Here, I am going to write a few things that I did not write in the my post on heroism and villainy, but have started to really stand out to me about the themes I wrote about there.
Thankyou for this superb piece of writing, I totally agree, we are living in a world that lacks moral courage to both speak out and act, indeed some spiritual friends of mine completely disengage from everything that's going on in the world despite it being stolen in front of our eyes. To me it seems very selfish to look the other way and ignore what's happening in order to maintain some sort of fake inner peace, we could all do well to read and contemplate this article you have written, to look inward and figure out what values and morals are still alive within us and what it would take to stand up for humanity.
I am not sure there's a way forward. Violence will be met with further suppression and surveillance. Peaceful protests and eloquent argument will be smeared while the unthinking masses boo you. Even if you overthrow the government thru violent means you will likely find yourself overthrown in turn or have your group become the new master the same as the old master. What ever happened to all those who raged against the machine? Seems like I am the only fan who still cares. It seems like the best you can do is bite your tongue and play the game well enough until you are popular enough to not be silenced e.g. Charlamagne but that seems to involve too much swimming with the sharks for my taste. I think some good politicians started noble and were corrupted over the course of numerous compromises. Is there another option or are we just commiserating?
I fear we are commiserating, I am utterly disgusted and repulsed by the greedy politicians and globalists, the pharmaceutical industry also, in yet all I can do is voice my condemnation of them, it seems to have grown to big and they are all in each other's pockets, I fear for my children.
Though this was not my goal things like meditation, buddhism, therapy, philosophy and yoga can help you better deal with this fear. While yoga, philosophy and buddhism can certainly become an exercise in ego and capitalism sometimes you get lucky and find a good group.
Yes I've got my own personal ecceletic beliefs, I prefer the eastern religions but as a westerner I am more comfortable talking to Jesus without all the religious agenda, so I have ended up listening to alot of Neville Goddard and Edgar Cayce which are a brilliant blend of both. I also am currently learning Reiki which I thoroughly enjoy. I am however deeply disappointed in how the mass of humanity have not cared about what has happened and is happening right in our faces, they seem passionless and completely selfish, hopefully when things get to the point of being completely and utterly unbearable we might stand together in unison against this, but I won't hold my breath.
Wow! I don't recall agreeing so thoroughly with a Substack since I began reading a few years ago. You have named the defect in Western culture in a beautiful, short article. Kudos Kevin! I am saddened that you've been driven from the medical profession, because God knows we need more like you that can think clearly and articulate those thoughts well. So moved am I that I cannot resist becoming a paid subscriber to support your gift!
Have you explored Eastern Orthodoxy? In addition to the ancient saints, there are modern saints whose stories and writings inform us now and seem extremely relevant to the issues you're struggling with - courage, heroism, fear, the passions.
I spent a number of years dabbling in the new age, meditation, etc but ultimately it did not help me meet the challenges of suffering and moral courage in my own life.
If you do check out Orthodoxy, I recommend going to a church and meeting folks there, rather than dabbling in the online stuff which is not always a true representation of the faith.
Great essay, also hilarious featured image up there!
A coworker keeps trying to get me into their techno-cohort of meditation retreat gurus. I keep saying, no thanks, because in banal terms I simply have better things to do (if I'm going to take time off). But in anthropological terms, I refuse to partake in what is objectively a religion – specifically a navel gazing Godless religion. Also, everyone I know who comes back from a ten-day-plus meditation retreat is just as narcissistic and frazzled as they were before, perhaps with a new glow of sanctimony about them however, who knows. No lasting resilience nor wisdom is gained as far as I can tell.
As a decline, I sometimes quote my Japanese professor who would say, "The requisite of mindfulness is being somewhere you don't want to be." Obviously a "feel good tasty food retreat" where you clear your mind (as it is often pitched to me) is not such a place! This professor was born and raised in Kyoto and was an ordained Buddhist monk for much of his youth, until he "got bored of sweeping the temple path" and left for the more paradoxical experiences of "IRL" that are available to everyone. This teacher of mine would often say, "We do not retreat. We do not sit. We play tennis." he would joke (clearly not "Zen" – whatever sect he was from I forgot).
But said differently, meditation retreats are an atheistic dedication that (literally, by their own descriptions) ritualizes nihilism; voiding one's mind ironically called "mindFULness". Metaphorically speaking, the devil loves euphemistic inversions, and obviously popular notions of mindfulness are the exact opposite of that: it's now mindlessness (i.e. nihilism, becoming nihil – "nothing"). I'd much rather hang with Aristotle and become virtuous thinkers. Better yet take a page out of Augustine and contemplate God. Or just hit the tennis courts for goodness sake.
Yeah, I hear some vipassana veterans use the term "life of the mind" but when I ask them about it they only talk about how therapeutic the experience was. Of course, the phrase evokes Hannah Arendt's brick of a book titled just that – she was clearly examining her own mind. I'm sure she sat in silence for many weeks to do so, but the difference is she engaged in a meaningful discourse and enabled countless others to do as well.
