Self-flagellating Again
We are no longer subordinate to God; we are now inferior to the animals.
Oh dear. As Nietzsche once proclaimed, “God is dead, and we have killed him.” That sort of put an end to our attempts to give away our power to some imaginary higher being. This inability to appreciate the nature of our existence has taken a new turn. We are no longer subordinate to God; we are now inferior to the animals. Why we have to diminish ourselves in this way is not easy to pinpoint, but we do it anyway. Having been excited by Straw Dogs by John Gray, I bought his sequel, “The Silence of Animals,” and have been appalled by the self-flagellation. The basic message is that human beings are a big fuck-up, and animals live in a sort of nirvana because they don’t think. Here is a quote from this nauseating book:
“By nature volatile and discordant, the human animal looks to silence for relief from being itself while other creatures enjoy silence as their birthright.”
I know of almost no one who looks to silence for relief, but I do know of lots of people who seek entertainment for relief. As for animals enjoying silence, I have to conclude that he is just making this stuff up. My dog wanted to be entertained a good deal; in fact, he was a nuisance. Dogs play in the wild; they get horny, hungry, frightened, excited, and sometimes they just seem to blob out and sleep.
Of course, we have inherited the notions of peace, inner silence, contentment, and so on from religions and spiritual people. If someone wants inner silence, the last thing they should do is go searching for it. But why would someone want such a thing? They want it because their inner state is hell. If it were pleasant, they wouldn’t want inner peace; they would be happy to be with themselves.
We are a particular kind of creature with a large cortex, which allows us to process symbols (mainly words and images). Why denigrate such a thing instead of celebrating it? In the current secular climate, intelligence is not high on the list of desirable things; in fact, it is often seen as something to deride. I think it is probably just part of the collapse of Western society and the manipulation of the masses by the puppet masters, who undoubtedly use tools such as game theory and psychology to achieve their ends.
I like active thinking, and so far it hasn't been labelled a cardinal sin.