070 - The "I" in Me & You: Identity, Freedom, and Oneness

Can't we all just get along?  The world today is increasing fractious.  The Electronic Age has fueled a return to tribalism, as the individualistic linear emphasis of the print age gave way to finding identity though emotionally connected groups.  And these groups are often based more on hatred of the "other" than on what they stand for themselves. 

What can be done?  As Hegel and others have pointed out, it starts with a recognition of Spirit within us all.  A freedom that humans alone can call their own.  And without this recognition in others, we cannot know it is within us.  

This episode reviews the issue from different standpoints, include a look at the Lordship/Bondage and Beautiful Soul portions of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, as well as Žižek's Hegelian take on forgiveness. 

Transcript

Gregory Novak 0:01

Hello, this is Gregory Nowak. This is the cunning of Geist episode 70. Welcome back. The purpose of this podcast is to explore philosophy psychology and current science. With an emphasis on the great 19th century philosopher, George William Friedrich Hagle. In this episode, I will attempt to show that it is in fact how we. Understand ourselves and others that gives us the basis for understanding our true self-consciousness and where this. True. Self-consciousness lies. It is about understanding our own freedom. This is our true spirit and it is a freedom that we share with others. Or help to show how only by recognizing this freedom in the other and the other person. Something, which is inside of them, something which makes them human. Can we understand our own freedom, our own humanity. I believe it is essential to understand our shared spiritual freedom and selfhood in order to possess it ourselves. That it is only by recognizing the spirit within others, that we can come to know it in us. And I bring this up for the following reason. We live in a deeply divided world today. And I believe that the electronic global village, we now inhabit is a major cause of it. And I've discussed this problem often here and the cunning of guy's podcast, it was discussed in detail in two specific episodes, episode 21. The rise return of tribalism technology McClune and Hagle, and then episode. 54. Can Hagle save us from a brutal return to tribalism. As I discussed in these episodes, media scholar, Marshall McLuhan, correctly predicted the rise of identity politics as a result of the shift from the literary age to the electronic age. From the Telegraph to the telephone, to the radio, through television and how the internet, the visual individual orientation of the Gutenberg galaxy. I gave way to the all at once. Togetherness of the global village. And I must say I'm continually amazed at how well McClune predicted what was to come back in the 1960s. If. If you ever want to check out some of his. When he was on TV and stuff. it's really remarkable what he had to say. But there's a dark side to this change that he talked about. This new environment that McCluen identified resulted in a step forward. As well as the step backward, if you will, toward a new vote tribalism. Which hearkens back to the ancient tribal societies, where the spoken word interacted with nature. In one. All encompassing environment. This is meant among an increasing percentage of citizens. A loss of the ability to find much meaning and identity and a big tent nation state, or even in a big tent, political party. The fragmentation and specialization, immediate and politics has put identity groups, tribes. If you will, as a driving force today in many places. We have moved from a focus on the individual and the drive toward an individual rights resulting from the print age to the new tribalism of the global village. And this move to tribalism threatens the big tents of nation states, political parties, and even religions. There are no longer seen as providing the identity we require in the global village. So we look to groups with which we have tighter emotional bonds and find our identity and belonging to these groups. And often these tribes are defined as much. By being against some other group than what they actually stand for themselves. And today many can be defined as solely by what they're against, who they're against. And history has shown that tribal societies often fight brutally for recognition. and the new tribes to have today are increasingly doing so. One more thing. Our global village state is fueled by emotion rather than being run by reasoning adults. Our passions and feelings are what are important, not our reasoning. Reasoning has become suspect is linear hearkening back to the print age. Reason today is often viewed as sophistry using words to carefully manipulate opinion. Is contemporary philosophy, Alistair MacIntyre causes new type of person, the emotive self. And we discussed him in his work back in episode 22. And you see this trend everywhere is more important, how you feel than how you think. Pop music is a good example. Today. It's much more about personal feelings of the singer songwriter. They write about their own experience with. With a specific boyfriend that broke up with them or trouble they're having with their, their girlfriend. And we're previous hit music, hit songs, spoke to the wants and needs of the broader audience in general. Things that everybody can identify with. So, as I said, Because of this move to tribalism nation states are being threatened. And while America has traditionally been a melting pot with all the troubles that that can bring European countries are now experiencing this as well through massive immigration. England is no longer solely English Francis, no longer solely French. Germany, no longer solely German and Italy, no longer solely Italian. There was no more automatic default vision of the country and its people and what it stands for. And this tribalism and division has a major problem throughout most of the world today. Francis Fukiyama contemporary scholar and historian feels