute goodness of noumenal subjectivity than ever the relative evil of phenomenal objectivity could be (obvious joke!).

 

129. Hence the poet is preferable, in the sight of God, to the novelist, as is woman to man, and nature to civilization.

 

130. Sin is philistine, but philistinism is preferable, in the sight of God, to civilized criminality.  In fact, logic compels one to confess that there is no evil in sin, only in crime and, to a greater extent, punishment.

 

131. God can save the poet ... to heavenly philosophy, but neither the novelist nor the dramatist can be saved, since salvation is from a lower good to a higher good, as from phenomenal to noumenal subjectivity, not from evil, whether phenomenally or noumenally objective, to good.

 

132. Of course, the novelist can 'convert', if not to poetry ... then at least to short stories, the 'bovaryization' of fiction relative to the World, and thus 'lie down with the (poetic) lamb'.

 

133. Doubtless such a literary 'bovaryization' is the masculine, and therefore Catholic, form of the World, in contrast to the masculine per se, and therefore Protestant, form of the purgatorial Overworld, viz. the novel.

 

134. A truly, or absolutely, good society would, in affirming philosophy, be one without a conscious commitment to both novels and plays, and therefore one in which neither novelists nor dramatists existed.  Indeed, it is unlikely that even poets would exist in such a society!

 

135. Nevertheless a relatively good society, centred in the Beautiful, would have no shortage of poets or, for that matter, short-story writers, since both nature and a natural version of civilization would take precedence over everything else, including, though not necessarily excluding, civilization itself.

 

136. Historically, it could be said that cultural peoples, like the Greeks, Chinese, and Catholic Irish, tended to regard outsiders, though particularly invaders, as barbarians, the noumenal opposite of themselves, whereas civilized peoples, like the English, Romans, and Spanish, tended to regard outsiders, though particularly the colonized, as natives, the phenomenal opposite of themselves.

 

137. Hence whereas the noumenal axis, as it were, threw up a cultural/barbaric antithesis, the phenomenal axis, by contrast, gave rise to a civilized/native antithesis.

 

138. Ireland affords us an example of a cultural people who were first invaded by barbarians, viz. Vikings, Danes, etc., and then 'nativized' by ensuing invasions of civilized peoples, like the Normans and English.  Thus were a cultural people first of all weakened and then brought low by, respectively, barbarous and civilized peoples, the latter of whom continued to dominate them for several centuries.

 

139. Since nature can lead to culture, as beauty to truth, we have no reason to doubt that the Catholic Irish, still effectively 'bogged down' in natural sin, can be saved to culture in due course, returning, via the Second Coming, to their rightful inheritance as Children of God, albeit in a culture far superior to the historical one!

 

140. If short stories are the 'bovaryization' of fiction relevant to the World, then prose poems are arguably the 'bovaryization' of poetry relevant to the purgatorial Overworld, the realm ordinarily associated with novels.

 

141. Nietzsche affords us a poignant example of a Protestant philosopher (Lutheran) in decadent motion towards the hell of religious fundamentalism, his 'will to power' a tragic testimony to diabolical delusion in the worship of strength.

 

142. Schopenhauer was even more decadent, in some respects, than Nietzsche, though less in regard to religious fundamentalism than with reference to the scientific idealism of oriental mysticism, with its cosmic pantheism.  In this respect, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche were poles apart.

 

143. Given Nietzsche's adulation of barbarism in an affirmation of the 'will to power' through strength, there can be no question that his concept of the Superman was a projection less of God than of the Devil, and thus his 'Great Noontide' confirms a susceptibility to pagan metaphors which 'flies in the face' of all that is good and holy, marking him down as a male chauvinist product of German fundamentalism.

 

144. To deny the 'will to fame' through beauty ... in order to affirm the 'will to glory' through truth, the only form of self-denial that is necessary, and indeed possible, to the World, woman, the poet, etc., if affirmation of the noumenal self, or spirit, is to take its place ... as the Holy Spirit of Heaven.

 

145. On the other hand, one cannot deny the phenomenal self unless one is already partial to it ... in worldly sin.  That man who is more into the phenomenal not-self ... of the 'will to wealth' through knowledge ... is simply not in a position to deny the phenomenal self, and, unless he converts from the one to the other, abandoning the realm of overworldly crime, he may risk damnation to the hell of the noumenal not-self, wherein the 'will to power' through strength is the prevailing and presiding element, consigning him to the punishment of time.

