MODERN FORMS
OF SUFFERING While it's
true that suffering is inherently part of the human condition,
recent decades have seen new and psychological more intense
forms of suffering. From my extensive travels around the world,
I've generally observed a trend of decreased happiness in
younger people. Since this observation also seems to
be backed by science, it has lead me to wonder if we are in the
proces of losing
our essence or "mojo."
Therefore this chapter primarily targets younger readers, yet it invites
participation from individuals across all age groups. This
inclusive approach is particularly relevant in our contemporary
society, where there's a widespread aspiration to retain
youthfulness indefinitely. While there's nothing inherently
wrong with this mindset, it's important to be aware of potential
pitfalls associated with such a pursuit.
Despite my advanced age, I feel compelled to offer you, glorious
youngsters and wannabe youngs like myself, not teachings, not
even advices, but some perspectives you might find valuable.
Although my observations may seem exaggerated – acknowledging
the countless youths leading content lives – they serve to
highlight emerging social patterns and shifts in outlook,
offering a clearer perspective on our evolving societal
behavior.
The Perfect Imperfection of Disruptive Velocity We live in an era where one new technology
skyrockets, while simultaneously, ten others emerge rapidly. The
intervals between these disruptions have vanished, leaving no
pause in the continuous flow of technological advancement. In
his seminal 2005 work,
The Singularity is Near, Ray Kurzweil forecasted a
future where machine intelligence surpasses human intelligence
by an infinite margin, pinpointing the year 2045 as the pivotal
moment. Observing the current trajectory of technological
advancement, it appears this watershed—the singularity—may well
be reached significantly earlier than Kurzweil’s original
prediction.
Echoing the timeless wisdom of Sophocles, "Nothing vast enters
the life of mortals without a curse," it becomes evident that
rapid transformations carry with them inherent challenges. This
adage resonates with profound truth in the context of swift,
seismic shifts in our technological landscape, underscoring the
paradox of progress and the double-edged sword it wields.
Reflect upon the millennia it required for the Yamnaya
civilization to adapt their physiology to the
consumption of cow milk—a dietary shift that, over
generations, rendered them taller through the acquisition of
additional nutrients. Today, the rewiring of our brains, bodies,
and societal structures no longer spans ages but unfolds within
mere years, with the pace of change hurtling ever closer to the
precipice of verticality.
Everything is Perfectly Imperfect In taking a broader view for a moment, I'm reminded, along with the reader,
of a perspective often echoed in Zen philosophy: the notion that
everything, in the grand scheme, is perfectly okay, or more
precisely, perfectly imperfect. This approach to observing
technological evolution through a historical lens sheds light on
how past inventions, like the steam engine, initially caused
societal upheaval but ultimately brought about significant
benefits. The liberation of both humans and animals from
laborious tasks through the advent of fossil fuel-powered
engines is a testament to this phenomenon. Such historical
insights lead me to a conclusion that the digital innovations of
our era are not flawed in essence. Instead, it's the astonishing
speed at which these technologies have been introduced and the
subsequent disruptions they've caused in our lives that present
the real challenge.
The
Updated (Outdated) Teachings of the Buddha The first four teachings of Buddha are essentially guidelines on
navigating existential suffering.
Yet, the disruptive anguish we confront today differs significantly from
Buddha's era. As
Slavoj Zizek suggests, we live in a time of
cynicism, recognizing the world's absurdities and injustices,
yet still fueling the machinery of destruction—be it through
weapons or fossil fuels. This 'happy' nihilism is evident in our
massive consumption of unhealthy industrial food, compensating medicines, alcohol,
drugs, and media, enabling us to bear our hyper-aware existence.
We throw our cigarette butts on the pavement while protesting
against the use of fossil fuels. Our behavior mirrors that of the Middle Ages' party plague
processions, where participants knew the end was near yet
continued and even exessed their revelry.
However, it is actually a good thing that we know it.
For what one does not know, one cannot change.
The Rise of Story-told Feelings
A phrase I
frequently hear among the youth is: "It feels like."
Everything is perceived as feeling like this or that in a
reality where we essentially talk ourselves into a narcissistic
mindset. This trend, likely stemming from the New Age self-help
culture, places one's own feelings and verbalized
self-realization at the center of the universe. We base every
action on what our feelings dictate, aligning our social media
likes with fleeting emotional impulses.
This has justifiably been
critizised from various old school world academians for being a
narcissistic trend.
Accordingly, the danish local bestseller psychologist, Sven Brinkmann,
polemically formulates: 'don't feel your self' as an
antidote to the narcissim of out time.
In this sense social media has reshaped the configuration of our subconscious,
diverging from the by now outdated Freudian focus on sexual
shame. In the current era, shame revolves around not being
perceived as happy, beautiful, and successful. While
contemporary "woke" culture concentrates on reinforcing
traditional perceptions of racism as a primary societal ill, a
new form of shadowy, less overt racism secretly divides us into
groups, where race and gender only plays a secondary role. The
criterion is rather: either you fit the mold of being forever
young, attractive, consumer capeable and successful, qualifying
you for representation in something like a United Colors of
Benetton advertising campaign, or you are subtly excluded.
Those who don't fit this mold face exclusion, manifested in
fewer social media 'likes' and engagements. In essence, both social
acceptance and systemic oppression have become an integral part
of the very fabric of social media. We have become quantifiable
by the number of friends, likes and subscribers we get.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the authority of scientific truth
has been increasingly contested by the influence of online
sentiment. This shift has seen the emergence of figures such as
Andrew Tate, who leverage the digital platform's mechanisms to
equate truth with popularity. In this environment, the metric of
'truth' becomes closely tied to the number of views or 'likes' a
piece of content receives. This phenomenon reflects a broader
trend where the validation of information is determined more by
its appeal to web audiences than by empirical evidence or
scientific rigor.
• THE
PERFECT LIFE OF THE ENVIOUS AVATAR Social media is an insanely disruptive event we never voted democratically for.
As a tsunami it just came without us taking notice. A noticeable trend among youth and adults
alike is their 'wilfully positive' and performative
selfie-behavior on social media. This coping mechanism entails
the constant portrayal of joy, leading to the creation of an
idealized life through digital avatars. I have observed a
tendency to avatarize even the most intimate feelings
and experiences. At the altar of the avatar we upload our
essence. However, this worship of a vampire leaves us bloodless
and drained, as the pursuit of avataric happiness becomes as
cyclically destructive as relying on substances to recover from
previous indulgences. As a result, we are drawn into a world of
simulated wellness where any discomfort or pain is deemed a
personal failure.
Social platforms, by their very systemic nature, seduce us into
sharing and comparing our 'happiness-capital,' inevitably
leading to envy—a sin warned against since ancient times. This
cycle of comparison and envy only serves to deepen our societal
divide, reinforcing the illusion of happiness while obscuring
genuine fulfillment. The
avatar-happiness we share on social platforms does not grow by
being shared. It causes misery by setting a systemic stage for comparisions, and when we share to compare we loose
our mojo.
The social media performative ego is in a wierd quantum state
where it exactly knows what it is doing and yet preferes
blindness. This conscious blindness repeats itself in the fact
that we know that our own avatars are professional liars, and
yet we somehow tend to believe in other people's avataric screen
projections. Here we find ourselves in a perpetual 'Zizekian' state of
post-Edenic consciousness, reluctant to abandon our paradisical
utopia even after realizing the shame of our true, unmasked
selves hiding behind our glorious smiley-avatars. This unease
leads us into a downward spiral where our avatar takes over our
life.
The Prostechic Smartphone
The advent of social media, notably with Facebook's emergence in
2004, marked the beginning of a profound shift in human
interaction. This digital transformation was further accelerated
by the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, which rapidly became
the primary conduit for our engagement with the World Wide Web.
The smartphone's ubiquity, as our constant companion from dawn
till dusk — often the first thing we reach for upon waking, even
before visiting the bathroom — has, in less than a decade,
evolved into what can be likened to a prosthetic limb. This
device has reconfigured our brain's wiring more significantly
than any other development in a comparable timeframe.
The prosthetic symbiosis between our body and the smartphone has
made us an almost organic part of social media. We have
transformed into cyborgs harboring split personalities, crafting
simulacra avatars that attempt to escape our physical reality,
constantly showcasing themselves in upscale restaurants and on
splendid vacations. In this cyborgification-process we are
slowly encircled by gadget-prosthetics tailored for all
situations, serving
as supports, aiding us in our escape from the metaphorical
hospital corridors of our self created digitalized performative existence.
Jean Baudrillard and the Matrix
Prior to the dominance of mass media, people shaped their life through engagement with what
Jean Baudrillard termed
the 'real.' Baudrillard, who envisioned the concept of
hyperreality in the 1980s, could not have foreseen the
extent to which social media would intensify this phenomenon.
The reality of today has transformed into a hyperreality,
saturated with
signs and symbols, rendering Baudrillard's
theories more relevant than ever. We are now residents of a
virtual world of simulacra. This notion is powerfully depicted
in popular culture, particularly in the Wachowski brothers' film
"The
Matrix," which almost prophetically premiered nearly a decade
before the arrival of the first iPhone.
Today the favorite and adictive junk food of the matrix-avatar is not suprising 'signs' in the
form of likes. However, every time your avatar feasts in
likings, your yourself is drinking saltwater to quench your
thirst for the 'real'.
