Excellent. I refer to it as the robotification or commodification of man. Renaud Camus calls it, "undifferentiated human matter." Most Christians churches have bent to it. I am unsure Islam can stand firm. UAE have objected to the US state department pushing LBGT (which commodifies bodies), but Saufi Arabia seems to have joined the global west. Cell phone, propaganda in your pocket, is indoctrination, and reaching the young.
Christianity, "the in this world, but not of this world", is a start, but not strong enough. I found the Benedict Option, head for small towns, isolate in manual labour independent work (not corporate), good advice. Not sure really.
A global depression seems in the offing. I pray this gives large numbers introspection.
Hi Aionist, I very much enjoyed this series, thank you for sharing it. Here is my feedback:
1. First, nicely written and nice length per each part; it was an easy read and you communicated your points well.
2. I agree with you that the managerial class and its enablers, along with increased technology leading to increased centralization and decreased freedom and autonomy (the "Leviathan") is gradually stomping out the individualism that occurs when we listen to our internal voices; true individuals are becoming harder and harder to find, and NPCs proliferate like wildfire. Individualism should be encouraged no matter how quirky or odd, as long as that person is listening to their own voice.
3. We have been fed so much false information in every aspect of life, undergone so much brainwashing, that the process of becoming individualized by listening to our inner voice feels like a really long-term process, maybe a lifetime process. I definitely don't think that I'm at the end of the process myself, and am constantly learning new things that deepen and enrich my thought processes. It was much easier for people to be their own person in prior generations.
4. I always enjoy when authors reference and discuss Ted Kaczynski, so nice choice on that; an author's willingness to discuss him shows that he is willing to at least wrestle with and contend with anti-social views, which is a marker of free thinking.
5. I have not studied Bronze Age Pervert much, to be honest, because he seems to focus on a combination of hedonism, homosexuality, and anti-natalist values that I don't think have any chance at winning long-term (and which contributes to the criticism of him as a gatekeeper). In 100 years from now if current trends continue you'd see a whole lot of Haredi Jews, a whole lot more Amish, and a lot more fundamentalist Muslims, not BAP types.
6. I don't know exactly what the path forward is, to be honest; it seems like at this point things are destined to get much worse. There are too few awake people and globohomo seems too metastasized, too far along in the process, with CBDCs about to be unleashed which will result in the greatest loss of individual freedom in human history. People are simply too comfortable with their bread and circuses of Netflix, porn, and McDonalds. In addition to the Leviathan that you blame, I think (1) the privately owned central bank owners also share a lot of the blame (although it's not clear how much control they have over this process at this point, which has taken on a mind of its own) and (2) the extreme focus on equality and leveling down anything good and great are tied to the origins of Christianity itself, which can only be addressed via at least a partial Nietzschian transvaluation of values: to accept that inequality is OK on its own without equivocation, that at least in this world inequality is both OK and proper in a functioning society, is needed for any chance at reversal. (That's if one believes in the possibility of success in the material realm, anyway; the world increasingly seems to me that a deeply malevolent Demiurge is in control...)
7. You may want to consider creating a new header on your main page as "Philosophy" or something similar linking to this 3 parter, a summary of it, or at least to part 1 (if that is your intent with the 3 parter; perhaps it is not); your "About" section could also mention it. It is too easy for older posts to otherwise get "lost" so to speak for those who don't dig into the archives of an author's substack -- the general rule should be make it as easy to find and as simple to summarize for ADD-addled readers so that it catches their attention.
3) Getting to the point where you can "hear the inner voice" isn't a lifetime process — I think from roughly the ages of 16-33 a man needs to be developing the skill; but if he waits until later than that, it's probably too late. Listening to the voice, tuning your "inner ear", and actually doing the will of the word of god when you hear it... these things, however, *are* a lifetime process, yes. It's just a new frame of mind through which you operate, a new operating system, so-to-speak.
4) Kaczynski was brilliant. You're right it's the marker of an NPC to read his work and then think, "it's a risk to my status if I talk about this, so it must be wrong". Some disagree with his conclusions: that to defeat the Leviathan / Industrial Society, you need to antagonize and accelerate it; they say, "he's right that industrial civilization messes us up, but he's wrong about what to do about it." Honest free thinkers can debate this point.
