Sonntag, 8. September 2024

Quickie

Apheida: All that contemplating, can it be good for you? What happens to an observer with all that watching of the world?

Ruphus: Self-realization. Ancient Indian Samkhya philosophy has two fundamental concepts. Purusha equals the perpetual observer, a witness. Prakriti equals Nature dancing, everything that exists – and distracts the observer.

Apheida: The universe distracts an observational force from what?

Ruphus: From realizing itself.

Apheida: So, the observer comes to observe themself. Yes, I refuse to genderize this pronoun today. English solves the grammar genderization problem with creative flexibility, with words like “them”, “they”, “it”, and “all”.

Ruphus: I witness myself. A perpetual observational phenomenon turns its “eyes” on itself.

Apheida: Like a multi-eyed Bible-angel figure.

Ruphus: I sense insanity in my brain when I try to wrap my head around that.

Apheida: It’s the ouroboros phenomenon, the snake or dragon that bites its own tail.

Ruphus: A nexistential carrousel.

Apheida: So, what happens when Purusha realizes itself? It realizes itself as . . .

Ruphus: Nothing. “Where” Purusha “resides”, there is no self, no nature, no anything.

Apheida: Except for the figurative eyes, the witnessing, the consciousness phenomenon, always watching, wishing, waiting.

Ruphus: Definitely not wishing.

Apheida: Can someone be without desire, who must realize themself? Show me nothing! And maybe I’ll believe.

Ruphus: In the meantime, we’ll keep observing then.

Apheida: Until when?

Ruphus: You’ll know upon realization.

Samstag, 31. August 2024

Been havin'

God - Ancestral lineage of wisdom present and beyond. 

Been havin' to pour my creative energy, life force, into something personal.


Human Nature 2

Humans,
Nexistential artisans of love
Who create habitually -
We commune naturally.
Despite suffering, illness and delusion
We can live a life free of despair!
Because humans naturally care.
As does the witness that lies beyond
Watching, waiting, fond
Of life's natural grand illusion.


Writing various paths at once. Is that what writers do? With characters, plots, stories, techniques all entwined into one artful act of catharsis. When I write, I feel good. Even though writing is only one way of channeling life's overwhelming forces of creation, destruction and regeneration. I read, and writers erace my fear of phrasing, long senrtences and ambiguous grammar. Like saints.

"See you soon!" I said to the Ashtanga Mistress. Not knowing when soon would be.

One practically yoga-less week in, only a weekend ashtanga-quickie came to pass. The next week culminated in a moment's complete devotion. A moment Of Fleeting Devotion Breast-Feeding on Soul.

Been havin' a lot of work after the summer break. Substitute teacher help is needed every day. Illness accompanies communities. Teachers have lives. I subbed every day. K-12 schooling is hard. A lot must be learned while coming of age in a given community. And now, our humanity extends well beyond a school district, or village, or nation. We are the people of Planet Earth. Millions of us. Who share the resources of finite ecosystems. 

It felt poetic that I spent the first day of school with the same class from the last day of school back in May. I took it as a good omen. In two weeks, I helped care for and instruct over two hundred students, from kindergarden to eighth grade plus special needs. I left bits of my soul in the classroom. Rearing children demands an unbelievable amount of life force. Of course! Education is a vital aspect of inter-being as a human species in terms of wisdom and wellbeingin in the larger context of a finite planet. Mysterious, galactic, universal and non-existent as it's said to be. A planet, nontheless, we all share. We dwell together. We carry each other. Peaceful, caring and kind coexistance guided by wisdom is vital for the wellbeing of a planetary community. But dealing with fifty fifth-graders all day makes my brain feel fried. And when a very troubled middle school student threw a nasty comment at me, I spat out Buddha's First Noble Truth in response. "I know you suffer, so do I, we all suffer." And the moment passed us by. 

And my heart yearned for ashtanga yoga as the world (samsara) pulled me in like a magnet. I wondered, is yoga with me (dharma) even if I can't practice full physical mastery (karma) of it? Complex and all-encompassing as yoga is.

Asana is vital. Sure, breath is everywhere, awareness always available. But to train body and mind in the asana-artful way (body physics), is irresistible. Even in a spiritual context, why should I feel ashamed of being deeply physical while I embody a material human form? 

Human Nature 3 -                    La naturaleza humana 3 -     
I am content with my                 Me siento contenta con 
relationship with Jesus.              mi relación con Jesús.  
He who embodied.                     El que encarnó.     
I know what Jesus                      Yo sé lo que Jesús  
means to me.                              significa para mi.       

Yeah, been havin' to experience samsara asceticism, the world without yoga study. Labor, human communal responsibilities, society, all call for observation, for careful attention. All that worldly stuff that engulfes the human soul with its perpetual calls. All that, which makes it possible for anything to be. But it pulls me away from philosophy. Thank God for a weekend's study quickie! The yoga scholar summarized yoga history and philosophy in an hour. Then the ashtanga mistress introduced a list of asanas for another hour. The scholar drew a chronological sketch mapped from scripture. Having studied with him for years, I’ve heard him relate scripture-based yoga history and philosophy before. This time, the mention of ancient fire ignited a different thought.

Physical Master B.

Timelines are important though relative.
They give a sense of being and relation.
Ancestry is embedded in our subtlest flesh,
To engender what lies beyond.

Before, the spiritual fire of ancient Indian philosophy evoked in me a paleolithicish feel, a Stone Age vibe. A prehistoric-to-ancient perspective characterized by matrifocal, non-hierarchical and nature-loving traditions. I had already learned about Marija Gimbutas’ work on the Civilization of the Great Goddess in Old Europe (“Neolithic Europe before the Indo-Europeans”, 7000-3000 BCE (Before the Common Era, i.e. B.C. (Before Christ (birth year zero)))*. I thought of the communal, nurturing, sensual, and earthly female fires of a ubiquitous Mother Goddess. Marija's work made me wonder: Is archeology scripture?

Now, the mention of ancient Indian philosophical fire felt alchemical. Perhaps, because I revisited the subject of alchemy recently. A philosophical fire, indeed, with a more masculine flair, which has burned since prehistory and all through patriarchy. It's effects distinct from those of ancient female fires?

“Alchemy, the secret art of the land of Khem, is one of the two oldest sciences known to the world. The other is astrology. The beginnings of both extend back into the obscurity of prehistoric times. According to the earliest records extant [still existing], alchemy and astrology were considered as divinely revealed to man so that by their aid he might regain his lost estate.

    The earthly body of alchemy is chemistry, for chemists do not realize […] that so long as they study only material elements they can at best discover but half of the mystery. Astrology has crystallized into astronomy, whose votaries ridicule the dreams of ancient seers and sages, deriding their symbols as meaningless products of superstition. Nevertheless, the intelligentsia of the modern world can never pass behind the veil which divides the seen from the unseen except in the way appointed –
the Mysteries.
   What is
life? What is intelligence? What is force? These are the problems to the solution of which the ancients consecrated their temples of learning. Who shall say that they did not answer those questions? Who would recognize the answer if given?

   Evolutionists trace the unfoldment of the arts and sciences up through the growing intelligence of the prehistoric
[human], while others, of a transcendental point of view, like to consider them as being direct revelations from God.

   The Chaldeans, Phoenicians, and Babylonians were familiar with the principles of alchemy, as were many Oriental
[people] [the Harappans? I wonder]. It was practiced in Greece and Rome; was the master science of the Egyptians. Khem was an ancient name for the land of Egypt; and both the words alchemy and Chemistry are a perpetual reminder of the priority of Egypt’s scientific knowledge.

   Many interesting solutions to the riddle of alchemy’s origin have been advanced. One is that alchemy was revealed to man by the mysterious Egyptian demigod Hermes Trismegistus
[who] is credited by the Egyptians as being the author of all the arts and sciences.”**

I wonder whether Hermes Trismegistus is a type of force, a bridge (yoga) between what is (essential knowledge) and inspiration (what is expressed in sharing information (discourse, learning-teaching). I think of Patanjali, author of the ancient Indian scripture the Yoga Sutras. I read somewhere, that patanjali means something like prayer or gift from heaven. Is Patanjali, too, a kind of force yoking essence and the expression thereof (Plato)? Like Hermes, who is the source of science and the arts (understanding). Patanjali is also said to have written the perfect Sanskrit grammar, as well as Ayurvedic medicine, in addition to the ultimate existential guide, the crème de la crème of philosophy: The Yoga Sutras.

