Have you ever come across the work of Richard Grossinger http://richardgrossinger.com who is the founder of North Atlantic Books and is now closely associated with the Inner Traditions Bear & Co publishing group.
He is seldom (if ever) mentioned in any philosophical or religious forum, including the (now) many subtack sites.
He is the most culturally literate writer that I have ever come across.
His most comprehensive book(s) is the Dark Pool of Light Trilogy _ The Convergence of Physical, Philosophical, Psychological,, Psychospiritual, and Psychic Views.
Vol 1. The Neuroscience, Evolution and Ontology of Consciousness
Vol 2 Consciousness In Psychospiritual and Psychic Ranges
Vol 3. The Crisis & Future of Consciousness
Check out this very sobering conversation with Andrew Harvey
This book A New Republic of The Heart http://www.newrepublicoftheheart.org is published by North Atlantic Books. It features a foreword by Andrew Harvey
While I agree with much of what you write about here it was occurring to me that there is a background question which you obliquely refer to in the posts and particularly in your last sentence. This, baldly, is the question of elitism. I would describe myself as progressive and personally interested in philosophical and spiritual matters but the intellectual nature of the enterprise does present a certain exclusivity which is uncomfortable from a liberal point of view and may be a barrier to it's wider appeal.
So to reframe your final question, is the project's aim is to influence seats of power or a direct appeal to people at large? This is not intended to be naval gazing but to contrast with the more authoritarian right's approach which picks up on social and economic discontent and emotionally levers this to garner support for a bid for power. This historically has been successful and is clearly a powerful tool currently.
In addition, there is a right of centre progressive force that places a more egalitarian approach in the context of a continuing (if modified) neoliberal economic paradigm and a seductive downplaying of the urgency of the meta crisis.
This is not an intellectual critique - rather an expression of my fear that the devil has all the best tunes and a sense that the progressive left needs a more emotional appeal for which the rationale can be the back up. We need stories that have general appeal, that intuitively make sense of past, present and future, that have a ring of authenticity.
Finally, we have to come to terms with the fact that as the intellectuals we have benefitted more than most from this system that we want to replace. From an outside perspective I can see that this might not be the most persuasive of positions!
Thanks Richard. I agree with all of that, and I feel it much more now than I did seven years ago when I wrote this. In terms of your final question I see the project more generally (and it has evolved) as metapolitical rather than political; by which I mean it fits into none of this existing categories and tries to create new categories. I realise of course that this risks leaving it niche and disempowered, but that’s a challenge of field creation and movement building which is what most of our efforts are now directed towards. If you’re interested to read more (though it’s asking a lot given you’ve taken the time to read and comment!) there’s an updated version of these ideas in a series of posts I wrote called “Now that you’ve found the others what are you going to do?” http://www.whatisemerging.com/opinions/now-that-you-ve-found-the-others-what-are-you-going-to-do
The questions of power and the challenge of popular appeal remain, but there is also a challenge to step back from the fray and ask what is worth aiming for.
On the devil’s tunes and popular appeal point, we are working on something with a new aesthetic that’s already quite big with the capacity to get bigger that is grounded in these ideas and will be public within a few months.
Thanks also for the paid subscription which is much appreciated 🙏
The post-extrinsic society is the non-dual disposition cultivated by and modelled by zen Buddhists, is it not? Jackson is influenced by such practice by the way. See Byung Chul Han who cuts to the chase in all these matters
"If consumerism meets emotional needs, and if those emotional needs manifest through a variety of logics, and if those logics derive their validity from our prevailing imaginary, what follows for how we go ‘beyond consumerism’?
In essence, we need to disembed ourselves from the prevailing consumerist imaginary and introduce competing logics that meet our emotional needs in different ways."
"These issues of economic structure are essential for any serious attempt to go beyond consumerism, but while they are necessary, they are not sufficient."
I totally agree. Perhaps you will find these links, from a different perspective and starting point, are pointing to the same elephants.
Re: the economic logic of consumerism - I think you’re right that essentially consumerism is necessary in our system to outrun the constantly growing collective debt.
I think another important factor is the role of inflation, which implicitly tells everyone “spend your money now, since it will be worth less later if you try to save instead.”
Have you ever come across the work of Richard Grossinger http://richardgrossinger.com who is the founder of North Atlantic Books and is now closely associated with the Inner Traditions Bear & Co publishing group.