 

146. A concrete example (there are many that could be given) of the 'will to wealth' through knowledge leading, in due course of damnation, to the 'will to power' through strength: the novelist whose novel is adapted to film, becoming the victim of the noumenal not-self ... as dramatic considerations take precedence over narrative ones in the unfolding of his literary punishment, Hell overtaking Purgatory as the book is eclipsed by the film.  Such a diabolical fate is the common reward of countless novelists, and all because, as fiction writers, they pertain to the phenomenal not-self and are accordingly fit prey for the Devil.

 

147. What usually befalls novelists is much less likely to befall short-story writers, and almost never happens to poets ... given their affiliation to the World and consequent identification, through phenomenal subjectivity, with the phenomenal self.

 

148. As to film-writers and dramatists in general, they are already, and by choice, given to the noumenal not-self, and can therefore hardly be regarded as having been damned to the hell of the 'will to power' through strength ... after the fashion of a novelist or other purgatorial type.  On the contrary, they are the devils of literature, who are at one with their confinement in the punishment of time, the writers of a diabolical dispensation, as objective as it is possible for such people to get.

 

149. By contrast, philosophers, being literary gods, are (or should be) as subjective as it is possible for writers to be, since they relate to the noumenal self, and in that self, the true self of the spirit, is to be found the noumenal subjectivity of the 'will to glory' through truth.

 

150. Just as the Devil reveals himself or, rather, his noumenal not-self through drama, so God reveals his noumenal self through philosophy - the former absolutely evil and the latter absolutely good.  In between come the relative evil and good of man and woman respectively, the former revealing his phenomenal not-self through fiction, the latter revealing her phenomenal self through poetry, and this despite the apparent gender of the novelist or poet (assuming that men are no less capable, if natural, of exploring their feminine side, or phenomenal self, through poetry ... than women are capable, if civilized, of exploring their masculine side, or phenomenal not-self, through narrative fiction).

 

151. No less than the genuine novelist is masculine, the genuine poet is feminine - the former given to the 'will to wealth' through knowledge, the latter given to the 'will to fame' through beauty.  Hence not only is this a distinction, by and large, between men and women; it is a distinction, of necessity, between relative (phenomenal) evil and relative (phenomenal) good, the objectivity of fiction and the subjectivity of verse.

 

152. Such a distinction is rather akin, in realistic terms, to that between, say, radios and tape-decks/tapes, and contrasts with the comparatively dramatic/philosophic distinction, amounting to a diabolic/divine dichotomy, between, say, televisions and computers.

 

153. When one considers sports, the great majority of which involve either knock-out or league competitions (and often, as in the case of football and cricket, both types of competition), it is evident that the prevailing tendency is the 'will to power' through strength, a will aided and abetted by the 'will to wealth' through knowledge of the businessman in whose pay the great variety of contemporary 'gladiators' do battle.

 

154. Thus barbarism and civilization combine to seduce the masses from their subjective nature to a superficially objective acquiescence in the competitive spectacles which dominate our time.

 

155. With the sun and the moon riding high in contemporary open societies, it is as though television and radio were in conspiracy against the World, nature, woman, etc. in the dissemination, through objective evil, of barbarous and civilized values, thereby affirming the 'will to power' through strength (television) and the 'will to wealth' through knowledge (radio), while effectively trampling subjectivity underfoot.

 

156. When the 'will to fame' through beauty is taken-over by knowledge, as often happens these days, it is not long before it is 'sold down river' to strength, whence it is twisted and corrupted to suit the noumenal objectivity of the barbarous context in question, and accordingly rendered subject to the 'will to power'.  Thus ensue all manner of charts, tables, awards, sales figures, publicity stunts, etc. which drive the 'nail into the coffin' of beauty, giving the Devil the last laugh, since what was once half alive soon becomes completely dead.  Strength is the death of the artist, just as the Father is the death - and implicit refutation - of God.

 

157. The twentieth century was the age, effectively superpagan, of time, strength, the heart, the soul, the Father, the Devil, power, light, fire, etc., and thus the rejection of everything that is genuinely good and holy.  Only fools could possibly be happy (assuming 'happy' is really the word) in such an age; for it is one in which the folly of evil is everywhere enthroned in objective defiance of subjective good, with the moon and the sun 'riding high' in unfettered heathen defence of profane values.  The Devil is free to do, man is free to take, and woman is bound to give.  In such an age, it is impossible for God to be!

 

158. Not until the civilized lion lies down with the natural lamb ... in lamb-like harmony with the World ... will there be any possibility of a cultural superlamb in the heavenly Beyond.  In the meantime, the civilized lion will always be in the shadow of the barbarous superlion that reigns in Hell through the strength of its 'will to power'.

