I shamelessly confess - I am a vain man, and I love vanity. I endorse it and promote it as one might promote a healthy sports food. I love those who are vain - irrespective of their style, which is the mere 'surface' of vanity - it is the constructs of a persona, performing some given function - and that is entirely besides the point.
I see health in vanity. I see vitality and love for life - love for ones self as well as love for others. For when one puts effort into ones appearance - it is an appreciation for the self and others, besides being a social grace. This is not some demand for fashion conformity - if it were I would not dismiss the surface of vanity as an incidental, some context specific peculiarity. I love an Amazonian head dress and nakedness and bodypaints just as I love a three piece suit in London or a fine dress in Milan or Paris.
The naysayers will argue that vanity is a deviation from the true self - not true in many if not most circumstances. Properly executed - that is not in blind fashion conformity - it is an expression of the true self, of ones very Will perhaps, if you are honest enough with yourself and self love, and love of life and others. To be the opposite of vain - that itself is the most depraved and vile fashion conformity ever to dis-grace humanity. And this so called 'humbleness' - is but the most vulgar pseudo-vanity ever to traverse human cultural landscapes. Humility, self depreciation and abomination of the the beauty of others and the efforts toward beauty - is as anti-life as one can get. Such an obsession with murder of life and joy for life - is a breach of the most basic commandments. Surely then - vanity must be God's favourite sin? And self destruction and demand for 'humility' as a social harm - is not only unholy, but anti-reason, for what philosophy would promote a principle of harm but one based on the most vulgar superstitions? A philosophy and religion based on resentment, hatred for life, the self, envy against others and their success and beauty, envy even against self expression and individual Will! Those who hate vanity hate the individual - and espouse collectivism for on their own, perhaps, they feel a little too powerless. If that is not a dreadful and perverse vanity - then what is?
I tell you the truth, my friends - love vanity, and love the vain! When a man wears a fine suit, cufflinks, gold rings and fine colognes and aftershave, when a woman adorns a beautiful dress and necklaces, when parents dress their children in the finest shirts, or even when someone is beautifully naked and tattoed - their bodyhairs removed and their skin oiled and glistening (be this man, woman or even a child) - give them a kiss and love them for their vanity! For they have not merely made themselves beautiful to gaze upon - but they have shared something from their inner selves with you - and that is a profound friendship to receive, even from a stranger. And love difference! Love the naked, the three piece suit, the unique style of a Heavy Metal fan or the multiple colours of an alternative fashionista - love them all! Especially the unique. Love the effort each individual has put into his or her styles - even the fine details whether they be cufflinks or noserings. Love them! Love the detail and the finesse! Discuss and encourage them to express further their inner selves, and revel in your own fascination with this unique work of art that is another Willing and life loving individual sharing their true inner self with you. And bear in mind - even what the fashion hides, reveals something about the lovely person - and that is to be loved and respected.
When the resentful and the envious denigrate you for your vanity, for your unique haircolour, your nosering, your tattoo, your nakedness, your three piece suit or extravagant dress, your jewellery and perfumes - do not kowtow to their morality that demands your uniqueness becomes a slave. Do not fetter yourself to a disgusting, life hating, person hating, slave morality! Spit and vomit upon them! Kill them where they stand for they endeavour to kill your Will! And if they call themselves righteous remind them truly they are the Godless. For how can the Creator, The Source, the Ineffable Atum, the Universe itself and All Being - love anything that abhors Being? How can their philosophy and law be just if it degrades beauty and demands filth and ugliness? How can their be liberty and fairness if one cannot express oneself, and explore the self through ones vanity? How can one even participate in social grace if body odour, rags and the appearance of misery and decay are the sole surface of 'choice'???
Those who hate vanity thus even hate politics - as well as their own God or gods. They hate themselves - and they hate society and even hate you.
