“They saw their injured country's woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, - but left the shield.”
―Philip Freneau
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Drive
That is the difference between desire and drive: desire is grounded in its constitutive lack, while drive circulates around a hole, a gap in the order of being….At the immediate level of addressing individuals, capitalism, of course, interpellates them as consumers, as subjects of desire, soliciting in them ever new perverse and excessive desires (for which it offers products to satisfy them); furthermore, it obviously also manipulates the “desire to desire,” celebrating the very desire to desire ever new objects and modes of pleasure. However, even if it already manipulates desire in away which takes into account the fact that the most elementary desire is the desire to reproduce itself as desire (and not to find satisfaction), at this level, we have not yet reached drive. Drive inheres to capitalism at a more fundamental, systemic, level: drive is that which propels the whole capitalist machinery, it is the impersonal compulsion to engage in the endless circular movement of expanded self-reproduction.
A swelling joy makes breathless with delight The one who oversees and masterminds Altruistic projects of all kinds. Satisfying is Artistic Sight. Knowing how things ought to look’s a Gift Combined with Wisdom, practical yet kind, Overcomes the fears that blind then bind Most people to a crippling sense of Thrift. Placing Beauty as a high priority Let’s prospects for Enlightenment prevail. Eking out one’s life is doomed to fail. To reach no more than drab Inferiority Erodes capacities to fulfill dreams –– Denying what Volition’s meaning seems.
The time to wrap and hold it has arrived. It looks as though expansion’s at an end. Maintaining what we have is now contrived Earnestly our assets to defend. Taking stock we should feel gratified. Our catalogue of battles lost and won Mostly leaves us feeling satisfied. At least we did our best, and had some fun. I think ‘tis better that than Grand Achievement –– Noble efforts –– Nobel Prizes gained –– Taken in perpetual bereavement –– A life by constant criticism stained. If living just to live our time employs, Now’s the time to savor all our joys.
Has life defeated you? I rather hope Defeatist rhetoric will die aborning, Though seen by many merely as a warning, Each bitter word will serve to weave a rope
By which we’ll hang ourselves when the despair We manufacture with denunciation Of all the grievous faults that plague the nation Convinces us our world’s beyond repair.
What good could we expect to come from that? Affirmation is the only answer To the questions posed by social cancer. Get up and dance –– don’t bellow through your hat.
Although The Axe inevitably must fall, Cringing will produce no good at all.
In short, the wager of Western thought is that radical negativity (whose first and immediate expression is egalitarian terror) is not condemned to being expressed in short ecstatic outbursts after which things are returned to normal. On the contrary, radical negativity, as the undermining of every traditional hierarchy, has the potential to articulate itself in a positive order within which it acquires the stability of a new form of life.
The new form of life emerges as the newly elected "government regime".
If you design and limit your Government properly, you should be able to survive multiple years leadership by complete idiots ala Bush/Obama. Of course your "ace" in the hole (the 'monarchy') is closer to a deuce, IMO. ;)
Delight to some, to others desecration Eradicating every single chance At peaceful, soul-enriching contemplation Fostering the hope for sweet romance. Ears and mind, instead, sit stunned –– assaulted. Noxious noise befouls the atmosphere In throbbing pseudo-ecstasy exalted Neutralizing all that’s clean and clear. Ground out tones smacking of self-pity Degrade the mise en scene where they appear, Erasing what’s not grubby, gross or gritty Catering, instead, to our worst fears. Aggravation never ceasing breeds Yammering lemmings aping Satan’s leads.
War and politics are short and of little importance in the Great Scheme, but ART is LONG.
Art is all that endures of former civilizations most of whom are remember primaril-if-not-solely for the work their artists left behind.
No matter what conditions surround us, it is always possible for the creative mind to escape into realms of purest Beauty unimaginable to the mundane world.
In speechless wonderment I sit and grieve –– Hopeless, now deprived of further gain –– And left without much in which to believe. I still feel good, however, ‘neath the pain. Living with far less might take me back –– To a leaner, harder, better time –– Hope, Ambition, there took up the slack –– Exciting prospects beckoned past the Grime. Enjoyment costs so little when we’re poor Once accepted, limitations move Beyond the barriers of the Secure And liberate the mind and soul to prove Money might pay one to lick my boot, And yet for Love it is no substitute.
Speak quietly. It helps to soothe the nerves. Yelling –– any harshness –– is abrasive –– An agitating force no one deserves Denying peace, obnoxious and invasive. Refresh the soul with calm, sweet introspection. Opening the mind clears out the dross. Find serenity under prayer’s direction. Needs depart, as does the pain of loss, Only when we lift our thoughts to Heaven. Images of all that’s bright and clean Transcend gloom and sagging spirits leaven, As on the rock of Truth we safely lean. Leave resentment, fear, distrust behind; Endure with patience, and sweet peace you’ll find.