5) and 6) I have the same response to both. BAP makes a few "main points", I think. The first one, my biggest takeaway from Bronze Age Mindset, is this: You must form deep, spiritual friendships with other men, because this is the only way that political change in favor of free men has ever been achieved in the past. You mention homosexuality, I'm not sure where this comes from, but I have a guess, and if you could validate my guess, I can respond to it. You mention hedonism, I say it's more like Nietzscheanism, which I would characterize this way: the hedonist is an alcoholic and a sex-addict; the Nietzschean says you ought to savor wine and women without becoming chemically dependent. There are subtle differences that would take a longer form response. Anti-Natalist: no, I think BAP is talking to a very specific type of person in his book when he says "don't have kids simply as a political action." He's talking to disaffected "sensitive young men" who may only have "roasties" to choose from for marriage. I think BAP would agree: if you can find a good woman when you're both young enough, then by all means, propagate your genes. But there are many men who feel LOST in our world today, and he is trying to show them a different way to "make a difference": Find the spark of vitality within you, find a small fraternity of men who you would die for, and commit yourself to changing the world. Infiltration, subversion, antagonism, perhaps not too unlike Kaczynski's recommendations — these are some of the tactics I imagine free men might pursue. That said, I agree with you, that we still do need to reproduce and pass forward the flame of knowledge to our children, and enable them to do the same to theirs, if we're going to win long term; and yes, BAP avoids talking about this.
6) Continued. Things will get worse, yes. But what can we do other than find our flame, stoke it, and spread it? As I've said: commitment to physical fitness, combined with practices which raise your mind via meditation or prayer, together will evolve our consciousness and make us "free men". Then it only takes a few of us, working together in fraternity, to make enormous impacts on the world. And, by the way, while the world may get worse, and while it may appear that the industrial elites are taking more and more control, I come back to Kaczynski who reminds us that it's unsustainable, and the more it accelerates, the more it risks breaking and losing control. BAP says that free men in their small fraternities at that point will have authority in their territory to exert their own control, claim their own power, and there's nothing that the industrial elites will be able to do about it. Never forget: all life is cyclical. "Waves of endless laughter must always shipwreck even the greatest tragedian. Consequently! Consequently! Do you understand me, my brothers? Do you understand this law of ebb and flow? Our time will come!" We are leaving autumn and entering winter, but seeds are buried in the world and in time they will burst and blossom. All we can do is tend to them, these seeds of divinity within us. Purify our bodies, raise our minds, form our fellowships, keep our swords sharp — find the flame within us, stoke it, pass it on to future generations — and our time will come.
Industrial civilization seemed to emerge *because of* banking. Usury itself enabled the massive growth in technology, population sizes, power of government. As I've mentioned elsewhere, the Big Bank is itself analogous to the One Ring of Power that Sauron uses to gain dominion over the earth; the Spirit of Growth for the sake of Growth, the Will of Material Hegemony, is nothing short of a Cancer that is now eating its host, i.e. our civilization. Corruption and parasitism only ever leads to one end, in nature. I take great hope in this. And remember the other lesson from LotR: the Enemy is greedy, fearful, arrogant, it moves too fast, and ultimately it is incapable of comprehending its own destruction. It just takes a few free men, bound in fellowship and secrecy, to get inside and cause it to break. Again, I say, this is my main takeaway from BAM, once you get past his eccentric style: cultivate the higher life within you, and form your fellowships, and our time will come!
5) Re: BAP, it is curious that although he is outed (included by National Review), Wikipedia -- which is controlled by the CIA and far-leftists -- doesn't mention it at all in his entry, something I think they would be inclined to do for a true enemy. BAP is apparently a homosexual in real life, and regularly posts stuff like this: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FkvoaZaWQAIMYyw?format=jpg&name=medium . Re: hedonism, I associate any lifestyle choice that doesn't result in family formation and procreation to be fundamentally hedonistic, i.e. focusing on one's own pleasure. Wikipedia calls BAP's version, I suppose, "aesthetic hedonism": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonism#Aesthetic_hedonism . And how can BAP avoid talking about family formation unless that silence is intentional? Per Nietzsche, "The prevalence of hedonism is always a sign of decadence."
