a new understanding of today, time and space.

Everything we do, everything we act upon, every institution
we conceive and every object we create, be it physical or mental,
is a response to a problem… how do we keep food and edibles cold
so they don’t spoil… the fridge… how do we travel to the moon… spaceships
how do we explore the world… science… how do we teach what is and what isn’t… schools…
and how do we pass alone important information about what values we hold… schools…
every thing we see is an answer to a problem…

but and this is important to note… we don’t have to answer every problem…
the history of philosophy is littered with problems that vexed the minds of men…
but we don’t… or I should more correctly state, I don’t consider them to be OUR
problem of our time… for example, the problem of our knowledge in the external world…
that problem vexed philosophers for centuries and Descartes and Spinoza and Leibniz
and Hobbes and Locke all worked on this solution…the mind/body problem left to
us by Descartes also was worked on and is still a problem this day…

and yet, personally I don’t consider them “MY PROBLEMS”…
I am working on other issues and so we don’t have to work on other people’s
problem… we can pick and choose what issue of modern life we choose to
work on… one of the questions I do work on is this… what is the relationship
between the individual and the society… the individual and government…
another problem I work on is what does it mean to be an individual…
and what are our possibilities as individual human beings… what is possible
for human beings to understand or to comprehend or to become…
what does it mean to be human? another question of mine is one of perception and
perspective… we humans have different perceptions and perspectives of time, space,
each other, reality, thought…how does our perspective of reality and the relationship
of things, change who we are and what we want to become…this idea of being and
becoming is important… who we are and who do we want to become…
but the important thing to note is this, my questions aren’t necessarily your questions…
my search for what is important to me is part and parcel of who I am… my questions
tell you who I am as surely as if I told you my life story…

I am on the outside looking in as I have been my entire life… outside looking in…
and that reveals my viewpoint of my questions… I stand here and ask these questions…
whereas you might stand there and by standing there, you get different questions and
different answers…our viewpoint decides which questions we ask…
because I am liberal means I ask different questions then a conservative because
my viewpoint is different… where I ask the question determines what questions get
asked…I am male and that changes what questions I ask… I am white and that
changes what questions I ask… I am 5’8 and that changes the questions I ask…
I have a severe hearing loss and that changes the questions I ask…
it is like using radar to spot objects… we use questions to understand locations…
if we use radar in every direction, we can then understand what is our current location…
asking questions does the same thing…we can tell our location for our questions…

so what questions are you asking?

Kropotkin

Socrates big claim to fame is simple, he brought philosophy down to earth…
what we would call science, was philosophy before Socrates… what is the
earth made of and how do we account for change in the universe…
that was philosophy before Socrates…Natural philosophy is what it would
be called for almost 2000 years… we call it science…

Socrates wasn’t about what happened in space or what things were made of…
he was concerned with MAN and how to live our lives… Socrates spends
a great deal of talking about the soul and how to improve the soul and
by doing so, we improve MAN…

after 2000 years, we must renew Socrates vision…
and return philosophy to MAN… we see how philosophy is about
the deconstruction of sentences and language and the logic of things
and how philosopher tried to give human’s meaning with the connection
of the new science and philosophy… Descartes and Spinoza and Leibniz
mission of taking the new science of motion and measurement and
to deduce “philosophy” from the new science…

We must recover philosophy from the new science and those like
Descartes and Spinoza who have raised philosophy into the heavens…
and return philosophy to the realm of man… how are we to live…
what is important for us to understand about life… is death really
the source of our angst? is the soul really as important as Socrates claim
it was and if so, should we be concern with improving our souls as Socrates
thought we should be…should human beings be concern about improving ourselves
or should we be concern with the gathering of knowledge led by science…

important questions indeed…

Kropotkin

the math problem… 1 + 1 = 2

is a mathematical certainty…it is true regardless of what else happens
in the world… but is it?

