Race and Individuality in The Philosophy of The Numinous Way
Introduction
The intention of this essay is to provide an overview of The
Numinous Way in relation to matters such as race, individuality,
change, and what is sometimes termed 'the civilizing process'.
Given the social and political importance of these matters, and the
interest in them by those curious about my philosophy of The
Numinous Way, I considered such a summary might be useful especially
since my treatment of these topics is contained in many separate
essays written over a period of some years, with many of those
essays making use of terms from
Ancient Greek [1].
The Ethics of Empathy
Empathy, and the natural humility that arises from empathy, may be
said to be essence of The Numinous Way, and the ethics of this Way
result from individuals using their faculty of empathy [2].
That is, such ethics are,
"... a consequence of the insight and the understanding
that empathy provides for individuals in the
immediacy-of-the-moment. This insight and knowledge is of how we
are not isolated human beings, but rather only one fragile
microcosmic nexion and thus connected to all Life, sentient and
otherwise, human and otherwise, of this planet and otherwise.
Consequently, there is a cosmic perspective - a cosmic ethic - and
compassion: that is, the human virtue of having συμπάθεια with
other living beings, and the feeling, the knowledge, that we
should treat other human beings as we ourselves would wish to be
treated: with fairness, dignity, and respect." [3]
This numinous morality is thus a personal and direct one, free of
dogma and assumptions, and does not require any faith or any belief,
political, social, or religious. Hence it is individuals who possess
certain virtues - such as compassion, fairness, tolerance, and
honour - who represent, who are, the cosmic ethics of The Numinous
Way.
What is ethical is therefore what is compassionate, fair, tolerant,
respectful, honourable. Thus it is unethical - unfair - to prejudge
a person without knowing and interacting with them personally;
immoral to judge someone on the basis of some prejudice or on some
assumption about them such as their appearance or what others may
have said/written about them. Thus it is wrong to judge someone on
the basis of their perceived or their assumed ethnicity, or on their
perceived or their assumed or their stated sexual
orientation/preference.
The Question of Race
As I saught to explain in my essay Empathy and the Immoral
Abstraction of Race, race is a causal ideation, an
abstraction, and, as a manifestation of the causal separation-of-otherness,
it contradicts empathy and the intuitive knowing of and sympathy
with the living other that individual empathy provides or can
make us aware of.
In essence, the notion of race separates, divides, human beings into
manufactured lifeless categories which nullify the empathic knowing
of individual human beings.
Such assignment of individuals to a posited abstract category - some
assumed 'race' or sub-race - is irrelevant, since individual human
beings are or have the potential to be unique individual human
beings, so that such an assignment, whatever the alleged reason, is
a dehumanizing of those individuals. For our humanity is expressed
by an individual and personal knowing of individuals, by a personal
interaction with others on the basis of respect, tolerance, reason,
and honour, and which personal knowledge of them renders their
alleged or assumed ethnicity or ancestry irrelevant.
In addition, to ascribe some value or some worth - how/low,
civilized/uncivilized, evolved/primitive - to these abstract
categories termed 'race', and thence to the individuals alleged or
assumed to belong to such categories, is immoral because value and
worth are themselves lifeless un-numinous divisive abstractions
which cannot, should not, be applied to human beings, or to any
living being. Which in essence means that all life is numinous,
worthy - and cannot and should not be sub-divided into categories of
value or worth.
Similarly, to judge - prejudge - individuals or some group on the
basis of the assumed or the alleged 'character' or generalized
nature assigned to some 'race' is immoral because dehumanizing,
usurping as such prejudice does the personal knowing of individuals
that is the human, the empathic, the honourable, the moral, the
right, thing to do.
In practical terms, this means: (i) that the concept of 'race' is
not only irrelevant but an immoral aberration; (ii) that the alleged
or the assumed ethnicity of a person is irrelevant; and (iii) that
treating/mistreating people, hating people or causing suffering to
people, on the basis of their alleged or assumed 'race' is immoral,
reprehensible.
