The Next Stage of Development
~ Prologue page 1b~
~ The Study of Threes ~
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| Preface page 1 | Preface page 2 | Preface page 3 |
| Preface page 1b | Preface page 2b | Preface page 3b |
| ANC Prologue Page 1 |
ANC Prologue Page 2 |
ANC Prologue Page 3 |
| ANC Prologue Page 1b |
| Communism and Societal Collapse |
| ANC Epilogue Page 1 |
ANC Epilogue Page 2 |
ANC Epilogue Page 3 |
The use of a Communism based on some model of Marxist doctrine gives me the impression that his mindset was caught up in a mental disposition involving the origination of other cultic ideas such as Theosophy, Jungian Ideology, and the Freudian perspective, followed up the much larger Nazi cult, and to which we can rightly add all religions, businesses and present government structures currently in vogue today. Indeed, all the security forces, military and yes, even the stock market is a cult... from which the enlarged word "culture" sits as a parental figure there of. Just as those in the past who did not view their beliefs and practices as an exercise in cultish doctrine, those of today do not recognize their behavior as that of a cult practitioner. And yes, cults can have many millions of believers, though some are inclined to define the word are representing a small membership with a single charismatic leader.
The phrase "Fin de siècle" (end of the century) is typically used in reference to various literary, and artistic "movements" established during the close of the 19th century in a cultural phenomena resembling a bipolar mood from one extreme (decadence, despair, disillusionment) to another (rebirth, revitalization, hope). However, one must note that when we speak of the "end" of a century this may well encompass one or more decades before and after the noted time of "1900". In other words, the phrase does not actually reference a specific period of time as one might describe the hour, minute, or second like a New Year's count down to celebrate. Hence, the mentality of Marx and thinkers interested in other genres of consideration such as Sociology, Philosophy, Religion, Metaphysics, Psychology, Mathematics, Journalism, Architecture, Anthropology, Biology, Archeology, Physics (such as Einstein's monumental 1905 papers), etc., must be included in our survey of the time period. We should additionally make a note that some individuals are more suggestively susceptible (sensitive) to environmental influences and therefore may have responded to whatever was impressing the human mind to develop the ideas which it did during the time period, though they may have lived in an earlier period of time than the "collective". In other words, there are those whose actions in a much earlier time period either near or removed from a century's end, exhibit a similar revolutionary appreciation within the parameter of their own subject.
The "collective" refers to the large number of people who were effected in the same general period of time. However, just as we note that even today some people living near the end of a century claim that "something is taking place" or that they can feel a change occurring nearby... at or on the turn of the century and do not necessarily contribute to the further development of any particularly large genre of cultural interest, (in that they do not initiate some sort of "movement"); there are others whose sensibilities seem rather muted, calloused, insensitive, dispossessed, etc., from experiencing any effect of the "Fin de siècle" until a much later time. Like a person who does not get a joke the moment it is being told, their brain must ruminate on the information before they "get it" and thus understand the typically used three-part structure of many jokes. Whereas a two-part joke may be that which is most suite to their brain processing, the later grasp of a three-part joke may indicate their brain is in a developmental period of transition between a two and three mode of conceptualization, whether or not they are conscious of their usage of a particular frame of mind inclination. Some people appear to take longer at getting motivated, like a herd mentality, which would account for the herd mentality of Nazism taking time to build up momentum, though its genesis began during the 19th century.
Yet, because there were so very many discoveries and ideas presented during the "Fin de siècle" of the 19th century, can we account for all of them as being "under the influence" of whatever caused so many ideas to froth forth? Then again, does the end of every century have its own variety of influence for those who are receptive to it, and this receptivity is due to the nature of an individual's internal brain evolution, so as to account for the lack of such occurring in everyone? In reference to the abundance of ideas being developed and promoted during the discussed period, here is a short excerpt from a reference on the subject, though the reader should make note that in some accounts, there is absent a reference to monumental ideas taking place in biology such as Darwin's theory, Psychology, Nature-philosophy, or cell theory, or physics, or military armaments, or food production, or disease intervention, etc. Like many a thinker of Sociological themes, authors sometime concentrate on status quo political and philosophical orientations but leave multiple sciences (including medicine, surgery, dentistry, comparative physiology, metallurgy, fire fighting equipment/techniques, etc...) out of the list of examples. Like political thinkers whose ideology is read, interpreted and expressed as if the world was a Kingdom they placed at the center of a map because their domain of interest is supposed to be viewed as the central most important world-view, they formulate their own orientations without regard to a larger set of variables. (Note: While the following author used the enumeration of "4" in his list of examples, the information can easily be translated into representing a 3-to-1 reference. This is mentioned for those readers atuned to this type of cognitive patterning.)
