The Myth of Individualism

there's something strange brewing in the air it's as if the world had collectively experienced a bad trip and we are now in the process of trying our best to pretend it never happened presently we stare into an uneasy future of ecological chaos Rising xenophobia and economic uncertainty the precariousness of our reality was briefly revealed and despite this we nonetheless hope that we can just go back to business as usual but the cat's out of the bag What was seen cannot be unseen a collective humility has settled on the many who with great conviction once operated as isolated creatures and atomized beings For Better or Worse we now know that our lives are intimately entangled with the sloppy stupid and Strangely Beautiful presence of others of course not all of us have conceited those against vaccination for example loudly protest against it on the basis of vaccines being an attack on their personal freedom of choice they argue that it is a violent intrusion against their bodies bodies that they have outright ownership over however as xiic cynically responds as if our body is ever really just ours vaccinated or not we are already controlled red and manipulated in ways we are unaware of despite J's language it should be noted that this assertion extends Beyond conspiratorial assumptions he is simply pointing towards a truth shared by neuroscientists Buddhist monks and shroom loving hippies everything is connected the existence of a distinct entity the isolated self is an illusion and on a certain level of analysis to claim ownership over your identity is absurd I am you and you are me and we are everything that has been and will be this is best described under the monk tikat Han's notion of interbeing Han believes that we are entirely composed of many elements he calls nonme elements these elements of your father your mother your ancestors the Stars the moon the mountains and the animals come together to briefly form you you are simply a continuation of these elements everything is in you so you can talk to them and you know that you are the world you are the cosmos additionally interbeing avoids the tired calls of humanism that propose that there is a common human nature by suggesting that more importantly there is a common nature that we are a part of we are a continuation of the natural world composed of those same elements present at the very beginning of the universe we are not just related to each other but also to the Rocks the bumblebees and even horse manure as an eternal stream of non-me elements we are never truly alone importantly interbeing is supported by interpersonal neurobiology the study of how the brain body and mind are developed in the context of relationships both with others and the environment specifically interpersonal neurobiology investigates phenomena such as mirror neurons that fire both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another the existence of neurons explain the rapid development of kids as these neurons fire when a child observes the intentional action of someone else and also when they perform the action they also fire When You observe what someone else is feeling something that we tend to call empathy this additionally explains the existence of emotional contagion when our moods are influenced by the moods of others overall interpersonal neurobiology highlights the influence of others on our brains and the shared mind that we all engage [Music] in Daniel seagull the main thinker behind interpersonal neurobiology sees the fruitfulness of United Neuroscience with the Buddhist principles of interbeing I believe and cannot find any science to disprove that an important aspect of the mind can be defined as an embodied and relational emergent self-organizing process that regulates the flow of energy and information both Within in us and between and Among Us the mind isn't insalled in your brain rather it's in those moments of exchange between Minds when the barriers of individualism break down where we become truly conscious seagull goes on to argue that once we realize that the true definition of the self is a collective we a certain hope for the planet begins to emerge we begin to realize this is our Collective home there is a real hope to turn things around of course unlike monks and neuroscientists most of us don't walk around aware of the interdependence of everything but Bruno lur does Point towards the lockdowns as making us more conscious of our existence as an interconnected Community sharing the same Planet as he argues before the pandemic we were fairly unaware of the whole host of jobs that allowed for our survival catering jobs deliverers nurses caretakers a whole drove of people as poorly paid as they were poorly viewed now thanks to the evident breaking down of Supply chains labor strikes service closures and the piling of bodies we are intimately aware of the importance of these essential Services carrying out the simplest course of action like feeding yourself required the support of quite a few agents to ensure continuity of the most ordinary life we became a captive audience to a truth we wish to have forgotten that in spite of our personalized joury Journeys towards self-actualization we nonetheless rely largely on others for our continued survival in fact lur argues that anyone who wants to claim ownership over some sort of personal identity should be laughed at here he makes the distinction between two ecological groups autot trops and heterotrophs autot trops are those amazing organisms that do in fact feed themselves by taking up all they need to live on fungi and trees don't really rely on other terrestrial beings to continue their subsistence on the other hand heterotrophs that is all animals including humans depend on a sometimes overwhelming Phantom body of other terrestrials for their own existence for example we rely on the waste of the autor trops oxygen as well as the niche building and energy of other heterotrophs therefore it is only the autot trops and not for example the libertarian Texan that deserves the right to call the themselves an individual and atomized entity as lur writes if there is any race that cannot L claim to be made up of individuals delineated much like wire figures inside a secure border that is indeed the modern human in the end lur endorses the use