Through the Looking Glass
The Only Way Out is Through
Echo (Observing Narcissus Gazing Into the Pool):
“But ay! Sorrow makes me dumb;
already words stick to my tongue.
Where is my Pride? Won’t she appear?
Why does she not relieve my fear?
And my Self-Love, why doesn’t he
restore my reasoning to me?
I am dumb! Oh, misery!
— Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz. Il Divino Narcissus.1
The most difficult lesson I’ve learned about life is that it is necessary to lean *in* to discomfort. Every time I find myself evading a difficulty, I also find myself isolated, lonely, and in far worse shape than before.
This can be an issue with a friend or family member, a problem with a coworker or employer, a financial tension, or really almost anything.
This is part of the philosophy of the “Bottom” which they talk about in AA. One gets to a place where we can not tolerate things getting any worse, and are forced to rebuild from the bottom up. This is the purpose of the idea of “Surrender.” As I’ve mentioned before, this does NOT need to imply a loss of agency. Rather it is a due deference to the world of things outside of one’s control so that we can own up to and be responsible for the decisions we need to make.
And if you don’t like the term “Holy Spirit,” consider “Distributed Cognition” instead.
One subscriber, in reading one of my Substack notes, spoke about Curiosophy involving
The return of wonder and awe and humility.
Ego is going to get pummeled by the house of consequences it built.2
It’s been my mission in this experiment to refuse easy answers. Awe can be both Awesome and Awful, as we well know. Reality is not here to conform to our ideas of it. Rather, we are here to learn to recognize and adapt to reality. We can either do that in such a way so as to cultivate flourishing, or we can do it in such a way so as to “be a part of the problem.” Sometimes I need to participate in the problem in order to know how to free myself from its perpetuation.
The irony of this realization is that the way to being present in and conscious of the world is via work done internally. The way that I can muster the courage to be able to face a problem is by addressing my thoughts and emotions about it. Participatory and Procedural knowledge can be really beneficial here. Rather than trying to do everything via Propositional analysis, participating with others dealing with the same situation can communicate new thought and understanding almost instantaneously. Hence the surrender to Divinity and the decision to attend meetings and “work the steps.”
It’s not that Bill W. of AA worked out a methodology and tested it empirically using control groups and blind studies, then was able to replicate the experiment to prove its efficacy beyond the shadow of a doubt. It’s rather that he spent a long time with other alcoholics, writing down what seemed to be the pattern he observed and, by writing, codified it into a procedure. Whether or not the method is proven or replicable is not the point. The point is that when people get out of their cocoons and interact with other personae, the Holy Spirit is present and we suddenly perceive escapes we had not hitherto been able to discern. (And if you don’t like the term “Holy Spirit,” consider “Distributed Cognition” instead. One can even think of it as a division of cognitive labor.)
The Perils of Pluralism
I call myself a Classic Liberal (slightly different than a Classical Liberal). I sometimes self-identify as a Liberal Socialist, or a Left Libertarian. My #1 Libertarian position is on the issue of a woman’s (or — as I like to specify — a female-bodied Sapien’s) Right to Sexual Autonomy and Agency re: Reproductive Healthcare.
Enter a new online friend I’ve made recently. Here, Gavin hypothesizes on the potential to co-operate and co-ordinate re: Legislation via Consensus. (Read: Consent.) I really could give about zero fucks as to whether or not the framers of the Constitution in the 18th Century had any understanding of Reproductive Rights at a time when Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication had not yet been written, and reliable contraception was almost two centuries away. (Let alone the fact that whatever influence savvy women managed to extract from the dominant paradigm, female bodies were basically seen as property, especially as far as the law was concerned.)
As a non-binary person who grew up in a fatherless home, you will please forgive me for my lack of patience with respect to this issue, particularly in the context of how an elite class of Ivy League Justices, none of whom are Taoists, Hindi, Atheist, or Pagan (and SIX of whom [that is, 67% of whom] are CATHOLICS) are using Originalism as an excuse to impose theocratic morality from the bench. To repeat a phrase oft dropped by John McWhorter, “This simply will not do.”
The World is My Cloister
And, in related news re: Pluralism, an adage of mine was recently re-inforced in Substack’s pages.
The World is My Cloister.
Here is Peter Limberg of The Stoa:
Our capitalistic system is designed to profit from our lack of agency and people's agency directed toward non-sacred pursuits.
What is the solution for those whose calling exists outside of a monastery? Consider the world your monastery. I first heard the phrase "monasticization of daily life" from the Coaches Rising podcast, and it resonated immediately. All life is practice, and the monasticization of daily life is the art of flipping unexamined practices into examined ones.3
The piece is a marvelous summation of how to best assemble an individualized Ecology of Practices to succeed as an Ethical being who promotes flourishing in this World.
All Best. Much Appreciation and Respect.
Aar.
Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz. El Divino Narciso. Trans. Patricia Peters and Renée Domeier. University of New Mexico Press. 1998.
If you’d like to participate with me more socially via Chats and Notes, please consider creating a Substack account!