Seen in this light, the contemporary trend of letting the feelings take
charge is not authentic. This new wave of "it feels like" -
feelings are much more avatarized simulacra of performative storytold
story-told feelings ready for being presented on a reel. Let me
here give you an example. A young man, 20 years old, asked me
for some advices concerning how to overcome his inner emotional
difficulties. He really apreciated the advices and immiedeatly
after made a reel, presenting the philosophy behind the advices
he got. In fact, what he did was avatarizing his inner spiritual
process and thereby making it 'un-reel'
In the newly formed hyperreal meta-dimension populated by
signs, we have come to exist as matrix-avatars. Just as individuals with prosthetic
limbs come to subjectively perceive these artificial extensions
as natural parts of their bodies, our avatars in cyberspace
begin to take ownership of our identities.
Our Aging Bardo-Culture The hyper-real matrix-like extension of ourselves has induced a profound identity crisis
bordering self-alienation: Who am I? Am I my avatar? As we lose
our traditional grasp on identity, our obsession with it
intensifies. This resembles individuals caught in the throes of
a challenging psychedelic experience, where the panic of ego
dissolution drives a desperate cling to any form of identity
that promises relief from the existential dread of becoming
nobody.
This predicament mirrors our aging culture’s existential crisis,
reminiscent of the transitional state described in the
Tibetan
Book of the Dead, Bardo Thodol. Wise guides counsel us to relinquish all
attachments to usher in rebirth. Yet, it's the paralyzing fear
of letting go that ensnares us in the bardo—the liminal space
between life and death. It’s akin to being a child trapped in
the midst of a birth channel, unable to move forward or retreat.
From Individuality to Identity: The Shift to Digitilized
Sameness Individuality is inherently about internal dialogue—a
process of discovering and maintaining a harmonious balance
within oneself. It's a personal journey towards self-definition
and uniqueness. On the other hand, identity has, due to the
reasons mentioned above, come to over-focus on
conformity and alignment with external expectations, marking a
shift from being unique to being identical with others. This
transition reflects a hijacking of our intrinsic need for
belonging and tribe by digital facades.
The discomfort stemming from the gap between our real selves and
our idealized online personas prompts us to modify our biology,
aiming to mirror these digital projections. While individuality
is deeply anchored in the tangible and real, identity now chases
after story told illusions, propelling us into a cycle of self-simulacra.
The Avataric Proces of Botoxification Practices such as botox injections serve as modern-day attempts
to fit Cinderella's slipper, sacrificing our distinctiveness for
a homogenized identity.
This pursuit of standardized beauty erases the unique
characteristics that define us, turning human expressions into a
monotonous echo of digital avatars. Women who resort to cosmetic
alterations lose a piece of their individuality, their capacity
to fully embody, express, and communicate their true selves is
diminished. We become trapped in a performative identity,
crafted from the lexicon of emojis and smileys, where every
smile mirrors the superficial grin of a simulacrum, deepening
our isolation from our authentic selves. In this way, the more
we attempt to align with these artificial standards, the more
profound our individual suffering becomes, ensnared within the
spectacle of simulated belonging.
Iron Men on the Run While men typically are a bit behind in the botoxification
process of their faces,
they often use sports, career, and even performance-enhancing smartdrugs as a
means of escape, running from internal discomfort through
physically demanding activities. At the end of this performance
or fitness
journey, there isn't a light of fulfillment but merely another
tunnel leading to the next adrenaline rush. The prevailing ethos
in this sphere is 'no pain, no gain.' This sportified American
take on success encourages a 'Yes! You can do it!'
mentality – a relentless self-optimization process where pain is
managed and controlled by the ego rather than
deeply understood. Even meditation and yoga have become tools of
self-optimizion instead of relaxation.
We are now in a situation where we in a reinforced loop seek to
escape the accumulating unsettling sensations in our bodies
created by the pain of not being 'liked' by our
avatar.
THE AWARENESS STARVATION OF THE BODY
Even before the times of the smartphone we were busy with
external things:
"Of all
ridiculous things the most ridiculous seems to me, to be busy
— to be a man who is brisk about his food and his work."
Søren Kierkegaard "Either/Or"
However, I
wonder what Kierkegaard would have said to the vista of a train
compartment full of reel-browsing passengers. Even the busy man
on Kierkegaard's time were less visually oriented and more
connected to a close, sensory awareness of his body. In my
youth, while traveling by train, people would gaze out the
windows in a kind of defocused manner. You can imagine what
people did in the long winther months
in the mideval period.
They were staring into the fire while trying to stay warm or
they were doing routine activities while immersed in themselves.
"A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare"
W. H. Davies
Even
unknowingly, the state of staring nurtured our bodies through
interoceptive awareness. Give it a try and experience for
yourself: stare without focusing for a minute and observe how
the interoceptive awareness of your body arrives like a whale
coming up to the ocean surface for air.
An important factor giving rise to our newly configured
pattern of pain is what I
would term the awareness-starvation
of our body. The greatest gift you can offer someone is your
undivided, non-judgemental space-holding
awareness. Experiment
with this, and you'll notice its impact. Similarly, the best
gift you can give your own body is to immerse it in your own
simple tathata, or suchness-awareness. Nothing nourishes
the body more than a bath in this close-sensual presence of your own
awareness.
Today, the immense importance of that
dreamy irrigation of our inner body landscape is ignored. With
everyone's eyes glued to smartphone screens, our bodies are
neglected, left by the wayside like forgotten orphans. For
millions of years, our bodies have thrived on 'zone out'
moments. Now, suddenly, a significant portion of our energy is
channeled into new bundles of neurons dedicated to our long
distance sense of vision.
Consequently, we are looking at ourselves from outside instead of
feeling ourselves from the inside. We have become increasingly
visual and mental, inhabiting alienated bodies we then love to
watch in endless zombie serials. This shift towards a
predominantly visual and mental engagement has rerouted a
considerable amount of our energy towards nurturing a distant,
external perception of ourselves, rather than fostering an
internal awareness. As a result, we've evolved into beings who
observe ourselves from an external viewpoint, increasingly
alienated within our own bodies, captivated by the endless
spectacle of digital content. This detachment, or scopophilian
alienation, from our physical essence prompts a desperate
yearning for attention, which we attempt to soothe with
elaborate narratives about our identities. We are unconsciously
hungering for the 'real' when we watch the 'reel'. Such a disconnect is
akin to depriving bees of their natural sustenance, honey, and
substituting it with sugar water—a superficial, inadequate
replacement. Consequently, we've lost touch with the innate
ability to genuinely feel and understand our bodies in their
natural state, supplanted by a culture of narcissistic,
performative avataric self-representation and the acceptance of deceptive
narratives about who we are.
• AVATARIZED VICTIMHOOD
The phenomenon of transforming oneself into a digital smiley, an
act of 'avatarizing,' finds its counterpart in a radical
counter-trend. Amidst the luminous veneer and botox-infused
portrayals of celebratory gatherings, there arises an 'avatar of
darkness'—a direct antithesis. This shadow avatar, conceived
within the muted allure of media's sheen, stands in sharp relief
against its counterpart. Social media's realm of illusion splits
us in two parts, magnifying both the radiant and
the obscure, thereby exacerbating our collective malaise.
The Rise
of the Trauma-Avatar The connection between these contrasting narratives is found
in their common foundation as constructs of the thinking mind. Their
dichotomy evolves in an unexpected manner: the anguish derived
from our constructed stories, previously essential for crafting
avatars of succes and joy, is no longer concealed. Instead of succumbing to
traditional Freudian repression, we now convert this paradox into a
spectacle, comodifying and glorifying our recently unearthed turmoil. This pain
is molded and repurposed into a celebrated state of victimhood,
adeptly designed for the theatricality of social media
engagement. In short we here wittness the upcoming of two
distinct types of avatars:
The glorious botox-avatar and the equally glorious victim and
trauma-avatar.
Let us now look at how the trauma avatar glorifies suffering as
a means to gain followers or endorsements.
The Commodification of personal Pain and Struggle The theme of personal pain and struggle has always been
woven into the fabric of human storytelling, yet the early 2000s
marked a pivotal moment in the visibility and accessibility of
such narratives, propelled by the evolving media landscape. Much
like our tendency to gravitate towards negative news, social
media platforms have a knack for amplifying pain as clickbait.
One notable instance of the new glorification of suffering is
seen in Simon Cowell's emotional "golden buzzer" moment for the
cancer-stricken artist Nightbirde on "America's Got Talent."
This phenomenon isn't limited to television; it extends to
films, series, literature, and the realm of social influencers,
where dramatized real-life adversities or fictional struggles
with mental health, addiction, and other personal traumas are
frequently depicted. While these portrayals can increase
awareness and foster empathy, they also risk oversimplifying
complex issues or exploiting them to lure viewers. This raises a
question about the boundary between sharing to inspire and
oversharing for personal or commercial gain. Such narratives
point at a new trend: Media-shared suffering and victimhood has
become a social capital. THE DISRUPTION OF MALE AND FEMALE ARCHETYPES The social media driven commodification of suffering has
markedly influenced contemporary discourses on gender identity.
Reflecting on the past, the gender diversity of the 1980s exuded
a more vibrant, optimistic, and unguarded exploration of gender
fluidity, in stark contrast to today's atmosphere. The earnest
endeavors in advocating for transgender people's
rights, while wholly legitimate, have also ushered in a
narrative where certain demographics, particularly white men,
are frequently labeled as inherently toxic.
This climate of polarization has also bleed into the fight for
women's rights with repercussions for both genders, contributing
to a palpable tension in social interactions between sexes.