He is seldom (if ever) mentioned in any philosophical or religious forum, including the (now) many subtack sites.
He is the most culturally literate writer that I have ever come across.
His most comprehensive book(s) is the Dark Pool of Light Trilogy _ The Convergence of Physical, Philosophical, Psychological,, Psychospiritual, and Psychic Views.
Vol 1. The Neuroscience, Evolution and Ontology of Consciousness
Vol 2 Consciousness In Psychospiritual and Psychic Ranges
Vol 3. The Crisis & Future of Consciousness
Check out this very sobering conversation with Andrew Harvey
http://richardgrossinger.com/2010/08/richard-grossinger-in-conversation-with-andrew-harvey
This book A New Republic of The Heart http://www.newrepublicoftheheart.org is published by North Atlantic Books. It features a foreword by Andrew Harvey
While I agree with much of what you write about here it was occurring to me that there is a background question which you obliquely refer to in the posts and particularly in your last sentence. This, baldly, is the question of elitism. I would describe myself as progressive and personally interested in philosophical and spiritual matters but the intellectual nature of the enterprise does present a certain exclusivity which is uncomfortable from a liberal point of view and may be a barrier to it's wider appeal.
So to reframe your final question, is the project's aim is to influence seats of power or a direct appeal to people at large? This is not intended to be naval gazing but to contrast with the more authoritarian right's approach which picks up on social and economic discontent and emotionally levers this to garner support for a bid for power. This historically has been successful and is clearly a powerful tool currently.
In addition, there is a right of centre progressive force that places a more egalitarian approach in the context of a continuing (if modified) neoliberal economic paradigm and a seductive downplaying of the urgency of the meta crisis.
This is not an intellectual critique - rather an expression of my fear that the devil has all the best tunes and a sense that the progressive left needs a more emotional appeal for which the rationale can be the back up. We need stories that have general appeal, that intuitively make sense of past, present and future, that have a ring of authenticity.
Finally, we have to come to terms with the fact that as the intellectuals we have benefitted more than most from this system that we want to replace. From an outside perspective I can see that this might not be the most persuasive of positions!
Thanks Richard. I agree with all of that, and I feel it much more now than I did seven years ago when I wrote this. In terms of your final question I see the project more generally (and it has evolved) as metapolitical rather than political; by which I mean it fits into none of this existing categories and tries to create new categories. I realise of course that this risks leaving it niche and disempowered, but that’s a challenge of field creation and movement building which is what most of our efforts are now directed towards. If you’re interested to read more (though it’s asking a lot given you’ve taken the time to read and comment!) there’s an updated version of these ideas in a series of posts I wrote called “Now that you’ve found the others what are you going to do?” http://www.whatisemerging.com/opinions/now-that-you-ve-found-the-others-what-are-you-going-to-do
The questions of power and the challenge of popular appeal remain, but there is also a challenge to step back from the fray and ask what is worth aiming for.
On the devil’s tunes and popular appeal point, we are working on something with a new aesthetic that’s already quite big with the capacity to get bigger that is grounded in these ideas and will be public within a few months.
Thanks also for the paid subscription which is much appreciated 🙏
Thanks Jonathan- never quite sure how cogent my thoughts are so I really appreciate your response. I’ll check out the link.
The post-extrinsic society is the non-dual disposition cultivated by and modelled by zen Buddhists, is it not? Jackson is influenced by such practice by the way. See Byung Chul Han who cuts to the chase in all these matters
"If consumerism meets emotional needs, and if those emotional needs manifest through a variety of logics, and if those logics derive their validity from our prevailing imaginary, what follows for how we go ‘beyond consumerism’?
In essence, we need to disembed ourselves from the prevailing consumerist imaginary and introduce competing logics that meet our emotional needs in different ways."
"These issues of economic structure are essential for any serious attempt to go beyond consumerism, but while they are necessary, they are not sufficient."
I totally agree. Perhaps you will find these links, from a different perspective and starting point, are pointing to the same elephants.
https://openmoney.org/omp/ccineu.html
https://openmoney.org/london-x
https://archive.lets.net/ (many dead links)
Re: the economic logic of consumerism - I think you’re right that essentially consumerism is necessary in our system to outrun the constantly growing collective debt.
I think another important factor is the role of inflation, which implicitly tells everyone “spend your money now, since it will be worth less later if you try to save instead.”