Been havin' doubts. Ballet class is about to begin again, after a month-long break. Will I be able to find a balance between study (yoga, kung fu, ballet), work (labor, responsibilities), and art (philosophy)? I guess we'll see. I sense things will change again. And again. Of course! The world is full of changing phenomena arising and passing. That's what Goenka taught that the Gotama Buddha taught through his contemplative technique. Come to think of it, Vipassana Meditation Master S.N. Goenka is one of the best philosophers I've known. His teachings come straight from the Buddha's mouth. A lion's roar that makes my heart beat to the rhythm of ancient drums as my body's many strings light up and catch on fire. That's what Ashtanga does. Asana. Yoga. Embodiment. So what? If I'm going to feel physical being, then I want to feel it whole and on my terms. Is not the feeling of it, or at least the winessing of the feeling of it, pure spirit indeed?

Why is Prakriti (Indian philosophical figure) imagined as a dancer? When dancing in the world, even one of your own creation, is so hard. It demands practice, patience and persistence. But the world demands so much more! Prakriti = nature. Is Nature a divine phenomenon? Divine as in: a grand existence, a phenomenon that extends beyond, one with a transcendental and ubiquitous status. 

Samkhya philosophy identifies two grand, all-encompassing philosophical figures: Prakriti and Purusha. A dancer and a witness to her dance. Nature's entangling dance of distractions. Distracing the observer while observing. Purusha observing what, if not Prakriti? A witnessing force aware of the universe. Because there is no self in Purushaland. In fact, there's nothing. But can there be anything unobserved? There must be gazing, whether inwardly or outwardly. Without awareness can a witness even be? To what extent does purusha (witnessing, observation) show up in prakriti (all of nature and the universe)? In observing (which is formless) does form manifest? From what does form draw its presence? Or does form draw observation through its sheer existence? Is form per se? Only how? What are some examples of observational manifestation? Perception per se, the act of witnessing, the attention that bounces back and forth in any ecosystem. Is a phenomenon such as fame en example? Is purusha truly anonymous?*** Why does it need senses and nature to realize itself? Why does Purusha need Prakriti if he is tultimately not to be at all?

At the end of the yoga scholar’s flash lecture, a scientist in the audience confessed that she recognized what she had learned in Western science in what yoga philosophy expressed. Parallels. An interesting phenomenon, they both concluded. My suspicion, that all human seeking will encounter the essentially same knowledge and understanding, is reinforced by prehistoric, ancient and contemporary perspectives.

Thank God for Labour Day Weekend as exhaustion sets in. The bleeding has begun again. The time for rest has come. 

Human Nature 1

Saw a shadow
Reflected
In a darkened mirror
At dawn.
I thought it was the devil.
But it was I.
Why must the devil be
so much like me?


*Gimbutas, Marija. 1991. The Civilization of the Goddess – The World of Old Europe. Edited by Joan Marler. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY. Preface.
**Manly P. Hall. 2010. The Secret Teachings of all Ages. Dover Publications, United States. A newly reset, unabridged republication of the text of the work originally published by H.S. Crocker Co. San Francisco, in 1928. Manly Palmer Hall (1901-1990) “This book is dedicated to the Rational Soul of the World.”
  I must say that seeing when this text was originally written put some controversial remarks into context. Back in the 20th century, particularly the first half, certain sensitivities were still lacking I.e. sensitivities pertaining to the use of the word “race” –  a word I despise for its abuse and all horrible human behaviors attached to it. Because, in truth, there is no hierarchy in nature nor in the universe. Thus, I prefer to speak of different people, ethnicities, societies, or civilizations, who are all essentially the same humankind. Manly also consistently uses the word “man” as opposed to “woman”, “human”, or “person”. Looking at it 24 years into the 21st century, it comes across as insensitive, even if the cause is contextual ignorance. I would expect more from true seekers of the mysteries. For, the mysteries know no gender, race, caste, or other category of any kind tainted by hierarchical pathology. In its nature of always changing, the world, as the universe, is cyclical, equanimous and temporary.
*** Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States of America (2008-2016): “When you become famous, well known, you lose your anonymity. … The natural, everyday thing of being able to sit in the world and observe it and not be observed. Sitting in a park and watching the world happen with nobody pulling you out of it. …That’s a tough thing that I don’t think people think about when they think of power and fame. There are some downsides to it.” (Interview on Jay Shetty Podcast on YouTube, Jan.8, 2024)


Sonntag, 11. August 2024

On the Question of Cellular Wisdom (part one)

“We kissed.
I closed my eyes.
All I saw were images
of the video game we’d been playin’.”

“If I can’t formulate it on the page, it causes upset in my flesh.”

 

Sunday rolls around and all I desire is to philosophize. Actually, I desire philosophy all the time. But the day-to-day distractions are aplenty. So many distractions I love and adore. Love more than wisdom? Adore more than God? Perhaps. Perhaps not. I don’t know for sure. Distractions, wisdom and love fill my days. Am I blessed or delusional?

* * * * *

Are we what our cells are? Information seekers, processors and professors. Do we exist to learn, to collect information – about the environment, the world, our own existence? About what feels good or bad or neutral? About what is desirable, what is not?

How is it possible not to judge under such circumstances? How to discern! say the wise.

Wisdom transcends information. But how?

* * * * *

Yogi Richard Freeman interestingly said, in a monthly online studio talk with Yogini Mary Taylor, where they share the wisdom of their refined philosophical minds, their experience of living with yoga, as well as its sacred ancient teachings. He said that “religion is a scary word because it’s one of the most dangerous things”.*

Why is religion dangerous? What does it mean to be religious? And, to what extent is Yoga religious?

A documentary** recently awakened me to the fact that Buddhism is not entirely pure in practice. Not unlike the scandalous Catholic Church institution. It was said that the Dalai Lama (Tibetan Buddhist religious leader) is also a political figure in a historical context on the world stage of rule, responsibility, and duty to the well-being of humanity. And yet, this world spiritual leader was not allowed by his institution to publicly advocate in favor of abused women and children, nor to speak out against criminal participants in the religious establishment he is the head of. The reason that was given is because of his role as a political figure in the context of the China-Tibet conflict.

Is religion dangerous because it is political? Is religion institutionalized spirituality? What is the importance of spirituality in political affairs? What is it like to live a spiritual life on practical terms? What is spirituality?

The Lure of Books, 1911 by Coles Phillips.
Life Magazine, June 8, 1911.
So, religion can be bad. When is religion good?

Religion, perhaps, is good when it coexists with discernment. The study of scripture is key. Doubt is study’s wife. And, in wisdom, they bear discernment. 

“From the point of view of the Buddha and Patanjali alike, the suffering that is fundamental to the human condition is a defilement that can be removed through religious and meditative practice.” (Barbara Stoler Miller, 1998. p.9) *** Can religion help remove suffering despite being able to cause it as well?

And, is suffering a defilement that results from delusions, or is illusion an inherent part of experienced reality? Thus, underscoring the undeniable presence of delusional facts.

The Buddhist monk Geshe Kelsang Gyatso talked about delusions on the social platform “X” recently. Buddhist wisdom seems harsh to me sometimes. Perhaps because it is straightforward, and unafraid of “uncomfortable” truths. But is Buddhism inherently true?

“The reason we develop delusions naturally, whereas we have to apply effort to cultivate virtuous minds, is that we are very familiar with delusions. Our minds have been acquainted with delusions since beginningless time and so deluded mental habits are very deeply ingrained.” (Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Aug 2, 2024 on X)

But I wonder, are not also virtuous habits very deeply ingrained? Otherwise, how would cells ever make it?

“Delusions can be removed from the mind by abandoning self-grasping, which is the root from which they all arise. (Aug 3)
Our delusions are so strong that they are constantly compelling us to commit negative karma, which causes us to take rebirth in samsara again and again. (Aug 5)”

I wonder whether only negative karma causes rebirth in the world. There appears to be a significant focus on the negative here. It makes sense, problems demand solutions. But what about all the positive phenomena?

What if we are deluded about the extent of suffering in the world?
Suffering is an inescapable fact of life, no doubt. To what extent must it be pushed on us though? Suffering can be mediated, even remedied. Siddhartha Gotama Buddha showed us how.

Consider the following social media post by Zuby I loved on X, @ZubyMusic on August 6th:

“Shout out to everyone who is doing honest work, treating people well, telling the truth, raising good kids, and doing good things to make the world better. Big and small.
The world is held together by a quiet army of decent people.
I appreciate you even if I don’t know you.”