When we review the intellectual history of the 19th century in panorama, we cannot help but be struck by the enormous profusion of ideologies that century managed to produce: Liberalism, conservatism, Marxism, Darwinism, Positivism, idealism, Hegelianism, socialism, Owenism, anarchism, communism, Romanticism and the list seems to go on and on. I would suggest that the proliferation of these -isms, of these grandiose systems, was the product of an age in which intellectual life had become much more complex and intense. And there are several reasons for this complexity and intensity.
[...Naming a theory, by way of an ism-word has the virtue of brevity. But only too often the same ism-word acquires more than one sense. This confuses matters, creates the need for further clarification, and what was gained in brevity is lost in explanation. The great classical philosophers hardly every used ism-words. {page 314 of the Penquin dictionary of Philosophy ISBN 978-0-14-101840-9}]
- First, the area concerned was larger than ever. For instance, American and Russian thinkers were beginning to make important contributions. Historically, western intellectual life had been confined to the European Continent. Now, it seemed, intellectual life had become more global. At the same time, European thinkers were becoming more aware of ancient thought. This development has a great deal to do with the development of anthropology as well as Darwinian evolutionary theory and the geological discoveries of Charles Lyell (1797-1875). Eastern thought began to pervade western ideas during the 19th century. Many of the British Romantic poets were quite taken with eastern ideas as was the mid-19th century German thinker Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), whose ideas were to later influence Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900). In general, new ideas and with them, a new vocabulary, entered into European intellectual discourse.
- Second, science, which had been chiefly a novelty throughout the 18th century, now made new conquests. This was especially so in the fields of geology, biology, botany and organic chemistry. The newest developments in the sciences were primarily in the physical and life sciences, all founded in the early part of the 19th century. Another way of looking at science in the 19th century is to say that whereas the 17th and 18th centuries were keen on investigating Nature from the standpoint of what was inorganic and heavenly, the 19th century discovered and took a lively interest in what was organic, vital and living.
- Third, machine production, the factory system and the cash nexus profoundly altered the social structure first of England and then, by the end of the century, throughout Europe and eventually the world. This revolution in industry -- the Industrial Revolution -- gave man a new conception of power in relation to his physical environment (see Lecture 17). The Industrial Revolution was indeed revolutionary -- never before had the mode of production been so forcefully altered in such a short space of historical time. The Industrial Revolution, furthermore, was not simply some backdrop to other, more important events. It was the event itself, and such an event profoundly transformed all men and women directly and immediately. As Raymond Williams once remarked:
The changes that we receive as record were experienced, in these years, on the senses; hunger, suffering, conflict, dislocation; hope, energy, vision, dedication. The pattern of change was not background, as we may now be inclined to study it, it was, rather, the mould in which general experience was cast. (Culture and Society 1780-1950, New York, 1983, p.31.)
And with industrialization and the development of industrial capitalism, a whole new set of social, political, cultural and intellectual problems entered the European mind at all levels. No one was left untouched by this revolution in industry.
- Fourth and lastly, there was also a profound revolt, a revolt both philosophical and political, against traditional systems of thought. This revolt had two faces -- one was Romantic and stressed the irrational and unreason, the other was rationalistic and stressed the human capacity of reason and rationality. The 18th century Age of Enlightenment was firmly entrenched in the capacities of Human Reason. But by the end of the century and into the early part of the 19th century, a reaction set in. Man was not a disembodied brain, a thinking machine, but an emotional and organic individual. The man of reason became the new man of feeling. Of course, the Romantic reaction was short-lived, only to be superseded by the positivism of the mid-to-late 19th century.
To repeat the above argument, the 19th century witnessed a proliferation of total systems of thought. One of the most important systems of thought to emerge in the period actually took place outside the confines of the 19th century by a man usually associated with the 18th century Enlightenment. But keep in mind what I said several lectures ago -- thinkers lead two lives. One occurs during their lifetime. The other occurs long after their death as a new series of thinkers take up their ideas anew, making modifications and stressing one set of values over another.