you have one, as I am eating pizza right now I shall use pizza,
one pizza…1 and you have another Pizza, 1…
and you have 2 pizza’s… but and this is important…
you have 1…1…2…

you haven’t actually connected 1…1…2…

you have a plus sign + and you have a equal sign… =
there are artificial signs that connect 1…1…to two…,2…
can you connect 1…1…2… without these artificial signs of + or =…

the act of connecting 1…1…into 2 exists in artificially made way…

for without that plus sign or that equal sign, you cannot connect 1…1…into 2…

the three signs…1…1…2 exist separately and independently of each other until
connected by the plus sign and an equal sign…that connection does not happen in nature,
it can only exists within the mind… a child has to be taught about the plus sign and the
equal sign…but the 1… that a child can see… one pizza, one pencil, one TV… and the child
can see the other object, one pizza, one pencil, one TV…but there are not two unless and until
the child can supply within the mind, the plus and the equal sign…this means
that experience teaches us mathematical concepts… they are not innate…because
we don’t automatically supply the plus sign or the equal sign… we must be taught
the plus sign and the equal sign…what we teach in teaching math for instance is not
the 1…1…2 but the signs + and = and -… we teach the means of connection between
1…1…2…we teach how we connect three separate signs or symbols with
made up or created means… +…=…-

in math we teach connections, not numbers…how these numbers connect to
create new numbers…without connection, there is not math…

Kropotkin

so let us return to this idea that math is not about numbers but
how we connect those numbers…

let us take a triangle… one might claim that the idea of
a triangle is innate… but we can come up with the idea of
a triangle without resorting to some innateness in us…

you have line | and you have another line _______

you can connect the two lines |_______

and then you can connect the up and down line with the bottom of the line
to make a triangle…

I am unable to do so with my keyboard but create a triangle in your head…

now that triangle in your head… have you seen it in nature?
in other words, have you seen a triangle on a beach or in the forest?
I doubt it… a triangle doesn’t exists in nature… we have created
it… now about that idea of a triangle is the sum of angles… some
mix that equals, I think its 180 degrees …anyway… the idea that a triangle must
equal 180 degrees is about a connection between the lines, not the math itself…

a triangle is a mix of numbers but we have made the connection, the mix ourselves
and so a triangle is not innate, but created by experience and the connection of
numbers that must be taught… is not innate…

as I must go to work now, I shall leave this to later…

Kropotkin

so, under a quite of bit of time pressure yesterday, I wrote about
mathematical idea’s… you take 1 add 1 equals 2…

“add” and “equal” what kind of word is “add”? what does it mean?

and “equal” what does that mean? two distinct and separate symbols
are equal? this idea of equality is a hard one to understand…
equal in what way? you can add up anything… you have one dog and one
cat and you have two animals but how does a dog and a cat become equal?
by understanding and including the word animal… you have a dog, animal,
you have a cat, animal… but when you say, one dog plus one cat equals…
the dog and cat being animals is unsaid, implied… until you reach the equal
sign… they, dog and cat, are equally animals… add one table and one chair…
you get two pieces of furniture…you have to know ahead of the actual working
out the equality between the symbols, what the symbols are… you have to know
that a table and a chair are furniture or the equality aspect won’t make sense…

a Tisch plus a stuhl equals mobelstuck… is this math? only if you speak German…

the key word here is mobelstruck… furniture…now you can work out what I said…
a table plus a chair = furniture… but it doesn’t make any sense unless you have the word
furniture…

let us say… an airplane plus an elephant equals a …suddenly it doesn’t really make
sense… you can add it but it has to have something in common…they are really just
two random idea’s that cannot be added because they have nothing in common…

so we see the connection aspect of mathematics… you just can’t add two completely
random items… there has to be some connection between the two items for
there to be math involved…

but what does this have to do with me?

exactly…

Kropotkin

so let us take philosophy: love of wisdom…

and take a word like army…

Two different and separate words…

but what you are looking for is a connection… some point of connection
between the two words…

Army, ummmmmmmmm and philosophy? ummmmmmmmm

what would be a connection between the two?