that this trend. Has also negated his original end of history thesis, which he took from his understanding of Hagle. He explores this and talks much about Hagle and the need for recognition in his 2018 book identity. I believe this is the monumental problem of our time, and that's why I'm addressing it here today. It is essentially paralyze and polarize the government in United States. And our media is polarized. As well. And all this will have to eventually be sublimated somehow to use Hegel's term. And as with most important things, there's no easy answer here. However I do believe the best hope at present is to throw some light on the true nature of the problem. Now, of course I'm aware that things only become clear after the fact, this is Haydel's famous dictum about the owl of Minerva taking flight only at dusk, meaning our understanding of the situationally. It becomes clear. We only have wisdom of it. Which the owl of Minerva symbolizes. We only have wisdom of it at the end of the day when the dust is settled. So we may have to see how this whole problem unfolds and settles, but, W we can't really assess what's going on from our perspective now. And I'm aware of that. However, I do want to address something here. That's fundamentally important to consider as we feel ourselves and our fellow human beings. Now. And this may seem very naive. It may seem just like a platitude with no real meeting, but I believe if one drills down. to just what it means to be a self-conscious human One can see some light here and a bit of hope. I believe. I plan to address two points regarding this. The first one is the issue of recognition. And we'll get into this. And the second one is as a big issue of forgiveness. And how does this concept of forgiveness work into what I'm going to be talking about, about being self-conscious. So let's first deal with recognition. Recognition is often seen as the source of tribalism. In the global village. And Fukuyama's book on identity. He clearly thinks identity groups to the need for recognition in a Galilean sense. But let me back up here. Hey go identifies the need for recognition in his famous passage, in the phenomenology of spirit, in the Lordship and bondsman section. And this is alternatively known as the master slave dialectic. And we did an entire episode on this back in 2020. Episode 13. Essentially hangar posits that for one to be self-conscious one must be confronted with another self-consciousness. Otherwise there's no concept itself. In other words, there's no me without a, you. And this involves more than just recognizing another life form. The human consciousness recognizes within itself a freedom. It is a freedom that is different from the animals. It was a freedom to imagine a better way to improve things and not to be beholden to instincts. And does it even the freedom to choose life or death itself going against the primal desire of all living things. But in order to know that it has this freedom. It needs to be recognized by another self-consciousness is having that freedom. And importantly, it needs to be something that the other self-consciousness is denied and would desire to have. So in order to accomplish this in this famous story of Hegel's a battle ensues to see who is willing to go all the way. Uh, there is a fight to the death. To prove who's the true free one. And who must. I see the freedom only in the other. So. According to hago story one self-consciousness backs down. One is now willing to risk its life. Now willing to have skin in the game, as they say, and you end up then with the Lord who is free and a bondsman who is not, and who desires the freedom that the Lord has. Hey go sums this up nicely in a passage. Let me read it. Quote. It is only through the staking of one's life. That freedom is one only thus. Is it proved that the individual is not risked his life may well be recognized as a person, but he's not. You had attained to the truth that this recognition as an independent self-consciousness. But this is not the end of the story. At first, the Lord or master requires the bondsman or slave to not be free in order for them to see and desire the freedom of the Lord. But then the Lord realizes that if the bondsman is not free, then they have no free opinion of the Lord. And hago. Further goes on to show that the bondsman doing the work in the service to the Lord eventually finds their own freedom in the work that they do. So that's where Hagle leaves it. But I want to bring in an important point here. That, what Angel's talking about is more than just recognition. As Robert Wallace says in his. 2005 books. Hegel's philosophy of reality, freedom, and God. It is not just recognition as in a membership, in a club. That Haydel's talking to me, but it is deeper. It is recognition of the freedom in each other. And what is key here is that without recognizing the freedom and the other, you're keeping it blind in yourself. It's not just something that is defined by a club or a religion or a nation. It is within us all. And is this fact that I believe we need to keep in mind when we ourselves identify with the group. We need to realize that the other group, the other party, the other nation also is an eye. Just like you. And it is this freedom, the spirit that makes us free all of us, whether we recognize it or not. I believe this is required. If one is to obtain full self-consciousness. Now some have called this cosmic consciousness. I would just call it Christ consciousness, whatever one calls it. It's not unique to Christianity, but something we all share. Although, as I said, many of us are not conscious of this fact. Which I'll get into in a moment. Not only come to the second thing I wanted to discuss that is forgiveness. Big term means a lot of things to a lot of people, but let's discuss what I'm talking about here. When we say it is necessary to see freedom, spirit within all individuals. Is important to recognize what this entails and what it doesn't entail. And this does require us to separate the true inner self of somebody