Perhaps I am being too harsh; and to be fair, I tried reading BAP's book many years ago but was turned off by his writing style (in general I like the creation and use of new terms as a way of getting past a reader's brainwashed defense mechanisms, but I found reoccurring new spellings of old terms to be annoying), and it's possible I could be misunderstanding him as a result. He seems well read and he's definitely correct that we need a dynamic counter-ideal to counter modern liberalism, that mindless reaction is a forever loser to the left, and that building a circle of close friends who share one's views is very important.
6) Re: cycles and entering (or already being in) a Spenglerian winter, I delved into it and also Kaczynski's thoughts on technology in this part: https://neofeudalism.substack.com/p/dissonance-to-informational-control-397 , which you might appreciate. My concern is that the establishment's control via technology is increasing instead of bucking under populist pressures, which could ultimately disprove Spengler's theories regarding the period of time we are in. I agree with you on focusing on self-improvement and doing so with a group of friends who think like you is a good thing.
Lastly, you could be right about industrial civilization arising from banking, or at least from capitalism. Nick Land thinks they are fundamentally linked, anyway. Usury existed long before industrial civilization, though...
BAP's comment on aestheticism doesn't come off as gay to me. He has a longform podcast explaining this, and I don't mean to take these comments too far down the tangent. The male peacock vs the female is a good example illustrating his point though: the male is more aesthetic, but the ideal female form appears most beautiful to us because it speaks to our genetic desires, our instincts... e.g. large breasts and wide hips are *functional* and evolutionarily advantageous. He does talk about "banging hookers" quite a bit as well.... but, as I said, now we are too far down the tangent lol. I understand how his writing style isn't suitable for everyone. His key messages about spirituality and politics are very powerful and hopeful, that is what it comes down to in the end for me.
Excellent. I refer to it as the robotification or commodification of man. Renaud Camus calls it, "undifferentiated human matter." Most Christians churches have bent to it. I am unsure Islam can stand firm. UAE have objected to the US state department pushing LBGT (which commodifies bodies), but Saufi Arabia seems to have joined the global west. Cell phone, propaganda in your pocket, is indoctrination, and reaching the young.
Christianity, "the in this world, but not of this world", is a start, but not strong enough. I found the Benedict Option, head for small towns, isolate in manual labour independent work (not corporate), good advice. Not sure really.
A global depression seems in the offing. I pray this gives large numbers introspection.
Hi Aionist, I very much enjoyed this series, thank you for sharing it. Here is my feedback:
1. First, nicely written and nice length per each part; it was an easy read and you communicated your points well.
2. I agree with you that the managerial class and its enablers, along with increased technology leading to increased centralization and decreased freedom and autonomy (the "Leviathan") is gradually stomping out the individualism that occurs when we listen to our internal voices; true individuals are becoming harder and harder to find, and NPCs proliferate like wildfire. Individualism should be encouraged no matter how quirky or odd, as long as that person is listening to their own voice.
3. We have been fed so much false information in every aspect of life, undergone so much brainwashing, that the process of becoming individualized by listening to our inner voice feels like a really long-term process, maybe a lifetime process. I definitely don't think that I'm at the end of the process myself, and am constantly learning new things that deepen and enrich my thought processes. It was much easier for people to be their own person in prior generations.
4. I always enjoy when authors reference and discuss Ted Kaczynski, so nice choice on that; an author's willingness to discuss him shows that he is willing to at least wrestle with and contend with anti-social views, which is a marker of free thinking.
5. I have not studied Bronze Age Pervert much, to be honest, because he seems to focus on a combination of hedonism, homosexuality, and anti-natalist values that I don't think have any chance at winning long-term (and which contributes to the criticism of him as a gatekeeper). In 100 years from now if current trends continue you'd see a whole lot of Haredi Jews, a whole lot more Amish, and a lot more fundamentalist Muslims, not BAP types.
