as we have these psychological inclinations, ( we can also be taught
to have guilt and be aware of suffering and so on, so it is not just inclinations)
and we can also understand that these inclinations can also be unhealthy
for people…but any malaise taken too far can be unhealthy…
we in America have been in fear since 9/11 and it has become
unhealthy to the point where we elected a president with dementia…
so what can be done? when an individual has emotional or psychological
issues, we suggest or encourage them to see a psychologist or a therapist…
but what if, what if the malaise is throughout the entire society, the entire
culture has some sort of issue or issues that threaten to damage the entire
society? what are we to do?
let us look at some examples… greed for example… what would happen
to a society where greed is one of the primary drivers…we know
that greed has been condemned in the past, so we know that greed has
been a issue for a good deal of human existence… one of the seven
deadly sins within the Christian teachings is greed/avarice…
(the total list is gluttony, lust, pride/hubris, sorrow/despair/despondency,
wrath, vainglory and sloth along with greed/avarice)
let us look at another religion like Buddhism… greed is one of the 3 poisons to be
fought against… the other two is ignorance: confusion, delusion
and aversion is the third poison… aversion is also ill will…
so we have two distinct and separate religions developed in far different places
and both warn us against greed…yet, today we not only promote greed, we
put it at the heart of our economic system…just as greed damages the
individual, it damages the society at large… that is why both the Christian faith
and Buddhism warned us against greed…so we have a society wide
crisis because of greed, a malaise that threaten society to the point of seriously
damaging that society… once again when an individual has issues like greed
that threaten their mental state, we refer them to a psychologist…
but what about a entire society that is threaten by something like greed?
who do we listen to then?
the issue of the last century and that has lasted to today is nihilism…
the pursuit of profit has created a wholesale state of nihilism within
our entire society and threatens our society with falling apart…
who was brave enough and far seeing enough to predict the 20 and 21st
century would be centuries of nihilism? Why, Nietzsche of course…
he foresaw what would happen and he tried to see his way out of it…
he himself proclaimed his mission clearly enough. to paraphrase,
how to find morality when god is dead… as morality, thou shall not,
is based on their being a god, but what is god is dead… on what shall
we base our morality on? indeed, on what grounds shall we base our morality
on and our sense of right and wrong on if there is no god? the rise of the century
of greed came after Nietzsche and has been the basis of our society for the last 100
plus years… Nietzsche was right… the century after him was a century of
nihilism… he foresaw it and he tried to find a cure for that…
Nietzsche studied philology which is the branch of knowledge that deals with
the structure, historical development and relationship of a language or languages…
that was his major field of study… he was well read in Greek… he knew
Plato and Aristotle and the pre-Socratic philosophers quite well…
one of the key understanding about Greek philosophers as well as others
who lived in those times, was the influence of medicine…one of the key
points of all three major philosophers, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle was
the key role that medicine played for them… Socrates called
himself “a midwife” that brings about idea’s and understanding…
and he also talks about the role of a doctor within a society…
he talks about a philosopher being the same as a doctor, a doctor
diagnosis of a patient and what is a possible cure for the illness of
that patient… and Socrates felt that a philosopher should be
a doctor to the society at large… this was a trend throughout Greek
history… a philosopher should be able to diagnosis a society and
offer up a cure for what ails that society… and if you look at the
history of philosophy… that is exactly what philosophy has done over
its long and storied career… philosophers have both diagnosed society
and has offered up cures for that society…
isn’t that what every philosophers since Socrates has done?
isn’t that the role of philosophy… to offer up solutions to that which
ails society?
we are societies physician…
and what ails our society at this time is a combination of factors including
greed and fear and hate and this has resulted in the election of IQ45…
for our ailments has direct consequences because we act upon those
ailments and we don’t even understand how we act… we are blind to
both our ailments and how we act upon those ailments…
and what is the cure for that which ail us?
Kropotkin