I feel the same as Zuby. And it makes me wonder…

Do the dharma and karma wheels spin simultaneously?
Does the true nature of things lie beyond such wheels?
What does lie beyond cycles and change?
Constancy?
Of what?

Cellular wisdom and subtle consciousness? But these are also constantly changing. Or else evolution would cease to exist. Then, what does remain the same?

God?

* * * * *

Does it matter if I praise God, if He is one and the same with Her, the Great Goddess? Father and Mother, the same creative force? Equally regenerative and destructive as well?

Except, nuance matters. Why do certain distinctions matter, if it’s all the same creative force per se? Because forces have many manifestations. The same force can manifest in different ways. Innovation, spontaneity, and variation are important keys for evolution.

Evolution is the cosmic-planetary, psycho-physical phenomenon of living, doing, dying, being.

Prehistoric Eurasian civilizations appear to have had “a profound belief in a life-generating Goddess who represents One Source while pictured in many forms.” (Marija Gimbutas, 1991. P.222)****

From as early as 25,000 B.C. [BCE], She is depicted with exaggerated breasts, vulva, and buttocks, indicating the centers of emanation of her procreative powers. A study of symbols in Paleolithic art demonstrates that the female, rather than the male, was the deity of creation. In fact, there are no traces in Paleolithic art of a father figure. The bearing and nourishing of offspring –plant, animal, and human– was the primary model for the development of the image of the Goddess as the all-generating deity. […]
The Goddess personifies the eternally renewing cycle of life in all its forms and manifestations.”
(ibidem)

The multiple categories, functions, and symbols used by prehistoric peoples to express the Great Mystery are all aspects of the unbroken unity of one deity, a Goddess who is ultimately Nature herself.
… the Goddess who personifies the generative forces of nature. […] the various life propagating, birth-giving, life-maintaining, and life-stimulating aspects of the Goddess.
… the Goddess who personifies the destructive forces of nature – the Death Goddess […]
… the Goddess who of Regeneration; it is she who controls the life cycles of the entire natural world. […]

The Goddess of the Paleolithic and Neolithic is parthenogenetic, creating life out of herself. She is the primeval, self-fertilizing “Virgin Goddess” who has survived in numerous culture forms to the present day. The Christian Virgin Mary is a demoted version of this original deity. […] it seems clear that woman’s ability to give birth and nourish children from her body was deemed sacred, and revered as the ultimate metaphor for the divine Creator.” (ibid. p. 223) 

I shared this information with the philosophy club as we talked about panpsychism, pantheism, and transhumanism. I’m not sure why the ancient religion of the Great Goddess popped into my mind as I read the papers on these philosophical phenomena. I began wonder to what extent the religion of the Goddess might be panpsychic (ubiquitous mind), pantheistic (ubiquitous divinity) and transhuman (technology biology)? To what extent are philosophical categories renewed attempts at formulating existential phenomena? Subjects, perhaps, we humans understood far better in ancient civilizations.  Subjects that inherently exist, and are formulated, forgotten, remembered and reformulated.

“Archeologists and historians have assumed that civilization implies a hierarchical political and religious organization, warfare, a class stratification, and a complex division of labor. This pattern is indeed typical of androcratic (male-dominated) societies such as Indo-European but does not apply to the gynocentric (mother/woman-centered) cultures described in this book. The civilization that flourished in Old Europe between 6500 and 3500 B.C. and in Crete until 1450 B.C. enjoyed a long period of uninterrupted peaceful living which produced artistic expression of graceful beauty and refinement, demonstrating a higher quality of life than many androcratic, classed societies.
[…]
The primordial deity for our Paleolithic and Neolithic ancestors was female, reflecting the sovereignty of motherhood. In fact, there are no images that have been found of a Father God throughout the prehistoric record. Paleolithic and Neolithic symbols and images cluster around a self-generating Goddess and her basic functions as a Giver-of-Life, Wielder-of-Death, and as Regeneratrix. This symbolic system represents cyclical, non-linear, mythical time.
 The religion of the Goddess reflected a matristic, matrilineal, and endogamic social order for most of early human history. This was not necessarily “matriarchy,” which wrongly implies “rule” by women as a mirror image of androcracy. A matrifocal tradition continued throughout the early agricultural societies of Europe, Anatolia, and the Near East, as well as Minoan Crete. The emphasis in these cultures was on technologies that nourished people’s lives, in contrast to the androcratic focus on domination.
 The Old European social structure was in direct contrast with the Indo-European system that replaced it. As archeological, historical, linguistic, and religious evidence shows, Old European society was organized around a theacratic
[spiritual government], communal temple community, guided by a queen-priestess, her brother or uncle, and a council of women as the governing body. In spite of the revered status of women in religious life, the cemetery evidence […] does not suggest any imbalance between the sexes or a subservience of one sex to the other. It suggests, instead, a condition of mutual respect.” (ibidem, p.viii-xi)

According to Samkhya Philosophy, “that which has never existed can never be brought into existence.”*****

Peace is our past. Peace is human nature. Peace is our future.

“It is a gross misunderstanding to imagine warfare as endemic to the human condition. Widespread fighting and fortification building have indeed been the way of life for most of our direct ancestors from the Bronze Age up until now. However, this was not the case in the Paleolithic and Neolithic. There are no depictions of arms (weapons used against other humans) in Paleolithic cave paintings, nor are there remains of weapons used by man against man during the Neolithic of Old Europe. From some hundred and fifty paintings that survived at Catal Hüyük, there is not one depicting a scene of conflict or fighting, or of war or torture.” (Gimbutas, 1995. p.viii-x) 

Birth-giving, in Catal Hüyük temple wall painting, 7,000 BCE.

So, what is the role of spirituality in politics and government? What does it mean to be a spiritual society, a spiritual civilization? What is the nature of the illusions that craft human realities? Are deluded mental habits deeply ingrained more than virtuous ones? And, do an embryo’s cells stand in competition and conflict with its mother cells, or do they share in a divine dance of cooperative cosmic creation, destruction and regeneration?

To be continued …

 

*FreemanTaylor Yoga @ YouTube, June 2024, “Five Steps to Embodying Happiness”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDX9vL-SpJI

**Buddhism, the Law of Silence - Abuses in Tibetan Buddhism (youtube.com), Direction : Elodie Emery Wandrille Lanos, Producer Tv Presse Productions. 2023.

***YOGA – Discipline of Freedom. The Yoga Sutra attributed to Patanjali. 1998. Barbara Stoler Miller. Bantam Books, New York, New York.

****Marija Gimbutas, 1991. The Civilization of the Goddess – The World of Old Europe. Edited by Joan Marler. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY.

*****Samkhya Karika of Ishvara Krishna with the Tattva Kaumudi of Sri Vacaspari Misra. Translated by Swami Virupakshananda, 1995. Sri Ramakrishna Math Printing Press, India.

Montag, 29. Juli 2024

On Ancient and Common Philosophizing

 

No es fácil escribir filosofía.
Es mucho pensar y
pensar cansa.
No hay que pensar demasiado.
Pobre Iris Murdoch.
Pobre Mamá.
Pero si hay que pensar.
Hay tiempos para pensar y
tiempos para no pensar.

Not easy to write philosophy.
A lot of thinking and
thinking fatigues.
One must not think too much.
Poor Iris Murdoch.
Poor Mother.
But one must think.
There are times to think and
times not to think.

Nicht einfach, Philosophieschreiben.
Viel Nachdenken, und
Nachdenken macht müde.
Frau darf nicht zu viel nachdenken.
Die arme Iris Murdoch.
Die arme Mama.
Aber frau muss denken.
Es gibt Denkmomenten und
Nichtdenkmomenten.


Philosophy is ordinary indeed. Perhaps not in abstraction. But indeed. Studious as we human creatures are.