6. I don't know exactly what the path forward is, to be honest; it seems like at this point things are destined to get much worse. There are too few awake people and globohomo seems too metastasized, too far along in the process, with CBDCs about to be unleashed which will result in the greatest loss of individual freedom in human history. People are simply too comfortable with their bread and circuses of Netflix, porn, and McDonalds. In addition to the Leviathan that you blame, I think (1) the privately owned central bank owners also share a lot of the blame (although it's not clear how much control they have over this process at this point, which has taken on a mind of its own) and (2) the extreme focus on equality and leveling down anything good and great are tied to the origins of Christianity itself, which can only be addressed via at least a partial Nietzschian transvaluation of values: to accept that inequality is OK on its own without equivocation, that at least in this world inequality is both OK and proper in a functioning society, is needed for any chance at reversal. (That's if one believes in the possibility of success in the material realm, anyway; the world increasingly seems to me that a deeply malevolent Demiurge is in control...)
7. You may want to consider creating a new header on your main page as "Philosophy" or something similar linking to this 3 parter, a summary of it, or at least to part 1 (if that is your intent with the 3 parter; perhaps it is not); your "About" section could also mention it. It is too easy for older posts to otherwise get "lost" so to speak for those who don't dig into the archives of an author's substack -- the general rule should be make it as easy to find and as simple to summarize for ADD-addled readers so that it catches their attention.
8. On a smaller note, you might like this short post by R. Toney Brooks who also delves into the Jungian shadow archetype: https://rationalspirituality.substack.com/p/who-knows-what-evil-lurks-in-the
Anyway overall very solid job with this essay series and I hope you continue to write more.
3) Getting to the point where you can "hear the inner voice" isn't a lifetime process — I think from roughly the ages of 16-33 a man needs to be developing the skill; but if he waits until later than that, it's probably too late. Listening to the voice, tuning your "inner ear", and actually doing the will of the word of god when you hear it... these things, however, *are* a lifetime process, yes. It's just a new frame of mind through which you operate, a new operating system, so-to-speak.
4) Kaczynski was brilliant. You're right it's the marker of an NPC to read his work and then think, "it's a risk to my status if I talk about this, so it must be wrong". Some disagree with his conclusions: that to defeat the Leviathan / Industrial Society, you need to antagonize and accelerate it; they say, "he's right that industrial civilization messes us up, but he's wrong about what to do about it." Honest free thinkers can debate this point.
5) and 6) I have the same response to both. BAP makes a few "main points", I think. The first one, my biggest takeaway from Bronze Age Mindset, is this: You must form deep, spiritual friendships with other men, because this is the only way that political change in favor of free men has ever been achieved in the past. You mention homosexuality, I'm not sure where this comes from, but I have a guess, and if you could validate my guess, I can respond to it. You mention hedonism, I say it's more like Nietzscheanism, which I would characterize this way: the hedonist is an alcoholic and a sex-addict; the Nietzschean says you ought to savor wine and women without becoming chemically dependent. There are subtle differences that would take a longer form response. Anti-Natalist: no, I think BAP is talking to a very specific type of person in his book when he says "don't have kids simply as a political action." He's talking to disaffected "sensitive young men" who may only have "roasties" to choose from for marriage. I think BAP would agree: if you can find a good woman when you're both young enough, then by all means, propagate your genes. But there are many men who feel LOST in our world today, and he is trying to show them a different way to "make a difference": Find the spark of vitality within you, find a small fraternity of men who you would die for, and commit yourself to changing the world. Infiltration, subversion, antagonism, perhaps not too unlike Kaczynski's recommendations — these are some of the tactics I imagine free men might pursue. That said, I agree with you, that we still do need to reproduce and pass forward the flame of knowledge to our children, and enable them to do the same to theirs, if we're going to win long term; and yes, BAP avoids talking about this.
