CYCLE THIRTY: FROM BARBARITY TO CULTURE

1. Because barbarity is never more powerful than in the noumenal objectivity of fire, its watery manifestation is of a secondary order of power (strength) which is generally subordinate, in consequence, to glory (pride).

2. Because civility is never more glorious than in the phenomenal objectivity of water, its fiery manifestation is of a secondary order of glory (love) which is generally subordinate, in consequence, to power (beauty).

3. Because nature is never more formful than in the phenomenal subjectivity of vegetation, its airy manifestation is of a secondary order of form (truth) which is generally subordinate, in consequence, to content (joy).

4. Because culture is never more content than in the noumenal subjectivity of air, its vegetative manifestation is of a secondary order of contentment (pleasure) which is generally subordinate, in consequence, to form (knowledge).

5. What applies to the positive manifestations of barbarity, civility, nature, and culture applies no less to their negative manifestations, viz. to antibarbarity and anticivility in relation to antipower and antiglory on the one hand, and to antinature and anticulture in relation to antiform and anticontent on the other hand.

6. In sum, the noumenal planes of time and space are more conducive to power when objective and to content when subjective, whereas the phenomenal planes of volume and mass are more conducive to glory when objective and to form when subjective.

7. Hence to descend, in general terms, from the viciousness of metachemical power to the virtuousness of chemical glory, as, in positive terms, from daughter's beauty to mother's pride, but to ascend, no less generally, from the viciousness of physical form to the virtuousness of metaphysical content, as, in positive terms, from father's knowledge to son's joy.

8. Likewise, to descend, in general terms, from the antiviciousness of metachemical antipower to the antivirtuousness of chemical antiglory, as from antidaughter's ugliness to antimother's humility, but to ascend, no less generally, from the antiviciousness of physical antiform to the antivirtuousness of metaphysical anticontent, as from antifather's ignorance to antison's woe.

9. Evil, which is rooted in barbarous power, is the noumenally objective starting-point from which a descent (fall) into the civilized glory of goodness is possible.

10. By contrast, folly, which is centred in natural form, is the phenomenally subjective starting-point from which an ascent (rise) into the cultural content of wisdom is possible.

11. Metachemistry leads to chemistry no less than physics to metaphysics, the former options affiliated to the female side of life in relation to that which is objective and effectively of the (autocratic) Kingdom and the (democratic) State, the latter options affiliated, by contrast, to the male side of life in relation to that which is subjective and effectively of the (theocratic) Church and the (coming atheistic) Centre.

12. Hence to descend from evil objectivity (superfemininity to subfemininity of noumenal woman in sensuality and sensibility) to good objectivity (upper femininity to lower femininity of phenomenal woman in sensuality and sensibility), as from the Kingdom to the State, but to ascend from foolish subjectivity (lower masculinity to upper masculinity of phenomenal man in sensuality and sensibility) to wise subjectivity (submasculinity to supermasculinity of noumenal man in sensuality and sensibility), as from the Church to the Centre, the latter of which, at the time of my recording these thoughts, has still to officially come to pass in relation to the metaphysical sensibility of the superman, the heavenly redemption of the earth (man), and thus of that which remains bogged down, through the Church, in sin.

13. But sinners can be lifted towards grace, whether literally or effectively, as my concept of the triadic Beyond in relation to 'Kingdom Come' would allow, and thus move from a context in which, due to its phenomenal basis, form tends to prevail over content, knowledge over pleasure, to one in which, largely due to a noumenal standing, content tends to prevail over form, joy over truth, and culture is accordingly liberated from phenomenal constraints (in sinful pleasure) to rise to what amounts to its full-flowering in the universality of noumenal sensibility.

14. That is the metaphysical prospect for those men who have it in them to become supermen, whilst even many women have it in them to defer, through a less exacting type of punishment, to the authentic gracefulness of genuine culture and to join, through a New Purgatory, with those men for whom knowledge rather than joy remains the chief focus of their subjective endeavour in what would amount to a vegetative shortfall, in the New Earth, from the airy heights of the New Heaven 'up above', at the top-tier level of the triadic Beyond.