JustinG wrote: ↑Tue Dec 07, 2021 7:34 am
No. I, like Marx, Hegel and Berdyaev, admit that all thinking is socially conditioned, whilst Steinerians do not admit this.
OK, I see. There's no doubt that thinking is socially conditioned but to say that for
all thinking is a very strong claim. This is the whole essence of PoF - that through unprejudiced survey of the
given we can discover that we have all the means within ourselves to recognize these personal, social, national, cultural, religious factors and even gradually raise above them. It's quite clear that in one way or another we're slowly rising through these layers of conditioning. Otherwise how could we explain that thinking has expanded from the tribal patterns to our age when even quite disinterested people feel that we live in a global family, and before we are differentiated in color, nation, clan, we're first and foremost
human? I suppose the answer would be "through natural selection of random thoughts" or something of this sort.
Anyways. I won't insist because it won't go anywhere. I just wanted to show the massive prejudices that rule our times. Basically the logic is "the geniuses of Marx and Hegel didn't know how they got their own thoughts, what's left for us, regular folk, who flow entirely within the mental channels that they have furrowed for us? No one understands thinking because thinking is conditioned by socio-environmental factors. Whoever says that it is possible to peel the layers of conditioning is a deluded liar." This is the situation really. The possibility for freedom is rejected not because it can't be logically justified but because modern man doesn't want this kind of freedom. To find the thinking spirit in ourselves raises questions on its own. Questions which inevitably lead to the deeper mysteries of existence. Thus, people say with great satisfaction "my brain thinks, MAL thinks, energy thinks, social conditioning thinks, the Church thinks" ... anything else but not the spiritual experience of "I think", which alone can lead us into the depths of reality.
I'm not saying this concretely to Justin or anyone else specifically but only to point attention to the critical situation of our times. We can speak of this without mentioning Steiner, although it's a real treasure for humanity that we have these things laid down in PoF. The really simple question is why we reject the thinking spirit? Why we feel obliged and even satisfied if we can project the creative spiritual activity (which today we experience in thinking) to something
outside ourselves? Why we
reject to give the opportunity to the Cosmos to have its I-ness through us? Most people will say that it is because we're humble, we're worried that by relating with I-ness which potentially leads to the One, we'll become prideful and intoxicated with self-importance. But what was humility yesterday, today is actually arrogance and avoidance of responsibility. Our Cosmic I-ness is first and foremost about
moral responsibility. Once we step on this path there are no more excuses. Can't blame the brain, the colonialists, the tribes, the capitalists or communists. All of these are now part of our shared responsibility. This is what really man doesn't want to face today. All the talks about being humble are inept excuses. True humility demands from us to bear our moral responsibility and do what is right for the good of the Whole, no matter how small it may be.