of the term holian instead of organisms which means a collection of actors in the form of clouds with blurred Contours and durable membranes Hance capture the fact that even at our most selfish we still miscalculate how to pursue our interests the mistakes and accidents that stem from our Behavior unintentionally spill into the selfish strivings of others forming a cluster of engendering concerns even at our most selfish the individual struggles to truly exist well then why do we act as if this isn't the case instead we tend to behave as isolated units who don't owe anyone anything we have gradually eliminated in gendering concerns and with some genuine reason we greet ideas of Conformity and Community with suspicion why is this well most of us want to self-realize to be authentic we spend much of our time crafting ourselves as projects to be worked on hoping to uncover our true selves and maybe even experience self-actualization we value spontaneous emotion something that is apparently authentic and find ourselves skeptical of behaviors and opinions that have been formed in some way especially from outside influence we are deeply skeptical of Conformity and use terms such as sheep or NPC to degrade those who fail to be their own main character most of all we strive to become who we want to be of course to do this one must must be in isolation as we're told the potential imposition of others on one's life Journey would be an abject failure in being true to ourselves but how do you maintain isolation when so much of your survival evidently depends on others here money plays a crucial role in affording such isolation as buun chelh Han writes money by itself has an individualizing and isolating effect it increases my individual Freedom by liberating me from any personal bonds with others I can have someone else work for me by paying her and this avoids entering into a personal relationship I don't need to form a deep relationship with the Barista the farmer the banker instead thanks to my noise cancelling headphones I can make sure all of my basic needs are met without ever personally knowing these fellow terrestrials my self-indulgent yoga practice can continue because I can pay for food delivery my journey to be who I want to be is now left uninterrupted by human interaction and this is largely thanks to the exchange of money of course in this beautifully symbiotic relationship a capital and authenticity form a feedback loop it's very marketable to be unique and fully realized as an individual and so we exploit ourselves voluntarily in the belief that we are realizing ourselves this of course allows money to be accumulated and then recirculated as Han explains in the cult of authenticity the neoliberal regime appropriates the person himself and turns him into a highly efficient site of production the whole person is incorporated into the production process we make money to self-actualize and we self-actualize to make money our drive for authenticity as heroic individuals is very much tied up in our survival regrettably this whole compulsion to be individuals hasn't really made us any happier B chhan sees this excessive relation to the self with which is incapable of leaving the self behind as a wide reaching narcissism we withdraw into our little shells and the world disappears circling around ourselves a feeling of emptiness develops and we no longer feel at home we become depressed and this isn't just theoretical one 2021 metaanalysis found that across 14 different studies individualism was consistently associated with reduced life satisfaction and depression in young people globally individualism has increased over the last 50 years alongside depression these authors posit that in conclusion the modern social environment is more competitive inequitable and lonely this deterioration of social cohesion among modern industrialized populations may be a central component to Rising rates of depression overall in The Disappearance of rituals Han points to the obsessive compulsion to produce oneself as leading towards a crisis of community and from this a depressed and lonely world this is seen in the end of ritual participation rituals he writes make us feel at home in the world they create resonance relationships vertically to the gods to space to time horizontally between peoples and social communities and diagonally with objects and things as he argues without resonance we are thrown back onto ourselves isolated increasing narcissism works against the experience of res social media Echo Chambers for example only lead to self- resonation where we solely hear our own voices and opinions this only strengthens The Echoes of the self rituals on the other hand invite the foreign and that which is different thereby offering a stable space for creativity and revolutionary potential to flourish I'm sure the mention of revolution has led to a few ey roles and by now I'm sure you can tell that the subject of interconnectedness and my criticism of capitalism leans in a specific political Direction This is perhaps best summed up by Terry Eagleton distinction between socialism and capitalism both systems taken at their most utopian focus on human flourishing as an end goal capitalism sees competition the pursuit of everyone's self-interest as the tool to achieve this goal it is through opposition to each other where we will flourish socialism on the other hand claims that human flourishing will come not in opposition to each other but rather through through each other it is through cooperation and sharing a common interest that we create a better world now has the necessary illusion of the self and The Disappearance of rituals pav the way for scientific innovation greater material wealth and knowledge undoubtedly yes but I would also argue that this emphasis on solitary self-realization has outworn its welcome we are more depressed we are more lonely we Face a revolving door of potential Global catastrophes and as jijik writes our Multicultural globalized societies are societies whose spirit is tired unable to engage in a large scale passionate project which may demand from us that we even risk Our Lives it's a spiritual malaise a crisis of meaning whatever you'd like to call it one way of capturing this growing despair is in terms of Mark Fischer's hauntology and capitalist realism Fischer