Anecdotes from young men in my locale suggest that forming
relationships with women has become a more difficult task. In Copenhagen, the sight of couples openly
expressing affection has become noticeably scarce, a stark
difference from the warmth and openness observed in Eastern
Europe, where public displays of affection among young couples
remain a common and heartening sight. At the same time wedding
and birth
rates are going down in the Western world.
The Modern Criticism of Masculinity What is increasingly evident in today's gender discourse is
the dialectical shadow side of the masculine drive. Traditional
masculine roles seem to be facing a crisis, rendering many men
existential losers in the modern era. While conservative male
commentators often link this phenomenon to the ascent of female
empowerment, I perceive this phenomenon as indicative of a
simultaneous systemic transformations taking place, where the retreat of male
dominance is caused by both deeper societal imbalances in our
late-stage capitalism and by overwhelming criticism of what is
labeled as toxic masculinity. As
Slavoj Zizek has pointed out, modern American psychology has
labeled this phenomenon of toxic masculinity
as something bordering illness.
I dare in this context to venture into a realm of high
abstraction that reflects traditional stereotypes, where the
essences of male and female are seen not merely as biological
distinctions but as psychological archetypical structures, organized like
layers of rings in an old tree. These archetypes, emerging from
half a million years of human evolution on the East African
savannah, serve as a backdrop for my exploration.
Viewing
gender through this lens, the masculine and feminine emerge as
solid biological interfaces, meticulously sculpted through
endless cycles of negotiation, all under the influence of
society's rapidly evolving norms. From this standpoint, replete
with the risk of oversimplification, I seek not to uncover fixed
truths but to illuminate fresh perspectives that might offer
insight.
In our discussion, we particularly delve into the dialectical
shadow-sides of both masculine and feminine archetypes,
mirroring the contrasting dots within the Taoist Yin and Yang
symbol. This approach acknowledges the intricate balance and
interplay between these forces, aiming to shed light on the
subtleties and complexities that define our understanding of
gender and identity through the ages.
Gender roles from the Stone-age and Today Let us go for a short walk back in time.
The transition from hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural
societies did impact gender roles, often leading to more defined
and sometimes more polarized gender distinctions. In
hunter-gatherer societies, the division of labor was relatively
flexible and based more on age, ability, and preference than
strictly on gender. Men and women both contributed to the shared food
supply, with men typically focusing on hunting and women on
gathering. However, this division was not absolute, and roles
could overlap.
With the advent of agriculture, societies became more sedentary,
and the accumulation of resources led to the development of more
complex social structures. Agriculture introduced new forms of
'man'ual labor and resource distribution, which often resulted
in more rigid and polarized gender roles. Men commonly took on
the heavy labor of fieldwork, plowing, and managing livestock,
while women were more often involved in domestic tasks,
child-rearing, and helping with planting and harvesting.
This division was further intensified by industrial capitalism,
at least when we look at the upper and middle class. Women's
roles were increasingly associated with domesticity and
motherhood, idealized in the concept of the "cult of
domesticity" or "separate spheres," especially in the 19th
century. Men's roles were predominantly associated with labor
outside the home in factories, offices, and other environments
within the burgeoning industrial economy. Concurrently, women
were often relegated to the domestic sphere, a realm
conceptualized as the heart of family intimacy and cultural
development, primarily focused on nurturing children and
managing household responsibilities.
Production Versus Consumption The field of economics is recognized for its significant
gender disparity in both participation and acknowledgment.
Traditionally, economics has attracted far fewer women than men,
marking it as a predominantly male-dominated discipline.
One might speculate that this discipline is deeply entrenched in
qualities traditionally associated with masculinity, perhaps
echoing the same genetic predispositions that drove ancient men
to hunt for as much meat as possible.
Thomas Hobbes heralded early competitive capitalism with a revitalization of
the Roman proverb: "Homo homini lupus est" - Man is a wolf to
man. (Leviathan) The wolf, despite being a collective
behavioral animal, has since antiquity served as an analogy for
the predatory egoistic individual. Hence, the wolf that kills
far more sheep than it can consume has served to highlight the
unsustainability of this drive freed from its original setting
in solidarity. This projected male wolf now resides on Wall
Street, emblematic of a system that perpetuates excessive
economic growth and exploitation.
On the other
hand, it seems that women are taking the lead when it comes to
consumption. The irony is that modern women fighting for
empowerment often blame men for being
the toxic root cause of our relentless capitalistic
overproduction. However, women are taking the lead in
consumption, especially of luxury goods. Even if we subtract the
female household consumption, there are
clear indications
of a female lead.
At times, broad generalizations can illuminate complex subjects
with a stroke of simplicity. In this vein, I
suggest that the traditional roles of men as hunters and women
as gatherers have evolved within the capitalist framework to men
predominantly taking on the role of producers, while women are
often seen as consumers.
The capitalistic system of individual untamed competition and
consumption unleashed the masculine hunting and the feminine
gathering drives to serve a societal dynamism and fluidity never
seen before. However, it came at the cost of the overall
collective sharing of resources that hunter-gatherers seemed to
display.
While this perfectly imperfect system has served us well
and better than any other system in history, the relentless male
production and female consumption now appear to be at a
civilizational sunset. This aging structure is increasingly marked by challenges that appear
insurmountable, signaling a critical juncture for societal
evolution.
A pivot towards a gentler, more motherly nurturing approach to
our planet seems imperative. However, the rise of female
influence in society has been overshadowed by the darker aspects
of feminism leading the charge. Instead of adhering to the
shaman-praised archetypical story of the Earth as an
all-encompassing mother and humans as a unified, sharing tribe
of her children, women have utilized the darker aspects of
femininity to overcome male suppression. This is understandable
as a way for women to manifest their influence, but it comes
with a price to be paid. Instead of finding a balance, we now find
ourselves at the mercy of extremes, where it seems that the
cultural collective female spirit is in favor of payback time.
Competition between Adoration and Cancellation Witnessing the dynamics around a friend who manages a
high-end luxury brand for the wealthiest echelon illuminates a
systemic issue far beyond individual character judgments. It's
fascinating yet disheartening to see how many express disdain
behind his back, mirroring a broader societal trend.
This phenomenon aligns with the discourse on "avatar-happiness"
and the envy it breeds within the veiled arenas of social media.
Such platforms, while ostensibly spaces for sharing and
connection, often morph into battlefields of silent competition. The extravagant displays of wealth and status, meant for public
adulation, paradoxically engender private resentment. It unfolds
in a twilight realm where competition is fierce, yet
acknowledgment of this rivalry remains taboo. This dichotomy
underscores a deep-seated tension between the desire for
recognition and the discontent it spawns among onlookers.
In this context, the backlash against my acquaintance and his
enterprise isn't just personal—it's a microcosm of the larger,
more insidious dynamic that pervades our lives as an existential
trait, now largely amplified by social media interactions. It
reveals how our digital engagements, far from being mere passive
pastimes, actively shape and reflect the complex interplay of
admiration and animosity that characterizes human social
structures.
The Influencer on the Razor's edge Integrating the view on the precarious nature of social media
influence, it becomes evident that this hidden competition and
the idolization of affluence on these platforms contribute
significantly to the phenomenon of influencer cancellation. The
celebration of perceived abundance can quickly turn into a
crucible of scrutiny when influencers fail to navigate the
delicate balance between authenticity and the exhibition of
luxury. As influencers present a life of lavishness and strenght, they
inadvertently stoke the flames of envy and dissatisfaction among
their audience. This envy, born out of incessant comparison, can
escalate into public outcry and backlash when the audience's
threshold for inauthenticity is breached.
This underscores the paradoxical nature of social media:
a realm where admiration and scrutiny coexist in a delicate
balance, each influencer's tenure at the top vulnerable to the
ever-changing tides of public opinion and the insidious
undercurrent of envy that comparison breeds.
Thus, the very platform that celebrates the ostentatious display
of wealth, status, and influence also harbors a silent tribunal, ready to
pass judgment on those who stray too far from the community's
unwritten codes of authenticity and ethical conduct. In this
digital age, influencers and their audiences navigate a complex
dance of admiration and accountability, where every post and
portrayal can either cement one's place in the social hierarchy
or herald the beginning of their downfall.
On a more profound level, the mentality of followers bears
similarities to that of the woke culture, characterized by a
paradoxical fixation on dominance and the exhibition of power,
while simultaneously rejecting these very attributes. This
duality reflects a complex relationship with authority and
visibility, where both admiration and disdain coexist,
underscoring the intricate dynamics at play within contemporary
digital cultures.
In the context of influencer marketing,
women significantly dominate the field, representing a
substantial majority of content creators across various social
media platforms. Furthermore, women are not only the majority
within the influencer community but are also more inclined to
follow influencers. Across different age brackets, a consistent
trend shows women choosing to engage with influencers more than
men, underscoring the significant role of female audiences in
the influencer marketing ecosystem.
At the same time the minority of male influencers earn more
money than their female counterparts, which again points back to
economy as a typical male trade.
Female Shadow
Competition versus open Male Competition
Examining the phenomenon of competition reveals a stark
archetypical contrast in gendered approaches. Men's competition
could in this light be seen as a lingering vestige of our
hunter-gatherer past. They have historically
engaged in open competition, celebrating the win-win situation
of the victor who had the ability to throw a spear one inch
farther than others. This ability could determine the success of
a mammoth hunt, thereby securing essential resources for the
whole tribe.