I did a month long silent retreat at a Tibetan Buddhist abbey, with monastics. It didn't completely change my life, but it certainly changed my perspective on how much value to place on the thoughts that pop into my head. Sometimes, maybe even oftentimes, those thoughts get in the way of taking right action. But right action can reduce the incidence of those unhelpful thoughts. I agree that meditation is pretty pointless unless the result is more beneficial action in the real world! I'm just saying don't sell it short. What your corporate types are doing at their 10 day tasty food nice lodgings profit generating silent retreat isn't the kind of meditation that's useful...to the individual or the world.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (“Mormons”, as we are called). In our companion book to the Bible, the Book of Mormon, there is are several accounts of heroism. The Book of Mormon follows the spiritual history of a group of people that left Jerusalem around 600 BC and traveled to the American continent. It follows the history of their progeny and their dealings with God and each other from there.
One of my favorites is the story of Ammon, a missionary who chose to live among a hostile group or tribe, in order to be able to teach them about Christ. Because he is an outsider to their community and a descendant of a traditional enemy to the group, upon his arrival, Ammon was purposely placed with the servants to guard the king’s flocks out in the fields. The community had been plagued by bandits who were stealing sheep and killing the guards. So he wasn’t exactly set up for success.
Ammon surprised them all when, upon the arrival of the thieves, he did not cower and run like the other guardians of the flock. Instead he chopped off all their arms. Pretty badass.
That, of course, caught the attention of the king, who summoned Ammon to ask if he was the Great Spirit. Ammon explained that no, he wasn’t, but that gave him a great segway to teach the king and his family about God and Christ. Later he was able to teach the rest of the community.
Another great story of heroism contained in the Book of Mormon is the story of Captain Moroni. One of my favorites also. He lead the armies of the people of God against their enemies who wanted to end their ability to worship God as they pleased, as well as annihilate them if possible. He was a great military strategist and didn’t mince words or back down in his beliefs.
The cruel commended people to death. The villainy are people seek profit over a human life. Heroism is many people speak this is wrong when loved ones separated and killed before their eyes. Generational survivors guilt especially when baby dies parents never heal from Trauma. This is carried for many generations affects cells. Hidden knowledge of the risk and benefits never achieve true informed consent.
Thankyou for this superb piece of writing, I totally agree, we are living in a world that lacks moral courage to both speak out and act, indeed some spiritual friends of mine completely disengage from everything that's going on in the world despite it being stolen in front of our eyes. To me it seems very selfish to look the other way and ignore what's happening in order to maintain some sort of fake inner peace, we could all do well to read and contemplate this article you have written, to look inward and figure out what values and morals are still alive within us and what it would take to stand up for humanity.
I am not sure there's a way forward. Violence will be met with further suppression and surveillance. Peaceful protests and eloquent argument will be smeared while the unthinking masses boo you. Even if you overthrow the government thru violent means you will likely find yourself overthrown in turn or have your group become the new master the same as the old master. What ever happened to all those who raged against the machine? Seems like I am the only fan who still cares. It seems like the best you can do is bite your tongue and play the game well enough until you are popular enough to not be silenced e.g. Charlamagne but that seems to involve too much swimming with the sharks for my taste. I think some good politicians started noble and were corrupted over the course of numerous compromises. Is there another option or are we just commiserating?
I fear we are commiserating, I am utterly disgusted and repulsed by the greedy politicians and globalists, the pharmaceutical industry also, in yet all I can do is voice my condemnation of them, it seems to have grown to big and they are all in each other's pockets, I fear for my children.
Though this was not my goal things like meditation, buddhism, therapy, philosophy and yoga can help you better deal with this fear. While yoga, philosophy and buddhism can certainly become an exercise in ego and capitalism sometimes you get lucky and find a good group.
Yes I've got my own personal ecceletic beliefs, I prefer the eastern religions but as a westerner I am more comfortable talking to Jesus without all the religious agenda, so I have ended up listening to alot of Neville Goddard and Edgar Cayce which are a brilliant blend of both. I also am currently learning Reiki which I thoroughly enjoy. I am however deeply disappointed in how the mass of humanity have not cared about what has happened and is happening right in our faces, they seem passionless and completely selfish, hopefully when things get to the point of being completely and utterly unbearable we might stand together in unison against this, but I won't hold my breath.
Wow! I don't recall agreeing so thoroughly with a Substack since I began reading a few years ago. You have named the defect in Western culture in a beautiful, short article. Kudos Kevin! I am saddened that you've been driven from the medical profession, because God knows we need more like you that can think clearly and articulate those thoughts well. So moved am I that I cannot resist becoming a paid subscriber to support your gift!
