CRAPitalism
‘Capitalism is a Desire Machine
Francis Bowen wrote “Everything which lives strives after happiness; this is the most universal principle of action that we know of; it is the essence of the Will itself seeking its own gratification. Mere Will, however, though it is the only spring of activity, is essentially blind; it is not merely illogical or irrational, because it does not reason at all, even wrongly. It simply craves, and acts out its cravings in automatic volitions. Hence it is properly alogical, being entirely devoid of reason, just as the Intellect, being in its very nature distinct from Will, cannot act, but simply knows. Consequently, this ill-matched pair, indissolubly united in the Unconscious, cannot cooperate; neither can help the other. Vainly does the all-wise Intellect perceive that the unreasoning Will is entirely in the wrong, since its ceaseless craving for happiness merely increases misery; the alogical Will cannot heed its warnings, and cannot impart its own capacity of action to its wise but helpless companion. As long as they are tied together, like a balky team, they neutralize each other’s powers.”
Hartmann, and Schopenhauer before him, were wrong. Will and Intellect are not natural-born competitors and rivals. They have the capacity to cooperate and satisfy their mutual interests. Plato presented the right sort of picture in his theory of the tripartite soul. In the Republic, Plato asserted that the psyche has three parts: the rational (logical), spirited (emotional) and desirous (appetitive). Reason must rule and direct emotion and desire. If emotion and desire are in charge, the result is disaster – as we see in the world we have today. Predatory capitalism, in order to make money, directly targets emotion and appetite and ignores reason. Capitalism is a Desire Machine. It provokes desires and then sells you things to satisfy the desires it has manufactured in you. Thanks to social media, the Desire Magnifier, things are getting worse and worse. You cannot separate the different parts of the psyche, as Hartmann imagined. You must get them to work in harmony, to sublimate themselves, to get rid of their most primitive and selfish aspects (their right-wing aspects). As consciousness increases, left-wing cooperation and rationalism increases. In the end, we create a Community of the Gods – true Communism; and the Society of the Divine – true socialism.
You cannot have capitalism in a system of gods. Capitalism relies on a master-slave hierarchy, with the elite (the masters) relentlessly exploiting the slaves, and instilling a false consciousness in them to make them worship the elite as the rightful gods, or representatives of the rightful God. The aspect of us which drives consciousness is reason, the aspect that separates us from the animals. It is the truly immaterial part of us, as Plato and Aristotle both understood. Our desires, appetites, emotions, and sensory observations are all fully engaged with the material world, the irrational, non-conscious world.”
—Stark, Dr. Thomas. Inside Reality: The Inner View of Existence (The Truth Series Book 11) (Kindle Locations 1993-2017). The Ontological Mathematics Foundation.
