psychology

Seeking Immortality In Racism

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There’s a certain kind of man out there we’ve all seen who has a very predictable downward spiral personally and ethically.

He is aging. Perhaps swiftly, more swiftly than usual thanks to lifestyle choices and, ironically, attempts to extend his lifespan.

He starts to make very racist statements. This doesn’t mean he’s just become racist – indeed it is more likely revealing his beliefs and pathologies, and they’re often getting worse. He’s very concerned about other races and of course his. Almost certainly this person is what we’d call White – very White.

He becomes obsessed with genetics and fitness and pseudo-Darwinism. Again, this is perhaps more a revelation than an evolution. But suddenly he’s quite concerned, dare I say radically so.

He is obsessed with reproduction. His race (again, usuallyWhite) must reproduce, though what that race is doesn’t seem to make sense. Perhaps he invokes some kind of generic Whiteness, breathtakingly meaningless in its attempt to lump together people of many backgrounds. He might invoke “European” origins in some unitary manner, as if Europe hasn’t had a history of its people murdering each other in wars for ages.

Inevitably, his obsession with reproduction becomes creepy (or is revealed to be such). He tries to have children with many women. He discusses the fertility of underaged girls in obsessive detail. Perhaps he divorces his wife to marry someone that could be his daughter – or grandaughter. One gets the feeling that this is revelation of and justification of behaviors warranting not just consideration but investigation.

So let me propose that such a man – such men as we are all too used to – are seeking immortality in their racism. Racist they almost certainly are, but there is even more there in the pathology.

They are aging, aging before our eyes and theirs. They have lived life, perhaps being quite successful, but no one can bribe time, only live inside it. They may also be failures, looking back with regret, wanting something to look forward to. Rich or poor, famous or obscure, the flames of history slowly consume them.

So they seek something to give them a sense of immortality, of pemanance in an ever-changing world, and settle on something easily seized on by the pathological – racism. They invest in the survival of their so-called race, whatever bundle of bigotries and demographics they’ve latched on to. They become obsessed with reproduction, both theirs and others, hoping for the immortality in future generations of a specific race.

Of course, their own personal problems become our problems as we’re all to well aware of what fearful bigots can do. Perhaps we didn’t realize how bad they were, but as they got older they got worse, rotting from the inside. Now, many of them at their peak – in age if not wealth – seek to conquer time and they can’t, and it’s our problem.

When I see some White man, aging, obsessed with reproduction and childbearing and demographics, I see someone grasping for immortality and permanence. They latch on to base bias to give them some comfort as their hair falls out and their skin wrinkles. They want something solid in the world as they face the Reaper, and we all know the world isn’t solid.

There, in the end, is the cry of so many bigots – “I am afraid to die.”

–Xenofact

Connection, Contemplation, and Useful Bullshit

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Connection, Contemplation, and Useful Bullshit

Remember when your spiritual interests led you to discover correspondence charts? The wild experience of associating flowers and planets and minerals and days of the week to gods or elemental powers?. The appreciation – if not admiration – for the effort that went into them? The sense that “yes, some of this seems weird, but . . .”?

Correspondences are a core part of a lot of occult, religious, and spiritual practices. From the Sephiroth to the Hexagrams of the I Ching to the Planets, it’s everywhere. Even when you don’t think it’s there, it may well be there just disguised a little bit. Humans like their correspondences, and I’m here to advocate that Correspondence Charts are pretty damn useful in our spiritual endeavors.

They can also be fun and not a little bit goofy, but I think there’s value there, so I will joyfully advocate for them.

Firrst, what do I call a “Correspondence Chart?” Pretty much anything that attempts to align some kind of “Power” to manifestations and parallels in our world. For instance my interest is in the I Ching, so the Trigram of Heaven relates to metal and to sun and circles. Planetary correspondences like the Ibis, the Hare, and Hazel being “Mercurian.” You’ve probably seen plenty of them, but I figure some examples can’t hurt.

Me I like to contemplate correspondence regularly. My preferred methods are to do so when walking, relating things I see to the I Ching. Sometimes it’s in quieter contemplation of symbols, meanings, and the changes of the world. It’s an erratic but regular part of my practices.

In time, I found the following values in Correspondence Charts.

First, when you contemplate these things, you may find actual powerful correspondence. You know the one where you suddenly realize there’s something there to, say, realizing just how appropriate it is to associate a certain god with a certain food. There’s that feeling, almost that synchronicity, of understanding something that seems to thrum beneath the skin of the world.

I can’t describe it perfectly but you probably know what I mean.

Secondly, as you contemplate correspondence, you also find associations that may not be “true” but are useful and interesting. Yes you didn’t have some deep sense of connection by, say, realizing what snack foods correspond to what Planets, but it was still interesting. It might not be deep or universal but you learned something and felt some inspiration and you see things differently.

Essentially you got creative and though you didn’t find a universal truth, you found a personal one. You also may have learned some things about yourself.

Third as you contemplate correspondences you’ll have ideas and intuitions that you realize are completely made up and probably total bullshit even if they seemed relevant for a while These bullshit ideas are also extremely useful as well. I consider them part of the value of Correspondence charts.