Women, perhaps also due to a lack of physical strength, often
navigate their rivalries more covertly. Woman more often engage in a twilight
zone
competition in jealousy with each other on the parameters of
beauty and status. From an evolutionary
perspective, this strategy aims at securing the genetics of the
alpha male while ensuring the optimal survival conditions for
offspring. Thus, individual women are not inherently inclined to reveal
their strategies for ascending to positions of power.
While internal female power strategies in nature may remain
concealed, what is vividly displayed is the collective female
energy when it comes to ostracizing individuals from the
collective. Historically, this has been a natural and legitimate
way for women to wield influence and power in negotiations with
physically stronger males.
I recorded this video at a wedding in Punjab, India, in
2014. Even without understanding Punjabi, the body language in
this clip speaks volumes. Women, armed with collectivity and
laughter, defeat the challenging man in a ritual where the
outcome was predetermined, and all parties enjoy it.
Nowadays, this originally healthy phenomenon has morphed into a
darker version known as cancel culture. Seen from the brink of
over-generalization, this new collective dynamic of the many can
be perceived as a female shadow side phenomenon, born out of the
disruptive systematics of social media. Cancel Culture and the rise of Mater Saeva Cupidinum The concept of "cancel culture," originally a healthy
feminine way of gaining influence now amplified and distorted by
social media dynamics, necessitates a bold examination of the
darker sides of female nature. Both the disclosed
competition taking place on social media avatars, influencers and the open
collective rage-driven cancellation happening to people with
diverging opinions and expressions show themselves in this light
to be products of the dark side of the feminine archetype. This
archetype is configured and massively amplified in the social
media landscape in the form of virally growing tribal pools of
emotionally driven opinions in the form of ostracization. In
this shadowy realm female competition and cancellation encompass
everything in a much deeper and more painful way.
I am here reminded of the Jungian archetype "mater saeva
cupidinum" that translates to "the savage mother of
passions," highlighting a primal aspect of the feminine
unconscious associated with overwhelming, often destructive
passions and instincts. It embodies the darker, untamed side of
maternal energy. In the contemporary social media world I would however,
rephrase this Jungian archetype into "the savage mothers
of passions," that underscores the collectivity of this
wrath.
A
Lacanian take of 'Being Percieved' versus being 'The Perciever' Let us now tap into complex discussions around gender
perceptions, roles, and attributes as conceptualized through a
Lacanian lense.
Generally
speaking, the idea that the masculine is the perceiver and the
feminine is perceived can be related to traditional gender
stereotypes and roles, which have been widely critiqued and
reconsidered in contemporary gender studies.
Historically, many societies have attributed active, perceiving,
or agentive roles to masculinity, while femininity has been
associated with passivity, being perceived, or being the object
of perception.
Contemporary thought, especially within fields like woke gender
studies, sociology, and psychology, tends to challenge these
binary views of gender. Instead, there's a growing emphasis on
understanding gender as a complex, fluid spectrum that
transcends traditional male/female binaries. This includes
recognizing that attributes like agency, perception, and the
capacity to be perceived are not inherently tied to one's
gender.
On this particular point I partly agree with the
woke discourse on gender.
At least within the realm of psychology, gender roles and
perceptions are far more nuanced and
varied than such an ald school binary division between
male-perciever and female-percieved suggests. This elaboration
captures key aspects of Lacanian psychoanalytic theory,
particularly with respect to the concepts of "the Big Other,"
scopophilia (the pleasure in looking), and the dynamics of
perception and subjectivity. Jacques Lacan, a French
psychoanalyst,
focused on how the unconscious structures our experiences of
self and others, drawing significantly on the complex interplay
between seeing, being seen, and the structures of desire and
identification.
I dare here to simplify with this statement: The one in power is the perciever.
A slave can never be the perciever. He will always be the
percieved.
The Big Other, in Lacan's theory, refers to the symbolic order,
the social structures, laws, and conventions that govern how
individuals see themselves and others. This order is not just a
passive backdrop but actively shapes desires, thoughts, and
identities. It represents a kind of external authority or
reference point that individuals internalize and which
influences their actions and perceptions.
The point about the person in power being the perceiver aligns
with Lacanian thought in that those who align with or embody the
expectations of the Big Other can occupy a position of power or
authority, becoming the one who looks, judges, or defines norms.
This position allows them to "perceive" or shape reality,
including the identities of others, who become the perceived.
Again here I would like to rephrase Lacan's term into The Big
Othersin order be more useful as a tool of
understanding the contemporary viral social media driven
collective waves of pure amygdalian judgemental feeling.
Scopophilia, or the pleasure derived from looking, plays into
this dynamic by emphasizing the act of observation as a source
of satisfaction or control. For Lacan, the gaze (or look) is
crucial in establishing the dynamics of subjectivity and
objectification, where the subject becomes an object under the
gaze of The Other. This process is not just about literal vision
but about recognition, identification, and desire.
We must here
not forget that this power of observation is exponentially
magnified on the social media platform. The gaze of
the Big Others makes individuals constantly aware of how
they are seen and judged, thus influencing their behavior and
self-perception to an extend maybe never seen before.
The insight that individuals can become both the perceiver and
the perceived through self-reflection or self-surveillance
reflects Lacan's notion of the mirror stage, a developmental
phase where the child recognizes their own reflection. This
recognition is fraught with tensions between identification
(with the image) and alienation (from the image), suggesting an
early internalization of the gaze and the dynamics of being
seen. It implies a fundamental split or lack in the subject,
where satisfaction is elusive because the desire is always
mediated by the Other's desire.
This alienation is again heavily amplified through social media.
In these days the Lacanian Big Others have become massively digitalized. We
are in the contemporary social media-mediated mirror landscape being objectified
by the collective social media perciever. This perciever is not any longer
automatically an attribute of the male-archetype. We are now percieved by the overt
eyes of a collective amygdalian abstraction I would dare to name
as The Big
(M)others. A geomagnetic reversal has taken place where the
masculine is now percieved through the big wrathful mothers watching us.
Individuation versus Identity According to C.G. Jung both the female and the male archetype possess a
dialectic, contrasting shadow. He described these
archetypes as 'anima' and 'animus.' According to him, every
individual harbors both archetypes within their psyche, granting
us all the possibility to identify across gender lines on a
psychological level.
Jung's theory posits that the anima and animus are the
unconscious feminine side in men and the unconscious masculine
side in women, respectively. The anima and animus are not just
about gender identity or roles but are more about the
complementary and contrasting aspects of the opposite gender
that exist within each individual. Jung believed these
archetypes are universal and serve as a bridge to the
unconscious mind. The anima and animus influence an individual's
interactions and projections onto others, affecting
relationships and personal growth.
Carl Jung posited that the path to psychological completeness
involves a process he named individuation. This process demands
the recognition and integration of the diverse facets of our
personality, bridging the gap between the conscious and
unconscious realms of the self. Central to this integration are
the concepts of the anima and animus—the feminine and masculine
aspects within us all—achieving a more unified and harmonious
inner life.
In contemporary times, however, we observe a phenomenon
reminiscent of a geomagnetic reversal in the dynamics of the
anima and animus. This shift sees women engaging in feminist
struggles through the adoption of traditionally masculine
traits, while men, conversely, may embrace qualities
traditionally seen as feminine. This paradox intensifies as
women, in adopting a more masculinized persona, concurrently
navigate a narrative that casts masculinity in a negative light.
Through this inversion of roles, both internal and external, the
classical male and female psychological archetypes begin to
disintegrate and recombine in varied configurations.
The Tragedy of Identity Such transformations in gender identity and expression,
mirroring the complexity and fluidity of psychological gender
itself, could in fact herald a form of liberation.
However, transitioning to the concept of individuation, it demands a
flexibility that is compromised when individuality morphs into
performative identity. Drawing from Meister Eckhart's wisdom,
"The spot I am standing on is small, but it must disappear,"
and his caution against defining oneself too rigidly: "Beware
lest ye take yourself as either this or that."
Embracing a specific identity too
tightly ensnares us in the web of solidified identity construction. In my
exploration of spirit, I propose that identity-identfication
is directly linked to suffering. This highlights the
importance of maintaining fluidity and openness in our
understanding of self, avoiding the pitfalls of rigid identity
categorization, and fostering a journey towards true
individuation. The paradox is that there is no liquidity even in
gender fluidity.
THE WOKE GLORIFICATION OF SURPRESSION
Let's now examine how the contemporary woke culture interprets the
dynamics of this broader wave of clickbait victimhood. In the
woke's take on Foucault's
post-modern perspective, every interaction, no matter how significant or
minor, is viewed as a power struggle between oppressors and
victims. I find merit in this viewpoint, although I'm skeptical
that everything can be boiled down to power struggles.
However,
it's undeniable that we, to a much larger extent than we
often realize, are immersed in power games. These range from
microaggressions to overtly dominant behavior. The subtler forms
of these behaviors are particularly challenging to address, as
they frequently pass under the radar or mask themselves with irony or humor when
identified. I recognize that being on the receiving end of these
subtle power dynamics can be deeply hurtful. Power games, no
matter how small, obstruct our ability to exist in a state of
natural happiness.
