The simplistic dichotomy of “civilized man” vs “lusty savage” must start to give way to a new, embodied ideal.
For this is utterly, absolutely true: I am man, and I want to hold wo-man (as urgently as lion wants to hunt gazelle).
But also, I have heard talk of quantum mechanics, existentialism, and the coming super-storm of global warming plus 9+ billion humans.
The major lesson of the Trump revolution (as filtered through post-tolerance “Zizekian theology”) is simply this:
Naive liberal political discourse (particularly on the national level) is simply an unworkable mode of realizing actual human progress, since it takes for granted the notion that the current international money system is the only conceivable way of organizing anything more than trivial human societies, on the order of 2-5 people – the size of a typical Western family (eg, a married couple with anything from 0 to 3 children).
The problem for all committed progressives is that, it is, apparently, only by virtue of this money system that “real” human value creation can possibly happen.
But, of course, appearances only can take us so far, and successful progressives must therefore be able to show average, uncommitted people – ie, “philosophical realists” – that there is, indeed, a better way.
The way I see it, the only thing left for progressives to do is to finally live lives that are adequate to their words, vis-a-vis organizing themselves around systems (no matter how crude they might initially be) that somehow transcend the given (money) system of the day.
In order to accomplish this, progressives will be forced to become a kind of ultra-modern (post-postmodern ?) “noble savage”, by way of retaining the possibility of authentic human relationships (including deeply loving, romantic relationships) through principled stances against the de-nobilizing tyranny of the homogenous, trivial, thoughtless, thumb-swipe-my-way-through-life consumer culture of the late 2010’s.
Ways to make this happen:
Introduce the next generations (currently, Millenials) to the power of authentic, urgent rock music. I particularly like the periods of the late-60’s (the hippies) and the early-90’s (the grunge revolution).
Introduce the same generations to the “existentialist” philosophers, including the transcendentalists, the beatniks, and the more recent popular expositors of “a better way”, such as Robert Pirsig, who wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Slowly introduce them to more hardcore Western philosophers of existentialism (eg, Heidegger and Sartre).
Finally, the various Eastern philosophical traditions (both ancient and modern) can be explored at the student’s leisure.
Given this kind of intellectual armour, a new form of nobility can slowly begin to arise in young people, and the kinds of progressive modes of organizing larger scale (perhaps on the scale of 1000’s of people) human societies can begin to emerge. These will be the kinds of societies that are effectively immunized from the spiritually devastating effects of the “everyone is connected but nobody really knows who anybody is” mode of human co-existence that thoughtless adherence to the current money system has led us into.