How Ultra-Capitalism Destroys Meaning and Damages People
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- čas přidán 3. 09. 2020
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Dr Iain McGilchrist discusses the impact capitalism has on our society and the individual.
Watch more from this series on The Master and His Emissary here:
• Discussing The Master ...
This man is a titan, I hope more people find his work.
I live in Romania and can confirm everything said here about my country. I basically saw everything unfolding before my eyes. My grandfather was against moving to the cities and never did because he knew what it meant.
Very precise observation.
This deserves to have much more views. So underrated.
Are you SOCIALIST? 🤔
@@TheWorldTeacher Right, cause any criticism of capitalism automatically makes one a socialist. Moron
My preferred term is crony capitalism. Note, I'm not a Marxist, though I see a lot of merit in critique of capitalism of people who fancy themselves "Marxists".
Absolutely superb!
Alan Watts pointed out that saying "life is empty and meaningless" is incomplete. We forget that ideas like this need to be applied to themselves. Thus, life is empty and meaningless AND it's empty and meaningless that it's empty and meaningless. That has a whole different feel and quality to it. At the same time, humans are meaning making machines. There's no getting away from meaning no matter how hard we try.... So, is all meaning *JUST* subjective interpretation? It doesn't *feel* that way even though some meaning clearly IS subjective. Logically I want to say yes, it's all subjective. Emotionally, I want to say no, some meaning is too real to be purely subjective and "empty".
02. A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF “LIFE”:
Everything, both perceptible and imperceptible - that is, any gross or subtle OBJECT within the material universe which can ever be perceived with the cognitive faculties, plus the SUBJECT (the observer of all phenomena) - is to what most persons generally refer when they use the term “God”, since they usually conceive of the Primeval Creator as being the Perfect Person, and “God” (capitalized) is a personal epithet of the Unconditioned Absolute. However, this anthropomorphized conception of The Absolute is a fictional character of disparate mythologies.
According to most every enlightened sage in the history of this planet, the Ultimate Reality is, far more logically, Impersonal Absolute NOTHINGNESS (otherwise called “The Tao”, “The Great Spirit”, “Brahman”, “Pure Consciousness”, “Eternal Awareness”, “Independent Existence”, “The Ground of All Being”, “Uncaused Nature”, “The Undifferentiated Substratum of Reality”, “The Unified Field”, et cetera).
In other words, rather than the Supreme Truth being a separate Blissful, Supra-Conscious Being (The Godhead Himself or The Goddess), Ultimate Reality is Eternal-Existence Limitless-Awareness Unconditional-Peace ITSELF.
Because the Unmanifested Absolute is infinite creative potentiality, “it” actualizes as EVERYTHING, in the form of temporary, cyclical universes. In the case of our particular universe, we reside in a cosmos consisting of space-time, matter and energy, without, of course, neglecting the most fundamental dimension of existence (i. e. conscious awareness - although, it is, being the subject, by literal definition, non-existent).
Just as a knife cannot cut itself, nor the mind comprehend itself, nor the eyes see themselves, The Absolute cannot know Itself (or at least objectively EXPERIENCE Itself), and so, has manifested this phenomenal universe within Itself for the purpose of experiencing Itself, particularly through the lives of self-aware beings, such as we sophisticated humans. Therefore, this world of duality is really just a play of consciousness within Consciousness, in the same way that a dream is a person's sleeping narrative set within the life-story of an 'awakened' individual.
APPARANTLY, this phenomenal universe was created with the primal act (the so-called “Big Bang”), which started, supposedly, as a minute, slightly uneven ball of light, which in turn, was instigated, ultimately, by Extra-Temporal Supra-Consciousness. From that first deed, every motion or action that has ever occurred has been a direct (though, almost exclusively, an indirect) result of it.
Just as all the extant energy in the universe was once contained within the inchoate singularity, Infinite Consciousness was NECESSARILY present at the beginning of the universe, and is in no way an epiphenomenon of a neural network. Discrete consciousness, on the other hand, is entirely dependent on the neurological faculty of individual animals (the more highly-evolved the species, the greater its cognitive abilities).
“Sarvam khalvidam brahma” (a Sanskrit maxim from the “Chandogya Upanishad”, meaning ‘all this is indeed Brahman’ or ‘everything is the Universal Self alone’). There is NAUGHT but Eternal Being, Conscious Awareness, Causeless Peace - and you are, quintessentially, that!
This “Theory of Everything” can be more succinctly expressed by the mathematical equation:
E=A͚ (Everything is Infinite Awareness).