The Woke Masking of Late Stage Capitalism The approach of woke culture in addressing historical injustices
and the consequently in our behaviour embedded micro-agressions, encounters several
challenges. Focusing primarily on race and gender, it overlooks
other forms of systemic oppression, which might be equally, if
not more, significant. An illustrative example is the dominance
of large multinational corporations that prioritize shareholder
profits over environmental and human well-being, impacting
individuals across racial and gender lines. I would dare to go
so far as to call that systemic oppression in the sense that
these systems in their self interest harm other people. This includes the
distribution of unhealthy chemicals in over-processed food,
affecting the health of people regardless of race. Similarly,
the systemic influence of social media on mental health remains
underexplored within woke discourse. These examples highlight
the necessity of a broader lens to fully understand and combat
systemic oppression. This blindness has made woke a darling in
the capitalistic advertizing industry where gender and color in
fact has become new tools to continue our blind consumption of
commodities.
Allow me to draw attention to a further contradiction arising
from this lack of comprehensive perspective. While not
definitively proven, the principle of Occam's razor intimates
that the pervasive presence of over-processed, chemically
enhanced foods might be a principal factor behind the obesity
epidemic in the United States—a crisis that has been
intensifying since the 1960s and currently represents a major
public health concern. Despite the undeniable health risks
linked to obesity, the current discourse influenced by woke
culture complicates even medical professionals' ability to
address this issue directly. Any reference to concerns over
weight can be quickly labeled as reprehensible fat shaming,
pushing the narrative towards an unyielding stance on fat
positivity. This situation creates a paradox where the
legitimate health advisories needed to combat obesity are
stifled, overshadowed by the fear of contravening social norms
around body positivity.
This stance effectively masks the impact of
capitalist corporate greed, suggesting that despite its
ostensibly socialist appearance, woke ideology may inadvertently
obscure systemic failures of late-stage capitalism.
Woke and Laugther I find personally find it challenging to take seriously those who are
incapable of laughter. Meister Eckhart states:
"My Lord
told me a joke. And seeing him laugh
has done more for me than any scripture I will ever read."
Rinpoche
Tulko Lobsang is on the same page stating that true spirituality lies more in laughter than in the recitation of
mantras, as it dissolves internal barriers, paving the way to
what he calls the 'bliss-body.'
(Youtube
go to 40 min)
My recent viewing of a Netflix american stand-up comedy roundup
from 2022 left me surprisingly unamused, sparking a single,
tepid 'Ha.' This experience led me to question whether my sense
of humor had diminished, but in fact it was the show itself that
was to blame. The comedians seemed to tread carefully around
'safe zones,' so the only little dry laugther I could
muster was a joke about my demographic: older,
'toxic' white men perceived as relics of neo-colonial, hegemonic
structures. Here the stand-upper had a bit more courage to stand
straight. However, such humor, allowed by the woke ideology,
lacked genuine wit and veered into toxicity, underlining a
broader issue: the erosion of authentic spontaneous laughter. It
is simply not possible to be spontanous and at the same time all
the time check yourself for offensive language as dictated by
woke identity politics.
Woke culture has in this way sidelined the lightness of laughter in favor of
political corrct shaming, echoing
my christian grandmother's belief that laughter was sinful. Woke has killed the healing power of laughter.
The absence of laughter is suffering.
THE MASKED POWER-GAME OF DIVIDE AND RULE However, the most significant problem lurking in the
shadows is that in the process of identifying and addressing
hegemonic power and privileges, the woke movement has become the
very thing it opposes. The power dynamics and privileges
criticized have in a reversed form become tools for the movement
to gain power. This new wave of power display has evolved out of
the broader trend of the previous mentioned commodification of
victimhood.
In this game, both the old neo-colonial white male power and the
new woke power rule by dividing. However, the splitting and the
power gained by the woke movement is far more unconscious than
it was in the old hegemonic structures, exactly because the
exertion of power on a conscious level is more hated and
despised by the woke. While the intellect magnifies itself through
the complex syntax evolved in the ivory tower of the academia, the unconscious shadow side in woke grows
stronger and stronger.
Seen in this light, power and power-display were more visible in the old days. In
the current landscape, both traditional forms of hegemony and
the contemporary woke ideology operate by division, yet the
latter's methods are less overt, driven by an unconscious quest
for power that starkly contrasts with the former's visible
displays through language, uniforms, and architecture. This
shift towards a less visible exertion of power does not diminish
its presence but rather embeds it deeper within the
subconscious, making it more insidious and harder to confront
directly. It has gone underground and here it thrives in the
demonic darkness of the unconscious human mind.
The Religion of the Crowd With inspiration from Kierkegaard I would say that the
individual, when merging into the crowd, loses himself and,
indeed, paradoxically becomes the very embodiment of what he
seeks to oppose. In this mass, the individual's actions and
ideologies, no matter how well-intentioned, risk becoming a
mirror of the hegemonies they aim to dismantle. Woke is above
all a crowd phenomenon. It has no leaders. It has no center -
neither as individuality in the individual or in the crowd it
orchestrates. It has become an expression identity politics to
the degree where identity has sacrificed the essence of
individuality on the altar of religious
righteousness. It has evolved into a realm of moral absolutism,
mirroring a school of piranhas in a frenzied hunt.
This scenario marks the tragedy of the woke collective: it obscures
the individual's consciousness, leading to the exercise of power
in ways that betray the original intent, thriving in the shadows
of unexamined deeply split selves.
The phenomenon of Splitting and Meister Eckhart The more we in a state of high tide emotions split the world in good and evil the more we are
in danger of becoming what we fight. In this sense the thesis
and the anto-thesis always define each other. Let me in this context
quote my favorit quote from my favorite mystic:
"All
creatures contain one reflection:
one, that is the denial of its
being the other;
the highest of the angels denies he is the
lowest.
God is the denial of denials."
The concept
of splitting, a psychological mechanism where the world is
dichotomized into absolute categories of good and evil,
resonates deeply with the spiritual insights of Meister Eckhart,
a mystic whose teachings transcend the simplicity of binary
oppositions in the concept of the divine as a double negation.
Political Activism, Christianity and the Personification of Evil Christianity, despite its significant social contributions,
has a lengthy history of combating its conceptual antithesis,
evil, personified in the figure of the devil. In my view, the
modern political activist movement employs an updated version of this
religious framework, attributing personal qualities to what are
essentially systemic issues. When Greta Thunberg exclaims, "How
dare you!" she is effectively personifying a systemic
phenomenon, similar to a closed environment where bacteria
multiply until they perish from oxygen depletion.
Woke is a wave in top of that larger wave reusing the same,
basically christian software of identifying sin and then shaming
the sinner.
Historically,
no civilization has escaped decay due to its accumulating intrinsic systemic
flaws, akin to the Roman saying,
sic transit gloria mundi. This echoes the wisdom of Indian sages:
Everything born
must die. Imagine here the young and fresh leaves of an old dying tree,
rottening from within crying: "How
dare you!"
In a way I understand the young Gretha. It sucks to live in
the systemic endgame of a civilization. However, the use of the
blame-game is like trying to fix a system within the dimensional
confines of that very same system.
Albert Einstein is often quoted as saying, "We cannot solve
our problems with the same thinking we used when we created
them." This quote suggests that innovative solutions require
a shift in perspective or approach, implying that to overcome
challenges, one must think outside the confines of the existing
paradigm or system. Thus, confronting systemic challenges with guilt and shame
can be seen as a contemporary and basically regressive echo of the darker aspects of
Christian narrative. A brief look at history reveals the human
tribal mind's archaic tendency to project personalized evil onto
systemic processes, a tendency that has caused prolonged
suffering by dividing and polarizing societies.
In this context, Christianity, ranging from the message of
love to the
medieval inquisition, has both contributed to the societal
ailments of splitting and offered the anti-dote in the form of
the ideology of forgiveness and a concept of God as the denial
of denials. In short: Love is the only medicine that can end
human suffering. No statements born from judgment or resentment,
including those expressed as micro-aggressions, have ever
fostered positive change.
A powerful insight by Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche's profound exploration of the human
psyche delves deep into the intricacies of suffering and its
glorification, highlighting the paradoxical nature of human
beings to seek out and even revel in their own pain. This quote
encapsulates Nietzsche's insight into the masochistic tendencies
inherent in suffering individuals.
Suffering
people all have a horrible willingness and capacity for
inventing pretexts for painful emotional feelings. They enjoy
even their suspicions, their brooding over bad actions and
apparent damage. They ransack the entrails of their past and
present, looking for dark, dubious stories, in which they are
free to feast on an agonizing suspicion and to get intoxicated
on the poison of their own anger — they rip open the oldest
wounds, they bleed themselves to death from long-healed scars,
they turn friends, wives, children, and anyone else who is
closest to them into criminals. -
Nietzsche
Suffering
can become a potent and addictive drug. Nietzsche's
observations remain as relevant today as when they were first
penned, offering a stark warning against the dangers of
glorifying suffering and the importance of striving towards a
life-affirming mindset.
STORIES KEEP THE PAIN ALIVE In British colonial India, there was a mutiny in 1857. Years
later, living in North India, I encountered a newspaper article
about a new wave of Indian historians who, after examining old
records, discovered that following the suppression of the Sepoy
Mutiny, the British initiated an ethnic cleansing campaign in
the Northern Provinces, centering around Lucknow. Throughout the
next decade, the British, now under the Crown's direct control
after transitioning from the East India Company, discreetly but
systematically targeted individuals of influence, including
those who were tall and strong, in this densely populated area.
These historians estimated that around 10 million people were
executed from 1857 to 1867. Post-1867, recognizing the
consequences of their actions, the British shifted policies to reincorporate
Indians into administrative roles and opened educational
opportunities in England.
