Author: Chris Krause

Debunking superstition

He will surely honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. Whatever he promises he will fulfill. He does not care his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another’s troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, nor shamelessly extol his own virtues.

When you walk through a forest let no trace of your passing be left behind. This is how we should attend to all actions, judgments and decisions. Return the world just as you found it and you will encounter no discomfort. Treat everything as if it had been loaned to you by a long gone and important relative, as if it were precious, to be safeguarded against the human stain. Pissing, shitting, fucking, accusing, crying, whining, gasping, stealing, lying, envying, corrupting, destroying – leave those things from the path, take nothing that is not yours. Mark nothing external to you.

130: Try and control the world external to your mind and meet constant agony. Expect nothing of no one but yourself and expect nothing but contentment. The currency of the world is falsehood, and if you expect your fellow man to follow their words with actions, you are mistaken. Make expectations of nothing. Structure your thoughts so that nothing will shock you. Only the infant mind is manipulated as a puppet by the capricious masses. How can you so readily and so swiftly surrender your faculties to anger and accusation? Temper your passions so that you can always rely on your convictions to be true, for the sake of being true, with no pandering for reward or recognition. For everything that troubles you, detach the need for that in your life, and you will know no pain. You need nothing but what you define as needing.

Everything that is not within you cannot be in your control. How foolish we are to be disturbed when something material is destroyed, as if it were to last forever? You are deceiving yourself in desiring to control these things, these impermanent, momentary forms that will sooner than later rejoin the world as dust. Detach yourself from the desire and in doing so detach yourself from the grief of a mind dependent on structuring an external flux. Let nothing disturb you, let nothing shock you. Did you really expect anything else?

Don’t have expectations of anyone but yourself and you won’t be disturbed when reckless, uncharitable, vile people do reckless, uncharitable and vile things. Be strict with yourself and tolerant of others. Trying to control anything but your own judgments, actions and decisions will only lead you to pain; you are powerless to truly manipulate the outside world. If you expect people to act a certain way, or to have any logic or reasoning for their actions, they will only disappoint you. Most people don’t think through their actions properly and as a consequence often make reckless, (seemingly) random, deceptive or destructive actions. You can’t blame them for this, or expect anything else, just work on tempering your own judgments, actions and decisions, and leave everything else up to fate, always being cheerful of character, blaming no one.

You don’t need to take any philosophy classes to study philosophy. Philosophy is the ‘quest for honesty’, the discipline of fanatical and heretical truth seeking. Philosophy is used to make things bare, to remove the ‘legend that encrusts them’ and see how pointless many conventions are so that we can better determine our actions and avoid self-deception. Philosophy is the training of the mind to pierce falsehoods and illuminate fractured foundations. Action is the root, not books, nor theorizing. Although some words might catalyze our actions, they are not the end, but a means.

Hammers are created to drive nails, plants are born to sustain animals, animals are born to sustain humans, humans are born to foster reason and virtue.

When you call someone ‘untrustworthy’ or ‘ungrateful,’ turn the reproach on yourself. It was you who did wrong. By assuming that someone with those traits deserved your trust.

Originally posted on a forum I moderate (click for link):

DARE was reckless and poorly envisioned: arbitrarily telling people that drug use is bad because its against the law is no way to foster sobriety in a culture.

Instead of even bringing up the topic of drugs we should be integrating critical thinking, discussion, rhetoric and philosophy classes beginning in elementary school that teach us to be rational, clear-headed and sober thinkers, so that hopefully in the end we will decide on our own not to use drugs.

As everything in this diseased society (click for link), we fail to ever address the root of the problem and instead attend to the immediate effect that befalls it. People are using drugs, so we must stop them from using drugs. Instead of trying to punish people illegally for a right which should be constitutionally protected – that is – freedom of personal choice and morality, we should be attacking the root of the problem which is usually a lack of self-esteem, coping skills, and a critical thought process.

In a more sane time education’s focus would not be primarily on memorizing trivial minutiae: dates, what the 22nd president’s dogs name was, and other shit that has nothing to do with reality, but instead cultivating empowered thinkers; people with the ability to mentally operate independent of Bill O’Reily’s blathering sophistry. Our education fails again and again to create good, skeptical, rational thinkers in exchange for spelling bee champions, as if that plaque won makes you a good citizen. The fatal problem with our ‘educational’ system is that three most important things in an education are missing. All education must be built upon a foundation of rhetoric, logic and grammar.

These fundamental tools are crucial for properly structuring thoughts, thinking critically, rationally and logically. The powers that be take these tools away from the masses so that they cannot defend themselves, remain bovine and oblivious to deceptions. How is one supposed to encounter ideas in a systematic fashion if he lacks the training in which to consider them? Do we ever stop to consider why we take the actions we do, question why we buy the useless junk that we allow to define our worth? To learn how to examine every cause, to penetrate every layer of gilding, to lay the issue bare and see how pointless it is, that is the goal of a true education.

We should be striving for excellence in all things, children who may conquer the world through sheer will, not mediocrity in alleyways smoking dope. How is this accomplished? Inspire them, push them, drive them toward heroic victory, the earlier the better. Instill in children the will to become emperors, not the will to mop up vommit at McDonalds.

I had a teacher in 6th grade who would always pass me on the way to school in his car. He could have picked me up, given me a ride but he didn’t. Instead he gave a little wink of confidence or a wave that said ‘push on.’ He would never hold my hand through anything but always instilled in you the right sort of push that put you on your way toward victory. This is what education should achieve. Give you that inspiring push, with dramatic examples of character and virtue, but then have the restraint to see you accomplish it on your own.

The destructive nature of drug addiction will become clearly present to the critical thinker, and the addiction that so plagues every aspect of his society will evaporate.

“He only earns his freedom and his life who takes them everyday by storm”

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

126: Consider every matter as a tree. Do not concern yourself with the health of the individual leaves but rather the health and harmony of the overall organism. For leaves can rot to the earth and be replaced but once the trunk or roots have been neglected, the entire structure dies. So when we encounter problems don’t look to the immediate effect but rather the cause of it, otherwise we attempt to fix a broken pipe by mopping up the water it spews rather than sealing the offending rupture. We must transcend this fear of personal death (or suffering) so that we might ensure the life of the whole.

127: ‘You are wise! A philosopher! A genius!’

No. I am an imitator of greater men and reader of a few books not often read. I am Arrian, someone who scribes the sage wisdom of a colossus, of the sages. I have skin, blood, a beating heart, the need to shit, urges of the flesh; I am a talking monkey. And if I ever am so bold as to call myself a philosopher you should surly put me to death, for I am a failure who has forgotten his way and is no longer of any use. Do not listen to me for there are wiser men to consider.

Forced to scorch at the stake of humanity
Our heavy skulls and cumbersome bodies
fastened by straps of fear and mediocrity
Anchored and confused
Confused and naive
We bled upon the oak and iron and sang songs
of revolution and tyranny
The spitting cracks of ember
harmonized our singing voices
as the scent of servitude left our presence
and scaled through the syrupy air
of a new morning
Together forever
Married to illusion
Together forever
The end