 

159. Some people think that being follows from doing, or glory from power, so that what one is will be conditioned, in large part, by what one does.  My answer to them is that such being is akin to the light from an electric Fire - a mere aside to its fiery essence.  Hence the 'glory' of a football team that parades the FA Cup before its fans.  Such a team knows the being that comes from winning the Cup, but such being is merely the aside to the doing which, through strength, led to a successful resolution of the 'will to power'.

 

160. Speaking analogically, one could say that the being/glory aside to a doing/power will is the being/glory of the Devil, like the light from an electric fire, and that only a fool would mistake or confound such a spurious Heaven with that genuine Heaven which, in the circumstances of a diabolic hegemony, will remain 'beyond the pale' of the existing order, scarcely perceptible to the mind accustomed to being through doing, or glory through power.

 

161. And yet, even people rooted in the soul have a spirit of sorts, and not merely in terms of an aside to their soul, but independently of emotional will.  Even 'human doings' are capable, now and again, of becoming human beings, not human doings with a beingful aside, but genuine human beings who do nothing.

 

162. In contrast to the mini-being that follows from a maxi-doing, we must reserve to genuine human beings a mini-doing that follows from a maxi-being, the mini-doing, it may be, of breathing in regard to the techniques of meditation, which may well seem akin to the heat aside from an electric light, the small power that emanates from a large glory, the soulful accompaniment to a spiritual glow.  It is in doing-through-being, or power-through-glory, that God is manifested to us, whose radiant smile is the smile of Heaven itself, blissfully transported on a wave of sanctified air.

 

163. To contrast the divinity, in noumenal subjectivity, of the Holy Spirit of Heaven with the devility, in noumenal objectivity, of the Holy Soul of Hell (the Father), as one would contrast truth with strength, or glory with power.

 

164. To contrast the femininity, in phenomenal subjectivity, of the Holy Will of the World (the Mother) with the masculinity, in phenomenal objectivity, of the Holy Mind of Purgatory (the Son), as one would contrast beauty with knowledge, or fame with wealth.

 

165. To contrast the absolute religious evil of strength with the absolute religious good of truth, power with glory, as one would contrast the Devil with God, or the Holy Soul of Hell (the Father) with the Holy Spirit of Heaven.

 

166. To contrast the relative religious evil of knowledge with the relative religious good of beauty, wealth with fame, as one would contrast man with woman, or the Holy Mind of Purgatory (the Son) with the Holy Will of the World (the Mother).

 

167. The Holy Spirit of Heaven as the 'will to glory' through truth, the perfect inner form which is only possible on the basis of a concentrated awareness of the spirit upon the air which sets it free of earthly attachments and carries it joyfully aloft to a transcendence supreme.

 

168. The spirit which is aware of itself in relation to the (lightness of) inner air is freed from earthly attachments and rendered truly divine.

 

169. Without air there is no spirit, nor can there ever be.  Hence there is no spirit where air is absent, as in cosmic space.

 

170. That man who realizes the connection between his spiritual self and the air he breathes ... ceases to take air for granted, but realizes that without it there could be no divinity, nor any divinity where air was not.  Hence the absence of divinity from cosmic space.

 

171. The Holy Spirit of Heaven, as the 'will to glory' through truth, contrasts absolutely with the Holy Soul of Hell, as the 'will to power' through strength.

 

172. The Holy Will of the World, as the 'will to fame' through beauty, contrasts relatively with the Holy Mind of Purgatory, as the 'will to wealth' through knowledge.

 

173. Holiness can be 'good' or 'evil', subjective or objective, depending whether it is relative to truth and beauty on the one hand, or to strength and knowledge on the other hand.

 

174. When holiness is 'good' it is either of the Holy Spirit ... (absolute) or of the Mother (relative).  When holiness is 'evil' it is either of the Father (absolute) or of the Son (relative).

 

175. Religious good begins with the Mother and ends with the Holy Spirit ... thereby progressing from beauty to truth, or perfect outer form to perfect inner form, the former feminine, the latter divine.

 

176. Religious evil begins with the Son and ends with the Father ... thereby regressing from knowledge to strength, or imperfect inner content to imperfect outer content, the former masculine, the latter diabolic.

 

177. To be saved from the sin of beauty to the grace of truth, thereby passing from the World to Heaven or the Mother to the Holy Spirit.

 

178. To be damned from the crime of knowledge to the punishment of strength, thereby passing from Purgatory to Hell or the Son to the Father.