Love yourself and everything more. Be vain - buy those cufflinks, wear that cologne, be naked without hiding anything for 'shame', be extravagant, wear that dress, colour your hair, get the nosering. Be what thy Will. Be You and love yourself, everyone, life, society, God - for vanity is God's favourite sin for sure ;)
Showing posts with label freedom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freedom. Show all posts
Saturday, 2 February 2013
Saturday, 20 October 2012
What is the good life?
When pressed with the question "What is the good life?" there is the tendency either to indulge in erudite eulogies to some vague convention (in a nutshell - social normativity) trying to pass off as 'higher', 'holier', and for that reason its opaque and obscurantist framework is of course "beyond normal reason". And when we aren't telling fairytales and whoring our minds and bodies with fantasy - we are perhaps more straight talking and simply repeat the "holy riddle" in some simplified set of conditionals - "thou shalt's" or "this is proper". We see the latter in tabloid journalism every day.
But let us cut to the chase - and sweep a lot of so called philosophy off the table. We do not need any more theosophic sophistry as modes of governance! What policy can derive from that which may be regarded as 'optimum'??? And who would depend on such skewed 'spiritual equilibria' as 'goodness' in the first place??? Two social groups:
A group empowered but suffering a fragile sustenance of power, who depends heavily on mediations and countervailing and evasive 'speech acts' to avoid a full onslaught that would seriously undermine the illusion of their necessity...
And the second group - those who are by nature weak and slothful, who simply don't want to know better - who prefer opiates and cheap alcohol to strength, banquet, war and orgy - who prefer 'humility' (as a kind of reverse snobbery) to Glory. And where there is goodness, greatness, glory - they elect something that undermines its foundations and brings it back to their ash and chaff.
When two such general groupings prevail - humanity is indeed in a weak state in all senses of the word, spiritually, psychological, physiological [to remain in the current discursive framework of "mind, body, spirit" and all its... Permutations or mere distortions and lack of clarity...]. And where are we today? We do not need Karl Marx or Adolf Hitler to help us understand. They were the seeds in our compost, from which much grows today.
What of all the great achievements such as science, space technology, engineering, sexual freedom??? I hear you ask. But - this is to get to the point of our original question. These great achievements are for reasons other than what we have mentioned. These achievements are completely besides and opposed to the groupings of weakness and decay - be they evangelical presidents or unwashed self destroying 'activists' [such choice!]. Look at what the average President aims to achieve today - it is something other than any great project such as the Moon landing. And look at what the 'average citizen' seeks to achieve - sustenance at the cost of other great things, and of course - no wars please even if it means ones grandchildren will know of nothing... Good... Not even economic comfort or security.
And all this - is in the name of humility, morality, sometimes even 'Christianity' or 'Islam' - all of which are lost today. There are few Christians or Muslims remaining (when have we last enjoyed a Renaissance Pope? Or a great Imam or Sheikh?). There are no great sages or liberators, no Caesars or monks. No beings who can be said to be extreme or strong in their own format - be it banquet or Spartan severity.
And what is the good life? It is not sufficient to say 'temperance', or 'humility', or 'charity'. For seldom is there an answer to the question "for whom, for what. why?" that is sufficient and satisfying. The answers usually are 'for the people' (now a somewhat degenerate mass of soaked ashes) or of course 'the state', the 'public interest', or 'humanity' - an abstraction that usually is employed by certain groups in precarious power positions that deploy this obscurantism to pacify the electorate that seeks sustenance in such 'moral opiates' - in a nutshell - nothingness!
Let us cut to the chase, and be unafraid. The good life is an active life - and its sincere practice is not a 'stupid honesty' - but its execution without shame. A life that banquets, orgies, goes to war, or commits itself to the most severe austerities and exercises - without shame, without any need to justify itself to any group that depends on weak forces. It is a life of a Caesar, a Borgia, a Spartan or an old Caliph [not an 'Ayatollah' of the 20th Century], it is the Buddhist monk in hard training or a Hindu Sage in deep fasting and sleepless meditation.