This does not mean that philosophy is easy by any means. On the contrary, anything that must be done requires great effort. The body tires, as does the mind. Philosophical doing is a lot of work. When I focus philosophically, I tend to frown. It’s not “old”. It’s honest. Living leaves marks. Ancient Greek philosophress Periktione (Athens, 4th and 3rd century B.C.E.) says that

the meaning of philosophy is to get to the bottom of things, capture their essence, and to be metaphysics. (Gleichauf, p.22)

Author Ingeborg Gleichauf explains that

philosophy only happens when the human being creates a distance between herself and that which preoccupies her on a daily basis, and wonders about the from-where and where-to, about the meaning of everything. (ibidem)

Perhaps, not everything is philosophy, not everyone a philosopher, after all, though they could be. I feel grateful to live in a place with a philosophical community. With schools, libraries, study centers for body and mind. For good living. Making philosophy a part of the quotidian life.  In pursuit of happiness. Through Philosophy, which means human art. The power of philosophizing is channelled through physical, mental, and social activities (i.e. yoga, sports, and artistic expression; pictures, books, curricula, media; gatherings, townhalls, clubs, parties, dialogues; et cetera). People gather to train and think together, to discuss and develop, to practice and profess, to contemplate, meditate and express. And humanity thrives as people gather information for good living. As they seek to experience good lives. Philosophy is extraordinary and it is available in public spaces. Philosophy has always been around. Women have always participated in it, even against all odds. Places for human study have always existed. For the study of ourselves and the world.

The world is shared. There is no escaping this fact. Our Planet Earth shares one of uncountable galaxies with countless other planets and stars. On Earth, a carefully balanced ecosystem shares in dances of water, fire, earth, wind, flesh, and wood. Earth’s creatures inter-are with their environments and with each other. Every single one of us is “another”.

Simon de Beauvoir concluded that women were “other” to men. Perhaps, I got too caught up in the whole “sex” thing to continue pursuing “gender” in that way. I do feel her as a woman and philosopher. I have her to thank for my master’s thesis. I feel, I understand her with the heart. And I salute her courage, and dedication to exposing the social inequities related to conceptions of gender and sex. She shook me awake. As a woman. As a feminist. As a human being.

As I dive into the study of women philosophers, I find it gives an amazing validation to my Nexistential identity. To my femme philosophy to be. My work becomes clear: A philosophy of humankind through the perspective of a woman – engendered, of course, by men and women alike in all their variations. A philosophy born out of a woman’s womb of orgasmic intelligence. Women’s philosophies and philosophical experiencing move me to the bone. I feel it in my flesh, it beats in my heart, and sings in my soul.

Men move me, too. But they also frighten me. For too long I felt other to them, while at the same time identifying with their more profound observations. The philosopher at the club talked about Friedrich Nietzsche (15. October 1844 – 25. November 1900), who believed suffering to be a catalyst for growth. He wondered: is suffering bad perse? Believed that our life is valuable because we are vulnerable and finite, because it will end. He espoused the idea of self-fashioning, a process of creating one’s own values. Materialism and rationalism lead to godlessness and nihilism. The belief in the Christian God becomes unbelievable and leads to a moral collapse. Mourning and disorientation result from the loss of God. Crisis. Thus, we are faced with a moral restoration project. The morality based on perceptions we inherited, we have to restructure to our own moral perceptions.

I’ve come to similar conclusions. When I was a teenager, I realized that we experience a social trauma. We get filled with notions given to us by the social context which surrounds us. But indeed, what are we? Then I lost God and lived as an atheist and nihilist for many years rejecting almost everything. Particularly the philosophy of men, but also philosophy at large. An existential crisis, which I have only begun to overcome in recent years. Nexistentialism represents the next step, the restructuring, the self-fashioning, the process of creating “new” values. A moral restoration project.

I thank Nietzsche for teaching to celebrate all of life despite the suffering! And I wonder to what extent yoga may have inspired him. So much is obscured from visibility in the thought-rivers of humanity. Patriarchal societies have gone to great lengths to obscure the presence of women in overtly public affairs. Such as government, art, and the celebrated public norms true to contextual existential (day-to-day living over periods of time) realities (moment-to-moment matters (personal, private, social, public, collective, planetary, universal and so forth)).

I feared a closer study of Nietzsche since my youth. Or Kafka. Though I did fall into the Kafka temptation about two decades ago. I was young and fearfully carefree. I understood his “thought process” in the story Das Urteil (1912) (“The Judgment/The Verdict”) about 12 years after reading it. His thoughts about the matter simply ended there. His story ideas ceased. Regardless of having come to any sort of conclusion. Thought happens that way. Sometimes, an idea comes to an inconclusive end. I fear them because I feel them in my soul. The others. Because I love them.

When I have time to myself, true self-time, I find that I am much more ascetic than I imagine myself to be. A sign of enlightenment or illumination? The gaze from within, without outer distractions, can be quite peaceful. Silence is golden.

Yoga is a phenomenon, an existential force. Brilliantly elaborated and formulated by ancient Indian philosophy and perceptive techniques, indeed quite physical ones (i.e. pranayama, asana). A phenomenon articulated by other systems, too. Various yoga traditions, as well as other perceptive apparatuses. A force that seekers, thinkers, philosophers and other practitioners might stumble upon. A force yoking existing and potential structures through transformation and transcendence. Yoking thought with action, will with power, study with practice. Did yoga inspire Nietzsche?

Philosphical Pairs 2
Friedrich Nietzsche – Fyodor Dostoevsky
Pythagoras – Theano of Crotone
Socrates - Aspasia

Without any specifications, who of the pairs do you guess to be what sex, based on the name alone? Woman, man, someone else? German philosopher F. Nietzsche was an admirer of Russian author F. Dostoevsky (another one I fear).

Theano of Crotone was the wife of ancient mathematician Pythagoras. She was born in the Greek colony of Crotone in Southern Italy, sometime after 550 B.C.E. * (before the common era formerly known as Jesus Christ’s birth in the year zero, marking a before Christ (B.C.) and an after Christ (anno domini, A.D. (Latin)), now referred to as the common era (makes sense with the whole “C” thing)).

Mistress Theano of Crotone had five children. When Pythagoras died, she took over the direction of his school. She had been a follower of his lifestyle. Their motto: prudence and moderation. With the goal to better understand the soul, which is eternal and is born again. The mathematical theorem of the golden mean ratio, or golden section, or sectio aurea (Latin) is attributed to Ms. Theano. Despite her diverse writings about philosophy, mathematics and medicine, only a fragment of her text “On Piety” made it* through a thousand-and-five-hundred-year space-time wormhole. As I sit here, in a living-room in the American West at the turn of the twenty-first century, I can learn from a woman, a femme philosopher no less, from across the Atlantic Ocean hundreds and hundreds of years ago. What a miracle!

Theano had many female students. She gave them intellectual guidance, as well as rules for a morally valuable life as a woman. She held marriage as the highest form of a relationship between the sexes. She accepted the then dominant opinion about the right conduct of a woman: to be reserved, not to strive for public recognition, and to care for the home and children. * Considering the options for women at the time, this was a very intelligent way of channelling the power of philosophizing, and ensuring some form of longevity, if not immortality.

In stark contrast stands the tragic example of professor Hypatia (ca. 370-413 CE (the Common Era)). Daughter of the philosopher Theon, she had an outstanding education. She taught anyone who wanted to learn all subjects at the top of the Platonic School. She was respected and esteemed for her extraordinary intelligence, and moved naturally in the world of men, never holding back her opinions. She corresponded with the ancient ideal of a life in the service of science. She never married. She taught Plato’s ideas, astronomy and geometry at the Museion, the University of Alexandria. She had a public presence and an outstanding reputation amongst intellectuals. She is said to have authored several books, which were all destroyed. Her tragic death is remembered more than her words. She was brutally executed by Christian conservative extremists. Her philosophy was forgotten. *

I wonder, was Theano of Crotone trying to protect her students, women, from being harmed, by encouraging reserved behaviour? In order to survive, live and thrive in a society, which appeared to punish the presence of women in public spaces. It certainly didn’t invite women openly into these. Maybe as servants? Who was getting served philosophy? Turns out, philosophy serves both women and men in diverse circumstances. What constituted being a woman back then? Opinions appear to vary even in ancient times. I wonder how much the biological sex had to do with ancient conceptions of gender (sexual social role). The women’s vulvaginas, mysterious caves, with the ability to give birth. The men’s millions of seeds, held in evident dangling seed sacks, shooting out from overt tubes of flesh.

