Left unstated is just what symbol should be chosen for the logocracy. The rigid hierarchy and scale-free sameness of the Sierpinski gasket certainly seems appropriate for pathocracy, which is incapable of producing anything new - to the contrary, its pitiless order is a form of death, or at any rate anti-life.
I'd suggest the Mandelbrot set to be the appropriate symbol of logocracy. It never repeats itself: no matter how deep into it one goes, one will never find precisely the same pattern. This seems more in keeping with the infinite possibilities of a logocracy, which does not seek to impose, but rather to facilitate an unfolding. Further, it is generated not by iteration of a simple pattern that repeats at all scales, but by a function that either converges to a finite quantity or diverges to infinity: inside the boundaries of the set the function is trapped, outside it is free, and within the set it is indeterminate. That seems to mirror the gnostic tension between matter and spirit, with humanity and the world at the interface of the two.
Aug 29, 2022·edited Aug 29, 2022Liked by Harrison Koehli
What a long strange trip that was! You went from Plato to the Cathars, did a quick spin on the Sierpinski Triangle and ended up in Joe Biden's America. That being said, my favorite part was the link to "Somethin' ain't right". I bow to your analysis and computer skills. That essay had more turns than the Nurburgring.
Satan was a fallen angel. That satisfies any theological debate about God being conflated with him. And as for his minions, he successfully seduced a third of God’s angels to join him when he threw his temper tantrum that being God’s favorite was not enough—he wanted to be God himself. He and his minions have been wreaking havoc ever since. The end (but not really, thank God).
Augustine is worth mentioning as another ponerological? rat who tried to square the circle on the question of metaphysical evil and proclaimed Yahweh the one and only god and a good one to boot.
Though I am sure this is well thought out and well-informed, it was a little thick for me.
I don't have the knowledge (and the burden?) of a careful study of the ancients in philosophy or theology or the classicists in psychology. But I have been informed by the discovery of the reality of past life experience (which can be expressed with several different terms). Though I am still wading through a body of work on this subject that I have decided to study, there are certain benefits to understanding people from this point of view that are already obvious.
First, you get a much larger space in which to watch human personality develop. The materials I am studying measure that space at anywhere from 76 to 200 trillion earth years big. But even a billion years would be a huge game changer compared to trying to figure out how all the amazing variations in human personality developed on one planet during the time that "we" have lived here.
Second, you get an explosion in social experience and lives lived in other societies using other technologies. This gives us a certain cyclic aspect to what we see happening on Earth now. In other words, similar things have happened to us before, in other places and times. Further, you get a new appreciation for the difficulties that thinkers on this planet had in attempting to understand themselves, their fellows, and life on this planet.
Beyond all that, what research along this line indicates could only be described as unbelievable when we compare it to even the worst Earth experiences, such as being attacked by one of those ancient torture devices. We have experienced psychic damage so extensive and overwhelming that it is amazing any of us still value individuality and a sense of freedom.
The message I bring to those studying human history and trying to make sense of what is going on now is that if you are looking in the direction of PP and similar works that find the spiritually broken (psychopaths) as the prime movers in the drive towards societal suicide, you are looking in the right direction. The mystery of how the psychopathic personality developed and was nourished in certain situations resides in the depths of time. A recognition that the personality has survived for billions of years gives us that depth. Some of us did OK, most of us not so good, and a few more came through totally broken.
Left unstated is just what symbol should be chosen for the logocracy. The rigid hierarchy and scale-free sameness of the Sierpinski gasket certainly seems appropriate for pathocracy, which is incapable of producing anything new - to the contrary, its pitiless order is a form of death, or at any rate anti-life.
I'd suggest the Mandelbrot set to be the appropriate symbol of logocracy. It never repeats itself: no matter how deep into it one goes, one will never find precisely the same pattern. This seems more in keeping with the infinite possibilities of a logocracy, which does not seek to impose, but rather to facilitate an unfolding. Further, it is generated not by iteration of a simple pattern that repeats at all scales, but by a function that either converges to a finite quantity or diverges to infinity: inside the boundaries of the set the function is trapped, outside it is free, and within the set it is indeterminate. That seems to mirror the gnostic tension between matter and spirit, with humanity and the world at the interface of the two.
What a long strange trip that was! You went from Plato to the Cathars, did a quick spin on the Sierpinski Triangle and ended up in Joe Biden's America. That being said, my favorite part was the link to "Somethin' ain't right". I bow to your analysis and computer skills. That essay had more turns than the Nurburgring.
Satan was a fallen angel. That satisfies any theological debate about God being conflated with him. And as for his minions, he successfully seduced a third of God’s angels to join him when he threw his temper tantrum that being God’s favorite was not enough—he wanted to be God himself. He and his minions have been wreaking havoc ever since. The end (but not really, thank God).
Augustine is worth mentioning as another ponerological? rat who tried to square the circle on the question of metaphysical evil and proclaimed Yahweh the one and only god and a good one to boot.
I wish I could like this several times because you mentioned Marcion.
What a terrific read (and education, I had to look up some words.. "chiliasic"...). The denouement for me brings to mind two concepts:
Moloch https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/
and
Egregors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egregore
Though I am sure this is well thought out and well-informed, it was a little thick for me.
I don't have the knowledge (and the burden?) of a careful study of the ancients in philosophy or theology or the classicists in psychology. But I have been informed by the discovery of the reality of past life experience (which can be expressed with several different terms). Though I am still wading through a body of work on this subject that I have decided to study, there are certain benefits to understanding people from this point of view that are already obvious.
First, you get a much larger space in which to watch human personality develop. The materials I am studying measure that space at anywhere from 76 to 200 trillion earth years big. But even a billion years would be a huge game changer compared to trying to figure out how all the amazing variations in human personality developed on one planet during the time that "we" have lived here.
Second, you get an explosion in social experience and lives lived in other societies using other technologies. This gives us a certain cyclic aspect to what we see happening on Earth now. In other words, similar things have happened to us before, in other places and times. Further, you get a new appreciation for the difficulties that thinkers on this planet had in attempting to understand themselves, their fellows, and life on this planet.
Beyond all that, what research along this line indicates could only be described as unbelievable when we compare it to even the worst Earth experiences, such as being attacked by one of those ancient torture devices. We have experienced psychic damage so extensive and overwhelming that it is amazing any of us still value individuality and a sense of freedom.
The message I bring to those studying human history and trying to make sense of what is going on now is that if you are looking in the direction of PP and similar works that find the spiritually broken (psychopaths) as the prime movers in the drive towards societal suicide, you are looking in the right direction. The mystery of how the psychopathic personality developed and was nourished in certain situations resides in the depths of time. A recognition that the personality has survived for billions of years gives us that depth. Some of us did OK, most of us not so good, and a few more came through totally broken.
Superbly traced out and described. Kudos...
I will stop reading this blog if you describe blood-curdling images again.