 

179. One should never confound religious good and evil, whether relative or absolute, with scientific good and evil.

 

180. To contrast the absolute scientific evil of weakness with the absolute scientific good of illusion, impotence with shame, as one would contrast the Antidevil with the Antigod, or the Clear Fire of Time (Satan) with the Clear Light of the Void (Jehovah).

 

181. To contrast the relative scientific evil of ignorance with the relative scientific good of ugliness, poverty with obscurity, as one would contrast Antiman with Antiwoman, or the Clear Water of Volume (Antichrist) with the Clear Earth of Mass (Antivirgin and/or Cursed Whore).

 

182. One could speak of the Clear Light of the Void/Space as the 'antiwill to shame' through illusion, in contrast to the Clear Fire of Time as the 'antiwill to impotence' through weakness.

 

183. Likewise, one could speak of the Clear Earth of Mass as the 'antiwill to obscurity' through ugliness, in contrast to the Clear Water of Volume as the 'antiwill to poverty' through ignorance.

 

184. Add 'inner' to antiwill ... and one has the economic parallels to the scientific positions.

 

185. Add 'outer' to will ... and one has the political parallels to the religious positions.

 

186. Like holiness, clearness can be either 'good' or 'evil', subjective or objective, depending whether it is relative to illusion and ugliness on the one hand, or to weakness and ignorance on the other hand.

 

187. When clearness is 'good' or, more specifically, 'antigood' ... it is either of the Clear Light ... (absolute) or of the Clear Earth ... (relative).  When clearness is 'anti-evil' it is either of the Clear Fire ... (absolute) or of the Clear Water ... (relative).

 

188. Scientific 'antigood' begins with the Clear Light ... (absolute) and ends with the Clear Earth  ... (relative), thereby regressing from illusion to ugliness, or the least perfect inner form to the least perfect outer form, the former 'antidivine' and the latter 'antifeminine'.

 

189. Scientific 'anti-evil' begins with the Clear Water ... (relative) and ends with the Clear Fire ... (absolute), thereby progressing from ignorance to weakness, or the most imperfect inner content to the most imperfect outer content, the former 'antimasculine' and the latter 'antidiabolic'.

 

190. To fall from the antigrace of illusion to the antisin of ugliness, thereby passing from Antiheaven to the Antiworld, or the Antispirit (Jehovah) to the Antivirgin (Cursed Whore).

 

191. To rise from the anticrime of ignorance to the antipunishment of weakness, thereby passing from Antipurgatory to Antihell, or the Antison (Antichrist) to the Antifather (Satan).

 

192. Virtue and vice have less to do with holiness or clearness as such ... than with subjectivity and objectivity, being, in effect, alternative terms for 'good' and 'evil'.

 

193. Hence we should distinguish between the religious virtues of beauty and truth in relation to the Mother and the Holy Ghost, but ... the religious vices of strength and knowledge in relation to the Father and the Son.

 

194. Likewise, we should distinguish between the scientific virtues or, more correctly, antivirtues of illusion and ugliness in relation to the Antispirit and the Antimother, but ... the scientific antivices of ignorance and weakness in relation to the Antison and the Antifather.

 

195. We should also distinguish, in relation to politics, between the outer virtues of outer beauty and truth in relation to the Outer Mother and the Outer Spirit, but ... the outer vices of outer strength and knowledge in relation to the Outer Father and the Outer Son.

 

196. Likewise, in relation to economics, between the inner antivirtues of inner illusion and ugliness in relation to the Inner Antispirit and the Inner Antimother, but ... the inner antivices of inner ignorance and weakness in relation to the Inner Antison and the Inner Antifather.

 

197. Whereas the political positions are characterized by unholiness in relation to the 'outer', the economic positions are characterized by unclearness in relation to the 'inner'.

 

198. In relation to unholiness, holiness is of course 'inner'.  Hence to distinguish between, say, the Unholy Spirit of Outer Heaven and the Holy Spirit of Inner Heaven.

 

199. In relation to unclearness, clearness is of course 'outer'.  Hence to distinguish between, say, the Unclear Light of Inner Space and the Clear Light of Outer Space (the Void).

 

200. Generally I leave the 'outer' standings of the scientific positions, together with the 'inner' standings of the religious positions, implicit, in order to avoid or, at any rate, reduce confusion.  Nevertheless the explicit 'inner' standings of the economic positions do not reflect a superior status over the implicit 'outer' standings of the scientific positions, since the 'unclear' is ever inferior, judged objectively, to the 'clear'.