All of which may be summed up nearly in the famous story about the little boy who was all agog and practically jumping out of his skin with delight when he and his mother came home from a trip and found their house filled knee-deep in excrement.
The mother was horrified and thoroughly shaken. She could not understand the boy's reaction.
"But, Mama, don't you see?" he cried, "with all this shit in here there's just GOT to be a PONY somewhere!
And that, I believe, is why the Bible tells us, "You must become as a little child to enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
"Of course your "ace" in the hole (the 'monarchy') is closer to a deuce, IMO."
If it's the British monarchette you're referring to, it has ZERO executive power. Even the 'Queen's speech' is written by the PM. Not worth the Semtex.
Trump, otoh, seems capable of ruling by decree, if he gets the job.
I feel a bet coming up but let the Annointed One win the Nomination first.
Somehow the latest turn in the "conversation" has reminded me of the derogatory phrase:
"They know the PRICE of everything and the VALUE of nothing,"
It's more than a bit like New Yorkers so obsessed with making money they think nothing of Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, Rockefeller Plaza, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Natural History, the Theater District, Carnegie Hall, The Plaza, The Pierre, The St. Regis, The Waldorf, the New York Philharmonic, Tiffany's, FAO Schwartz, or the Metropolitan Opera.
It's a matter of MYSTIQUE. Without it, you might just as well be another Walmart in a God-forsaken strip mall in the hinterlands.
"The monarchette... sounds like someone had "trust issues" with democracy and needed a fall-back plan."
It's a manifestation of how no 'revolution' is ever 'complete' and how the 'Old Order' always manages to salvage something, then co-opts some in the 'New Order' into the older paradigm. Nothing to see here, really.
Yes, betting season will be upon us shortly. I ran out of Chimay weeks ago, so a refill in in order. ;-)
Jokes aside, this POTUS election is perhaps the most important one since Ronnie Raygun won the WH.
In order for something "new" to emerge, there has to be a radical negativity, FT. And Gert is right, something of the old always manages to cling on to it.
And I agree, this is an important election. The final question being, if a single negation will be enough, or whether the "form" of our Republic will require change as well (to Bernie "Socialism" or Tea Party "Constitutionalism")(a double negation).
Sing God a simple song, lauda laude Make it up as you go along, lauda laude Sing like you like to sing, God loves all simple things. For God is the simplest of all, For God is the simplest of all.
I will sing the Lord a new song, to praise him, to bless him, to bless the Lord. I will sing his praises while I live, all of my days.
Blessed is the man who loves the Lord, Blessed is the man who praises him. Lauda, lauda, laude, and walks in his ways.
I will lift up my eyes, to the hills from which comes my help. I will lift up my voice to the Lord, singing lauda, laude.
For the Lord is my shade, is the shade upon my right hand. And the sun shall not smite me by day, or the moon by night.
Blessed is the man who loves the Lord lauda, lauda, laude, and walks in his ways.
Lauda, lauda, laude, lauda, lauda di da di day All of my days…………
~ Leonard Bernstein and "Curtis."
'Tis the ungodly who make life unpleasantly complicated and depressing. I hasten to add that those who would convert others to their point of view by fear or force are the most< ungodly of all the ungodly.
Same thing –– no difference. THREATS engender FEAR of being FORCED to do something against your will and conscience. No one I know likes that, but when sophistry and guile are used to SEDUCE the innocent and ignorant into ceding their God-given rights to a Charlatan or a Demagogue in exchange for his dubious "protection," that's when COWARDICE trumps all and makes sure EVIL wins the Game.
This is why I harbor so much intense dislike and disapproval towards Marx and the other Jewish Intellectuals who made up the Frankfurt School, and your friend Sigmund Freud. Together they spawned a new, hideously self-destructive way of Western peoples to look at themselves. Since then, the confidence engendered by true Faith has been under siege and eroding constantly, Cynicism has been on the rise, so have massive outbreaks of Violence and Mega-Death unprecedented in history, and Chaos threatens to reign supreme at every turn.
Had it not been for these foul influences, we would not have had to deal either with Hitler OR the Soviet Union, the Bomb, the dismal influence of Progressives, the destructive effects of the Welfare State, the regrettable establishment of modern The Jewish State in the Cauldron that is the Middle East, and probably not the Great Depression either.
__________ A Task Completed __________
ReplyDeleteA swelling joy makes breathless with delight
The one who oversees and masterminds
Altruistic projects of all kinds.
Satisfying is Artistic Sight.
Knowing how things ought to look’s a Gift
Combined with Wisdom, practical yet kind,
Overcomes the fears that blind then bind
Most people to a crippling sense of Thrift.
Placing Beauty as a high priority
Let’s prospects for Enlightenment prevail.