This account, possibly influenced by early 'woke' historical
perspectives, underscores the harshness of British rule,
although it might not be universally acknowledged. The
Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919,
in Amritsar, Punjab, stands out as a well-documented British
atrocity.
The Raj also orchestrated famines in order to force village
people out of their homes in order to work with railroad
construction. This raises the question: Why is there no
lingering resentment towards Westerners, particularly the
English, in India today?
During my travels in Sri Lanka, I observed a remarkable lack of
collective remembrance similar to my experiences in India. The
Uva Rebellion of 1815 saw the British forces significantly
impact the Kandyan aristocracy, with the aftermath leading to
widespread suffering among the survivors, many of whom were
affected by diseases. This period marked a turbulent chapter in
Sri Lanka's history, with profound social and demographic
consequences. Despite the severity of these events and their
impact on the population and society, there remains a notable
absence of a unified narrative recounting these hardships.
Today, Sri Lanka extends a warm welcome to Western visitors,
reflecting a surprising way of dealing with its colonial past.
This phenomenon suggests a unique approach to historical memory.
Why are we welcomed so warmly in these countries? It appears
that both Indians and Sri Lankans have 'chosen' not to forge a
collective narrative around these dark times, perhaps explaining
the absence of enduring bitterness.
This observation has led me to a profound conclusion:
It is collective stories that perpetuate old pain.
We are story-and placebo driven animals.
Without a narrative, traumatic wounds tend to heal within a few
generations - at least they seem to do soo in animals. It's
crucial here to acknowledge that these surpressive
incidents occurred within cultures where the prevailing survival
strategy often involved perceiving the world as somewhat
illusory. Even the last Mughal ruler in India, Bahadur Shah
Zafar, adopted a 'Hinduized' outlook, becoming a tolerant poet.
The choice boils down to either forgetting or forgiving, both
paths leading to similar outcomes in the sweep of history.
At the opposite end of the spectrum lies the enduring narrative
of Jewish suffering. Jewish culture, with its embedded principle
of 'an eye for an eye,' has maintained perhaps one of the
world's oldest and most resilient collective trauma narratives
through storied remembrance of persecution. This narrative of
suffering seems endless, as retraumatization has woven itself
into the fabric of collective identity. The recent tragic events
involving Israel's actions in Gaza highlight a profound truth:
the oppressor and the oppressed are intrinsically linked, with
the roles of persecutor and persecuted easily interchangeable.
This phenomenon, which I term 'reversed victimhood', underscores the complex dynamics of
historical narratives and their impact on contemporary
identities and conflicts. Seen in this light, woke culture in a
way more closely resembles the Jewish mindset than the Christian
one.
Reversed
Victimhood as a Tool of Power In the contemporary cultural landscape, the narrative of
reversed victimhood has evolved into a potent instrument of
influence, serving to imbue shame upon traditional figures of
authority who have historically maintained societal structures.
This fragmentation of self and societal coherence inadvertently
perpetuates divisions by exacerbating historical grievances that
might otherwise have found resolution.
Drawing from Hegelian dialectics, the emergence of a victim or
trauma-avatar represents a novel form of dominance, echoing
Nietzsche's observations of Christianity's use of ideology as a
means for the subjugated to confront the dominators. This
process sanctifies the oppressed, granting them a moral high
ground from which to castigate their adversaries. The stigma now
associated with conventional forms of authority underscores a
paradigm shift where the previously powerless leverage their
victim status as an arsenal of moral superiority. This redefined
battleground, laden with accusations of shame and guilt, compels
all within its radius to navigate a precarious landscape,
fraught with the risk of inadvertently triggering offense.
This dynamic signifies a reversal where traditional power
dynamics are upended, enabling those once marginalized to assert
control through the strategic deployment of their victimhood.
This tactic, while empowering the formerly powerless, also risks
entrenching societal divisions by solidifying identities rooted
in grievance and opposition rather than fostering reconciliation
and mutual understanding.
The meak now concuer the world through weaponized
victimhood, armed with bullets of shame, guilt and so called
emotional safe zones that forces everybody around the avatarized
victim to dance an impossible dance on a ground full of
landmines.
The echoes of reopened wounds transform into a collective
outcry, morphing perceived oppressors into the latest victims
via the mechanism of social ostracization, commonly referred to
as cancellation. This pattern mirrors the current situation in
Israel, where a historically oppressed Jewish community now
finds itself in the role of oppressor towards the Palestinians,
now
facing backlash and cancellation in various Western contexts.
The repercussions of such entrenched retaliatory behavior are
profound. At this juncture, it's crucial to explore the
psychological and spiritual ramifications of exercising this
kind of influence: Identifying oneself as a victim, in any
context, jeopardizes the invaluable opportunity to dwell in
one's innate state of contentment. This critique underpins my
examination of woke ideology. The very essence of wokeism, which
thrives on the perpetuation of suffering to amass the very power
it ostensibly critiques, is antithetical to achieving a state of
inherent happiness. This continuous cycle of grievance,
reminiscent of historical narratives of suffering, threatens to
perpetuate indefinitely, fueled by an unrested amygdala, far
removed from the serenity of our natural being.
The Interplay of 'Woke' Culture, Trigger Words, and Trauma
Responses
Seen from this point of observation, there appear to be notable
similarities between the reactive patterns observed in
individuals with PTSD and behaviors seen in woke culture. Both
can be quickly provoked into intense emotional states, often
bypassing cognitive functions associated with the frontal lobe,
which governs self-restraint.
Trigger words, originally linked to PTSD as stimuli that evoke
traumatic memories, have found a new role within 'woke'
discourse. They now identify terms that ignite potent reactions
to perceived societal injustices, maintaining the same basic
mechanism: rapid and often uncontrollable emotional responses.
This resemblance extends to a shared ahistorical reaction, where
the amygdala's dominance blurs the distinction between past
traumas and current stimuli, leading to immediate and
context-free reactions.
Such reactions, devoid of historical nuance, risk erasing the
complexity of past events, interpreted through the lens of
current sensibilities. This phenomenon is mirrored in the
broader narrative of cancel culture within 'woke' culture, where
there is a tendency to react to historical events with
present-day urgency, prompted by specific trigger words.
The concept of 'safe spaces' intersects with these dynamics,
aiming to protect individuals from triggering discussions.
However, without careful navigation, this protective measure can
foster identities centered on trauma, perpetuating cycles of
reactive behavior and potentially leading to societal
re-traumatization.
Addressing the core of PTSD therapy—and extending this to a
societal imperative—necessitates moderating the amygdala's
immediate, reactive responses to enable the higher brain
functions, particularly those of the hippocampus, to
contextualize and process experiences. This strategic approach
fosters the development of more constructive dialogues, striking
a balance between the need for protective 'safe spaces' and the
imperative of engaging in meaningful discussions that honor the
complexity of history.
A defining trait of the woke movement is its anachronistic
perception of history, treating events separated by centuries as
if occurring in the present. This timeless reactivity of the
amygdala, treating every perceived threat with the same
intensity regardless of its actual scale, overlooks the
evolutionary role of the hippocampus in our cognitive processes.
The hippocampus, our hub for long-term memory, has the capacity
to reassure us that past fears are no longer relevant in our
current reality, bridging our immediate responses with a broader
understanding of time, allowing for a more nuanced reaction that
distinguishes between past and present dangers. This cognitive
balance is crucial for navigating the complex terrain of social
interactions and historical injustices in a way that promotes
healing and understanding, rather than perpetuating cycles of
fear and reactivity.
The confluence of 'woke' and cancel culture exemplifies a
perpetual societal story-told re-traumatization process, solidifying
identities anchored in trauma through sustaining and even
amplifying cycles of reactive behaviors.
THE NOTION OF CULTURAL APPROPRIATION One of the central concepts in woke is the idea of
'cultural' apropriation. This concept in 'woke' discourse refers
to the adoption or use of elements from a surpressed culture by
members of a dominant culture, often without permission or understanding. This
is viewed critically, especially when elements of a minority
culture are used by members of a dominant culture in ways that
are perceived as disrespectful, reductive, or commodifying. The
concern is that such appropriation can strip cultural practices,
symbols, or attire of their original meaning, contributing to
the erasure or marginalization of the culture being
appropriated. It often involves power dynamics, where the
borrowing is unilateral and benefits the appropriator without
acknowledging or compensating the source culture.
The notion that 'cultural appropriation' is solely negative
overlooks the rich tapestry of human history, where such
exchanges, even those deemed adverse, have catalyzed the growth
and enrichment of civilizations through cross-cultural
fertilization. The Latin phrase from Horace's "Epistulae II.
i. 156" serves as a poignant example, illustrating how
Greece, despite its conquest, managed to captivate its Roman
conquerors by imparting its art, culture, and wisdom, thereby
enriching rustic Latium. This historical instance vividly
demonstrates that cultural appropriation has been a driving
force behind the advancement and diversification of societies.
"Graecia
capta ferum victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Latio." (Conquered Greece conquered her savage
conqueror
and brought the arts into rustic Latium.)
This
scenario implies that if the Romans had adhered to a mindset
akin to modern 'woke' sensibilities, resisting the integration
of Greek culture, the flourishing of Roman civilization—a
cornerstone upon which much of our current culture is
built—might have been stifled. It brings to mind a Zen saying:
"To win is to lose, and to lose is to win," highlighting the
paradoxical nature of growth and success.
In the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC) the Greek city-states, led
by King Leonidas of Sparta, faced a massive Persian army.