Source: The Age of Ideologies (1): General Introduction by Steven Kreis (copyright © 2017)
While we can assess the changes in thought processing from what appears to be a logical stream of occurrences stemming from ideology itself, let us not be so quick to dismiss the existence of a developmental change having occurred in the human brain or that such a change in a given time period may have been the result of an influence analogically akin to a disease. Imagine if you will the position in which humanity has achieved its present mental state as being the result of a plague or disease like the common cold. Ha! we might well laugh to uncover present human mentality to be the sneezes of an unrecognized disease and that by a similar accident of occurrence a cure might be discovered and effect a dumbing down of humanity or a greater explosion of ideas unable to develop because the human brain is yet too ill.
The Marx and Engels brand of Communism must be analyzed in the larger setting of intellectual behavior occurring within a time span that must be first encapsulated singularly around them and their views and then widened to include the century (or more) before (if not after) them. Then again, it may not be an appropriate model of analyzing Communism if we begin with Marx and Engels, despite their later influences. If we view the occasion of so many ideas emerging in a given time period as an "out-break" similar to that as one would label a disease; the Mark and Engels Communism may well be little more than a symptom and not "patient zero". Just as we might view the usage of language as an active source of communication amongst early humans, we consider the probable possibility that a developmental change took place in the human brain. We are inclined use the label "developmental" and not "disease" or "deformity", largely because human ego comes into play... especially since human society has come to rely on the usage of language as a vital currency. Indeed, language, knowledge and speculation are currencies that can be described as a vital brand of economics on which all ideas of economics depends.
It is rather humorous for me to note that when arguing for or against one idea or another a writer relies heavily on the three most used punctuation marks, namely the period- question mark and exclamation point; all of which may be substituted by any of the other punctuation marks coupled to the underlying Subject- Object- Verb language pattern as if it were a 1-2-3 counting sequence in word form that arose out of a one, two, three-patterned babbling sequence of infants which preceded a one-two-three word usage sequence. And these patterns appear to be influenced by the three-pattern structure of the ear: Language 3s page 1.
In citing the "ideological explosion" of views during the 19th "Fin de siècle" period, (viewed analogically to the Cambrian explosion of life forms), making note of the fact that there were ideological precursors sometimes viewed as setting the stage for the development of a later idea; we must wonder if a biological model is more appropriate analysis of Communism if it is viewed as a distinct (original) species or as an offshoot. While some readers do not like metaphors because they can neither control the discussion which may lay beyond their normal vocabulary and education of a given subject; other readers relish the opportunity to provide additional comparative models as a means of opening up the dialogue of Communism into realms which may serve to increase the parameters of both design and application. While die-hard Communists prefer to restrict both the vocabulary and information being considered so as to better control the discussion along a path they are most comfortable with like an animal whose diet is restricted (such as herbivores and carnivores), other readers are more omnivorous in their intellectual diets. They are well aware that habitats can change, and thus food availability can diminish (or increased)and they can not be caught in the situation that the Panda Bear is faced with regarding its preeminent dietary interest of consuming bamboo stalks leading to a situation such as: Pandas' Bamboo Food May Be Lost to Climate Change, even though it is not a herbivore but a classified as a carnivore and will eat small animals on some occasions.
In as much as Marx devised a plan based upon his version of a particular history of human behavior, and we can view Communism in as wide or narrow frame of mind as we care to venture historically into it, all those using language typically do not account for the mechanism of hearing as a go-between the mind and language. It is a sieve, a code decipherer, a refractor, reflector and diffraction device that is a part of the brain. Its structure plays a dominant role in how we align a given doctrine according to some inclination to which we are predisposed. Hence, it is non-sensical for anyone studying language not to include a study of hearing which includes the structure of the ear and its distinguishable present day patterns and the origin thereof that I have on several occasions directed the reader's attention to the recurrence of patterns-of-three as can be seen here:
No doubt, (one can suppose) that if there were some other recurring pattern the language and thought processes of humanity might well be different and may be used in future Artificial Intelligence designs which can alter computations by altering the basic enumeration patterns which are now constrained by using Boolean logic on a dichotomous on/off circuitry which have been analogically characterized as zeros and ones.