For what matters is the person, the individual as an individual
human being who is unique or who has the potential to be unique.
What matters, what is human and moral, is a personal knowing of
individuals and treating others with fairness, and tolerance, on the
basis of equality.
Destiny and The Civilizing Process
The idea of and the belief in some individuals having a special
personal 'destiny' - or being chosen by 'fate' or by the gods or by
God in some way - is a pernicious immoral abstraction, a great cause
of suffering. For the person so believing this assumed destiny
always assigns to themselves and their judgement a higher value than
they give to other human beings and thus they treat or end up
treating others in an uncompassionate, dishonourable, way. In
addition, in order to achieve 'their destiny' or accomplish their
'mission' such people will use brutal force and, almost invariably,
resort to killing and to war.
Such a personal belief is a manifestation of hubris, of the
tyrannos. From Hitler and Stalin to Napoleon to Ivan the Terrible to
Genghis Khan to Peter the Hermit to Alexander of Macedon and before,
the immoral pride and arrogance of such men has caused immense human
suffering. As has occurred when the concept, the ideation, of
destiny - or fate, or some 'divinely sanctioned mission' - is or has
been assigned to some other abstraction, such as a nation, a people,
a race, or a religious group. Thus the chosen abstraction - the
alleged chosen instrument of fate/destiny/god - is believed to be
superior to others and believed to empower those belonging to it
with 'the right' to dominate, kill, and if necessary subdue with
force, other nations/peoples/races/groups, with the classic examples
being racism, the nazi doctrines of Hitler, and The Inquisition.
A similarly pernicious, though less obvious, immoral abstraction is
that sometimes termed 'the civilizing process'. This was the
abstraction, for example, that was the raison d'etre of European
colonialism. Inherent in this disruptive abstraction is the ideation
of a linear progress. This 'civilizing process' involves:
"...constant change and a continuing development. This
is the acceptance of the idea that there is 'something', in some
future - near or distant - that can be and should be striven
toward, and this 'something' is always some ideal, or more
perfect, form of something that either already exists or which, it
is alleged, can be manufactured (brought into being) if certain
things (within one's self, or within society, for instance) are
changed in accord with some other manufactured idea or
abstraction, or deriving from some -ism or some -ology
(be these deemed to be political, social or religious). " [4]
As I also mentioned in On The Nature of Abstraction:
"...the very notion of 'civilization' is unethical,
because it both classifies, and excludes, based on some abstract
criteria, some abstract non-empathic judgement of others;
that is, of who and what is deemed to be 'civilized' [...] The
very notions of 'progress' and of some 'civilizing process' are
unethical because they predispose individuals toward the
unbalanced disruption of and the striving for some type of
perfection or ideal, and which striving (because it is a causal
striving) always entails placing that ideal or that abstraction
before the compassion born of empathy, and which always tends
toward creating suffering, and always involves a loss of
numinosity: of that delicate, reasoned, balance that an empathic
awareness brings to we human beings. "
In brief, this 'civilizing process' - this desire for some assumed
progress - usurps the individual empathy of the immediacy of the
moment, and the compassion and the wu-wei that naturally
arise from such empathy. Both the 'civilizing process' and the
desire for some assumed future perfection (progress) are or lead to
ὕβρις, to the disruption of the natural balance and which
disruption inevitably is the genesis of suffering and strife.
Individuality, Morality, and Change
As outlined in the essay Authority and Legitimacy in the
Philosophy of The Numinous Way, empathy and thence the
morality that derives from it implies an individual judgement and an
individual authority. That is, that The Numinous Way establishes a
new type of authority, and thence a new type of legitimacy,
different from those assumed by the modern nation-State, by
governments, and previously assumed by monarchs, potentates, and
tyrants.
This is the moral authority and the moral legitimacy of the
individual manifest in self-responsibility and honour. There is
therefore no desire for - or ultimately no need for - authority over
others but rather the inclination toward self-reliance, toward the
authority, the freedom, of the individual and a respect for the
freedom, the self-reliance, of others.
