HELLO PASCAL

A QuietJohn consideration

YOU DID ASK...

The fickle finger of fate serendipitously brought us together last week and allowed you to sow the seeds of anarchy in my head. Those seeds have germinated, despite the cold weather, and are developing into what may become...

A BLOSSOMING OF TRUE SOCIETY. (The Anarchy of Spirit)

The anarchy of rule, like spirituality, requires more than a passing acquaintance with paradox.

The word anarchy conjurors up images of political revolution and a world that requires the overthrow of government, the dissolution of controlling hierarchy and the return of power to the people. A world of Citizen Smith and Che Guevara.

Citizen Smith was a fictitious character. Ernesto "Che" Guevara was a true revolutionary put to death at the age of 39 for his beliefs and actions, a fate befalling many who have something important to say. Whilst Citizen Smith was a fictitious character in a 1970's British TV sitcom, using anarchic revolution as a medium for comedy, the characters full name, Walter Henry "Wolfie" Smith was named after Theobald Wolfe Tone. Wolfe Tone was a man determined to see British rule end in Ireland and died for his efforts in 1798 at the age of 35. He had requested to be shot but sentenced to be hanged, cause of death has not been clearly recorded, but being a determined anarchist is a potentially dangerous lifestyle. It is often noted that comedy deals with very serious topics, and anarchy is no exception. Many have given their lives in pursuit of the ending of social control, which suggests the topic of anarchy should be treated as more than entertainment.

The Anarchy of Spirituality.

If you can lay aside your prejudices and preconceptions with the word 'spiritual', you may see beyond the controlling influence of religious doctrine and some of their acceptable attitudes to find a deeper understanding of life as something that paradoxically offers all you may ever need with total freedom from the negative influences of hierarchy and the need for authority and control. Free will is a juvenile desire. Free spirit is absolute control without the need for self determination.

The sentences in this essay may get progressively more incongruous as the reader progresses unless the concept of paradox is first given careful consideration. Paradox allows for legitimate contradiction. This means that alternatives and opposites are not mutually exclusive. Freedom does not exclude control. The material exists as the mental and the mind-body problem dissolves in mutual creation. Good and Evil an not opposites. Life is full of signposts pointing to truths you may not be willing to see. That which you cannot see controls you in ways you cannot imagine.

An example of something you may have difficulty in holding in your imagination is the whole of Time existing in unity. 'Everything is happening at once' is a simplified description that makes the point that our perception of time as a flow of linear events is an abstraction of our perceptions from a deeper or more fundamental reality. Reading this may trigger belittling disbelief as your certainty with the experience of time tells you that such ideas are wildly unlikely speculations.

There is a great deal that is questionable about some of our most fundamental assumptions. We may have to digress to gain an understanding of the Quest of Anarchy, but we can first consider some observations we may be able to agree on.

Anarchy grows out of a sense of frustration at the ways of the world, a frustration at the actions of others wanting to determine how you should live your life. Anarchy is described as a state of disorder brought about by the actions of anarchists, and is said to have been first used to mean "an absence of government". The implication being that the function of government, which attempts to give order and control to social activity should be disposed of.

So does the anarchist actually want the dissolution of government as opposed to a governing system that works for social benefit? Answering any questions on this topic requires that we have some clarity on the meaning we are giving to the words we chose to use, something we rarely do in general conversation, often assuming others will understand what we say. I have already used the word anarchy in ways that manipulate its meaning to fit the context of the sentence, though you may have overlooked this point, something we all do in social chatter. But to be clear about some terms I have already used, such as the section heading “The Anarchy of Spirituality” or the phrase the “Quest for Anarchy” I feel the need to lay down some definitions to give these phrases a backgrounding.

Anarchy is used as a noun, the name of a condition, “the absence of law or government”.
This should not be interpreted as judgmental. Do not bring your preconceptions as to the consequences of the absence of law or government into an an understanding of the word. Indeed consider the full definition given in Chambers Dictionary (Revised 13th edition 2014)-

“a complete absence of law or government; a harmonious condition of society in which government is abolished as unnecessary; utter lawlessness; chaos; complete disorder.”

Note the harmony sandwiched between the lack of government, utter lawlessness, and chaos.

This harmony is further emphasised in Chambers online definition-

“the absence of law and government without any implication of ensuing chaos, where the traditional hierarchical systems are replaced by an unwritten agreement that each individual's talents, rights, liberties, etc should be highly valued.”

The word anarchy, so often portrayed in a derogatory sense, is actually a beautifully paradoxical blend of order and chaos. The Quest for Anarchy is a search for social stability in a world of chaotic control.

It is with these definitions in mind that we should consider "The Anarchy of Spirituality..."