With respect to Marx's brand of Communism, let us have a short review as described in the following excerpt from the Britannica. (Note, I resort to using the Britannica because it is a readily available non-internet dependent source of fairly reliable information that I purchased and have on a CD.) It should also be noted that while Marx himself may not have explicitly cited an orientation he used in his ideas, later chroniclers come to point out specifics, generalities, and points in between through the usage of enumeration: (I have inserted some explanatory comments regarding the listed items. The first being a definition from the Britannica's "philosophical anthropology" article, while the second and third were produced off the top of my head at the spur of the moment).
(Marxism is) a body of doctrine developed by Karl Marx and, to a lesser extent, by Friedrich Engels in the mid-19th century. It originally consisted of three related ideas:
- A philosophical anthropology: (A discipline within philosophy that seeks to unify the several empirical investigations of human nature in an effort to understand individuals as both creatures of their environment and creators of their own values.)
- A theory of history: (Which may contain references to the past, present and future with or without reference to a specific time period as a main point of discussion, thus in this case, a discussion of history is said to be generalized.)
- An economic and political program: (One should note that the "program" does not read like an architectural blue-print but more like a dot-to-dot, do-it-yourself instruction sheet accompanying a "manufactured" item that displays an image of what the manufacturer claims the (Utopia) object is supposed to look like. One might also view the so-called "program" a puzzle box that has an imaginative scene on the outside cover yet the pieces inside provide only a vague representation of the proposed idyllic scenery.)
- There is also Marxism as it has been understood and practiced by the various socialist movements, particularly before 1914.
- Then there is Soviet Marxism as worked out by Vladimir Ilich Lenin and modified by Joseph Stalin, which under the name of Marxism-Leninism became the doctrine of the communist parties set up after the Russian Revolution (1917). Offshoots of this included:
- Marxism as interpreted by the anti-Stalinist Leon Trotsky and his followers.
- Mao Zedong's Chinese variant of Marxism-Leninism.
- And various Marxisms in the developing world.
- There were also the post-World War II non-dogmatic Marxisms that have modified Marx's thought with borrowings from modern philosophies, principally from those of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger but also from Sigmund Freud and others.
The Thought of Karl Marx
The written work of Marx cannot be reduced to a philosophy, much less to a philosophical system. The whole of his work is a radical critique of philosophy, especially of G.W.F. Hegel's idealist system and of the philosophies of the left and right post-Hegelians. It is not, however, a mere denial of those philosophies. Marx declared that philosophy must become reality. One could no longer be content with interpreting the world; one must be concerned with transforming it, which meant transforming both the world itself and human consciousness of it. This, in turn, required a critique of experience together with a critique of ideas. In fact, Marx believed that all knowledge involves a critique of ideas. He was not an empiricist. Rather, his work teems with concepts (appropriation, alienation, praxis, creative labour, value, and so on) that he had inherited from earlier philosophers and economists, including Hegel, Johann Fichte, Immanuel Kant, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and John Stuart Mill. What uniquely characterizes the thought of Marx is that, instead of making abstract affirmations about a whole group of problems such as human nature, knowledge, and matter, he examines each problem in its dynamic relation to the others and, above all, tries to relate them to historical, social, political, and economic realities.
The Rev. Henri Chambre: Professor, Institute of Social Studies, Catholic Institute of Paris, 1947–78. Associate Director of the Laboratory, College of France, Paris, 1968–73. Author of De Karl Marx à Lénine et Mao Tsé-toung and others.
David T. McLellan: Professor of Political Theory, University of Kent at Canterbury, England. Author of Marxism after Marx and others.
Whereas in the foregoing it is noted that Marx centralized his views based on three orientations: Philosophical Anthropology, History, Politics/Economics; what is missing is taking stock of the whole within the context of environmental changes. While it is well understood that dynamic forces of nature such as Tornadoes, Hurricanes, droughts, etc., can have an observably direct and immediate impact on humanity, the existence of incremental planetary deteriorations is not a wide-spread consideration, though in fact this is the method by which humanity came into being as it exists today. Immediate impacts such as an asteroid or plague can wipe out humanity in the extreme, alter its dna from unrecognized irradiations, or simply cause the human trek of day to day concerns to take a detour on a given landscape to create humans that adapt to given niches of terrain by adopting particularized survival techniques; but incremental impacts leading to an extinction do not typically get an immediate response or even extended consideration.