a philosophy of army? How to organize and prepare and
what is the value of an army…

that is one connection between army and philosophy…

ok, let us try two other words… good… evil…

ok, now we are cooking… it is easy to connect these two words…

good… evil…=…

good + evil =…human being…

good + evil = concepts of behavior…

you can do something with this because they are connected…
unlike airplanes and elephants which is hard to connect…or
1 + 1 = 2… which is easy to connect because you have 1 item
and 1 item and add them and they become 2 items…

chair plus table = furniture…this last word is the connector
of the two, chair and table…equal…

Kropotkin

So, last seen we have 1…1…2

  • =…

Now, we have notice that we can’t add 1 table + one Airplane = because
one table and one airplane aren’t equal… we can only add equal things…
in other words we can only add things that are alike or fall into a certain set…
we can add pieces of furniture because they are alike in some fashion…
and we can add people because they belong to a set… but what about items…
that aren’t alike… we can’t add or do any math with items that aren’t alike
or fall into a certain set… this call into question the idea that math is
the highest value thing in the land because math only works on like items or
certain items that fall within a set… so math is in fact, very limited in what it can do…
it can only handle like items or items that fall within a certain set…
anything outside of that, math is useless…1 apple + 1 table =… you can’t do that…
you must equality between the items otherwise the math doesn’t work…
and if math doesn’t work… where does that leave the world? because the world
is math based…

Kropotkin

the focus in mathematics has always been the numbers, but the numbers
change, 1…1…2 can be written with plenty of different numbers…

so the real thing to study is not the numbers but the + = - -:- and all the other
connecting signs we use…for example equal =… this is a very important aspect
of mathematics… equal, this number and this number equals this number…
this commonality that numbers must have to be equal…
you must have numbers that are equal or have something in common to be able
to add, subtract, divide or multiply… you cannot add one airplane and one elephant
without creating a new class for the equal sign… =… what would equal an airplane
and a elephant? what class or things in common can you say about an airplane and a
elephant? for mathematic to work, things must be alike and/or part of a set…
like furniture…

En Tisch + Ein Stule = 2 pieces of Mobelstuck…

a table + a chair = 2 pieces of furniture…

for mathematics to work, it demands likeness, commonality, a set, similar things…

if we take mathematics as being the pole star of what we should strive for…
then for life to work, it demands likeness, commonality, a set, similar things…

we can add similar things like love and honor and hope and charity because they
all represent values… a commonality or a set…

we can strive to love and hope and charity because they are all positive values,
they are values that are similar…those values are values that lead to our better
angels… we have over 2000 years of human beings proclaiming that these values
of love and hope and charity are higher values, values that lead us to happiness…

and we move to avoid similar values of hate, anger, greed…
similar values of negative values… these values have been preached against
since humans could preach… these values are lower values that lead us to
unhappiness… you cannot add up dissimilar values… for example…
you cannot have love + hate =… because what would love and hate equal?

you must have an equality of values for this to work…
equal values are values like love, charity, hope, honesty…

you can add equal negative values like anger and hate and greed…
because they equal something… anger + hate = conservative

negative values go down to instinctive values… we instinctually have
anger and hate and greed just like animals…for they are the base values
of human existence…

but higher values like love and hope and charity are higher because
they go away from an instinctual understanding of the world…

you might I am so wrong, that I am wrong everyday of the week and twice
on Sundays… and I say, so what…

if as Nietzsche suggest that life is an experiment, then we need new
hypothesis all the time… it doesn’t even matter if I am right or wrong,
if it leads us to new understanding of the world and our place in the world…

what matters is the new understanding of the world, not the hypothesis that
got us the new understanding…

so…

Kropotkin

so in talking to my mom yesterday, she and my sisters have been
interested in those DNA test… my younger sister bought my mom a kit
and my mom sent it out and just received her results…