When you have some deep insight that turns out to be you having one over on yourself, you understand yourself a lot more – you know how you can make stuff up. In turn you also understand how people themselves can make stuff up. It may even give you a better bullshit detector over time. Plus even if it’s bullshit, maybe it’s interesting.

So yes, Correspondence Charts and contemplation of them has value. From deep insights to creative thought to utter bullshit you learn from, they’re valuable in many ways. You might be able to cast an I Ching better or realize you can think some incredibly wrong stuff in the right conditions. Either way you’re actively engaged with connecting to the Universe and yourself.

As a closing example, let me share an experience that was part of what shaped this essay. On one of my walks, I saw a flag, and thought how in my work with the I Ching it was Fire (visual) and Wind (blown by the wind, naturally). Suddenly I recalled how I considered books to be Fire and Wind (which is also Wood in the I Ching). A flag was a Book written on the wind!

Of course after that rush of thought I also realized some flags just hang, so some are written on gravity. In fact what had inspired my whole rush of insight was a flag that was just hanging there. So I guess that was the hexagrams of Fire and Mountain, or maybe Fire and Earth. I felt both very clever and also a bit of a doofus at the same time.

This cleverness and dofus-ness inspired me to write this essay. So something came out of my insights and my bullshit.

–Xenofact

Thoughts On Spiritual Validity

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I was discussing assorted spiritual issues with a friend during one of our regular calls.* We specifically discussed attempts by people to claim spiritual authority and out of the discussion two ways came to mind that I wanted to discuss. Now that I see them, I really see them, and thus I share my insights and the opportunity to call me on my bullshit.

The first is what I call the Ancient Tradition method. People claim their spiritual path is valid as it’s an Ancient Tradition. The endurance of said tradition over time is a marker of its validity. In addition, those who follow or say they follow the Ancient Tradition thus claim spiritual authority. It’s “old-is-good” essentially.

Of course there’s a few flaws with this method, the first and foremost of which is, if you’re aware of any systems or organizational theory, it’s that time is not a measure of validity. The ability for something to survive is a measure of its ability to survive. There indeed may be other valid reasons for its survival, and in cultural areas it gets fuzzy, but it’s not an immediate measure of actual truth.

But there’s more. The idea that there are unchanging traditions is on the face of reality, pretty laughable. People change, cultures change, ideas change, spiritual leaders change. What you see of a tradition today is not what it was a thousand years ago, or perhaps even ten years ago. Maybe said Ancient Tradition survives because it did change – which might give it more validity if you admit it.

And, of course, plenty of people claim to be the bearers of said Ancient Tradition that are liars, frauds, or self-deceiving. If you follow any “spiritual history” you’ve read about things made up of whole cloth more or less and treated as ancient. Ancient Tradition isn’t what it used to be in some cases, because it never was anything.

The other form of Spiritual Authority I saw was Initiatory Authority. Someone claims a direct revelation, often through great suffering, that granted them power and authority. In modern times, it took on an almost masochistic flavor.

The amount of people I’d see studying modern cults that claimed some horrific trauma that granted them a kind of religious or spiritual insight was disturbing. There was the usual “survivor of satanic abuse” story which was almost disturbingly pat. But there were also refugees from alien-controlled Secret Space Programs, or those claiming to have been mind-controlled by nefarious forces until they broke free. It was validity through suffering.

I mean you get the occasional people who just had deep revelations, but it felt like in modern times suffering was validation. This is why I honestly think some conspiracy theories and cultic behavior are substitutes and declaration of a need for therapy.

(Plus, note how these Initiatory Authorities often tie into Conspiracy Theories in modern times? That also seems to be getting a bit of Ancient Tradition going there.)

Either way, the idea of some kind of Initiatory experience or revelation giving someone authority was common, but also needed validation. Usually these days you just get charisma instead, or at least rage and sarcasm. But validation? Nope.

As we discussed these ideas, I felt I had a better sense of the modern (and perhaps not-so-modern) spiritual landscape. People were trying to claim authority from Ancient Tradition or some kind of Initiatory experience, perhaps both. In the age of the Internet Influencers these seemed even more amplified.

But what was missing was the thing that matters most – does the spiritual tradition actually help out? What good is it? What is it doing for you, for others, for the world? Are there useful techniques that make you saner, happier, calmer, provide insights and practical experiences? Does it work?

The people in charge, the authorities, the initiated, need to prove what they’ve got works. I wasn’t seeing a lot of proof, but I was seeing a whole lot of trying to claim it. Maybe because if you’ve actually got some spiritual goodness going on you don’t need to get flashy (says the Taoist guy).

This is where I get things like people joining religious traditions for community and support – theologically things may be questionable but the community is real. This is where I get why some Buddhists and Taoist practices have endured as they work – the Four Noble truths are helpful and Golden Flower breathing has results.

In the end, I’m interested in results. Those I can understand I can use. Sometimes they surprise me . . .

But when I see Ancient Tradition and Initiatory Authority pop up? I get suspicious. For good reason.

* If you and a friend are busy, or you’re physically distant, try a regular phone chat, like every two weeks or once a month. It’s very helpful and it’s not being on the computer (he writes, on a computer).

–Xenofact