Despite the Greeks' defeat and Leonidas's death, their stand at
Thermopylae became a symbol of courage and sacrifice, inspiring
the Greek city-states to unite against Persia. The 'loss' at
Thermopylae thus contributed to a 'win' in the broader
Greco-Persian Wars, showcasing how sacrifice can lead to
ultimate victory.
The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks (1453) marked
the end of the Byzantine Empire, a significant 'loss' for
Christian Europe. However, this event led to the fleeing of
Greek scholars to the West, carrying with them ancient knowledge
that significantly contributed to the Renaissance. The 'loss' of
Constantinople indirectly 'won' a cultural and intellectual
revival in Western Europe.
In summary, cultural exchange, even when it involves elements of
loss, defeat, and surpression, power-based apropriation and can
lead to significant, unforeseen gains.
The evolution of jazz music and Mozart's Austrian 'hegemonic'
appropriation of Balkan and Ottoman melodies serve as prime
illustrations of beneficial cultural exchanges. Wienese copy
culture targeted Turkish culture on all levels when the
Austrian-Hungarian empire was at its zenith.
Pablo Picasso,
who famously stated, "Good artists copy, great artists steal,"
drew heavily on African art to revolutionize Western painting,
demonstrating the value of integrating diverse influences.
Moreover, even our biological existence can metaphorically be
seen as an ongoing saga of cultural diffusion, wherein we are
the composite result of previous life forms' adaptations. The
mitochondria within our cells, for example, resemble ancient
organisms that were co-opted billions of years ago to power our
cellular processes. This analogy underscores the naturalness and
ubiquity of appropriation across different realms of existence,
challenging us to reconsider t
he boundaries of cultural
exchange. What are the poor mitocondria other that slaves
captured billions of years ago to serve in the energy factories
in our cells?
THE 'WOKISH' THEFT OF VICTIM STORIES
Moreover, this discussion sheds light on an irony within the
'woke' perspective itself. The very criticism of cultural
appropriation, when viewed through a historical and
psychological lens, reveals that 'woke' ideology might
unwittingly perpetuate a form of cultural dominance. By casting
certain cultural exchanges as inherently exploitative or
negative, it overlooks the complex, often reciprocal dynamics
that have historically fueled cultural evolution and enrichment.
To articulate this more directly, the 'woke' movement,
particularly within certain white segments, often unconsciously
perpetuates a systemic appropriation of victim narratives. This
strategy, which can be termed as the exploitation of reversed
victimhood, involves adopting and repurposing the oppression
narratives of other cultures or groups for their own ideological
and psychological purposes.
In the 1960s, societal norms favored white identity, but by the
1970s, perceptions began slowly to shift, with some individuals
expressing a desire to be associated with other racial
identities. This reflects a broader trend where the allure of
perceived victimhood becomes attractive. The phenomenon of
'pretendianism'—where people claim Native American heritage
without genuine links, as highlighted by Buffy Sainte-Marie and
exemplified by Senator Elizabeth Warren's claims—underscores
this trend.
This intriguing phenomenon is particularly visible in Denmark, a
country with historical ties to the slave trade yet without the
immediate presence of those enslaved populations. Here's an
illustrative anecdote from Denmark, where the discourse around
'woke' culture is reshaping the humanities. A friend of mine,
who runs an online women's magazine for intellectuals, found
herself at the center of a shit-storm for using the term 'coloured' in
a discussion. She was swiftly engulfed by a deluge of criticism
from an online crowd, insisting that 'colored' was a term laden
with microaggressions and white hegemony, and that the correct
term was 'brown'. This incident did not lead to her
cancellation, possibly because 'woke' culture does not yet
dominate the Danish landscape as it does elsewhere, and she
issued a heartfelt apology for her linguistic choice. Notably,
the chorus of rebuke came from predominantly white Danes with
academic backgrounds. It appears they've co-opted narratives of
oppression not their own, wielding them as instruments of power
and using them to castigate others for perceived
insensitivities. This episode underscores a peculiar dynamic:
the appropriation of stories of suppression by those not
directly affected, for personal or collective empowerment, while
inadvertently perpetuating a cycle of accusation and penance.
Such historical nuances contribute to a complex landscape where
the appropriation of victimhood narratives by some white
individuals or groups in 'woke' circles does not stem from a
direct lineage of oppression but rather from an abstracted misguided solidarity,
often rooted in personal frustrations and narcissim. This
ironic twist reveals a deeper layer of the 'woke' ideology,
where the genuine aim for social justice can inadvertently morph
into a form of cultural dominance and narrative theft, diluting
the authentic voices and experiences of those who have directly
suffered from historical and systemic injustices.
Language has always mirrored the prevailing power dynamics of
its time. Yet, as societal power structures evolve, expressions
once laden with subversive undertones can become obsoete within the societal corpus, losing their former
potency due to the healing balm of historical forgiveness and
forgetfulness. An illustrative example comes from my own
neighborhood, where a street was named after an 18th-century
Danish slave trader. This figure had faded into obscurity, his
legacy unremarked upon, until recent demands for renaming
brought him back into a contentious spotlight.
Before the resurgence of sensitivity around language, sparked by
the woke movement, such historical remnants had lost their
sting, becoming as functionally obsolete as grandiose buildings
from a bygone era. Post offices, libraries, police stations, and
town halls, once symbols of authority and grandeur, now stand as
quaint relics. In the digital age, their physical presence loses
significance, leading them toward an aesthetic of graceful
decline, mirroring the fate of English colonial ruins in India.
These structures, devoid of their original context and power,
invite contemplation rather than command authority, signifying a
shift in how we engage with the remnants of past hegemonies.
Before the
advent of the woke movement, who truly paid attention to
18th-century statues, their histories and implications was erased in
public consciousness. Similarly, old extinct expressions
experienced a reawakening under the scrutiny of woke
perspectives. Phrases and sayings, steeped in tradition and with
no meaning anymore, were suddenly imbued with new significance
and vitality.
An Angy Young Man I know a young white privileged danish man. In
fact, I have known him since he was born. Despite his luxurious
and safe upbringing, he developed great anxiety from an early
age, being artistically gifted and very sensitive. He coped with
feelings of unease and anxiety. That all changed when he met
another privileged artist girl, but from a Romani background in the
Middle East. She was woke, and soon, the young man became even
more 'awoke' than her. In this transformation, his anxiety
vanished as he joined the crusade for all suppressed people,
from gender to race issues.
Visiting his brother, he upon entering the appartment
immediately began searching for offensive material. In the
kitchen, he found a coffee container with an advertising image
of a black woman, pointed at it sternly, and declared, "This has
to go!" He then went on to accuse his brother of harboring hegemonic race
stereotypes. The non-awoken brother, who had just completed a
book manuscript, offered a copy to his woke brother. The woke
brother hesitantly accepted the book, voicing concerns over potential
offensive gender stereotypes. He was not sure he would have the
stamina to read it. Throughout this interaction, the
woke brother never inquired about his brother's life and
wellbeing. Attempting
to change the topic, the sane brother mentioned a recent trip to
Poland, referring to the wonderful individuals he met there as 'Polacks.' The woke brother
immediately criticized the use of 'Polack,' suggesting 'Polish
people' instead. The conversation spiraled into polarization and
enmity. While 'Polack' is derogatory in North America, in
Denmark, it has nuanced pronunciations indicating respect or
disrespect. However, the real issue was the woke brother's
inability to see beyond american terminology, overshadowing his brother's
positive experiences with a divisive narrative.
This reaction exemplifies how the very power dynamics criticized
by the 'woke' are adeptly utilized by them, effectively
obliterating the empathy essential for any form of
reconciliation.
The woke brother's self-righteous response to an earnest
expression of goodwill and intercultural openness indeed served
as a micro-aggressive display of power. Paradoxically, the
'woke' philosophy validates itself: from a pessimistic
standpoint, all interactions can be distilled down to power
dynamics, and those who champion 'woke' ideologies are
particularly proficient in demonstrating particular adeptness in
wielding the very power they themselves vehemently criticize.
This phenomenon could indeed be seen as narcissism masquerading
as global empathy. It manifests in those who claim to be global
empaths yet simultaneously lack the capacity to love their
neighbor. The woke brother, who never possessed the mental
surplus to show affection towards his own family, found a
justification for his absence of love: he now labeled them as
racists and bigots.
Zooming out offers a broader perspective on the situation. The
woke brother's first significant interaction with non-white
individuals, ranging from middle class to privileged, was his
encounter with the Romani artist girl. Being raised in Jutland,
Scandinavia, his exposure to other cultures was limited, with
experiences not extending much beyond eating falafel in the
local town. This context presents two possible explanations for
his newfound empathy towards races and genders he has scarcely
encountered. One possibility is that his awakening to woke
ideologies transformed him into a super empath, genuinely
concerned with the suffering of others. A more critical
interpretation, however, suggests he might be appropriating the
victim narratives of other cultures as a means to understand and
address his own discomfort. This appropriation could be seen as
a search for a narrative that offers solace or explanation for
his personal struggles. His apparent narcissistic inability to
empathize with his brother, even minimally, supports the latter
view, indicating that his actions may be more about
self-servitude than genuine empathy.
Now, the challenge we face is that he is not alone in this
behavior. From my vantage point, I've noticed this becoming a
widespread trend among the youth. They experience feelings of
unease and anxiety, prompting a search for narratives that can
contextualize these emotions. Upon finding such stories, they
engage in a detrimental cycle, essentially reopening what could
be described as Nietzschean wounds, leading to a spiral of
retraumatization.