my mom was 98% northern Europe… 50% from England, Ireland, welsh and
Scotland… 40% was from France/ Germany…what did turn out surprising
was there was native American, less then 1% and two separate African sources…
one was from Western Africa and one was from Sub-Sahara, so we have two separate
African sources… and there was a .1% of east Asian… don’t know where they came from…
and one more very surprising item… 1% of Ashkenazi Jews… WTF…
we have no fracking idea where that came from…now this test besides it
interest value, does have another value… it places us into the world we live in…
we now see where we are from… this has value to us because it tell us who we are…
I am part African… and part Jew and part Swedish and part dutch and part Irish
and part English… I cannot classify myself as solely one thing or another…
I am part of the world as it exists within me, as part of me… I cannot express hated
of jews or Africans or Swedish because I am them… and this is the value of
understanding who we are…and understanding where we came from…

those who hate Jews and blacks and Catholics simply don’t understand that
when they hate, they hate themselves because they are part Jew, blacks,
Catholics…the world doesn’t just exist out there, it exists within us,
as part of us… as part of who we are…we are Jew and we are black
and we are Swede and we are east Asian… all you have to do is
understand that we are part of the world and the world is part of us…

this understanding of who we are is important because it places us within the
world… and we better understand what it means to be human…
we have place ourselves in the world and we are better for it…

Kropotkin

we have a problem…
and that problem is simple…
we have a separation between philosophy and
how we live…
in other words… we have separated our philosophy from
how we live…

when I was an anarchist and I was an anarchist for a decade…
I didn’t just have a anarchist philosophy and I lived a normal
life within society… I lived an anarchist life… I didn’t have a car,
I didn’t file taxes, I didn’t have a bank account… I didn’t even have
a home or an apartment… I was truly off the grid… I lived my
anarchist philosophy…I lived my political philosophy…

but, but who among us lives their philosophy…
you have a philosophy and then you have your life…
the two are separate and distinct…
one doesn’t live their philosophy… they have their philosophy
and they have their life… may the two never meet…

but who among you have the courage of your beliefs to actually
live your philosophy!

who among you have the strength to become your philosophy…
to live your life according to your philosophy…
who is prepared to have your philosophy become a way of life,
and not just a separate and distinct belief system that exist
outside of yourself and is just a series of beliefs not to be lived,
but to be studied…

it is not enough to have a philosophy but to live that philosophy…
to live your life according to your philosophical beliefs…
just as I lived my anarchist political beliefs, one must live
their philosophical beliefs or it is just a theoretical exercise
that means nothing because it doesn’t have real life experience behind
it…philosophy must be lived and not just be an theoretical
exercise… philosophy is a way of life, not just a theoretical, academic
study of beliefs that have no baring on one’s life…
you can’t just study philosophy and then live
your life as if that philosophy is academic…

either you live that philosophical life or it is not much
more then mental masturbation…

what shall it be?

Kropotkin

what does my understanding of 1…1…2 tell us?

it shows that we don’t have any innate idea’s… that what we
learn, we learn from experience… our idea of god and our idea
of good and evil and philosophy is all learned from experience…

this raises an interesting point… if the knowledge we have is innate,
then it really doesn’t matter what kind of experiences we have…
we don’t learn from them, our idea’s our innate and thus not affected
by experiences… but if we do learn from experiences as I suggest,
then it would make sense to think about what kind of experiences we should
use to teach our children…and our selves…I read one time,
that by the time a child reaches 18, he/she has seen over 10,000 violent deaths,
either on the TV or in movies…and we wonder why the young think life is so cheap…
if experiences frame who we are, then we should be more aware of the experiences
in our life and in the life of our children…this learning from experiences last
our entire life…I am old and I am still learning from experiences…

and that is the point of experience… to learn from… to understand who we are
and where we are going… or said another way, going from become to becoming…

the lessons of experiences cannot be underestimated or ignored…

every experience must be looked at with an eye toward this one fact…
what can I learn from this experience… every experience can teach
us something, even if it is a lesson that we have forgotten from the past…

our experience with the understanding of 1 + 1 = 2 shows us even
that which has been in our lives the entire time, can still teach us something…
if we look at it with new eyes and as an example that every single
experience can teach us something, even something so basic as 1 + 1 = 2…

if we look at it from a new standpoint, not the numbers but the signs
of the + plus sign… and the = equal sign…

