hatzel
29th September 2010, 23:31
I was tempted to post this one up in the OI section, as they're the words of a rabbi, Rav Yehuda Ashlag, and constitute religious teaching, but as the rabbi in question considered himself an 'altruistic communist', and the words themselves seem removed enough from religion to have universal appeal, I thought I'd might as well throw them out here. So here goes:
The duration of every political phase is just as long as it takes to unveil its shortcomings and evil. While discovering its defects, it makes way for a new phase, liberated from these failings. Thus, these impairments that appear in a situation and destroy it are the very forces of human evolution, as they raise humanity to a more corrected state. There is a positive force, meaning constructive, and a negative force, meaning negative and destructive. They create and complement the entire reality in general and particular through their harsh and perpetual war with one another. As we have said above, the negative force appears at the end of every political phase, elevating it to a better state, and thus the phases follow one another until they reach their ultimate perfection (...) In addition, being a social creature, the individual development is not enough. Rather, one’s ultimate perfection depends on the development of all the members of society.
I guess most will agree with at least the last line (except for maybe some particularly individualistic types, who knows...), but what of the rest? This whole constructive vs. destructive idea is typical Kabbalah, I admit, but how far do we agree with this sentiment? How much importance should we place on the negative aspects of ideologies, not just of opposing ones, but also of elements of our own movement, in order to drive for perfection? That is to say, it's all too easy for some of us (as can be seen by looking through the forum) to gloss over the negative aspects of our respective socialist, communist or anarchist movements, or the destructive actions undertaken in their name throughout history. Does this, in fact, inhibit our progress, and is it imperative to analyse the negative aspects of the wider movement to ensure that these mistakes aren't made again, and the movement progresses, rather than stagnates? Because I feel that the question 'is it important to take advantage of the negative elements of the current political phase to further our movement?' will come back with a resounding yes, so it's hardly worth asking...
The duration of every political phase is just as long as it takes to unveil its shortcomings and evil. While discovering its defects, it makes way for a new phase, liberated from these failings. Thus, these impairments that appear in a situation and destroy it are the very forces of human evolution, as they raise humanity to a more corrected state. There is a positive force, meaning constructive, and a negative force, meaning negative and destructive. They create and complement the entire reality in general and particular through their harsh and perpetual war with one another. As we have said above, the negative force appears at the end of every political phase, elevating it to a better state, and thus the phases follow one another until they reach their ultimate perfection (...) In addition, being a social creature, the individual development is not enough. Rather, one’s ultimate perfection depends on the development of all the members of society.
I guess most will agree with at least the last line (except for maybe some particularly individualistic types, who knows...), but what of the rest? This whole constructive vs. destructive idea is typical Kabbalah, I admit, but how far do we agree with this sentiment? How much importance should we place on the negative aspects of ideologies, not just of opposing ones, but also of elements of our own movement, in order to drive for perfection? That is to say, it's all too easy for some of us (as can be seen by looking through the forum) to gloss over the negative aspects of our respective socialist, communist or anarchist movements, or the destructive actions undertaken in their name throughout history. Does this, in fact, inhibit our progress, and is it imperative to analyse the negative aspects of the wider movement to ensure that these mistakes aren't made again, and the movement progresses, rather than stagnates? Because I feel that the question 'is it important to take advantage of the negative elements of the current political phase to further our movement?' will come back with a resounding yes, so it's hardly worth asking...