Theano was a Pythagorean thinker. Pythagorean philosophy holds that the human being is part of the world, which is animate and of divine origin as well. There is never just matter. Everything is related to everything else; nothing is isolated. The world and humankind live naturally in harmony and one must be careful not to disturb this harmony. All excess is to be avoided. Asceticism and spiritual work are called for. Numbers are the unifying, regulative, and essential Element. Numbers give everything clarity and contour, certainty and form. Without the power of the mathematical everything would be chaotic and indefinite. Every single human being is responsible for a harmonious day-to-day. Theano lived according to the precept that order is godly and natural, and this is what she taught as well. *

In this context, philosophy has a strong practical relevance. It does not develop independently from everyday life. To think about the meaning of life includes the question of how daily life is to be fashioned. Theory and practice are not separate. *  In “On Piety” Theano wrote:

“I heard that many Greeks believe Pythagoras claimed that all things arise from numbers. This claim contains a problem: How can things that don’t exist, be understood as being? However, Pythagoras didn’t mean that all things arise from numbers, but in accordance with numbers – on the ground that numbers are the first order of everything and through the division of this order all things that are counted can be assigned a 1. and 2. and everything following.” *

Philosophress Ingeborg Gleichauf considers Theano’s thinking to be very complex. Theano, like Pythagoras, considered that mathematics matter greatly. She wondered how numbers and things relate to each other. Pythagoras and Theano both hold that things and numbers have an intimate relationship, attributed to the fact that humans are able to count things.

Ms. Gleichauf observes that in this early period of philosophy, it already becomes clear that the first and fundamental question for philosophizing is the issue of the essence of all things, of humans and the world. Pythagoreans wondered how everything is linked together, and which is the highest principle. They searched for what regulating power might be beyond the sensory reality.  They gained their insight from experience and the contemplation thereof. We continue to ask these questions today, she writes.  

Theono of Crotone is not the only ancient woman philosopher who is highlighted in Ingeborg Gleichauf’s 2005 book “I want to understand – History of Women Philosophers”.

Philosophress Aspasia (ca. 460-401 BCE) was assigned the hetaera (courtesan) profession by her father, a position held by highly educated women, who were admired for their knowledge. She directed a hetaerae school in Athens. She also headed a salon visited by the most important men of the city, such as the philosophers Anaxagoras and Socrates. And the statesman Perikles, who fell in love with her, left his wife, and took Aspasia as his “pallake” (illegitimate life partner, concubine). All were enthralled by the sage woman. Aspasia’s union with Perikles got her sued, and he freed her with great difficulty. After his death in 429 BCE, she married the sheep merchant Lysikles. The so called Periclean age was characterized by a strong advancement of the arts, philosophy, and medicine. But women had no civic rights. Their role was limited to the household responsibilities and child rearing. Hetaerae were an exception, as they were very free in their manners. The average woman hardly left her home, except to attend a big celebration. Shopping was done by enslaved people. The hetaerae class of women was better educated than the average wife, and sought after by men of thought and politics, who desired female conversational partners. Aspasia was considered an excellent teacher in the subjects of philosophy and rhetoric. Socrates sought her advice and sent his students to consult her.

The intellectual giants of the city deeply trusted this intelligent and educated woman.

Thanks to Plato’s (427-347 BCE) dialogue “Menexenos”, we know that Socrates extolled his teacher Aspasia. He was even a bit afraid of her, said he was almost beat up for being a forgetful student. He then repeats one of her speeches, in which Aspasia lists the ancient virtues of the Athenian people and calls the living to not lament the dead inordinately.

Rhetoric, the art of speech, was a very important discipline in ancient times. Aspasia said:

“Following deeds well done, the well-spoken word bestows upon the doers commemoration and upon the listeners honor.”

Aspasia’s philosophy thrived in the public sphere. She was a thinker who embodied the dialogical factor and speech in the form of oration. This manner of philosophizing through speaking has a strong pedagogical aspect, according to femme philosopher Ingeborg Gleichauf. Aspasia’s style represents a philosophy which is realized in speech, has an educational effect on people, and thus, also has a social impact. Aspasia advocated wholeheartedly for her ideas with the desire to inspire philosophizing. *

In Plato’s most famous dialogue “Symposium” (‘drinking party’) we witness another woman philosopher, Diotima, who probably lived around 400 BCE. Sokrates refers to her as a wise woman and recites a speech by her about Eros. He says she taught him about matters of love. *

“Eros”, according to Diotima, is something which lies between human and God, between properties such as good and bad, beautiful and ugly. It guides humans to aspire to the good and beautiful, and to seek the truth. Diotima considers artists, philosophers and statesmen to be the most interested in doing this. She thought of philosophers as neither reasonable nor wise, but something in between, like Eros. She said:

“For wisdom is most beautiful, and Eros is love for the beautiful; so that Eros is necessarily a lover of wisdom, standing philosophically between the wise and the ignorant.”

Thus, Ms. Gleichauf concludes, Diotima considered love to be the element out of which Eros operates, and the path to attain immortality. This is true for both body and soul. It happens through reproduction, and through art and science. When humans create progeny, something of theirs remains in the world when they die. Artists, politicians and scientists immortalize themselves in their creations through the power of Eros. It can be a poem, a scientific insight or the fight for a just government. Those who seek immortality, could also be rewarded otherwise: Maybe they’ll get to witness the pure beautiful and good, and thus experience the highest bliss. The inherent beautiful and good has an immutable being, does not pass away and is not bound to become. *

Diotima’s, like Socrates’, philosophies have been passed down through Plato’s dialogues. Because of this, says Ingeborg Gleichauf, we can imagine the liveliness of this kind of thinking.

Significant thoughts occur in an argumentative back and forth. A woman or a man throws the ball of questions and hopes the other will catch it and play. This type of philosophizing has a playful side that doesn't diminish its seriousness. Big life problems are at stake here, and they need to be talked about. (Gleichauf, p.19)

Ingeborg notices a distinction between Pythagorean thought and that of Diotima, Sokrates, and Plato. The former conceives of a world in which everything is linked together. For Diotima, there exist two worlds. One is relative, perceivable by the senses, and limited by time and space. The other is eternal and goes beyond human holding capacity. (ibid. p.20)

In the context of Periktone, Ms. Gleichauf notices that the act of seeking to capture the essence of things, of making philosophy metaphysical, reveals a primal interest in the work of desiring insight. With an emphasis on the word work. (ibid. p. 22)

In the philosophy of women, it’s not about giving out prescriptive counseling. Thought work is hard and demands patience, but it is lively and concerned with life. (ibidem)

Periktione authored “On Wisdom”, and wrote:

“Humanity is born and lives to contemplate the principle of nature as a whole. The task of wisdom is to obtain possession of things and measure the purpose of things.” (ibidem)

 “Nature as a whole” means to contemplate the cosmos, the world as such, to not get caught up in the details. That’s what philosophy is to Periktone. Human beings live from hour to hour, from day to day. They do their work, raise their children, do politics, celebrate parties, work the fields, look at this and that, and think about one thing or another. But that is not yet philosophy. (ibidem)

Philosophy only happens when the human being creates a distance between herself and that which preoccupies her on a daily basis, and wonders about the origin and end, about the meaning of everything.


*Gleichauf, Ingeborg. 2005. Ich will verstehen - Geschichte der Philosophinnen. Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag, München. p.10.
*ibidem p.11
*ibid.
*ibid. pp. 23-26
*ibid. p.12
*ibid.
*ibid. pp.13-16
*ibid. pp. 16-17
*ibid. p.18

Sonntag, 21. Juli 2024

 “We’re all original copies.”

“Mediate on your unconscious bias.”


As a mother, my mind belongs to my children. Their needs consume me. The unquestionable love that exists is worth all of attention’s devotion. I also experience impatience due to a draw towards something else. Why would anything else even matter? Because of Philosophy’s seductive call. Like a magnet it attracts my attention. What makes philosophy so irresistible? I wonder…

I’d like to ask Philosophress Iris Murdoch, whether attention equals time and time attention?

is attention ó time ?

                “[…] if we consider what the work of attention is like, how continuously it goes on, and how imperceptibly it builds up structures of value round about us, we shall not be surprised that at crucial moments of choice most of the business of choosing is already over.” Iris Murdoch*

How much do ingrained patterns determine our choices? Can patterns be reimagined? How can new patterns result from the limitations of old ones? Where does yoga fit in all this? Does it represent a bridge between perceptions, yoking the old with the new, the present with potential, the past with the future?