Can we begin now, to talk sense? Can we get back to being human? Without shame that is 'too Christian' or humility that is too Asiatic??? And without a sense of false austerity that is a nothingness, and leads to nothingness, that you might find in a Corrupt Middle Eastern state, or even in the hills of Afghanistan?
Where in the world is our humanity?
Perhaps we will begin to find it in places deemed... Immoral? Who among you will have the courage then, to enjoy the extreme pleasures or partake in the harsh austerities of such abodes and fields? Hmm?
But let us cut to the chase - and sweep a lot of so called philosophy off the table. We do not need any more theosophic sophistry as modes of governance! What policy can derive from that which may be regarded as 'optimum'??? And who would depend on such skewed 'spiritual equilibria' as 'goodness' in the first place??? Two social groups:
A group empowered but suffering a fragile sustenance of power, who depends heavily on mediations and countervailing and evasive 'speech acts' to avoid a full onslaught that would seriously undermine the illusion of their necessity...
And the second group - those who are by nature weak and slothful, who simply don't want to know better - who prefer opiates and cheap alcohol to strength, banquet, war and orgy - who prefer 'humility' (as a kind of reverse snobbery) to Glory. And where there is goodness, greatness, glory - they elect something that undermines its foundations and brings it back to their ash and chaff.
When two such general groupings prevail - humanity is indeed in a weak state in all senses of the word, spiritually, psychological, physiological [to remain in the current discursive framework of "mind, body, spirit" and all its... Permutations or mere distortions and lack of clarity...]. And where are we today? We do not need Karl Marx or Adolf Hitler to help us understand. They were the seeds in our compost, from which much grows today.
What of all the great achievements such as science, space technology, engineering, sexual freedom??? I hear you ask. But - this is to get to the point of our original question. These great achievements are for reasons other than what we have mentioned. These achievements are completely besides and opposed to the groupings of weakness and decay - be they evangelical presidents or unwashed self destroying 'activists' [such choice!]. Look at what the average President aims to achieve today - it is something other than any great project such as the Moon landing. And look at what the 'average citizen' seeks to achieve - sustenance at the cost of other great things, and of course - no wars please even if it means ones grandchildren will know of nothing... Good... Not even economic comfort or security.
And all this - is in the name of humility, morality, sometimes even 'Christianity' or 'Islam' - all of which are lost today. There are few Christians or Muslims remaining (when have we last enjoyed a Renaissance Pope? Or a great Imam or Sheikh?). There are no great sages or liberators, no Caesars or monks. No beings who can be said to be extreme or strong in their own format - be it banquet or Spartan severity.
And what is the good life? It is not sufficient to say 'temperance', or 'humility', or 'charity'. For seldom is there an answer to the question "for whom, for what. why?" that is sufficient and satisfying. The answers usually are 'for the people' (now a somewhat degenerate mass of soaked ashes) or of course 'the state', the 'public interest', or 'humanity' - an abstraction that usually is employed by certain groups in precarious power positions that deploy this obscurantism to pacify the electorate that seeks sustenance in such 'moral opiates' - in a nutshell - nothingness!
Let us cut to the chase, and be unafraid. The good life is an active life - and its sincere practice is not a 'stupid honesty' - but its execution without shame. A life that banquets, orgies, goes to war, or commits itself to the most severe austerities and exercises - without shame, without any need to justify itself to any group that depends on weak forces. It is a life of a Caesar, a Borgia, a Spartan or an old Caliph [not an 'Ayatollah' of the 20th Century], it is the Buddhist monk in hard training or a Hindu Sage in deep fasting and sleepless meditation.
Can we begin now, to talk sense? Can we get back to being human? Without shame that is 'too Christian' or humility that is too Asiatic??? And without a sense of false austerity that is a nothingness, and leads to nothingness, that you might find in a Corrupt Middle Eastern state, or even in the hills of Afghanistan?
Where in the world is our humanity?
Perhaps we will begin to find it in places deemed... Immoral? Who among you will have the courage then, to enjoy the extreme pleasures or partake in the harsh austerities of such abodes and fields? Hmm?
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