Eking out one’s life is doomed to fail.
To reach no more than drab Inferiority
Erodes capacities to fulfill dreams ––
Denying what Volition’s meaning seems.
~ FreeThinke
ReplyDelete__________ Time to Maintain __________
The time to wrap and hold it has arrived.
It looks as though expansion’s at an end.
Maintaining what we have is now contrived
Earnestly our assets to defend.
Taking stock we should feel gratified.
Our catalogue of battles lost and won
Mostly leaves us feeling satisfied.
At least we did our best, and had some fun.
I think ‘tis better that than Grand Achievement ––
Noble efforts –– Nobel Prizes gained ––
Taken in perpetual bereavement ––
A life by constant criticism stained.
If living just to live our time employs,
Now’s the time to savor all our joys.
~ FreeThinke
_________ Death to Defeatism _________
ReplyDeleteHas life defeated you? I rather hope
Defeatist rhetoric will die aborning,
Though seen by many merely as a warning,
Each bitter word will serve to weave a rope
By which we’ll hang ourselves when the despair
We manufacture with denunciation
Of all the grievous faults that plague the nation
Convinces us our world’s beyond repair.
What good could we expect to come from that?
Affirmation is the only answer
To the questions posed by social cancer.
Get up and dance –– don’t bellow through your hat.
Although The Axe inevitably must fall,
Cringing will produce no good at all.
~ FreeThinke
Sorry, but I'm afraid that we're forever destined to continue circling the drain...
ReplyDeleteAll the more reason to adopt a more positive attitude... and stop sweating the small stuff (politics).
for...
ReplyDeleteIn short, the wager of Western thought is that radical negativity (whose first and immediate expression is egalitarian terror) is not condemned to being expressed in short ecstatic outbursts after which things are returned to normal. On the contrary, radical negativity, as the undermining of every traditional hierarchy, has the potential to articulate itself in a positive order within which it acquires the stability of a new form of life.
The new form of life emerges as the newly elected "government regime".
;)
SOurce- ibid.
ReplyDeleteI see that a blind and vengeful God still cares: he gave us Sarah Palin... and now she's back! Yeeee-haaw!!
ReplyDeleteIf you design and limit your Government properly, you should be able to survive multiple years leadership by complete idiots ala Bush/Obama. Of course your "ace" in the hole (the 'monarchy') is closer to a deuce, IMO. ;)
ReplyDeleteNot every leader is a Marcus Aurelius. ;)
ReplyDelete_________ Deafening Decay _________
ReplyDeleteDelight to some, to others desecration
Eradicating every single chance
At peaceful, soul-enriching contemplation
Fostering the hope for sweet romance.
Ears and mind, instead, sit stunned –– assaulted.
Noxious noise befouls the atmosphere
In throbbing pseudo-ecstasy exalted
Neutralizing all that’s clean and clear.
Ground out tones smacking of self-pity
Degrade the mise en scene where they appear,
Erasing what’s not grubby, gross or gritty
Catering, instead, to our worst fears.
Aggravation never ceasing breeds
Yammering lemmings aping Satan’s leads.
~ FreeThinke
War and politics are short and of little importance in the Great Scheme, but ART is LONG.
ReplyDeleteArt is all that endures of former civilizations most of whom are remember primaril-if-not-solely for the work their artists left behind.
No matter what conditions surround us, it is always possible for the creative mind to escape into realms of purest Beauty unimaginable to the mundane world.
Beauty begins and ends with MIND.
__________ I Hail Thee, Obama __________
ReplyDeleteIn speechless wonderment I sit and grieve ––
Hopeless, now deprived of further gain ––
And left without much in which to believe.
I still feel good, however, ‘neath the pain.
Living with far less might take me back ––
To a leaner, harder, better time ––
Hope, Ambition, there took up the slack ––
Exciting prospects beckoned past the Grime.
Enjoyment costs so little when we’re poor
Once accepted, limitations move
Beyond the barriers of the Secure
And liberate the mind and soul to prove
Money might pay one to lick my boot,
And yet for Love it is no substitute.
~ FreeThinke
___________ Elation for Days _________))
ReplyDeleteSpeak quietly. It helps to soothe the nerves.
Yelling –– any harshness –– is abrasive ––
An agitating force no one deserves
Denying peace, obnoxious and invasive.
Refresh the soul with calm, sweet introspection.
Opening the mind clears out the dross.
Find serenity under prayer’s direction.
Needs depart, as does the pain of loss,
Only when we lift our thoughts to Heaven.
Images of all that’s bright and clean
Transcend gloom and sagging spirits leaven,
As on the rock of Truth we safely lean.
Leave resentment, fear, distrust behind;
Endure with patience, and sweet peace you’ll find.