The yoga professor spoke about neural patterns. My thoughts as a woman drifted to the realm of the unlucky patterns with patriarchy. And patriarchy’s unfortunate patterns with women. A relationship characterized by bad luck. How sad. For, parent-child (society-individual, government-community etc.) relations can be unbelievably soulful and happy, characterized by unconditional love. Lucky relations are an ancient pattern. Why break it? It is wiser, kinder, and better for everybody and the world, to care for the naturally healthy human relations, that have ensured our evolution over millions of years. Care for them. Before they break. Due to war, greed, elitism and such. We want to nurture our inter-human relations and the world with kindness, attention**, and care. No matter how fleeting. Like we’ve done for millions of years. For, if we terrestrial creatures fall out of balance, disaster can be the result. Yes, disasters exist without the human hand. Precisely in those cases it is of utmost importance to stick together. To live on thanks to kindness, care, love, community and cooperation. Knowing full well that we inter-are together with the world.

Yoga repatterns body and mind. Of course, I still consider body to be mind and mind to be body. However, I consider a beyond the idiosyncratic body-mind complex, which is what I attempt to express with the word “mind” in “yoga repatterns body and mind.” A collective consciousness, perhaps. Or, a subtle mind, as Buddhists may call it, which I understand to be a kind of universal awareness, independent of one particular point of view, incorporating perceptions beyond.

Communication is key. I love how a yoga teacher interpreted “sangha” *** as “discussion”. Is dialogue**** not the highest philosophical value amongst men*****? We can discuss what we understand communication to be, for it surely must not be limited merely to words.

Intellectualism 1

Don’t do it!
Don’t play intellectual games!
Says Vipassana Master S.N. Goenka.
But, Goenka,
I do like to play.

Can Dharma, too,
be played?

Does play have to be *bad* (undesirable, undisciplined)?

I realize that philosophy cannot be rushed. Long winding roads through nets of being. Demanding attention. Phenomena. Questions. Riddles. Problems. Why? Who knows.

Philosophical Pairs

Edith Stein & Edmund Husserl
Hannah Arendt & Martin Heidegger
Elizabeth Anscombe & Ludwig Wittgenstein
Simone de Beauvoir & Jean-Paul Sartre
Harriet Taylor Mill & Stuart Mill
Diotima & Socrates

Did Simone de Beauvoir ever fry Sartre an egg?

Another matter preoccupies my thinking mind. I haven’t had the energy to write Geshe on X. Last week I was consumed by bloody biological monthly hell. Training was minimal. No Ashtanga. The yoga prof’s intensely isometric approach is quite the workout. It has a very holistic effect on the body. Muscle fatigue everywhere to the subtlest. Strengthening. Acid mood. Will I ever have trained enough to endure without discomfort? Or is there another way altogether necessary to approach the unpleasant side of phenomena? I hear the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee did isometric training. I wonder if ever anyone has trained as intensely as he. Maybe the legendary body builder Ronnie Coleman. Maybe many humans more throughout history and herstory. But I am only an ordinary nexistentialist, a philosophress exploring more than just mind-physique. I am an ordinary woman with weird ass cycles. I’ll tell you what demands great attention: sex. I make the mistake of giving in to lust at the expense of much energy repeatedly. My feminine orgasmic desire pushing shamelessly for another and another one, just one more. It’s deliciously exhausting. What’s the alternative? Celibacy? Sacrifice sex for another promise? Celibacy does appear to be trending amongst the population, according to social media. I guess, you don’t have to join a monastery. All I can say is there are times for celibacy, and there are times for sex.

Anyway, Geshe wrote on X:

“If we first establish peace within our minds by training in spiritual paths, outer peace will come naturally; but if we do not, world peace will never be achieved, no matter how many people campaign for it.” (July 20th)

Is that the only way? Does every individual mind have to establish peace before the world can know itself peaceful? Are there no bridges, no alternatives, no intermediate strategies to work towards collective peace? Can delusions be navigated peacefully?

Today Geshe Kelsang Gyatso wrote:

“It is very important to be able to distinguish unpeaceful states of mind from peaceful states. States of mind that disturb our inner peace, such as anger, jealousy, and desirous attachment, are called ‘delusions’. These are the principal causes of all suffering.”

Sex disturbs my peaceful state – kind of. I suppose sex would fall under the category of desirous attachment? Sex can make me jealous, too. And even angry. Thus, is sex a delusion? Or is sex a phenomenon that is afflicted by delusions? Sex can cause suffering, such as physical fatigue. Amongst other things. But if it is not a delusion, what is sex? Sex can also be fulfilling and peaceful, exciting and serene, fun and blissful. Sex is also ancient and quite specific.

So, do we have to fear a terrible end of the world or a wheel of perpetual suffering, unless every single mind has established individual peace? Is there another way to care for the world of which all individuals are part?

And, how to establish personal peace? Through meditation and other psychophysical practices and training techniques? Is training everything though? 

I must be desperately in love. I’ve been cooking very salty lately. I learned in Germany that cooking salty is a sign of being in love. In love with whom? Why, in love with Philosophy, of course!

*****

Männlicher Feminist 1 –

Er: Wenn die Menschheit untergeht, dann als Familie.

Masculine Feminist 1 -

He: If humanity sinks, the ship takes down captain and crew.

El Feminista Masculino 1 –

Si la humanidad se chinga, se va a la fregada toda la familia.

 

Männlicher Feminist 2 –

Er: Die menschlichen Wellen die man reitet…

 

Masculine Feminist 3 –

She: Can we fuck it out?

Männlicher Feminist 3 –

Sie: Können wir darüber ficken?

La Feminista Masculina 3 –

Ella: ¿cogemos?

*****

Cartoon Prayer 8 –

Forgive me, Father,
For I have
no time for cruelty.
For, I will die.
Would you know?
They say you’re eternal…

 

 

*citation in: The Philosopher Queens edited by Rebecca Buxton and Lisa Whiting (2020). p 109.
** consideration, mindfulness, understanding, respect, time, compassion, empathy, sympathy, et cetera…
*** “sangha”: Sanskrit. “association, coming together” in Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by B.K.S. Iyengar. 2002. Thorsons, London.
**** conversation, exchange of ideas, etc.
***** humankind

Sonntag, 14. Juli 2024

Vulvalution - Strictly Philosophy

An interesting revolution is taking place on the Nexistential timeline. I don't have a lot of attention for writing at the moment as I am stooped deep in voracious reading. This is a necessary quick note relevant to the evolution of contemporary turn-of-the-twenty-first-century philosophical perception. A quick list of books and quotes.The femme philosopher library has opened up to me. Thanks to this Saturday's theme at the Philosophy Club being Women Philosophers. The philosopher had laid out several books on a table in the back. I chose four.

As a young woman in the 1990s, I rejected knowledge as it was presented to me, including philosphy, because it only portrayed men. Thus, instead of studying philosophy, in the 2000s, I began to create my own. Decades later, the tables have finally turned. To be fair, I did experience glimpses of female philosophical thought. Sometimes still confined to patriarchal perceptions while seeking to break free. The following four books reveal the experienes, ideas, thoughts and feelings of other women philosophers. Not only in books, female thinkers abound. Thank God.

2020. The Philosopher Queens. Edited by Rebecca Buxton and Lisa Whiting. Unbound, London.

    "The history of philosophy has not done women justice. To see this, you only have to look at some of the recent books published on the topic. In Philosophy: 100 Essential Thinkers only two women feature, with Mary Wollstonecraft and Simone de Beauvoir taking the seats of honour. In The Great Philosophers: From Socrates to Turing, no women made the cut. Each chapter in the particular book was written by a contemporary philosopher, all of whom are also men. At the time of writing, a newly published book by A.C. Grayling, boldly titled The History of Philosophy, includes no sections on women philosphers. The book does include a three-and-a-half page review of 'Feminist Philosophy' in which only one woman philosopher - Martha Nussbaum - is mentioned by name. You're beginning to sense a theme. 
    It's important to note that this gap is not due to a lack of books being published about philosophy generally. On the contrary, accessible texts are being written on an incredibly broad range of topics, such as Golf and Philosophy: Lessond from the Links, Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington, and last but cecrtainly not least, Surfing with Sartre. And yet, very little has been written to celebrate the work of great women philosophers. ONe notable exception was written by a great philosopher herself, Baroness Mary Warnock, who wrote Women Philosophers over twenty years ago. 
    It is of course true that women hace been under-represented in philosophy, and indeed most of academia, because they were excluded from education. ... This institutional exclusion meant that women were prescibed roles in society that kept their thiking, and their freedom, to a minimum.
    But this is 2019 and things have certainly improved over the past century. More women are taking degrees in philosophy than ever before, with most universities now seeing higher numbers of women than men in their undergraduate classes. In spite of this progress, there is still a huge gender disparity higher up in the pecking order. There are very few philosophy departments where women make up anywahere near 50 per cent of faculty staff. ... So, even though more young women are taking their first dive into the man's world of philosophy than ever before, this is not quickly translating into more at the top. ... Non-white women are still hugely under-presented in philosophy, with very few positions filled with people from minority backgrounds. In her New York Times interview, 'The Pain and Promise of Black Women in Philosophy', Professor Anita L. Allen noted that only 1 per cent of full-time philosophyprofessors in the US are Black, whilst around 17 per cent are women." (pp. 1-3) 