it is more then a reevaluation of values… but a reevaluation of experiences…
and a reevaluation of certainties from the past… 1 + 1 = 2 is a certainty
but now, what is it? a new understanding of mathematics…

what experiences are truly valuable when given a new look…

I believe we vastly underestimate the strength and value of love in our lives…
and we overestimate the power and efficiency of violence and hate…

renew the search into your life and see what had more power to change your life…
love or hate/violence… I would say that love has change your life far more then
violence or hate… rethink your experiences and come to understand what is really
important in your life…

we are made by the experiences in our life…at least come to an understanding
of those experiences and what they mean…revisit how you came to be today
and rethink what those experiences that made you who you are and
how they made you into you…

1…1…2 is only true if we supply the plus sign and the equal sign…
so supply the signs of your life… + … =…

Kropotkin

What is the point of philosophy if we look at it academically…

Nietzsche believe in the “Ubermensh” and Plato believed in “eternal forms”
and Descartes believed in X and Hegel believed in Z…
this is no different then learning that the Magna Carta was signed in 1215…
it is just a fact and nothing more… part of the failure of philosophy is thinking
that philosophy is just knowing that Nietzsche believed in the “Ubermensh”
or that Plato believed in “eternal forms”… so what… what is the point of knowing
that? what is the value of knowing what Nietzsche believed or what is the point of
knowing what Plato believed…the value of knowing about Nietzsche’s Ubermensh is
what you do with that information… the value is how does the knowledge of
the ubermensh changes or affect you or changes how you view the world…

it is no longer enough to view philosophy academically, we must engage
philosophy personally, emotionally, with a view of how knowledge changes us…
philosophy: love of wisdom… love…love isn’t impartial and love isn’t passive
love isn’t academic…love is engaging with all your heart and soul and passion
into the object of your love… love is not a game for the meek or the passive…
love demands, demands we engage on all levels of our understanding…
intellectually, emotionally, physically and so is the same for philosophy…

knowledge, facts are in fact, boring… the sun is 93 million miles from earth…
a fact that has been known for a rather long time and that fact is boring…
but if we engage in finding that fact with passion… we change how we understand
that fact…we are 93 million miles from the sun and that puts us into the
goldilocks area of where water can maintain itself, not to hot, not to cold…
we exist because we are the right distance from the sun… 93 million miles…
that boring fact becomes something interesting now because it is one of the
reasons we exist… we can approach this fact with passion because we
exist because of this fact…we can engage in philosophy with the same
understanding that we function, in part, using philosophical idea’s and
understanding of the world…science is facts and philosophy is about values…
and we live in a value based world… we inquire into what
values are values we should have and what values are values we should share
with those who come after us… this is philosophy…inquiry into values,
pursuit of values…we quite often reverse the order of our understanding…
we act and then we try to understand the values of that action…
we should first work on our values, what value is right and then act…
for example, we have stated for decades with different presidents of different
parties that we believe in democracy, the shared valued that gives the power
to the people and we have acted upon that value… we understood that value
and then we acted upon that value…understanding comes first then actions…

and this applies to philosophy… we must understand first and then act…
so what understanding first you have that you act upon later?

this is the value of philosophy… understanding before action
but this understanding is done with passion and emotion, so the action
doesn’t need to be done with passion and emotion…

philosophy must engage us, not just on a intellectual level,
but on an emotional, passionate level… what philosophy engages
you on a emotional, passionate level?

Kropotkin

what is the philosophic life?

Kropotkin

Charlottesville Va… right now has a great deal of violence going on…

let us think about this in a philosophic context…

How would you or how do you think about Charlottesville in a philosophical context?