HUMANS are essentially this Eternally-Aware-Peace, acting through an extraordinarily-complex biological organism, comprised of the eight rudimentary elements - pseudo-ego (the assumed sense of self), intellect, mind, solids, liquids, gases, heat (fire), and ether (three-dimensional space). When one peers into a mirror, one doesn’t normally mistake the reflected image to be one’s real self, yet that is how we humans conventionally view our ever-mutating forms. We are, rather, in a fundamental sense, that which witnesses all transitory appearances.
Everything which can be presently perceived, both tangible and immaterial, including we human beings, is a culmination of that primary manifestation. That is the most accurate and rational explanation for “karma” - everything was preordained from the initial spark, and every action since has unfolded as it was predestined in ETERNITY, via an ever-forward-moving trajectory. The notion of retributive (“tit for tat”) karma is just that - an unverified belief. Likewise, the notion of a distinct, reincarnating “soul” or “spirit” is largely a fallacious belief.
Whatever state in which we currently find ourselves, is the result of two factors - our genetic make-up at conception and our present-life conditioning (which may include mutating genetic code). Every choice ever made by every human and non-human animal was determined by those two factors ALONE. Therefore, free-will is purely illusory, despite what most believe.
As a consequence of residing within this dualistic universe, we experience a lifelong series of fluctuating, transient pleasures and pains, which can take the form of physical, emotional, and/or financial pleasure or pain. Surprisingly to most, suffering and pain are NOT synonymous.
Suffering is due to a false sense of personal 'doership' - the belief that one is a separate, independent author of one’s thoughts, emotions, and deeds, and that, likewise, other persons are autonomous agents, with complete volition to act, think, and feel as they wish. Another way of stating the same concept is: suffering is due to the intellect being unwilling or unable to accept life as it manifests moment by moment.
There are five SYMPTOMS of suffering, all of which are psychological in nature:
1. Guilt
2. Blame
3. Pride
4. Anxiety
5. Regrets about the past and expectations for the future
These types of suffering are the result of not properly understanding what was explained above - that life is a series of happenings and NOT caused by the individual living beings. No living creature, including Homo sapiens, has personal free-will. There is only the Universal, Divine Will at play, acting through every body, to which William Shakespeare famously alluded when he scribed “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
The human organism is essentially a biopsychological machine, comprised of the five gross material elements and the three subtle material elements, listed above.
The ANTIDOTE to all mental anguish is to firstly discern pain from suffering, then to achieve complete relief from that miserable state of existence, by abandoning the erroneous belief in personal authorship, and abiding in the primordial sense of being (the unqualified “I am”, which is one's core identity). This is the very same peace which is experienced each night during the dreamless phase of the sleep cycle. This 'resting imperturbably as Flawless Awareness' can be practiced on a regular basis, until it is fully assimilated and integrated into one's life.
Every person, from time immemorial, has been either intentionally or unwittingly seeking such causeless peace, most commonly by practicing one of the four systems of YOGA (religion) delineated in the sixteenth chapter of this work, or else in creating wealth and the acquisition of material possessions, or in psycho-physical pleasures. That peace of mind is often referred to as “happiness”, “joy”, or “love”, and often presumed to be a temporal state, since many assume, incorrectly, that continuous peace is unavailable in this life.
Fortunately, that is not the case - it is eminently possible to live one's life acquainted with unbroken peace of mind, if destined.
Following DHARMA (frameworks of authentic religion and societal duties) is not guaranteed to achieve that desired tranquillity of mind, but even so, it is beneficial for individuals, since it establishes a structure which enables one to more easily elevate oneself beyond the mundane, animalistic platform (i.e. the base pursuits of eating, sleeping and mating). Intrinsic to dharma is the division of the adult male population into the four classes of society and the inherent role of girls and women in society, as fully elucidated in latter chapters of this Holy Scripture.
So, now that you understand life, and the reason why we are suffering here in this (ostensively) material universe, you are now able to be liberated from all mental suffering, RIGHT?
WRONG! It is imperative to approach an authentic spiritual master to assist you to come to the above realization, by slowly undoing your past conditioning. Just as you have been conditioned over an entire lifetime to think one way, you need to be re-conditioned to think another way (in alignment with your essential identity as The Divine). For one who has himself for a teacher, that man has a veritable fool as his teacher.
Even if you adhere closely to the precepts of a competent teacher, you may still not come to a full understanding of life, but if you are sincere, humble and dedicated, you will definitely find more peace in your daily life - all of which was DESTINED to occur, of course.