2021. Women of Ideas - interviews from Philosophy Bites. Edited by Suki Finn. Oxford University Press, United Kingdom.

    "Men of Ideas was a 1978 BBC television series in which presenter Bryan Magee interviewed noted philosophers of the time. Of course, it was not just men who had ideas. Yet only one contributor on the series was a woman (albeit a very noble choice): Iris Murdoch.
    Forty years later, some things have changed for the better and there is much to celebrate. But still, a 2018 survey [...] showed only 29.7 per cent of philosophers employed in UK universities were women. This is the lowest representation of women in any discipline outside of science, technology, and engineering. ...
    Women of Ideas collates interviews from the podcast Philosophy Bites...
    There were around one hundred episodes of Philosophy Bites interviews in the archive covering interesting topics by inspiring women. ... Regretfully, given the underrepresentation and marginalisation of various racial and ethnic groups, people from working-class backgrounds, the LGBTQIA+ community, and those with disabilities in philosophy, for example, there are demographics that are not adequeately represented here. This book cannot then be considered as providing comprehensive coveradge of women's voices in philosophy, or of women's ideas! ... it should be treated more akin to a 'tasting menu'. Yet it is my hope -and plan- that future edited collections, line-ups, syllabi, and what we treat as the 'canon' in philosophy will be more inclusive and representational of the diversity of people and positions within philosophy.
    ... I asked the interviewees what it is like being a woman in philosophy [...]. T.he answers are diverse. ... the category of 'woman' is diverse [...] Overall, as this book demonstrates, those who have ideas are diverse, the ideas that they have are diverse, and the experiences that they have are diverse." (Preface)

2022. Metaphysical Animals - How Four Women Brought Philsophy Back To Life. By Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman. Penguin Random House UK, London. First American Edition. Doubleday, New York.

    "The history of European philosophy is usually constructed from the work of men. In their irresistible intellectual history, [the authors] offer a compelling alternative: the story of four women who created a philosophical revolution to counter the darkness of their times.
    Elizabeth Anscomb, Mary Midgely, Philippa Foot, and future novelist Iris Murdoch arrived at Oxford to study philosophy in the 1930s, when the world was again on the brink of war. Mary Midgely emerged, pragmatic and attentive, from a rectory; impatient and restless, Irish-born Iris Murdoch made everyone fall in love with her; Elizabeth Anscombe was a Catholic convert and a student of Wittgenstein; Philippa Foot was brilliant and aristocratic, the granddaughter of an American president.
    The four came of age during years of tumultuous events: Nazism, the Holocaust, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The philosophy of the day -much of it arid and technical- struck them as inadequate for this new human reality of limitless depravity and destructive power. With most male undergraduates (and many tutors) conscripted, the four friends felt free to craft  their own response. Their answer was to bring philosphy back to everyday human life. We are metaphysical animals, they realized, creatures that can question their very being. Who am I? What is freedom? What is human goodness? The answers we give, they believed, shape what we will become." (cover)

2023. How to Think Like a Woman. By Regan Penaluna. Grove Press, New York, United Staes of America. Published simultaneously in Canada. 

    ""In a world in which philosophy is not only sexist in underestimating women's actual and potential contributions, but actively misogynistic in pushing women out of the field, we need this book. [It] is at once a deeply personal and philosophically riveting meditation on four brilliant and inspiring female philosophers -Mary Astell, Damaris Masham, Wollstonecraft, and Catharine Cockburn- that I learned so much from. a must-read for anyone who cares about what happens to women, young and old, in this needlessly and harmfully male-dominated profession"
    - Kate Manne, author of Entitled: How Male Priviledge Hurts Women

In How to Think Like a Woman, Penaluna blends memoir, biography, and criticism to tell these women's stories, weaving throughout an alternative history of philosophy as well as her own search for love and truth. Funne, honest, and wickedly intelligent, this is a searing look at the author's experience of patriarchy and sexism in academia, and a moving meditation on what philosophy could look like if women were treated equally." (cover)

* * * * *

Philosophical Tragedies 1

Did Edmund Husserl reject Edith Stein to protect her?
He still couldn't save her.

Tragedy: Holocaust, Edith Stein dies in Auschwitz in 1942.

Philosophical Tragedies 2

Since they had been lovers,
did Martin Heidegger try to protect Hannah Arendt?

Tragedy: He was a Nazi. She was racist.

* * * * *

I closed a week of physical training with really sore pecs (Pectoralis Major muscles). The right one hurting in every position. Coincidentally, the right breast is bigger than the left. The left side of the body continues to exhibit some type of numbness here and there. Only with great calm focus can I sense the activation of all the bands. I scaled back the martial arts. Ashtanga yoga is kicking my ass. Biceps and triceps burning as well. Tits feel like a cruel additional weight that intensifies the pectoral pain with every step, twist, turn, and even just standing, sitting or lying down. The weight is always there.

I have also decided that from now on I will refrain from all great activity during my intensive bleeding days. And see what happens.

Donnerstag, 4. Juli 2024

Ouroboros (part three)

   Compositional Compulsion

Too busy to pay attention.
Thinking and writing and walking all at once.
Uninhibited by motherhood.
“Pay attention!” calls my child.
“Don’t look at your phone while you walk.”
Indeed, we were going in the wrong direction.
“I’m not looking at my phone, darling.”
I speak absentmindedly.
“I’m writing to not forget.”
Irresponsible philosophizing.
I cannot help myself.

Triple-training Monday was interesting. Early morning Ashtanga Yoga felt brutal after a week of none. The afternoon Active Aging Yoga class was a godsend. I think I have the yoga professor’s Tennisball on Iliotibial tract (I.T. Band) exercise**** to thank. For an overall loosening of body bands. He did say that pain somewhere can be an indication of a problem somewhere else. It’s called referred pain in medicine/therapy. When you feel pain in an area other than where it originated as multiple primary sensory neurons converge on a single converging tract, according to the internet. Anyway, I’ve done two days of maximum chaturangas (30-40 on the first page) during Ashtanga with little bother of the right wrist and arm/shoulder situation. The last 10 or so getting sloppy though.

I had already noticed last week that the entire right side was showing up in major joints. Like it was all strangely connected. The knee, shoulder, wrist, and even hip and ankle sometimes hurt. Never the elbow though.

On Tuesday in ballet class, I was able to bend sideways all the way over the right leg for the first time in years, since before my third child. The leg being lifted onto the ballet bar, the other standing with a tentative turn-out. Stretching the left side of the body from the standing leg to the torso and arm over my bad left hip beyond ever before.

Monday night during Wing Chun practice, breath made my five gates get a little out of hand. My partner said, “I know if I work with Natascha, I’m going to get beat up.” Damn. I felt terrible. I don’t mean to beat up nobody! I’m still such an incredibly naive practitioner. I like to experiment with techniques and physical phenomena, like the breath’s impact on movement. But I have near to no experience. Progress comes about slowly. Focus drifts off. Forces can take over. I scare myself.

There’s no need for violence.
Birth is violent enough.
There’s no need for bloodshed.
Monthly female bleeding is enough.

I dreamt I was walking around in public, and my tit fell out. Then a drop of milk came out of the nipple. Even though I haven’t breastfed in years. Is this menopause? I wondered.

At my second philosopher’s club meeting last Saturday, metaphysics was on the menu. The philosopher’s eyes were aglow. Mysterious depths shining forth in a light and vibrant blue of an iceberg sunshine ocean hue. He seemed different somehow. It was different people, too. A woman with a serious presence and voluptuous breasts hidden beneath a loose white silky blouse with bright pink flowers. Another woman, reared in an antique bookstore, an avid reader. A kid who found philosophy in literature. An elder with an enchanting brightness about him, stoic, mostly silent, radiating curiosity. And me, the lone Nexistentialist bringing up communal species, biological bloodshed, and the violence of birth. All lovers of Perceptive Arts, lovers of l’Art du Point-de-Vue. Where phenomena inter-are, opinions abound.

