The Hegelian
dialectic of ideal spirit that animates the rational universe was a systematic
attempt to eclipse Kant’s transcendental mysticism, and therefore a much purer
example of Enlightenment thinking. The Enlightenment will eclipse all mysticism
because it does not recognize the Earth as a power in the cosmos.
Only the sun
(order) has power, and so there is no sublime symmetry (Artemis and Apollo), no
dark decadence of blood and bow, no figuration of planets and stars. In a word,
no physical universe that we see from the streams and fields of yore.
Hegel, in that
sense, is practically the philosophical equivalent of Newton, whose perspective
universe of light (C5) becomes more immaterial as time goes by. “They”
will seek to convince us we live in a material universe even though it becomes
clearer we are only living in a convincing routine.
Newtonian
physics is bound to be convincing since reflections and refractions of light
inhabit a perspective universe that is very convincing. It resembles the
sorcerous mirrors of Kharam Akkad from Conan #20 (Hyborian Bridge 20)
The perspective
universe of reflecting and refracting light is a sorcerous one that convinces
the acolyte. The systematizers – most notably Hegel – exist in the immaterial
world (of the head) behind the mirrors. In other words, once the Newtonian
world of mirrors exists, it serves to imprison the mind of Man in
logic-chopping delusion.
The delusion is
that the universe is rational (sun, perspective) as opposed to predatory and
bloody, rebirth following decay in an inarticulate cycle of Dionysian gaiety
(Greek drama, prev.) From opposites spring strength. We who live in a world of
words find it hard to imagine the poetic fancies that emanate from a
low-hanging moon over crumbling ruins. The will to dance and to chant
melancholy refrains emanates from the inarticulate power we see expressed.
Such opposites
cannot survive the logic-chopping mirrors of Kharam Akkad since they emanate
from the physical universe (of sun, moon, earth, stars, planets). This is
somewhat similar to Madame Blavatsky’s Theosophy where the psyche emanates from
the planets.
The bizarre
state of affairs is that only those things that exist behind the mirrors are
deemed real, since they are so convincing! The immaterial, electromagnetic
world is deemed material, and run by acolytes (politicians) of the immaterial
head.
Kharam Akkad’s
voiceover speaks for all the acolytes. He says a mirror is truth when it is
simply a convincing lie. Acolytes always confuse what is convincing for the
physical truth. If Kharam Akkad’s mirrors penetrate the flesh with X-rays,
there are those who would say that is truth. No, it’s a convincing lie; what
you are seeing is the X-ray which deflects off the bone to give an accurate
image.
Many accurate
things are lies (Katie Bouman’s black hole Hyborian Bridge 56) because
they exist inside a lens. In fact, the best lies are the most
accurate! DNA fingerprinting is accurate in a world of scripted routine. The
future of lies is robotic and not natural; to do with scripted routines (DNA,
algorithms) and not action. Head and not body.
Conan’s actions
shatter the death’s head mirror; and why should a mirror reflect death? Because
it is not physical reality; it cannot be reborn from the fragments of decay. A
universe of mirrors is living death, and this is what Conan beholds in the vast
chamber “which folds reality back upon itself”. For the Tarim, as we know, is
not a living man.
I know this can
sound odd to you as dentists use X-rays routinely. Yes, but a dentist isn’t a
universe! The universe is blood and decay and rebirth – the tooth itself, not
the X-ray that detects it. Don’t confuse the two. One is a convincing lie
(electromagnetism); the other is physical truth (tooth).
So, am I saying
all photography and films are lies? No, I’m talking about accurate imaging
only, like Katie Bouman’s black hole which is a very accurate and completely
delusional misapprehension of fact. Films are products of the imaginative
psyche, a dream landscape. Photography, well, could be getting a bit clinical I
guess.
The imagination
is needed to perceive something as real in the universe, or we are just robots.
This goes back to Madame Blavatsky and the emanance of the psyche, the planets.
Only the physical universe is real; everything else is a convincing illusion.
Sorcerers’ acolytes (including dentists!) use these illusions because they are
very accurate. That doesn’t make them real, it makes them useful.
If the universe
were just accurate we would be robots, so this goes back to Bruce Lee. The
other side of reality is flow, the primal rhythm that emanates. Combining the
two expresses the fight, the fury (“natural unnatural”). It’s because our
universe is convincingly accurate that it’s an illusion, an illusion that has
no natural flow.
Because
something is convincing, Enlightenment thinkers – and above all Hegel –
systematized a rational universe (of perspective, or basically light). It took
the “dark” philosophers – Schopenhauer and the ones who followed – to throw
aside all the systematizers and just come up with the irrational will, being,
power.
The question is,
where do these come from? A good guess is they come from the physical universe
that was abandoned by the Enlightenment, the stars and planets of the sky.
Bruce Lee, as you know, hated all systematizers, and it’s true the philosophy
of Gung Fu is very figurative (animal shapes, postures). Jeet Kune Do harks
back to Tao and the chaotic expression of the Chinese dragon.
This expression
is the power (ontology) of the physical universe which the Enlightenment
abandoned. The logic-chopping Enlightenment philosophers cannot be said to live
in a physical universe, and it’s not till Schopenhauer that western thought
starts to match much more closely with the ancient Eastern truths of power and
simplicity, grace and flow.
A lot of this is
encapsulated in Jeet Kune Do, which to Lee was an attempt to do without all
systems. In a way it’s quite modern since the body is fuelled and kept flexible
by stress training. The aim of a fight is to flow and not be restricted by set
moves.
It’s very clear
from various interviews, though, that these moves are ingrained by training.
The set moves are the robotic side to the training; the flow is the natural
side. The two come together in the fight (action).
A fight is
expression and, to Lee, that is reality. That idea is close to
post-Schopenhauer philosophy, as well as close to ancient Chinese. The fight
explodes all formulations and systems via the action.
Expression is
the inarticulate universe that has poetic grace. So, this is really back to
Howard and the explosive poetry of action. Poetry is the ability to give words
to inarticulate things, to gloom and gaiety in a world of grimness and charm.
It’s not far
from fairy tale, something that Clair Noto added to the Hyborian mythos (see
“Red Lace”). In her version, the Hyborian story is expressed through body of
Man, animal and plant, blood and desire.