Kropotkin

violence occurs because men are jealous of the beauty of women.

children should be seen, not heard…

anyway, after a long weekend of thought, I admit in a different path
then I anticipated…

we have the events in Va, the violence and hate… and what should our
response be? would should our solution be to the hate and violence?

the solution is in philosophy, but a different understanding of philosophy then
we have engaged in…

Recall that our understanding of events changes just as the events themselves
change… what is considered knowledge changes over the years… what we consider
wise has change and will continue to change… events, people, knowledge
don’t remain static, they keep changing and evolving…

Philosophy: the love of wisdom… the problem has always been in this
question of wisdom…what is wisdom? is wisdom, facts? the Greeks thought
that wisdom was knowledge… knowledge of how the world works was wisdom
to the Greeks…what we would call science today… but, and this is important…
Socrates successfully change the Greek idea of wisdom from having knowledge
of how the world work to a more personal understanding of philosophy…
philosophy for Socrates became more about who we are and not what we know…
recall his favorite phrase, know thyself…Philosophy is more about understanding
our own soul instead of understanding what makes the world or how the world was
created…science looks out into the world and philosophy looks into our soul…
that was Socrates idea… philosophy is not about Plato’s eternal forms or
Spinoza one substance, god, but philosophy was about who we are,
how to go from being to becoming… we must become something else
and according to Socrates, that becoming was wise about who we are and
what is the proper subject of philosophy was discovering what was the state
of our soul… he goes on rather a bit about wisdom being found in the
knowledge of the soul…philosophy was not out there, but inside of each of us…
Socrates took philosophy out of the sky and put it inside of each of us…

so we begin… is anger and hate and violence really the way we
want out to soul to be? this is the question…

what type of soul should we be? think of the people you have meet…
think about the people you have read about, heard about…
what was it about their soul that you admired or made you feel good about
yourself…chances are, if your are honest, it is the people who
soul was about love, goodness, integrity, honesty, betterment of life…

think about those who admire and respect people like Hitler and Stalin,
Jack the ripper, think about the soul who admires and respect these
people, I have meet people who admired and respected Hitler and
Stalin… their souls are dark and black, not people we would respect
and admire… who you admire and respect tells us who you are and
who you want to be…name the ones that society respects and
builds monuments to, and they are not the one who hate or the
ones who advocate violence and their souls are not dark and black…

blessed are the peacemakers… and we honor and value
them… Jesus and all other creators of religion are
advocates of peace and love, respect…
these are the values of the peacemaker and we honor them…
but we should also want to emulate the peacemakers…
for they promote values that we already honored…

blessed are the ones who pursue knowledge…
and we honor and value them…
Einstein and all the other creators of science and knowledge
are advocates of knowledge and understanding
these are the values of the seeker of knowledge and we honor them
but we should also want to emulate the knowledge seekers…
for they promote values that we have already honored…

we do not bless the ones who pursue hate or violence and anger
we don’t bless them, we don’t honor them and we don’t value them…
Hitler and all other creators of hate and violence
are advocates of violence and hate and anger
these are the values of the seeker of hate and violence
and we do not honor them…
we do not want to emulate the violence seekers…
for they promote values that we do not bless or honor…

for those who oppose liberalism because we promote values
of the future, then listen to those who promote values of the past…
they have clearly stated their promoting values of peace and love
and charity… they have built monuments to those who have
promoted love and honor and peace and they have taught the values
of love and peace and hope to the generations that have followed them…
we can listen to those who came before us and we can see they honored
the peacemaker and the ones who promoted knowledge and love…

so if we can promote them, we can also emulate them, the peacemakers
and those who value love and peace and hope and charity…
we can train our souls to be like those we honor and build monuments too…

that is the value of those who come before us… they can show us to what end
we must begin to train our soul… what values we must begin to emulate
to become better people… and that is the name of the game…
how do we become better people!

and now we reach the point where we have found a solution to VA and other
places of violence and hate and anger… we begin to emulate those who
values we already honor and build monuments to… the peacemaker
and the seeker of knowledge and those who value love and charity…
if we follow their path, all of us, we will find the solution to VA and
other acts of hate and violence and anger… the solution lies in each of us…
we just have to have the courage to begin the search for the wisdom of
Socrates… to know thyself… and the not the search for the knowledge of
the heavens and the stars and the truths of the universe…
but the truth of the human heart and the human soul…

Kropotkin

so we begin… is anger and hate and violence really the way we
want our to soul to be? NO

I enjoy your posts.