By the time it was Tuesday afternoon, after five trainings (yoga, yoga, Kungfu, yoga, ballet), I was too tired to argue with Geshe on X. Though I may have loved to. I felt acid cranky from the muscle fatigue, and his statement triggered me some.

“If our mind is filled with negative thoughts and delusions, such as desirous attachment, anger and ignorance, we experience great harm and suffering as a result. They prevent us from maintaining a peaceful mind, and also destroy whatever happiness we may have gained.”

It’s true alright. And yes, I experience negative thoughts and all that. But does it destroy whatever happiness I’ve ever gained? There’s so much more to the complexity of mind. I felt a little shamed. Anyway, this is a larger discussion for another time.

What can a male monk know about being a woman? Is destructive force feminine? Is it human because of female biological necessities? Except, cells are destroyed every instant everywhere. Regeneration, continuation cannot subsist on creativity alone. Decay, disease and destruction appear to be an inescapable part of life’s equation. Thus, they must be known and handled with the utmost awareness and care.

about to get my period on vaca
Trip notes:
“Sparrow sitting on the edge of the fourth floor skilfully manoeuvring a big branch in its beak. Winter will come again. Cold, humid, and brutal around the Great Lake, which has inspired songs of death that are centuries old. An eerie body of water of mysterious powers full of life and skeletons. Flocks of seagulls and wild geese fly across the baby blue sky. I think of bygone days in a far away land. The old belief that aviary dances signified great reveries, prophecies. Fertil mental ground for philosophical spirits, poets, writers and kin. Words cannot be the only way artistic, passionate spirits manifest. But that chapter remains to be explored by this aging Nexistentialist. The world of pictures, lines, and paint. For now, the word will do.

I’m terribly cramping. Second day of bleeding period. Symptoms intensify before the strongest letting of blood*****. Body in purge mode. Am extremely moody. I’d best be left alone to avoid all the compulsive bitching that comes out of my mouth. The sassy remarks and rude retorts. It’s not me! It’s the pain, the discomfort, and the goddam social expectations to keep on functioning productively, often overwhelming to a woman spouting the bitter blood of death made to create life. Nothing can be created if nothing else is ever destroyed. Fuck the chaos in the world! Not in the mood to be happy today, damnit. I know exactly how this shit show is gonna go down. The pain will only increase before the big bleeding begins. Sensations of my vulvagina exploding. Like I was giving birth all over again. Only to drop gelatinous chunks of body matter amidst fountains of blood for an excruciating approximately forty-eight hours. Body doesn’t care what else is going on. It will sweep, bleed, purge, and weep day and night. Mercilessly fulfilling the miraculous mechanisms of life divine. Chaotically controlled by forces beyond individual will.

Random man looked at me in a way that gave me the validation a broken part inside of me appears to need. Making me wonder if it would ever heal/end. Or would I be stuck craving broken-part-validation? Forcing me to face grief, unfinished hurt, time and again. Into another lifetime?

Bleeding like a pig in the slaughterhouse is exhausting. Horrible night. Another month, another cycle. Another period-rich family vacation. Lucky fucking me!”

There is something beautifully humbling about being exhausted. It becomes easier to let go. And to keep going despite the hardship, full of faith in an ancient process. Elaborated by the greatest minds humanity has known. Wise minds. Old minds. Ancient. Contemplation. Sewn together with threads of breath. Words. And between breaths. Silence. From asana to asana. From place to place. Riding thought waves. Focusing the mind onto every extent of the body. No matter how subtle the sensation. Or how strong, loud or numb. Observing all that is occurring within and without. Noticing an expansive mentality. Approaching a more subtle mind. Channelling raw consciousness. Or, at least, trying. Training blindly if must be. But never unaware. Of what is in the moment. No matter what it is. Watch it come and go. Observe and continue to seek. To catapult perception onto a net. Of threads of wisdom. I trust it is so. I feel it within the body, as its ancient scribes begin to reveal themselves. Thanks to ancient traditions. Consciousness can reveal itself as it bites its own tail. Dressed up as humanity, adorned in Philosophy.

Shout out to all the yogis and yoginis! To all physical scholars (athletes, martial artists, dancers, acrobats, scientists, walkers, farmers, physical laborers, et cetera). Physical study and development are hard. Only technique makes mastery possible, and art. If practiced. If studied. If observed. Repetition creates patterns. Awareness opens up choices. Conscious considerations ensue. Resulting in realizations.

Un-patterning and re-patterning require great effort. As does the cultivation of good ancient patterns. Despite internal (i.e. idiosyncratic mind, social inheritance (Psyquis)) and external (i.e. environmental, elemental (Physis)) resistance-patterns (hindrances).

Lately, I’ve been thinking about tits. How they hang. Gravity and all. And about the human drive to keep them from hanging. The question of tits, to let them hang or not to let them hang? To bounce or not to bounce? To swing?

Friday after returning from vacation, I finished the book club book, “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver. By obsessively reading for several, several hours. Suddenly it was 4 p.m. Hadn’t I just had breakfast? The book makes me think about what makes a good writer. Someone who knows just enough to see through, not enough to be certain. Thus, imagination is key; compassionate, empathetic imagination. Fearless. Courageous in portraying life and all its controversies. “Reality.”

Apheida: Reality is relative.
Ruphus: Relative to what?
Apheida: Relative to perception.
Ruphus: Whose?
Apheida: I don’t know. Maybe yours?
Ruphus: Your perception.
Apheida: And my perception.
Ruphus: Yours and mine perceptions combined.

A good writer, like Ms. Kingsolver, can portray life’s controversies (suffering, strife, et cetera) with love, care, compassion, understanding, wisdom and calm. Seeking to understand what is experienced and why. What is true in a world full of suffering and strife? Evidently it is also full of wonder, communion, and love.

An uncooperative life is a lie. Nature ALWAYS surrounds us. In Samkhya philosophy existence is summarized by two phenomena: Perusha and Prakriti. A silent witness, a sheer observer non-force, pure consciousness, Perusha. And the force of nature, everything in the universe, all that is, Prakriti. An observing phenomenon and all that can observed.

Does Perusha LIKE watching Prakriti? I bet they love it. Bound by loving curiosity. Seeking equilibrium, EQUANIMITY amidst the pushes and pulls of blessings and strife.

So, Kingsolver’s novel made me think of the Bodhisattva****** Phenomenon, an alternative to complete liberation from reincarnation. Keep coming back to help lost souls who suffer.

Is it even biologically feasible never to be born again? Unlikely. Life, nature (planetary or cosmic), Prakrti keeps on going. Death being but a part of it all. Of the biological cosmic cycle. And who is witness to it all so that it may occur? Because if there’s no witness, what’s the point? Otherwise, why perception? Why creativity? Why expression, techniques? Why art?

A witness cannot be without anything to witness. Thus, Goddess must dance, move, speak, sparkle, whatever. “It” must bubble over with life and evolve. It must twist, turn, and explode. Be full and empty. Just to be witnessed? Or is there more?

 THE END 

**** 1. Sit with both legs at a 90 degree angle, at the hip and knee, one leg in front of the pelvis, one to the side (quarter pigeon).
2. Place a tennis ball (or the like), first closer to the knee then up the leg, on the band draping over/flowing between the hamstring muscle Biceps Femoris Longhead (back) and the quad muscle Vastus Lateralis (front). Basically the side of the leg, but towards the back. Feel around and find a harder surface line with a drop-off into the flesh. This according to my current understanding.

***** About 48 hour non-stop bleeding. Constant flow. Large expulsions of blood variations. Quantity. Worse case scenario it is (usually within the first 24 hours) accompanied by excruciating pelvic, vulvaginal, and even anal pain. I call it, exploding vagina or exploding asshole (explodierende Scheide, explodierendes Arschloch). Like a giant is going to explode out of there. Which it did three times. Countless times. Physical awareness of birth. Embedded in the body (informational net of memory), more ancient than any other evolutionary trait characteristic of humankind.
****** In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva refers to anyone who has generated bodhicitta, a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.[3] Mahayana bodhisattvas are spiritually heroic persons that work to attain awakening and are driven by a great compassion (mahākaruā). (Wikipedia)

Quickie

Apheida: All that contemplating, can it be good for you? What happens to an observer with all that   watching of the world? Ruphus: Self-r...