Viewed through this lens, it's less surprising to learn that
Robin
DiAngelo, known for her work on racial issues, is not black
but white. This observation underscores the phenomenon of
individuals seeking to address their own discomfort through the
appropriation of others' struggles, highlighting a broader
societal trend.
The Institutionalized Hegemony of Woke In most universities and extending to American societal
institutions, woke ideology has become the menace Foucault
identified as characteristic of old-school hegemonic power.
Alarmingly, woke ideology is now supported by institutional
power, and very few dare to oppose it. Institutionalized
cancellation goes beyond mere social ostracization from a coffee
club—it can mean losing one's job and livelihood.
Woke as American Cultural Imperialism Remember the incident where my friend was shamed and blamed for
using the word 'coloured'. She is actually not
the only one ending up in such a shitstorm.
South African singer
Tyla sparked a debate after identifying as "coloured," leading
to confusion and anger among American wokish fans. In South
Africa, "coloured" refers to mixed race individuals and doesn't
carry the negative connotation it does in the USA. Tyla's
ancestry includes Zulu, Indian, and Mauritian descent, fitting
the South African definition of "coloured." This debate
highlights a lack of understanding about the term's different
meanings across cultures.
Reflecting on the young woke man's
americanized critique of "polack" as derogatory, it becomes
evident that woke culture acts as a form of American cultural imperialism. This
perspective suggests that woke ideology exports its lexicon and
interpretations globally, positing them as universal truths.
Non-compliance with these standards risks social ostracization
or cancellation, underscoring a dynamic where cultural nuances
and differences are overshadowed by a singular narrative
dominance. This is a clear cut colonial powergame.
When the woke ideology evolves into a dominant uniform narrative among
Western youth, especially outside the US, it creates a complex
and wierd amalgam. This blend consists
of original and authentic grievances that are amplified and cross-pollinated
with a youth culture that appropriates these very narratives to
forge their own identities. Within this fusion, the initially
legitimate and justified grievances are propelled into a
perpetual cycle of psedo-retraumatization and a state of
similacra-victimhood.
This cycle blurs the lines between victims and oppressors to the
extent that their roles become interchangeable, displaying a
fluid ability to switch positions. As a result, the fundamental
game of power not only persists but thrives in utter
unconsciousness, perpetuating a
cycle that, rather than finding resolution and healing in
empathy and love, continues to propagate division and conflict.
This social
software fits the model of the
Karpman victim
triangle, consisting of the perpetrator, the victim and the saviour.
In this context the saviour is the individual who have
appropriated a story from the victim, and through this theft has
elevated himself to a moral high ground from where he can shoot
out justified arrows of anger and judgement.
This trend extends well beyond the realm of woke activism,
epitomized by Greta Thunberg's iconic "How dare you" speech.
The contemporary saviour is a political activist that has
avatarized himself with a simulacra-victimhood, that like the
phenomenon of gender fluidity can be composed of free floating
signs in the matrix of social media to fit any need of
expressing internal anger and discomfort. Recently, in
Copenhagen, I witnessed a fervent protest outside a Louis
Vuitton store. The protest leader, armed with a microphone and
an amplifier on max distorted volume, unleashed a torrent of
fire and pimpstone, captivating a growing congregation in a passionate call-and-response. Such displays
of anger, while compelling, reveal more about the internal state
of the speaker than the external target of their ire. From a
meditative perspective, anger is a signal to look inward,
recognizing that the source of our frustration often lies within
ourselves. It's a simple truth: Observing without anger leads us
toward genuine insight, while viewing the world through the lens
of anger is akin to looking into a distorted mirror, reflecting
only our inner turmoil.
I am reminded of an incident from my own childhood. My grandmother,
an intense yet depressive individual, once saw me in a state of
joy and rebuked me with the words: "Stop this nonsense! Are
you not aware that children in Africa are suffering?!"
This incident is etched in my memory. I ceased my happiness, but
thankfully, only until she was out of sight. Aside from this
instance, I never heard my grandmother speak about the third
world. In truth, she did not care; she harbored many other
narratives that could legitimize and rationalize her depression,
and so she remained depressed. If she had been young today, she
might very well have been woke or could have been an angry
animal welfare activist. Insted she became a follower of the
fanatic Christian
Oxford movement.
I definitely acknowledge the validity and significance of
narratives surrounding animal welfare, climate change, gender,
and race issues. These concerns are indeed genuine and warrant
attention. The issue arises when these narratives are
commandeered by narcissistic individuals who position themselves
as savior-like figures. It is in this context worth noting that
a notable number of prominent contemporary spiritual leaders
exhibit traits associated with the 'dark
triad' of personality — narcissism, Machiavellianism,
and psychopathy. This convergence is not merely coincidental but
underscores a problematic pattern where complex social issues
are exploited for personal gain and/or misguided attempts of
self-healing. One of the favorite tools of manipulation a
pschopat has, is the ability to make his victims feel that are
'wrong'. To gain social power through making other people feel
they cannot trust themselves is a speciality of the dark triad
personality.
A short Time -and Zoom Out Reflecting on my critique of the woke phenomenon, I realize
the importance of introspection and invite you, the reader, to
assess my motivations critically. Unlike the anger-driven
judgment often seen in public discourse, my approach is inspired
by the
Bhagavad Gita's narrative of Arjuna, who fights not out of
hatred but for righteousness. My critique aims to shed light on
societal contradictions without malice, hoping to inspire even
one reader to recognize our inherent greatness beyond our
dramas, thereby finding a place of vast freedom where critical
thinking coexists with deep awareness of what hinders our
presence 'here'.
A Stone Age Brain on the Hunt for 'Explanations' Most of the operational systems in our brain do not comprehend
language; feelings and instincts are rooted in much older, pre-verbal parts of
the brain. When we experience internal discomfort, the small
verbal entity within us struggles to discern the cause. This
entity is fundamentally programmed to seek external solutions to
survival challenges. Therefore, when questioning the source of
our misery, it looks outward rather than inward. Far removed
from the true emotional roots of our discomfort, we encounter
various narratives that we can appropriate to (mis)understand
our own chaotic, non-verbal existence as beings capable of
feeling.
We begin to comb through our repository of information for
stories to adopt as our own. In this process, we become
traumatized, not primarily by our own experiences, but by the
trauma narratives themselves.
Recent scientific research reveals the profound ways in which
the mind can alter our biochemistry, a phenomenon known as the
placebo effect. This effect underscores the power of
storytelling, an intrinsic human capability. What is often
referred to as placebo in medicine is actually a facet of our
ability to craft and believe in narratives. Our storytelling can
either empower or debilitate us. Our beliefs manifest as reality
both internally and externally, ultimately leading us to
perceive a specific Rorschach inkblot in only one particular
way. It no longer serves as a canvas for our otherwise fluid
capacity for fantasy and envisioning alternatives.
The relationship between our 'soul' and our stories can be
likened to the traditional method of dyeing clothes in India.
Initially, linen is dyed with a color, then laid out in the sun,
causing the color to fade. This process of dyeing and exposure
to sunlight is repeated multiple times until the color becomes
resistant to the sun's rays.
Why do we engage in self-victimization? What allure does
adopting a victim identity hold? Why not embrace empowerment, as
Jim Morrison famously declared, "I am the lizard king. I can do
anything"?
Nietzsche highlighted that sufferers become
intoxicated with the poison of their own anger, a notion that
seems incredibly accurate. This peculiar form of intoxication is
akin to the satisfaction self-harmers derive from the pain they
inflict upon themselves. There's a profound dichotomy between
the helplessness inherent in victimhood and the control
experienced by those who self-harm. In victimhood, one perceives
a lack of control, yet paradoxically, there is control in
shaping and owning one's victim narrative in the form of being a
saviour. This dynamic fuels
the modern discourse on victimhood; relinquishing this
narrative, once deeply integrated into one's 'soul-software,'
becomes exceedingly difficult.
This privileged appropriation of victim narratives is
harmful to those with legitimate and justifiable experiences of
victimhood needing to be addressed. The authentic life stories
of individuals who have endured true oppression are undermined
by narcissists who claim to advocate on their behalf.
I'd like to clarify that when I refer to narcissism, it's not as
a clinical diagnosis. The trend of identifying narcissistic
behaviors on social media has morphed into a form of
blame-shifting, not unlike the dynamics seen in woke-culture
shaming and canceling. It's essential to recognize that to some
extent, we all might exhibit narcissistic traits as a means of
coping. However, through self-reflection and empathy, we can
understand that such behaviors detract from our inherent state
of contentment and happiness.
The Story that ends all Stories It seems we are bound by narratives; to claim a life devoid
of stories merely spins another tale. Yet, among all narratives
we weave, the most perilous is the claim of victimhood we adopt
as our own—a toxic fiction that ensnares the soul.
Allow me to share a guiding narrative of my own, though its
adoption is yours to decide.
In moments of clarity, a profound realization dawns upon me: I
transcend the confines of any tale my mind conjures. This
realization, a spontaneous awakening to my inherent
completeness, echoes a truth about us all—we are already whole
and perfect, beyond the limited stories we're told.
Papaji's exhortation, "Wake
up and roar," becomes not just a call to action but a
recognition of our innate freedom. To howl at the full moon is
to embrace our boundless essence, free from the constraints of
time and space.
In gratitude, the need for understanding dissolves, revealing a
simple truth: we are the narrative and the narrator, infinitely
more vast than any story we tell.
From that space alone, actions can take place, that indeed will
change the world for the better.