In practice, this means no desire for rapid exterior change, or
change based upon some abstraction. Instead, there is wu-wei, and
the necessary inner change of individuals:
" The Numinous Way approach to the problems of society -
to reform and change - is an individual one, deriving from the
faculty of empathy, and from the uniquely individual authority and
personal judgement that empathy and a personal knowing reveal in
the immediacy-of-the-moment.
This means that reform and change is personal, direct; of and
involving individuals who are personally known; and begins with
the necessary inner change in the individual. That inner,
personal, change - in individuals, of their nature, their
character - is understood as the means to solving such personal
and social problems as exist and arise. That such inner change of
necessity comes before any striving for outer change by whatever
means, whether such means be termed or classified as political,
social, economic, religious. That the only effective,
long-lasting, change and reform is the one that evolves human
beings and thus changes what, in them, predisposes them, or
inclines them toward, doing or what urges them to do, what is
dishonourable, undignified, unfair, and uncompassionate.
In practice, this evolution means, in the individual, the
cultivation and use of the faculty of empathy, and acquiring the
personal virtues of compassion, honour, and love. Which means the
inner reformation of individuals, as individuals." [6]
Conclusion
Empathy inclines us - by its revealing of others, its revealing of
ourselves as we really are, its revealing of us as an affective and
effecting connexion to other human beings and other life - toward
humility. Thus we are moved away from prejudices and prejudgement
and hate toward gentleness, kindness, love, compassion, and
fairness; that is, toward the virtues that express our humanity and
thus toward the cessation of suffering.
Empathy by its personal, immediate, nature manifests a new type of
authority; that of the individual whose concern is not power over
others but rather over themselves through the development and
exercise of those virtues that express our humanity.
Empathy also inclines us toward wu-wei; toward interior reflexion,
toward neither acting with haste nor on the basis of abstractions
and unbalanced feelings. It moves us instead toward a knowing that
real change is interior, personal, change - of character, of
behaviour, of feelings, of thought, of intent; of removing prejudice
and intolerance.
Thus there is, in The Numinous Way, a complete rejection of the
intolerance of racism, of authoritarianism, of violent political,
social, or religious, change, and instead the individual interior
way of a quiet desire to live numinously, ethically, harmoniously,
in accord with wu-wei, in accord with the natural balance of Life.
David Myatt
February 2012 ce
Notes
[1] As I mentioned in the Preface to the compilation Prolegomenas
to The Philosophy of The Numinous Way:
"I have sometimes used
terms from Ancient Greek because such terms, in my view, are
informative and comparative, with there thus being a link
between the philosophy of The Numen and the weltanschauung
of early Hellenic culture, embodied in and manifest as this was by
the works of Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Heraclitus, Sappho, and
many others. Thus, it would be
fair to assume that the ethos of my weltanschauung
is both indebted to and a development of the ethos of that
Hellenic culture; an indebtedness obvious in the centrality, in
the Numinous Way, of personal honour and notions such as δίκη,
and a development manifest in notions such as empathy."
[2] Terms such as empathy are explained below, in the Appendix - Notes
on Some Terms Used. In respect of humility, see - for example
- my essays (i) Numinous Expiation, (ii) Humility,
Abstractions, and Belief, and (iii) From
Aeschylus To The Numinous Way - The Numinous Authority of πάθει
μάθος
[3] War and Violence in the Philosophy of The Numinous Way.
[4] On The Nature of Abstractions.
[5] Authority and Legitimacy in the Philosophy of The Numinous
Way.
[6] Society, Social Reform, and The Numinous Way
Appendix
Notes on Some Terms Used
Abstraction
An abstraction is a manifestation of the primary error of
conventional causal thinking; that is, of assuming only a causal
linearality – of using causal reductionism: that simple
cause-and-effect that excludes the acausal knowing that empathy
provides and which knowing the numinous is a manifestation of.