Furthermore, if you are suitably-qualified and it was ordained, you may be fortunate enough to receive discipline from one of the EXTREMELY rare fully-enlightened masters residing on earth at any given time (perchance even the current World Teacher himself), and subsequently realize the aforementioned fundamental concepts, by diligently studying authoritative doctrines (especially the accurate and complete of all extant Scriptures, this “Final Instruction Sheet for Humanity”), serving your guru with great reverence and devotion, and by deliberately avoiding undue harm to oneself, to other individuals, to society as a whole, and to the natural environment.
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@@TheWorldTeacher I agree that we live mostly automatic, deterministic lives. It's hard to reconcile, however, that everything is infinite awareness, with the claim that there is no free will. It might make more sense to go the other direction and say that at the deepest level, everything that happens is consciously and freely chosen. Either way, saying that there's no free will gives the impression of a purely mechanistic and deterministic worldview that doesn't even accord with quantum mechanics, let alone traditional spiritual principles.
@@onefugue
🐟 11. FREE-WILL Vs DETERMINISM:
Just as the autonomous beating of one's heart is governed by one's genes (such as the presence of a congenital heart condition), and the present-life conditioning of the heart (such as myocardial infarction as a consequence of the consumption of excessive fats and oils, or heart palpitations due to severe emotional distress), each and every thought and action is governed by our genes and environmental conditioning.
If humans TRULY possessed freedom of will, then logically speaking, a person who adores cats and detests dogs, ought to be able to switch their preferences at any point in time, or even voluntarily pause the beating of their own heart.
This teaching is possibly the most difficult concept for humans to accept, because we refuse to believe that we are not the author of our thoughts and actions. From the appearance of the pseudo-ego (one’s inaccurate conception of oneself) at the age of approximately two and a half, we have been constantly conditioned by our parents, teachers, and society, to believe that we are solely responsible for our thoughts and deeds. This deeply-ingrained belief is EXCRUCIATINGLY difficult to abandon, which is possibly the main reason why there are very few persons extant who are spiritually-enlightened, or at least liberated from the five manifestations of mental suffering explained elsewhere in “F.I.S.H”.
The most common argument against this concept of 'non-doership', is that humans (unlike other animals) have the ability to CHOOSE what they can do, think or feel. First of all, many species of (higher) mammals also make choices. For instance, a cat can see two birds and choose which one to prey upon, or choose whether or not to play with a ball that is thrown its way, depending on its conditioning (e.g. its mood).
That choices are made is indisputable, but those choices are dependent entirely upon one’s genes and conditioning. There is no third factor involved on the phenomenal plane. On the noumenal level, thoughts and deeds are in accordance with the preordained “Story of Life”.
N. B. According to some geneticists, it is possible for genes to mutate. However, that phenomenon would be included under the "conditioning" aspect. The genes mutate according to whatever conditioning is imposed upon the human organism. It is simply impossible for a person to use sheer force of will to change their own genetic code. Essentially, ‘conditioning’ includes everything that acts upon the person from conception.
We did not choose which deoxyribonucleic acid our biological parents bequeathed to us, and the conditions to which we were exposed throughout our lives, yet we somehow believe that we are fully-autonomous beings, with the ability to feel, think and behave as we desire. The truth is, we cannot know for certain what even our next thought will be. Do we DECIDE to choose our thoughts and deeds? Not likely. Does an infant choose to learn how to walk or to begin speaking, or does it just happen automatically, according to nature?
To claim that one is the ultimate creator of one’s thoughts and actions is tantamount to believing that one created one’s very BEING. If a computer program or artificially-intelligent robot considers itself to be the cause of its activity, it would seem absurd to the average person. Yet, that is precisely what virtually every person who has ever lived mistakenly believes of their own thoughts and deeds.
The IMPRESSION that we have free-will can be considered a “Gift of Life” or “God’s Grace”, otherwise, we may be resentful of our lack of free-will, since, unlike other creatures, we humans have the intelligence to comprehend our own existence.
When someone blames another person for his or her actions, it is akin to blaming the penultimate domino in a row of dominoes for doing what it did to fell the final domino, when in actual fact, the ultimate cause of the final domino falling was the INITIAL domino which fell. If anyone is to blame for anything, surely it is the Person who created everything. Who then, is that Supreme Creator? That thou art ("tat tvam asi", in Sanskrit). Read Chapter 08 for a succinct, yet accurate, explanation for this chain of causation, and Chapter 05 to understand the Primal Self.