All too often when speaking about incremental deterioration one is confronted by those who equate the history of humanity as if it were an extension of geological history attuned to the same forces which affect geological processes over millions of years, even though the history of present day humanity is not but a few thousand years in the making. The ascent of humanity over millions of years has had numerous alterations as described by physical anthropology, and the fact that human existence has seen a multitude of cultural changes as described by Historians, Sociologists and Cultural Anthropologists in a short period of relative time involving business, government/economics and religion, attests to the susceptibility of humans to be altered by incremental changes as expressed in the different languages, different sports and games, different hair styles, different arts, sciences, clothing, food, etc...
Like so many politicians of today that are ignoring the effects of the environment on humanity to the extent they are doing too little too late against a level of deterioration humanity can not appreciably recover from in order to return to a previous state of environmental existence, and can only make accommodations to the level and types of deterioration one generation is faced with; you do not read nor hear political analysts discussing the ongoing incremental deteriorations of the planet in terms of altering their political philosophy in accordance thereto. In as much as Communists have a unique opportunity to forcibly direct the development of a New Communism that involves a working knowledge and respect for the effects of an ongoing incremental deterioration of the planet, its solar system (and galaxy) on human existence, most of them are caught up in the antiquated thinking models which have proved to be fruitless, to the extent they are forced to inhabit a fringe position of sociological considerations, though in some situations operate in countries that are ostracized by the larger global community. Those practicing a brand of Communism do not enjoy a Utopia and nor would the rest of the world if they shared in these same types of Communism. Indeed, you do not see the Communists of the world seeking passage to involve themselves in living out their lives in these brands of Communism. Similarly, we do not see those who advocate a Democracy readily drop what they are doing to seek out a livelihood in some other brand of pseudo-Democracy than that to which they are presently subjected to, because each country practices their own variety but none practice a value of Democracy which out-shines the other if placed into their context. In other words, we could not take the form of Democracy being practiced in Switzerland and readily transplant it elsewhere in the world to be similarly practiced by those with a different language, culture, resource base, and overall range of demographics.
Needless to say, there is no ideal form of Democracy because humanity does not know what this "ideal Democracy" actually means. Likewise with Communism. Those advocating a Communism can not themselves agree on a single focus for a global application. All of which is a tell-tale sign that any and all political ideas, just like any and all businesses and religions, are little more than ad hoc survival mechanisms applied in a given environment in a given way. And by stressing one's belief in a given point of view, one attempts to permit themselves to be allowed a greater freedom of personal consciousness that might otherwise be subjected to expectations that removes a personal inclination. Business, government and religion are three labels that can be inter-changed with one another. In other words, a business is a government and a religion, and a government is a business and religion, while a religion is also a business and government. It is a characteristic 3-in-1 cognitive pattern found under different occasions occurring with a human mentality that is adopting to the incremental deteriorations of the planet Earth and its solar system.
Communists must become aware that their respective ideology is a pattern of cognitive behavior reflecting the incremental deteriorations, and make the necessary changes to their philosophy in developing a New Communism. Such a philosophy must view the life span of humanity in context with the incremental deteriorations as if it were similar to that of a short-lived fruit (vinegar) fly used in studies of genetic alterations and not as a form of long-lived and relatively immutable or slow chaning creature such as a cockroach, redwood tree, or the sponges. If humanity was as stable in body and mind (and spirit/soul) as some would like to contend as a projection of their own ego, then we should rightly see the formation of a long-standing business, government and religion, without need for transformation or variation. While an acceptance of diversity is said to be a desirable perspective, it is a perspective which overlooks an ongoing accommodation of the human species (and other life forms) to changes in an incrementally deteriorating environment that can not be preserved; and those deteriorations caused by humanity can only be slowed down.. and/or replaced by others which conceal humanity's negative impact and often misguided efforts to make corrections. (For example, the notion that planting millions of trees as a noble sentiment must be offset by the realization that such an exercise in eco-systems which do not now have millions of trees can affect global patterns of weather that alter human requirements for survival. Humanity often does too little too late or too much too soon because a collective herd mentaliity frequently resorts to a preoccupation referencing a dichotomy.)
Date of Origination: Saturday, March 7th, 2020... 3:24 AM
Initial Posting: Sunday, March 8th, 2020... 5:12 AM
Herb O. Buckland
herbobuckland@hotmail.com