~ FreeThinke
All of which may be summed up nearly in the famous story about the little boy who was all agog and practically jumping out of his skin with delight when he and his mother came home from a trip and found their house filled knee-deep in excrement.
ReplyDeleteThe mother was horrified and thoroughly shaken. She could not understand the boy's reaction.
"But, Mama, don't you see?" he cried, "with all this shit in here there's just GOT to be a PONY somewhere!
And that, I believe, is why the Bible tells us, "You must become as a little child to enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
(^;}
I hope that there aren't any ponies there.... ;)
ReplyDelete"Of course your "ace" in the hole (the 'monarchy') is closer to a deuce, IMO."
ReplyDeleteIf it's the British monarchette you're referring to, it has ZERO executive power. Even the 'Queen's speech' is written by the PM. Not worth the Semtex.
Trump, otoh, seems capable of ruling by decree, if he gets the job.
I feel a bet coming up but let the Annointed One win the Nomination first.
Jeb!: "I thought it was a done deal!?"
We'll definitely need a bet! :)
ReplyDeleteThe monarchette... sounds like someone had "trust issues" with democracy and needed a fall-back plan.
Talk about a nation of hedgers....;)
Somehow the latest turn in the "conversation" has reminded me of the derogatory phrase:
ReplyDelete"They know the PRICE of everything and the VALUE of nothing,"
It's more than a bit like New Yorkers so obsessed with making money they think nothing of Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, Rockefeller Plaza, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Natural History, the Theater District, Carnegie Hall, The Plaza, The Pierre, The St. Regis, The Waldorf, the New York Philharmonic, Tiffany's, FAO Schwartz, or the Metropolitan Opera.
It's a matter of MYSTIQUE. Without it, you might just as well be another Walmart in a God-forsaken strip mall in the hinterlands.
"The monarchette... sounds like someone had "trust issues" with democracy and needed a fall-back plan."
ReplyDeleteIt's a manifestation of how no 'revolution' is ever 'complete' and how the 'Old Order' always manages to salvage something, then co-opts some in the 'New Order' into the older paradigm. Nothing to see here, really.
Yes, betting season will be upon us shortly. I ran out of Chimay weeks ago, so a refill in in order. ;-)
Jokes aside, this POTUS election is perhaps the most important one since Ronnie Raygun won the WH.
In order for something "new" to emerge, there has to be a radical negativity, FT. And Gert is right, something of the old always manages to cling on to it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree, this is an important election. The final question being, if a single negation will be enough, or whether the "form" of our Republic will require change as well (to Bernie "Socialism" or Tea Party "Constitutionalism")(a double negation).
For double negation... note the "backs" of the male dancers in the video... 00
ReplyDelete__________ A SIMPLE SONG __________
ReplyDeleteSing God a simple song, lauda laude
Make it up as you go along, lauda laude
Sing like you like to sing, God loves all simple things.
For God is the simplest of all, For God is the simplest of all.
I will sing the Lord a new song, to praise him, to bless him, to bless the Lord.
I will sing his praises while I live, all of my days.
Blessed is the man who loves the Lord,
Blessed is the man who praises him.
Lauda, lauda, laude, and walks in his ways.
I will lift up my eyes, to the hills from which comes my help.
I will lift up my voice to the Lord, singing lauda, laude.
For the Lord is my shade, is the shade upon my right hand.
And the sun shall not smite me by day, or the moon by night.
Blessed is the man who loves the Lord lauda, lauda, laude,
and walks in his ways.
Lauda, lauda, laude, lauda, lauda di da di day
All of my days…………
~ Leonard Bernstein and "Curtis."
'Tis the ungodly who make life unpleasantly complicated and depressing. I hasten to add that those who would convert others to their point of view by fear or force are the most< ungodly of all the ungodly.
threat or force...?
ReplyDeleteSame thing –– no difference. THREATS engender FEAR of being FORCED to do something against your will and conscience. No one I know likes that, but when sophistry and guile are used to SEDUCE the innocent and ignorant into ceding their God-given rights to a Charlatan or a Demagogue in exchange for his dubious "protection," that's when COWARDICE trumps all and makes sure EVIL wins the Game.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I harbor so much intense dislike and disapproval towards Marx and the other Jewish Intellectuals who made up the Frankfurt School, and your friend Sigmund Freud. Together they spawned a new, hideously self-destructive way of Western peoples to look at themselves. Since then, the confidence engendered by true Faith has been under siege and eroding constantly, Cynicism has been on the rise, so have massive outbreaks of Violence and Mega-Death unprecedented in history, and Chaos threatens to reign supreme at every turn.
Had it not been for these foul influences, we would not have had to deal either with Hitler OR the Soviet Union, the Bomb, the dismal influence of Progressives, the destructive effects of the Welfare State, the regrettable establishment of modern The Jewish State in the Cauldron that is the Middle East, and probably not the Great Depression either.