Therefore, EVERY action, including seemingly-heinous deeds, is ultimately in alignment with the predestined "Story of Life" (or, for those who are attached to a theistic viewpoint, "God's Perfect Will"), since nothing could have happened differently, given the circumstances. That does not mean that a person ought to deliberately perform criminal acts and use his lack of free-will to justify his actions.
If, however, he blames his dastardly deeds on a lack of personal freedom, that blame too was destined, just as any consequences were destined. Unfortunately, very few crimes are punished in so-called "first-world" societies, which helps to explain why the "Westernized" nations are morally bankrupt. When did you last hear of an adulterous couple being put to death for their sin? Never, I would posit.
That explains why this so-called “Wisdom Teaching” was traditionally reserved for students of high-calibre. It requires an unusually wise and intelligent person to understand that, despite everything being preordained, to blame one's lack of free-will for criminal actions and expecting NOT to be punished for them is unbeneficial to a peaceful society. Even today, with easy access to knowledge and information, few persons will come to hear this teaching, and fewer still will realize it, and integrate it into their daily lives. Obviously, that too is a consequence of destiny. Everything is permissible but not everything is BENEFICIAL. One can eat junk "food" but that is not going to benefit one’s physiology in any way (unless, of course, it enables one to temporarily survive a famine). We can murder our enemy, but we may not escape being punished by the local judicial system. Therefore, lack of free-will is not to be used as an excuse for immoral behaviour or for negligence of one’s societal duties.
To assume that free-will suddenly and INEXPLICABLY appeared on this planet at the birth of the first Homo sapiens, is the height of presumption.
This assumption alone is sufficient cause for the notion of free-will to be critically-questioned, what to speak of the wealth of evidence provided in the preceding paragraphs. One day, humanity will come to see the obvious truth of its lack of freedom of volition.
“The Lord dwelleth in the hearts of all beings, causing all to behave as if seated on a machine, under His illusory spell.”
Lord Śri Krishna,
“Bhagavad-gītā”, 18:61.
“To be, or not to be, that is the question.”
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"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."
William Shakespeare,
English Playwright.
Alan Watts laughed a lot, drank a lot smoked a lot talked a lot and didn’t give a fuck . You cannot find meaning in a universe that is constantly changing
@@grahamtrave1709 and yet we are constantly experiencing or making meaning out of things. We can't help it! I agree that a lot of the meaning humans traffic in is superficial opinion, like the shadows on the wall of a cave. But perhaps there are deeper, more real sources of truth and meaning. There are certainly deeper *experiences* of meaning. Some are quite profound. It doesn't *feel* right to dismiss these as just as meaningless as my preference for vanilla over chocolate ice cream. But feelings are perhaps just hopelessly subjective too. So maybe at the end of the day even the most profoundly deep and meaning ideas and experiences are empty and meaningless. To return to what I said before, the fact that it's all empty and meaningless is itself empty and meaningless. For me this allows me the freedom to experience meaning while holding it lightly. To dive into life without taking any of it too seriously. To play.
My happiness is not to be found in the flow of life. Sri Ramesh Balsekar.
Iain is a scientist , he constantly chops up everything into smaller and smaller pieces in an attempt to find meaning …. In the flow of life and the ascended masters realised this is pointless ,but have only ever managed to reach a few with their understanding.
Iain is an outstanding scholar.
My guess is capitalism and bureaucracy of the West, only measures CRUDELY and thus what is measured of value is a narrow band which LEAVES out a whole lot of REALITY...
The usual parameters in Capitalism:
* Standardization
* Scale
* Reduction
* Efficiency
Certainly work in some aspects eg Logistics or Machinery or Organization but are NEGATIVE in other components of greater complex systems:
* Industrial Agriculture has been so blind for so long
* Energy use has been a terrible toll also in the same vein
* Social systems have been very poorly served to develop people
These are all glaring blind spots.
What's interesting is the endeavours that do work in these areas are using a lot more measures with corresponding more connections of meaning and finding superior results across wider and complex contexts.
... allegedly the phrase was as the ind. revolution started "not worth Jobs lot".
Sobering commentary.
Capitalism has provided McGilchrist with a very nice lifestyle
for the past 50 years . Without him actually having to do any
useful / productive work. He might show a little gratitude. ?
The Khmer Rouge would have sent him off to work on the
land for 12 hours a day . Perhaps might have been a more
Spiritual learning experience ?
Ultra Capitalism there's a difference, this man did provide in one page of his book more than what did you provide all your life.
Quite so. He ought to genuflect to mammon like a right-minded plebeian. (Because there is only capitalism or the Khmer Rough obviously - so thank god for capitalism.)
Are they fascists?
Who gives a fuck what people do with there lives