argued that the Future Has effectively been cancelled and we find ourselves no longer capable of imagining new Futures this is evident in capitalist realism where we can no longer imagine any alternatives to our current economic system it's simply impossible to imagine a future without capitalism in some form and Fischer was markedly aware of the sorts of isolation that capitalism encouraged the installation of capitalist realism was by no means a simple restoration of an Old State of Affairs the mandatory individualism imposed by neoliberalism M was a new form of individualism yes fiser was kind of a bummer his work is highly cynical of the future ahead however Fischer did hold an idea of the future that could counter this mandatory individualism he believed that our inability to imagine new Futures forces us to look back in history to past ideas of what the future could be revolution then means not to generate new utopian Visions but instead to forget the worlds that were previously imagined for Fisher the most worthy adversary to our present system is in the Psychedelic movement of the 60s and' 7s in reflecting on psychedelia Fischer notes its emphasis on interconnection and Community it feels like an actual social space one you can imagine really existing you are as likely to come upon a crank or a huster as a poet or musician here and who knows if today's crank might turn out to be tomorrow's geni IUS it is also an egalitarian and Democratic space and a certain affect Prides over everything there is multiplicity but little sign of resentment or malice it is a space for Fellowship for meeting and talking as much for having your mind blown from this Fischer developed a vision of the future he provocatively named acid communism this Vision which Blended class Consciousness feminism and psychedelic thought under a communist project was to fun function in opposition to neoliberal individualism acid communism promotes a breakdown of borders and identity and a greater awareness for just how connected we are and importantly it appears very different from what Fischer called the harsh leninist super ego the common communist idea of individuals single-mindedly dedicated to the Revolution and the use of violence and suppression to achieve said revolution in contrast to the dreary aesthetic of past regimes fer put forth a vision that celebrated interconnection and coming together hence he emphasizes the sort of Love found through psychoactive substances rather than anger as a motivating force in the revolution evidently the use of psilocybin has been linked to heightened empathy and creativity as well as the sort of felt connection with nature emphasized in interbeing this suggests that Collective usage May promote a greater concern for nature as well as one's relationships with others and potentially even the creative thinking that could surpass capitalist realism of course the promises of the 60s did not come to pass which fiser largely blames on insufficient material conditions the heavy regulation of these substances has also played a role this is captured in the words of Terrence McKenna psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third story window psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behavior and information processing they open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong Fisher believes that we now have better material conditions than the' 60s but also lack the sort of emotional and existential conditions to bring about this possible future the rigid atomization of Our Lives has only left us dejected from forming any sort of movement the question remains as to whether such a vision of acid communism is even possible or if we have simply given up on getting together if in the words of juvenile we have lost the reason to live for the sake of staying alive of course this video is just a roundabout way of saying that love will save us which isn't a very revolutionary or unique statement but there's got to be some level of Truth in its Simplicity and Timeless appeal and evidently healing the world through love holds certain political implications it's a recognition of interconnectedness and a rejection of atomization it's a return to rituals over our personal attempts at self-realization and it's a Revival of the optimism of 60 psychedelia over the pessimism of capitalist realism yes it holds a socialist bias but importantly Fischer never imagines a specific Utopia he does not claim that such a Revolution Will manifest in anything in particular what he is concerned with is manifesting a certain optimism and that's why I obviously can't claim the revolution will look like this or like that but it's always good to have an idea of where we could shoot for there is however perhaps one clear objective to come out of this thesis to recognize interbeing is to be aware of our entangled existence of not simply living in the world but rather of being at home in a shared world for whatever reason most of our history has involved trying to escape this fact through visions of the after life and Utopias we have consistently sought salvation beyond the Earth nowadays some of us use their vast wealth in an attempt to fully escape the dreaded connection with others they wish to escape to other planets or plunge themselves into virtual reality they wish to be anywhere but here and it is this observation that concerns Bruno lur after the lockdown it is apparent that our common enemy lies in those who see themselves to detached from the rest of us wretched and entangled creatures locked down of the World Unite you have the same enemies the people who'd like to escape to another planet

Channel: Sisyphus 55

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Keywords: sisyphus55, sisyphus, existentialism, psychology, politics, self-help, buddhism, mindfulness, vaush, fdsignifier, hasan, jordan peterson, zizek, camus, existential, philosophy, pursuit of wonder, sisyphus 55, nihilism, pessimism, buddha, love, relationships, dating, kanye, zen, absurdism, neuroscience, olisunvia, olivia sun, elliot sang, contrapoints, self-improvement, motivation, depression, existential crisis, online left, breadtube, manosphere, happiness, meaning of life, alan watts, jung, carl jung, sartre, marx

Id: GyMcgK64sMY

Length: 20min 43sec (1243 seconds)

Published: Wed May 01 2024