6) Continued. Things will get worse, yes. But what can we do other than find our flame, stoke it, and spread it? As I've said: commitment to physical fitness, combined with practices which raise your mind via meditation or prayer, together will evolve our consciousness and make us "free men". Then it only takes a few of us, working together in fraternity, to make enormous impacts on the world. And, by the way, while the world may get worse, and while it may appear that the industrial elites are taking more and more control, I come back to Kaczynski who reminds us that it's unsustainable, and the more it accelerates, the more it risks breaking and losing control. BAP says that free men in their small fraternities at that point will have authority in their territory to exert their own control, claim their own power, and there's nothing that the industrial elites will be able to do about it. Never forget: all life is cyclical. "Waves of endless laughter must always shipwreck even the greatest tragedian. Consequently! Consequently! Do you understand me, my brothers? Do you understand this law of ebb and flow? Our time will come!" We are leaving autumn and entering winter, but seeds are buried in the world and in time they will burst and blossom. All we can do is tend to them, these seeds of divinity within us. Purify our bodies, raise our minds, form our fellowships, keep our swords sharp — find the flame within us, stoke it, pass it on to future generations — and our time will come.
Industrial civilization seemed to emerge *because of* banking. Usury itself enabled the massive growth in technology, population sizes, power of government. As I've mentioned elsewhere, the Big Bank is itself analogous to the One Ring of Power that Sauron uses to gain dominion over the earth; the Spirit of Growth for the sake of Growth, the Will of Material Hegemony, is nothing short of a Cancer that is now eating its host, i.e. our civilization. Corruption and parasitism only ever leads to one end, in nature. I take great hope in this. And remember the other lesson from LotR: the Enemy is greedy, fearful, arrogant, it moves too fast, and ultimately it is incapable of comprehending its own destruction. It just takes a few free men, bound in fellowship and secrecy, to get inside and cause it to break. Again, I say, this is my main takeaway from BAM, once you get past his eccentric style: cultivate the higher life within you, and form your fellowships, and our time will come!
5) Re: BAP, it is curious that although he is outed (included by National Review), Wikipedia -- which is controlled by the CIA and far-leftists -- doesn't mention it at all in his entry, something I think they would be inclined to do for a true enemy. BAP is apparently a homosexual in real life, and regularly posts stuff like this: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FkvoaZaWQAIMYyw?format=jpg&name=medium . Re: hedonism, I associate any lifestyle choice that doesn't result in family formation and procreation to be fundamentally hedonistic, i.e. focusing on one's own pleasure. Wikipedia calls BAP's version, I suppose, "aesthetic hedonism": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonism#Aesthetic_hedonism . And how can BAP avoid talking about family formation unless that silence is intentional? Per Nietzsche, "The prevalence of hedonism is always a sign of decadence."
Perhaps I am being too harsh; and to be fair, I tried reading BAP's book many years ago but was turned off by his writing style (in general I like the creation and use of new terms as a way of getting past a reader's brainwashed defense mechanisms, but I found reoccurring new spellings of old terms to be annoying), and it's possible I could be misunderstanding him as a result. He seems well read and he's definitely correct that we need a dynamic counter-ideal to counter modern liberalism, that mindless reaction is a forever loser to the left, and that building a circle of close friends who share one's views is very important.
6) Re: cycles and entering (or already being in) a Spenglerian winter, I delved into it and also Kaczynski's thoughts on technology in this part: https://neofeudalism.substack.com/p/dissonance-to-informational-control-397 , which you might appreciate. My concern is that the establishment's control via technology is increasing instead of bucking under populist pressures, which could ultimately disprove Spengler's theories regarding the period of time we are in. I agree with you on focusing on self-improvement and doing so with a group of friends who think like you is a good thing.
Lastly, you could be right about industrial civilization arising from banking, or at least from capitalism. Nick Land thinks they are fundamentally linked, anyway. Usury existed long before industrial civilization, though...
BAP's comment on aestheticism doesn't come off as gay to me. He has a longform podcast explaining this, and I don't mean to take these comments too far down the tangent. The male peacock vs the female is a good example illustrating his point though: the male is more aesthetic, but the ideal female form appears most beautiful to us because it speaks to our genetic desires, our instincts... e.g. large breasts and wide hips are *functional* and evolutionarily advantageous. He does talk about "banging hookers" quite a bit as well.... but, as I said, now we are too far down the tangent lol. I understand how his writing style isn't suitable for everyone. His key messages about spirituality and politics are very powerful and hopeful, that is what it comes down to in the end for me.
addendum to my other comment:
https://odysee.com/@Freemanbeyondthewall:d/896:7?r=7ct6ezc7izTWgMVgEWRzLi2GgDP7nT1H