There are some really good ideas in this article, but also some obvious errors.
Bringing in Eckhard Tolle and nondual spirituality as an antidote to the insane divisiveness of identity politics is an excellent idea, and something that can appeal to people on the "Hard Left" just as much as "conservatives".
There are some really good ideas in this article, but also some obvious errors.
Bringing in Eckhard Tolle and nondual spirituality as an antidote to the insane divisiveness of identity politics is an excellent idea, and something that can appeal to people on the "Hard Left" just as much as "conservatives".
If wokery is to be defeated, it must be defeated in the minds of socialists, centrists and conservatives alike.
Unfortunately, the simplistic analysis of the alleged link between mental wellness and right-wing political views destroys the article's credibility. It's well understood by almost everyone that crazy rich people are seen as "eccentric geniuses" while poor people with similar behaviours and mental states are routinely diagnosed with schizophrenia, OCD, or other mental disorders.
Trump, Hitler, Mussolini, Matt Hancock, etc., no doubt would report themselves as "perfectly happy with their mental health"; those around them might well report otherwise.
Since rich people tend to have more conservative views - due to simple self-interest - it is hardly surprising that conservatives are less likely to be diagnosed with mental health issues.
On the other side, since impoverished people are more likely to have Left views, again from simple self-interest, and since impoverished people are far more likely to be anxious, depressed, and traumatised by their miserable lives, it is hardly surprising that more Socialists than Tories report mental disorder diagnoses.
The article uses the vague, misleading term "Liberal" as a proxy for Left views; in fact many conservatives would describe themselves as classically liberal, while many socialists would reject that label. Was Stalin "liberal"? Was Mussolini "conservative"? Such misleading terms obscure whatever they are attempting to describe.
A mistake that often appears in right-leaning articles is the conflation of identity-politics and "the Hard Left". Actually, if you look at genuinely hard-left sources, such as the Trotskyite Fourth International web site (a surprisingly good global news source, www.wsws.org) they are consistently and strongly opposed to identity politics and wokery.
The British Tory Party, on the other hand, is very fond of "diversity" (meaning anti-white racism and anti-male sexism) and "inclusion" (meaning exclusion of those with differing opinions, such as Andrew Bridgen MP) even if it seldom mentions "equity".
The nonsense of "trans women are women" and the insanity of Critical Race Theory are much more prevalent among centrists - both centre-left and centre-right - than among genuine Marxists.
Remember the laughable BLM document which claimed their nakedly racist movement was led by "trained Marxists" - all in pursuit of large donations from multinational corporations.
The real hard Left has far more in common with open-minded, science-based conservatives than it does with racist, segregationist idiots like Robin DiAngelo or Ibram X. Kendy.
“ Bringing in Eckhard Tolle and nondual spirituality as an antidote to the insane divisiveness of identity politics is an excellent idea”
It is one of the stupidest ideas I have ever come across. And I would absolutely love to discuss it with you over Zoom. Would you be willing to record a discussion about it over Zoom and publish it on YouTube / Rumble?
Jeffrey, I'm happy to talk about it with you about it right here.
You say you think it's "stupid" to recommend nondual spirituality as a method to overcome divisive identity politics; so clearly you don't know much about nondual spirituality, because that's exactly what it's for.
Nondual, not divided, is precisely the opposite of divisive; and fixed, permanent identities are exactly the thing that nondual philosophies teach people how to liberate themselves from.
Whether it's Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, or scientific pantheism - all of which are in fact quite compatible - all these teachings help people to escape from limiting beliefs such as identifying themselves with race, gender, sexuality, nationality, etc., and see themselves instead as - well; as something that cannot be limited or even described in words; as what we really are.
I do hear your biting cynicism, and to some extent I feel your pain. But cynicism is not the wisest strategy; it does only bring pain, in the end.
If you look inside yourself and ask the honest question, "Who am I?" you might find that there is, in fact, something there that you don't feel in the least cynical about.
And once you've found it in there, look around; you might start to notice it in other places too. :-)
Taoism, Buddhism, “scientific pantheism”, Hinduism, all have significant differences in their ideologies. There is no perennial philosophy. I’ve studied quite a bit of philosophy and religion, and whatever it is that *you* think, isn’t probably what they taught. You might think so out of vanity that you have found the truth that underlies them all—but that is simply what it is, foolish vanity.
What you hear isn’t “cynicism”, it’s simply denigration of particular ideas. The notion that I am all cynicism and that if I just look inside myself I might find
something that isn’t is just idiotic slander. There is plenty of
things I don’t have cynicism about — for example, watermelon. Watermelon is absolutely delicious. But your attitude is clearly stupid. People should be cynical about *you* but it doesn’t mean people should be cynical about *everything*. You really need to work on that “non dualism” you are preaching. And cynicism can prevent pain sometimes.
We should have a zoom conversation because doing it here is much more tedious. And it would be much more valuable if I could publish it to YouTube. We have like 3 threads going here. I’ll probably stop responding. Join me on zoom. Don’t be scared. My twitter handle is meisterpeeps. Let’s set it up. We can even have one that isn’t recorded first if that makes you more comfortable . Let’s chat.