from one's actions and one's beliefs. And so doing what I'm talking about is not condoning something forgetting or excusing any harmful action. Nor am I talking about minimizing one's own hurt or. Or denying one's anger. Uh, and I'm not talking about denying justice or accountability in the case of, uh, ill treatment or a crime. I'm not talking about pardoning. So, what am I talking about? It is in recognizing in another, what is in yourself at the deepest level spirit. And I, every individual is an eye just like you. Now, of course this spiritual, inner self, this true self that is in each of us. Some have no idea. It's there. Others get a small sense that is there and they just leave it at that. So this, I have a feeling that is there and they actively work against it for, for some reason. And some just choose to listen. And it may happen once or twice in a lifetime. For others. It can be more of a regular. Experience. And for others, it can be a daily guide. in, in the Bible in Matthew 2214, it says many are called, but few are chosen. But as Kenneth wop, Nick, a teacher of the course of miracle says, quote, All are called yet few choose to listen and quote. Now I recognize that sin, guilt and punishment. Our concepts that are foundational in the world, and we're not going to get around that. And certainly many have experienced, truly unjust acts that take a tremendous emotional toll. And again, I'm not minimizing this at all. But ultimately true self-awareness is recognizing the spirit within, and this can only be accomplished by recognize the spirit within others. All others. Uh, whether they see it or not, no matter the deed, no matter how bad the same spirit is within us, all. And to recognize it in ourselves, we must see it in the other. And again, one final time, I'm not minimizing. The people should be held accountable for their actions. They should be. They need to be for society to function. Society needs its laws, both civil and criminal to function properly. But Seeing and recognizing that the other is an eye and it's not just, you are the. Or an eye. Yeah. Um, is very important and this is more than just recognition of the other. It's more than just saying, I see you. It is recognition in the other of what is in ourselves. It's also. What it allows us to transcend our own finiteness and recognize the infinite spirit within. So. Is there a way out of this mess, even if you recognize all this. Well, I believe that what has to take place as a separation of what we recognize is one's inner soul there, conscience within, and to separate that from one's actions and beliefs. Is this possible? Yeah, I think so now there are different levels of this and they require different mindsets for each of them. A small level. You have things like what's going on with cancel culture, where one misunderstood tweet or comment can be taken wrong. And the offending person is fired or their speech is canceled. There's a demonstration and so forth. There's some really horrendous examples of this. These situations are usually not criminal or civil crimes. And, often when this occurs, the past history of a person is not considering or what their mindset was at the time of writing it. It's just the words that are judged and it's up to the judge or to perceive what those words mean. Nan, of course you can move up the scale to insults crimes. And, bad crimes crimes against humanity and ultimately to horrors like the Holocaust. Now, this brings up an interesting point. It's lovely as Dziedzic wrote. And he's claims to be paraphrasing Hagle here that quote hatred resides in the gaze, which recognizes hatred everywhere in quote. Although we does not state the specific reference that he's, that he's, paraphrasing. Apparently. He is referring to the beautiful soul. in the conscience section of the phenomenology of spirit. And he may be paraphrasing, contemporary philosopher, Timothy Merton here. In a SDN, environmental ism. Merton references. Hegel's beautiful soul concept and contends. Let me read it. Quote. It's the gaze that constitutes the world is the thing over yonder. Is evil as such. The evil of the beautiful souls. Gays is only evil when one remains at a remove from what one perceives as evil out in the world. So long as it remains a distant gaze, evil can flourish in the world. How do we truly exit from the beautiful soul by taking responsibility for our attitude, for our gaze and quote. And Martins claims that he gets, he gets this from Hagle. Now. Following on this point, Zack. Points out that the accuser must confess and renounce their own hatred. And often in some instances there's more hatred in the accuser than in the condemned act itself. I mentioned Kenneth Watnick before. And I covered this story of his in a previous episode, but let me relate it again. He said at one of the seminars that I attended when he was riding on one of the freedom rider buses back in the 1960s in the United States, Where many northerners would go down to the deep south on buses to advocate for voter rights for blacks. And he said, There was probably more hatred. Um, among those on the bus. Then there were in the bigots that they were trying to change. Now, of course these freedom marches were good things and they did result in substantial change. But you get the point about hatred also being in the gays. But she's yak. Also asked in the article, whether there are limits to such forgiveness. And that is the key question we are addressing. He brings up Hitler. He states. Can we record electively? Forgive Hitler. And at the answer is no, is this because Hitler cannot be forgiven or because we ourselves are not yet at a high enough level of ethical reflection to do so. The only way to do so, which avoids regressing to the position of a beautiful soul who passes judgment from a position of disinterested separatism is to endorse the second option. That our castigation of Hitler is evil. Must be a reflexive determination of the evil, the persistent ourselves. That is a chose the non-reflective state of the position from which