:sunglasses:

Regards

Aaron

K: why thank you… not every one enjoys my posts…
but you have to wonder, why? my guess is that those people
are unhappy with who they are, but because they don’t
engage in this idea of “know thyself” they don’t know or understand
why they are unhappy with themselves…they don’t enjoy being
reminded that they do not engage in an honest “reevaluation of values”
as Nietzsche called it, or as Socrates called it, “know thyself”…
it is the same thing, reevaluation and knowing oneself…

the truth is, most people are cowards, not physical cowards, although
they are plenty of those, no, most people are cowards of the heart,
they are afraid to engage in a honest evaluation of who they are…
they are afraid that they might find out that their self understanding
of who they are, is wrong… and that they aren’t who they thought
they were and that journey of “becoming who they are”, again Nietzsche,
is denied because of their cowardice of the heart…

to “know thyself” to really know thyself, takes real courage, real
trust and most people don’t have the courage it takes to “become who
they are” or to begin that scary journey to “know thyself”…

I have in the past called this a “nihilist” age and that it is,
but it is also an “age of cowardice” because people are afraid to
explore or begin the journey to discover who they truly are…
to examine without fear, their true nature… to become who they are…

it take courage to see the truth about oneself, real honest courage…
and that is hardly seen today…

and seriously missing from society and from this site, ILP…

I challenge the people here to honestly begin the
journey to discover the truth about themselves,
to “know thyself”… in a real and honest way…

Kropotkin

To know “thy self”…

I have become aware of myself of late…

I am not a generous person… I see a homeless person and they ask me for money
and I always refuse… I do not give people money… I am not generous…
I might have a million dollars in my pocket and I still won’t give them a dime…

I have realized this about myself… I hate sharing food… my wife will always ask
to sample food on my plate at dinner and after 20 plus years, I still hate to do that…

and yet, and yet, I still, as part of my political philosophy ask that people give
up their tax dollars to feed the homeless and clothe and give them shelter…

is that a contradiction? yes, I will agree to that… is that knowledge, the understanding
of who I am, enough to think about changing? yes, is my being not generous part of
who I am, yes… the question becomes, who shall I become, as Nietzsche called it,
is who I am, the not very, ok, not generous person at all, who I should become,
or should I become a more generous person… doing something I am not comfortable with,
which is being generous… who shall I become? the holder of all things Kropotkin or
should I learn to share?

I do not like to be touched… I hate being touched and I hate touching people…
my mom tells me when I was a baby and it was time to feed, most babies liked
to be held close to the body, I didn’t… I would only be feed on the edge of her knee…
away from her body… I am no different today, over 55 years later… I hate to hug people,
and I hate to be hugged… people who know me, know better then to hug me…
I don’t even like to shake someone’s hand… I hate to touch and to be touched…
I have to make a conscience choice to even touch someone… I dislike it that much…
I know thyself and yet, is it enough to change my choices, my behavior?
to become who I am, should I remain the person who hates to touch and be touched
or should I become someone who touches and is touched…

to know thyself… I am more comfortable with theory then with action…
I am not the guy who will organize the march… I will sit at my kitchen
table and create the theory for the guy who organizes the march…
I am a theorist… not an action person…I know thyself
and yet, is it enough to become who I am which is the theory guy
or should I try to go outside of my comfort zone and become
the guy to organize the march… the question is, to become who I am,
should I become something “better” then I am or should I simply become
who I am? the guy who hates to touch, the guy who is the theorist, the guy
who won’t share? the answer is quite clear but shall I follow it?

who shall I become?

Kropotkin

in thinking about his whole physical contact…

I have noticed that upon meeting someone or greeting someone
or renewing contact with people, physical contact occurs…
either a kiss or a hug or a handshake occurs when people are
greeting each other… the is the way of humans and I totally
hate that shit…I hate touching people… so why must I engage
in doing something that I hate, that seems instinctive with people…
should I become who I am or do I strive for something better?

Kropotkin