Have you explored Eastern Orthodoxy? In addition to the ancient saints, there are modern saints whose stories and writings inform us now and seem extremely relevant to the issues you're struggling with - courage, heroism, fear, the passions.
I spent a number of years dabbling in the new age, meditation, etc but ultimately it did not help me meet the challenges of suffering and moral courage in my own life.
If you do check out Orthodoxy, I recommend going to a church and meeting folks there, rather than dabbling in the online stuff which is not always a true representation of the faith.
Great essay, also hilarious featured image up there!
A coworker keeps trying to get me into their techno-cohort of meditation retreat gurus. I keep saying, no thanks, because in banal terms I simply have better things to do (if I'm going to take time off). But in anthropological terms, I refuse to partake in what is objectively a religion – specifically a navel gazing Godless religion. Also, everyone I know who comes back from a ten-day-plus meditation retreat is just as narcissistic and frazzled as they were before, perhaps with a new glow of sanctimony about them however, who knows. No lasting resilience nor wisdom is gained as far as I can tell.
As a decline, I sometimes quote my Japanese professor who would say, "The requisite of mindfulness is being somewhere you don't want to be." Obviously a "feel good tasty food retreat" where you clear your mind (as it is often pitched to me) is not such a place! This professor was born and raised in Kyoto and was an ordained Buddhist monk for much of his youth, until he "got bored of sweeping the temple path" and left for the more paradoxical experiences of "IRL" that are available to everyone. This teacher of mine would often say, "We do not retreat. We do not sit. We play tennis." he would joke (clearly not "Zen" – whatever sect he was from I forgot).
But said differently, meditation retreats are an atheistic dedication that (literally, by their own descriptions) ritualizes nihilism; voiding one's mind ironically called "mindFULness". Metaphorically speaking, the devil loves euphemistic inversions, and obviously popular notions of mindfulness are the exact opposite of that: it's now mindlessness (i.e. nihilism, becoming nihil – "nothing"). I'd much rather hang with Aristotle and become virtuous thinkers. Better yet take a page out of Augustine and contemplate God. Or just hit the tennis courts for goodness sake.
The purpose of meditation as I understand it isn't to void one's mind but rather to examine one's mind.
Yeah, I hear some vipassana veterans use the term "life of the mind" but when I ask them about it they only talk about how therapeutic the experience was. Of course, the phrase evokes Hannah Arendt's brick of a book titled just that – she was clearly examining her own mind. I'm sure she sat in silence for many weeks to do so, but the difference is she engaged in a meaningful discourse and enabled countless others to do as well.
I did a month long silent retreat at a Tibetan Buddhist abbey, with monastics. It didn't completely change my life, but it certainly changed my perspective on how much value to place on the thoughts that pop into my head. Sometimes, maybe even oftentimes, those thoughts get in the way of taking right action. But right action can reduce the incidence of those unhelpful thoughts. I agree that meditation is pretty pointless unless the result is more beneficial action in the real world! I'm just saying don't sell it short. What your corporate types are doing at their 10 day tasty food nice lodgings profit generating silent retreat isn't the kind of meditation that's useful...to the individual or the world.
Is true...however the Roy Masters meditation exercise sets one free to notice angry yet honest and outspoken. It is much different.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (“Mormons”, as we are called). In our companion book to the Bible, the Book of Mormon, there is are several accounts of heroism. The Book of Mormon follows the spiritual history of a group of people that left Jerusalem around 600 BC and traveled to the American continent. It follows the history of their progeny and their dealings with God and each other from there.
One of my favorites is the story of Ammon, a missionary who chose to live among a hostile group or tribe, in order to be able to teach them about Christ. Because he is an outsider to their community and a descendant of a traditional enemy to the group, upon his arrival, Ammon was purposely placed with the servants to guard the king’s flocks out in the fields. The community had been plagued by bandits who were stealing sheep and killing the guards. So he wasn’t exactly set up for success.
Ammon surprised them all when, upon the arrival of the thieves, he did not cower and run like the other guardians of the flock. Instead he chopped off all their arms. Pretty badass.
That, of course, caught the attention of the king, who summoned Ammon to ask if he was the Great Spirit. Ammon explained that no, he wasn’t, but that gave him a great segway to teach the king and his family about God and Christ. Later he was able to teach the rest of the community.
Another great story of heroism contained in the Book of Mormon is the story of Captain Moroni. One of my favorites also. He lead the armies of the people of God against their enemies who wanted to end their ability to worship God as they pleased, as well as annihilate them if possible. He was a great military strategist and didn’t mince words or back down in his beliefs.
You can read about him here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Moroni
And here:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/gs/moroni-captain?lang=eng
The cruel commended people to death. The villainy are people seek profit over a human life. Heroism is many people speak this is wrong when loved ones separated and killed before their eyes. Generational survivors guilt especially when baby dies parents never heal from Trauma. This is carried for many generations affects cells. Hidden knowledge of the risk and benefits never achieve true informed consent.