we pass judgments and quote. Now even when adopting Haydel's approach. This does not mean as she's estates. You were not forgiven. You're no longer, really bad and quote. The answer I believe is to realize that the Holocaust was a human problem. And yes, the capacity to commit such a horror did exist in the humans that participated in that act. It exists in humanity. But the difference to me is seeing it as a human problem, not a German problem and not a Nazi problem. And not a problem that does not touch me the beautiful soul be going because only others you over there over yonder. Do this. Now the ego is very good at playing the innocent victim card game. And of course in miracles has a wonderful passage that addresses this point. Let me read it. Quote. Uh, concept of the self is made by you. It bears no likeness to yourself at all. It is an idol made to take the place of your reality is son of God. The concept of the self, the world would teach is not the thing that it appears to be for it as a main to serve two purposes. But one, which the mind can recognize the first presence, the face of innocence, the aspect acted on. It is this face that smiles and charms, and even seems to love it searches for companion. Then it looks at times with pity on the suffering and sometimes. Sometimes offers solace. It believes that it is good, even within an evil world. This aspect can grow angry for the world is wicked and unable to provide the love and shelter innocence deserves. And so this face is often wet with tears at the injustices, the world, according to those who would be generous and good. The suspect never makes the first attack, but every day, a hundred little things make small assaults upon its innocence. Provoking it to irritation and last to open insults and abuse. The face of innocence, the concept of the self. So probably wears can tolerate attack and self-defense for it is not for, is it not a well-known fact? The world deals harshly with defense love innocence. No one who makes a picture of himself amidst his face for he has need of it. The other side. He does not want to see. Beneath the face of innocence. There is. Uh, terrible displacement and the fear so devastating that the face was smiles above. It must forever look away. Lester perceive the treachery at Heights. So as you look at me, you stand condemned because of what I am and some quote. On this conception of the self, the world smiles with approval for a guarantees, the pathways of the world are kept safe. Here is the central lesson that ensures your brother is condemned eternally. For what you are, has now become his sin for this is no. For for this is no forgiveness possible, no longer. Does it matter what he does for your accusing finger points to him on Waverly? And deadly and the same, it points to you as well, but this has kept still deeper in the myths below the face of innocence. And in these shrouded vaults are all his sins and years preserved and kept in darkness where they cannot be perceived as areas, which the light would surely show and quote. Well, that's a pretty powerful statement and you can see the similarity there between that and what Haydel's talking about with this beautiful soul. Which isn't the way to talk about the, the face of innocence. The answer I believe is that these problems, these sins are human problems. They are errors. We as humans share. And by accepting this, we also accept the other side of the coin, our own shared freedom as human beings. The spiritual part. Of humankind that transcends finiteness. It is not me and you, but us. United in an eye United and freedom. United and selfhood United and spirit. United together to make the world better. Our problems do not just belong to the other, but to humanity as a whole. The Nazi regime that instituted the Holocaust was defeated. Many gave their lives for this to be accomplished. Hey go rightfully. called history of slaughter bench. And the advanced of spirit in the world is by no means a cakewalk. But a keen notion. In understanding. Ourselves is understanding our underlying connection to spirit, something we all share. And to use this connection to motivate us to do good deeds and improvements, even on a small scale in an individual life. So. We've covered a lot here. Some heavy topics to summarize. We live in increasingly fractious times. And this is not just nation versus nation. But. But within nations as well. While we almost fight for what we believe is right. We need also in the same breath to recognize our common bond. If humanity. Just as political parties may argue on how best to move the country forward. They can not just abandon the country wholesale to make this happen. As Lincoln famously said, paraphrasing Jesus' A house divided against itself cannot stand. Humanity divided against itself cannot stand. So that's a wrap for this episode. Thanks so much for listening. Once again, I really do appreciate it. I I'm glad that more and more of you are, are, Checking out the podcast, Facebook page. where I will be posting specific references for this episode. And I'm now trying to comment there almost daily. So be sure to like that page and follow it to stay updated and just on just what's going on. And also please tell your like-minded friends about the cutting of guys podcast. If you think they would enjoy it and benefit from it. Please share my posts on your own Facebook page or where on social media. Um, I would love that. You can also follow me on Twitter at cunning of Geist. And I've recently set up an Instagram account. And, but I've not really posted anything yet. There it's, stay tuned on that. It's not really. Uh, philosophically inclined type of social media. It's more picture oriented, but if I find some interesting pictures out, That relate to Hagle and stuff. We talked about here, young. Uh, I'll um, McLuhan. I'll certainly post them there So you may want to check that as well. You can follow me there as well. So in closing, let me say as always. This is Gregory Nowak. This is the cunning of Geist. See you next time.