There are some really good ideas in this article, but also some obvious errors.
Bringing in Eckhard Tolle and nondual spirituality as an antidote to the insane divisiveness of identity politics is an excellent idea, and something that can appeal to people on the "Hard Left" just as much as "conservatives".
If wokery is to be defeated, it must be defeated in the minds of socialists, centrists and conservatives alike.
Unfortunately, the simplistic analysis of the alleged link between mental wellness and right-wing political views destroys the article's credibility. It's well understood by almost everyone that crazy rich people are seen as "eccentric geniuses" while poor people with similar behaviours and mental states are routinely diagnosed with schizophrenia, OCD, or other mental disorders.
Trump, Hitler, Mussolini, Matt Hancock, etc., no doubt would report themselves as "perfectly happy with their mental health"; those around them might well report otherwise.
Since rich people tend to have more conservative views - due to simple self-interest - it is hardly surprising that conservatives are less likely to be diagnosed with mental health issues.
On the other side, since impoverished people are more likely to have Left views, again from simple self-interest, and since impoverished people are far more likely to be anxious, depressed, and traumatised by their miserable lives, it is hardly surprising that more Socialists than Tories report mental disorder diagnoses.
The article uses the vague, misleading term "Liberal" as a proxy for Left views; in fact many conservatives would describe themselves as classically liberal, while many socialists would reject that label. Was Stalin "liberal"? Was Mussolini "conservative"? Such misleading terms obscure whatever they are attempting to describe.
A mistake that often appears in right-leaning articles is the conflation of identity-politics and "the Hard Left". Actually, if you look at genuinely hard-left sources, such as the Trotskyite Fourth International web site (a surprisingly good global news source, www.wsws.org) they are consistently and strongly opposed to identity politics and wokery.
The British Tory Party, on the other hand, is very fond of "diversity" (meaning anti-white racism and anti-male sexism) and "inclusion" (meaning exclusion of those with differing opinions, such as Andrew Bridgen MP) even if it seldom mentions "equity".
The nonsense of "trans women are women" and the insanity of Critical Race Theory are much more prevalent among centrists - both centre-left and centre-right - than among genuine Marxists.
Remember the laughable BLM document which claimed their nakedly racist movement was led by "trained Marxists" - all in pursuit of large donations from multinational corporations.
The real hard Left has far more in common with open-minded, science-based conservatives than it does with racist, segregationist idiots like Robin DiAngelo or Ibram X. Kendy.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/05/20/iaek-m20.html
“ Bringing in Eckhard Tolle and nondual spirituality as an antidote to the insane divisiveness of identity politics is an excellent idea”
It is one of the stupidest ideas I have ever come across. And I would absolutely love to discuss it with you over Zoom. Would you be willing to record a discussion about it over Zoom and publish it on YouTube / Rumble?
Jeffrey, I'm happy to talk about it with you about it right here.
You say you think it's "stupid" to recommend nondual spirituality as a method to overcome divisive identity politics; so clearly you don't know much about nondual spirituality, because that's exactly what it's for.
Nondual, not divided, is precisely the opposite of divisive; and fixed, permanent identities are exactly the thing that nondual philosophies teach people how to liberate themselves from.
Whether it's Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, or scientific pantheism - all of which are in fact quite compatible - all these teachings help people to escape from limiting beliefs such as identifying themselves with race, gender, sexuality, nationality, etc., and see themselves instead as - well; as something that cannot be limited or even described in words; as what we really are.
I do hear your biting cynicism, and to some extent I feel your pain. But cynicism is not the wisest strategy; it does only bring pain, in the end.
If you look inside yourself and ask the honest question, "Who am I?" you might find that there is, in fact, something there that you don't feel in the least cynical about.
And once you've found it in there, look around; you might start to notice it in other places too. :-)
Taoism, Buddhism, “scientific pantheism”, Hinduism, all have significant differences in their ideologies. There is no perennial philosophy. I’ve studied quite a bit of philosophy and religion, and whatever it is that *you* think, isn’t probably what they taught. You might think so out of vanity that you have found the truth that underlies them all—but that is simply what it is, foolish vanity.
What you hear isn’t “cynicism”, it’s simply denigration of particular ideas. The notion that I am all cynicism and that if I just look inside myself I might find
something that isn’t is just idiotic slander. There is plenty of
things I don’t have cynicism about — for example, watermelon. Watermelon is absolutely delicious. But your attitude is clearly stupid. People should be cynical about *you* but it doesn’t mean people should be cynical about *everything*. You really need to work on that “non dualism” you are preaching. And cynicism can prevent pain sometimes.
We should have a zoom conversation because doing it here is much more tedious. And it would be much more valuable if I could publish it to YouTube. We have like 3 threads going here. I’ll probably stop responding. Join me on zoom. Don’t be scared. My twitter handle is meisterpeeps. Let’s set it up. We can even have one that isn’t recorded first if that makes you more comfortable . Let’s chat.