Implicit in abstractions is the notion of – the illusion of – the
separateness of beings.
An abstraction is the manufacture, and use of, some idea, ideal,
'image' or category, and thus some generalization, and/or some
assignment of an individual or individuals – and/or some being,
some 'thing' – to some group or category with the implicit
acceptance of the separateness, in causal Space-Time, of such
being/things/individuals. The positing of some 'perfect' or
“ideal” form, category, or thing, is part of abstraction.
Abstraction-ism – and the ideation that derives from it – can be
philosophically defined as the implementation, the practical
application, of ὕβρις.
Compassion
The English word compassion dates from around 1340 ce and the word
in its original sense (and as used in the philosophy of The Numinous
Way) means benignity. Hence, compassion is being kindly
disposed toward and/or feeling a sympathy with someone (or some
living being) affected by pain/suffering/grief or who is enduring
vicissitudes.
The word compassion is derived from com, meaning
together-with, combined with pati, meaning
to-suffer/to-endure, and thus useful synonyms for compassion, in
this original sense, are compassivity and benignity.
Empathy
Etymologically, this fairly recent English word, used to translate
the German Einfühlung, derives, via the late Latin sympathia,
from the Greek συμπάθεια - συμπαθής - and is thus formed
from the prefix σύν (sym) together with παθ- [root of πάθος] meaning
enduring/suffering, feeling: πάσχειν, to endure/suffer.
As used and defined by The Numinous Way, empathy - ἐμπάθεια
- is a natural human faculty: that is, a noble intuition about
another human being or another living being. When empathy is
developed and used, as envisaged by The Numinous Way, it is a
specific and extended type of συμπάθεια. That is, it is a
type of and a means to knowing and understanding another human being
and/or other living beings - and thus differs in nature from
compassion.
Honour
The English word honour dates from around 1200 ce, deriving from the
Latin honorem (meaning refined, grace, beauty) via the Old
French (and thence Anglo-Norman) onor/onur. As used by The
Numinous Way, honour means an instinct for and an adherence to what
is fair, dignified, and valourous. An honourable person is thus
refined: that is, they are noble and cultured and hence
distinguished by virtue of their character, which is one of manners,
fairness, natural dignity, culture, and valour.
Hubris ( ὕβρις )
ὕβρις is the error of personal insolence, of going
beyond the proper limits set by: (a) reasoned (balanced) judgement
– σωφρονεῖν – and by (b) an awareness, a personal
knowing, of the numinous, and which knowing of the numinous is
provided by empathy and πάθει μάθος.
Hubris upsets the natural balance – is contrary to ἁρμονίη
– and often results from a person or persons striving for or
clinging to some causal abstraction.
Pathei-Mathos ( πάθει μάθος )
The Greek term πάθει μάθος derives from The Agamemnon of
Aeschylus (written c. 458 bce), and can be interpreted, or
translated, as meaning learning from adversary, or
wisdom arises from (personal) suffering; or personal
experience is the genesis of true learning.
Wu-Wei
Wu-wei is a Taoist term used in my philosophy of The Numinous Way to
refer to a personal ‘letting-be’ deriving from a feeling, a knowing,
that an essential part of wisdom is cultivation of an interior
personal balance and which cultivation requires acceptance that one
must work with, or employ, things according to their nature, for to
do otherwise is incorrect, and inclines us toward, or is, being
excessive – that is, is ὕβρις. In practice, this is the
cultivation of a certain (an acausal, numinous) perspective – that
life, things/beings, change, flow, exist, in certain natural ways
which we human beings cannot change however hard we might try; that
such a hardness of human trying, a belief in such hardness, is
unwise, un-natural, upsets the natural balance and can cause
misfortune/suffering for us and/or for others, now or in the future.
Thus success lies in discovering the inner nature of
things/beings/ourselves and gently, naturally, slowly, working with
this inner nature, not striving against it.
cc David Myatt 2012 ce
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