‘I thought they were more into restoring democracy’
‘Yeah, for now, though I don’t know how democratic it all feels when the partisans roll into town and call a meeting. But for the long run, when the Sheenisov have conquered the world -’ we share a laugh ‘- their theories advocate the weirdest kind of communism I’ve ever heard of: everybody owns nothing, or everything.’
‘Sounds like every dingbat communist since Munzer -’
‘No, no – every individual owns everything. The whole goddamn universe.’
‘Including every other individual?’
‘Only to the extent that you can.’
‘Nice if you can get it. I just want to be princess of the galaxy.’
‘Modest of you, my sweet. But that’s the catch – the universe is yours to take if you can.’
‘So what’s to stop me?’
‘Only the other contenders, and your possibly reluctant subjects. And the size of the universe. If you can get around all that – go for it, gal!’
‘Oh. I see. And there was me thinking that eating people is wrong.’
Tony does glance at me sideways, now. ‘Eating people is wasteful…but seriously, if you think it’s wrong, fine. I entirely agree. So do something about it. Arm the prey! Set up taboos. Give them teeth! Just don’t think that announcing you moral convictions affects any part of the universe further than your voice can reach.’
‘And they want to base communism on this…this unlimited selfishness? What’s to stop it all degenerating into a war of all against all?
Tony shrugs. ‘No doubt they expect we’d come to some kind of an arrangement.’
Ken Macleod
The Cassini Division
This is really the most important point that people miss when they begin playing around the edges of moral nihilism. No matter which way you choose, moral or amoral, you will still need to deal with practical necessity in the end.
“You are free to do whatever is in your power, and if you want to survive and thrive you had better do whatever is in your interests.”
Most actions traditionally considered criminal or immoral across a range of cultures have come to be considered so because they carry serious potential side effects. Emotional, medical, social and financial side effects. That doesn’t mean that they’re wrong, necessarily, just risky.
Some actions are risky to the self, some to others. Actions that are risky to others always end up being risky to the self, too, if only in a round-about way.
Some actions are so risky they ought to be classified as downright stupid!
On the other hand, there are many traditional moral injunctions, in our culture and in others, that just don’t make any sense. It’s when you run into one of these that you need to seriously start questioning your morality and where it comes from. And once you start pulling on that thread…oh boy!
Which leads us back to our starting point…While I have become quite convinced that all morality is a lie, I have also come to believe that ethics are extremely important. Ethics are derived from the practical necessity of dealing with other human beings. It’s only when we turn away from the twisted lie that is morality, and begin exploring practical frameworks for getting along with each other, that we can ever hope to begin making real progress towards a peaceful, enlightened and civil society.
Of course, that’s all assuming you consider a peaceful, enlightened and civil society important. It’s OK either way by me. I like to fight.
Hail Chaos! Viva Loki! Aum Wotan!
Now you made me interested & I think I will read this book by Ken Macleod. As life is often full of coincidences I just read something about this author somewhere else whilst surfing through the internet. Moral & ethics is an important distinction. I wonder where this false moral came from. Though I have to research this I guess it comes from Kristjan conceptions, and not Heathen/Pagan ones. I even once read that the conscience is a product of Christianity & hasn’t existed in this form before. Karlheinz Weißmann said this in praise of Christianity. But the more interesting thing is that it hasn’t changed the world at all – the crimes committed in the name of God are countless until this very day. The critique goes much deeper & Alain de Benoist has to say some interesting things about that. However, I start to believe that our Heathen Tradition answers most of the questions.
Hail Loki!
Heidegger suggests that conscience is ontologically rooted in the call of the authentic self to the everydayness of human being back to its deepest potential.
We tend to fall away from ourselves, distracted and lost in the thingly world; for Heidegger it is the conscience which nags at us in such tranquilised states that there is more to life than this.
You can see how authoritarian social structures such as those deployed by Christianity throughout history have ben able to subvert this call.
I’m not very impressed by Benoist’s critique of monotheistic ethics though, nor by Benoist much in general. He thinks himself a pagan but from what I’ve read he never got further than wanky existentialism with bells on. Boring.
Loki ate my babysitter so I had to raise myself ;)
H
Well, I will have to study Benoist in- depth before I will conclude how useful he is to me or in the context of the neo-pagan revival. I guess you are talking about his famous book “On Being a Pagan”. Didn’t you want to review it here? I saw de Benoist talking in Berlin & that was far more than existentialism (Heidegger is far more an existentialist than Benoist – though in German they call his school of thought “Existenzphilosophie”). Benoist spoke of the transcendent dimension as the last abode that postmodern capitalism cannot “sell”. Hence its negation of the Transcendent dimension & religious Tradition. Hence monoculture capitalism supports fluffy, New Age-y “anything goes”-relativism. And this is only the tip of the iceberg about what Benoist has to say. That’s why I regard him to play in the same intellectual league as such French thinkers as Bourdieu.
And concerning the story about Loki & my “babysitter”: Loki whispered something in his ear & my “babysitter” committed suicide. After that I realized that for those who become who they are, there are no guarantees. Blessed are the Mad for they touch the Holy!
Hail Loki! AUM KAOS.
Actually, the entire ‘Fall Revolution’series by Ken MacLeod is great. (If you like Sci-Fi novels with Socialists, Anarchists, Libertarians and Greens running every which-way.)
Can’t say that I’ve read Benoist, but I do like to think that my ethical/political world view has a lot in common with those of the ancient heathens.
It always surprises me, how many people proclaim themselves Pagan or Heathen but just end up trading in one form of impractical, heavy handed moralism for another.
Re: Heidegger – he isnt an existentialist at all! That’s a common misunderstanding, mostly the fault of Sartre. He explicitly repudiated existentialism’s focus on human subjectivity and not even that long after Being and Time was published (and even that book is much deeper than just some existentialist catechism. I wrote an esaay about this back in uni, maybe I should post it to my journal?)
I have written a 12,000 word essay about “On Being A Pagan” which will appear on this site in due course… and among other things it deals at length with Heidegger and Nietzsche as influences on Benoist.
I would hope that Mr B has evolved since he wrote On Being A Pagan in 1981… in my opinion its a woeful book. As you’ll see from my essay on it his grasp of Heidegger is particularly sloppy or at the least woefully inconsistent…
Clint, you’d probably like Benoist more than I do, but I think you’d also get bored of how (IMHO) pedantic and superficial a lot of On Being A Pagan is.
H
Heimlich: I have to admit I hardly know Heidegger. I’m looking forward to read your review on “On Being a Pagan.” Once I find the time to read Benoist I will write something on it here & we can probably be more accurate about what is boring (bad) or exciting (good) about him. Either way I will be happy to discuss it with you.
Clint: Thanks for the recommendation. I think I haven’t read even one Sci-Fi novel in my life. That’s a shame! I bought a Sci-Fi novel by mad & ingenious legend, Philip K. Dick, & hope that it will get me into Sci-Fi. I will have a try on the “Fall Revolution” series by Ken MacLeod, too. I also still have to read Robert Anton Wilson’s underground classic, the “Illuminati” trilogy. I was told by my brother I would love it!
Guard the secret flame,
Matt.
Hmmm, not too impressed with his political manifesto.
http://home.alphalink.com.au/~radnat/debenoist/alain9.html
I think I’ll wait until the reviews are in, before I run out and buy the book.