INTERESTING TIMES

It's been decades since I read Siddhartha but it had a strong effect on me.  In my youth I was a philosophy major and a seeker, trying on different religious and spiritual approaches.  Eventually I arrived at myself, at the now, at the goals of non-attachment, awareness, compassion, adaptability.  I adopted bits and pieces of many philosophies, most notably Buddhism and Hinduism, without becoming a believer in reincarnation, heaven and hell, or any of the other dogmas.  New age religion in the US is very much a groovified hand-me-down from the culture behind these religions, and reincarnation is the most common belief system I encounter among people who pretend that they are enlightened.  More appealing to me is the stark realism of the German philosophers.  "To exist is to be in the way".

In Demian Herman Hesse suggests that the truth is not any of these religious structures, the truth is something far simpler, but harder to live.  It is not easy to go through this world stripped of comforting beliefs.  Hesse says we create gods and then we fight with them.  Many of his ideas are reminiscent of Nieztsche, for whom I've always had a soft spot.  He is the German philosopher who said "God is dead" and pissed off generations of religious people.

The protagonist of Demian is a young man named Sinclair, and his story begins when he is only 10 years old.  He is early at becoming aware.  Demian is a character who helps him, initially simply to avoid a predatorial character, and later to begin to think critically and to trust in himself.  When they are schoolmates Demian suggests alternate interpretations of Bible stories, especially the one about Cain and Able, and the mark of Cain.  By the end of the book I was thinking that I too must bear that mark, because I have never been a joiner, never been willing or able to submit to authority or dogma.

This book would make excellent reading for a teen who is beginning to sort out a path through all the competing authorities.  It does not provide a blueprint, but it does say that you must find your own path, and that it won't be easy or comfortable.  When Hesse first released this small book in 1919 it was in pieces in a magazine, and anonymously.  Why didn't he want his name attached?  Why didn't someone recognize his voice and thoughts, when they are so distinctly his?  Perhaps it is because Demian is also a commentary on the sadness of war, on the fruitlessness of giving lives for some shared ideal which might be bunk.  Some of the things he writes harken to the Jungian concept of collective consciousness, for example the shared premonitions of the onset of world war one.  Do we really share a consciousness, or do we simply share some of the same inputs, and arrive at some of the same intuitive conclusions?  Jung and Hesse did.

The most fruitful thing a person can do is to become themselves, I agree with Hesse on this point.  To be with people who are also themselves, this is a very satisfying thing.

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it,
people will eventually come to believe it.
--Joseph Goebbels, Nazi propagandist

and this was only 1989: things do sometimes change dramatically

The German economy is bouncing back from the recession with more vigor than the rest of Europe, based mostly on exports of automobiles and machinery. Other EU nations saw fit to provide bailouts to whoever, same as the US did. The Germans kept the purse strings a bit tighter. They paid to keep people in jobs, and at the same time kept labor costs low. And they clung to Quality. Here, we have cheap plastic shit and plenty of time to watch TV.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/countries/

They're not all the same: the UK, Switzerland, Taiwan, Germany, and Japan all provide healthcare for their citizens.

In response to something I read on my FL (about a Canadian mother who put a swastika on her child's arm and lost custody of her children), I googled "neonazi", and then "swastika". I discovered the story "Swastika tops Google searches" from Sunday, July 13, 2008. When swastika searches are a "Hot Trend", you have to wonder what is going on. The google-watchers say that there was not a single big swastika-related news story or blog post that morning.
( explorations in the news )

Pelosi has told Shrub we should boycott the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in China to protest their poor human rights record. Merckel (Germany) and Sarcozy (France) are already planning to boycott.
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There are 15 or more gangs here in Flagstaff, Arizona. The school system has decided to require specific colors in a dress code this fall, for all middle and high schools. Certain colors, and bandanas worn a certain way, are symbolic of various gangs. While I understand their intent, the school system is powerless to stop gangs. They believe that gangs are associated with identity formation, but there is more to it. Gangs provide young human animals with a tribe, a community, a bonded group to which they belong. This need is deep in us. Making the kids wear gray shirts won't prevent them from joining gangs.

Last night I visited with some of my tribe. Gunther and Ingrid shared their dinner and their house with me. Before dinner we joined hands and sang a song. We talked for a long time and Gunther was covering some new material with me. In spite of his memory losses, he is still a great teacher. Ingrid has heard most of his lectures many times, so she can help him fill in names and facts that he has forgotten. He covers the same material over and over because he can't remember who I am or what he has already told me. I think I am a good student because he says that usually it takes him years to get to this part. Much of his lecturing is intended at breaking through my American cultural worldview, and each time he realizes that to a great degree I already have a global view he is impressed. I also realize that every idea I have is a product of my culture and language, and I know that my view is narrow relative to the whole. I am there to have my worldview broadened.
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It was good to hear on NPR today about the Danish cartoonist who drew Mohammad with a bomb on his head, and another of the prophet talking to suicide bombers--saying please stop, we're out of virgins.... It was sad to hear that the Muslims are rioting and burning things.
( rant )