…and we’re back with the next segment of my annotated reading list.
We left off after a consideration of the Situationist International and their critiques of society and “everyday life”.
Related to those concepts is this book:
The Abolition of Work and Other Essays, by Bob Black (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Abolition_of_Work)
Bob Black (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Black), as the entry says,
“argued that work is a fundamental source of domination, comparable to capitalism and the state, which should be transformed into voluntary "productive play." Black acknowledged among his inspirations the French utopian socialist Charles Fourier, the British utopian socialist William Morris, the Russian anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin, and the Situationists.”
This again is connected to the “Five Essentials” by a reworking of the notions of work. “employment”, and related issues which we’ll get into in the future. Most of the works cited in this reading list are oriented to up-ending everything you think is true.
Related to issues of work and practical survival are the following texts:
How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World, by Harry Browne (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Browne)
Looking Out For Number 1 and Winning Through Intimidation, both by Robert Ringer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ringer)
These books are important for dealing with the real world, so they are not just “motivational books”.
Another philosophical line of inquiry, which dips into the spiritual (but not the religious), which had an influence on me was Chinese Taoism which has several Wikipedia entries:
Taoism (as a religion) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism
Taoism (as a philisophy) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoist_philosophy
Taoism History, including Taoism in the West - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Taoism#Taoism_in_the_West
My interest in this, which I call “spiritual philosophy”, i.e., philosophical consideration of a human being’s place in the universe, partly originated from my interest in martial arts (which we will get to), and partly from my interest in immortality. Some Taoists were very interested in not merely spiritual immortality of the sort considered by other religions but also in physical immortality.
The first book I read on the subject was the classic from John Blofeld (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Blofeld):
Taoism - The Road To Immortality, by John Blofeld
Taoism is also a very “anarchic” philosophy as several books from scholars have analyzed, including:
Daoism and Anarchism, by John A. Rapp
Anarchism in the Chinese Revolution, by Arif Dirlik
Anarchism In Chinese Political Culture - Anarchism And Chinese Political Culture (Studies Of The East Asian Institute) (1990), by Peter Zarrow
The Laozi and Anarchism, by Aleksandar Stamatov
Continuing our exploration of “spiritual philosophy”, a number of different books about different “spiritual movements” had some influence on the development of my thinking. Among them were the following:
Holy Madness - Spirituality, Crazy-Wise Teachers, and Enlightenment, by Georg Feuerstein (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Feuerstein)
The Book of the SubGenius, by The SubGenius Foundation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_SubGenius)
The former is a description of the lives and spiritual teaching methods of unorthodox and occasionally even anarchic teachers of various Eastern spiritual traditions. Again, it’s been known for thousands of years that “conventional thinking” is not going to get anything but what everyone gets. Are you satisfied with that?
The second book is by a group of “radical comics” who invented, as Wikipedia says, “a parody religion that satirizes better-known belief systems.” It has been said that most religion is a con disguised as a religion, whereas SubGenius is a religion disguised as a con. Concealed within the hilarious absurdity of the concepts and precepts is a ton of valuable advice for living in a world dominated by religion, morality, and social constraints. This includes advice such as:
Shun regular employment and stop working. This encapsulates the Church's view that to repent is to "SLACK OFF", as opposed to working for a living. SubGenius leaders say it is permissible for members to collect public assistance in lieu of maintaining employment.
Rebel against "law and order". Specifically, the Church condemns security cameras and encourages computer hacking. Cusack notes that this instruction recalls Robert Anton Wilson's critique of law and order.
Rid the world of everyone who did not descend from Yetis. SubGenius leaders teach that Dobbs hopes to rid the Earth of 90% of humanity, making the Earth "clear". The group praises drug abuse and abortion as effective methods of culling unneeded individuals.
Exploit fear, specifically that of people who are part of the conspiracy. Church leaders teach conspiracy members fear SubGenius devotees.
We might get into this stuff in more detail in future installments.
Going from Asian spiritual movements and comedy religions, I eventually – for reasons I can’t remember, frankly – got into studying occultism to a slight degree. I’m not sure what stimulated this, but I do recall being interested decades ago in the English magician Aleister Crowley (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley). I read his monumental (some 800 pages) “auto-hagiography” (the “biography of a god”) decades ago.
You may recall a recent TV series called “Strange Angels”, which was about the life of Jack Parsons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Parsons_(rocket_engineer)) who was involved with an occult group associated with Crowley’s magical philosophy.
In any event, I should make clear that I am not a “believer” in any cult, occult theory, or anything else which might be called “supernatural.” What I do find interesting is some of the concepts and theories and how they might be related to real world considerations embodied in the “Five Essentials”. We’ll get into that in future.
For now, a reading of these texts would be valuable:
The Book Of The Law, by Aleister Crowley (one of Crowley’s most cited works) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_Law)
Apotheosis - The Ultimate Beginners Guide to Luciferianism the Left-Hand Path, by Michael W. Ford
Lords of the Left-Hand Path, by Stephen E. Flowers
The Dark Arts of Immortality, by C. Hariison Kon
The Satanic Bible, by Anton Szandor LaVey (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_LaVey) (a particularly colorful character, the founder of the “Church of Satan” in San Francisco ) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Satan)
The Gnostic Jung and the 7 Sermons of the Dead, by Stephan A. Hoeller (an examination of psychologist Carl Jung’s concepts as they relate to ancient Gnosticism)
The Illuminati - The Counterculture Revolution, by Robert Howells (https://www.amazon.com/Illuminati-Counter-Revolution-Societies-Wilkileaks/dp/1780288727/)
Going still further into spiritual philosphy – with practical applications – we come to Carlos Castaneda (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Castaneda). Castaneda wrote a series of books in which he described his alleged meeting and being mentored by a “sorcerer” over some years. The books were presented as non-fictional, but most critics view them as fictional. Frankly, it’s irrelevant. What matters is the “life advice” being given in them. The situations described are almost secondary and the personalities involved irrelevant. Read them all.
The Teachings of Don Juan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Teachings_of_Don_Juan)
A Separate Reality (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Separate_Reality)
Journey to Ixtlan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_Ixtlan)
Tales of Power
The Second Ring of Power
The Eagles's Gift
The Fire From Within
The Power of Silence
The Art of Dreaming (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Dreaming)
I’m going to stop here. Expect Part 3 coming up next!
A Philosophical Annotated Reading List...Part 2
More inbred Christians wrestling with "Chinese" philosophy" but never lived there. I have. Taoism has no "religion", only this world, to be stripped of "philosophy" and seen to be as it is.
It's too simple, too obvious, to write about, the "secret" can't even be described. But if it earns you scribblers enough for your next meal or mortgage payment, keep it up. Depressed Westerners will eat it off the floor.