A Light in the Darkage

I will return to the subject of women and desire, and give you feedback on Samanthas's views on this epic question, but for now wish to re-introduce you to the darkage blog, which is my favourite blog in terms of intellectual, philosophical and political content. This is the opening paragraph of longswords most recent entry, "Consuming the Future".

"We are already history's past men and women. The sooner we wake up to this fact, the less trouble we will make for the world, for those generations who must succeed us, and for the coming new era. The hollow conceit and vanity of our belief that we have arrived at "the end of history", at the final destination and accomplishment of all historical process -- that precisely we represent the future, and are the last word of the pronounced syllables of time; that we regard ourselves as the end goal of all social evolution, and even of the evolution of consciousness itself -- all this is so much fatal delusion, vain self-regard, self-flattery, self-deception, chauvinism and narcissism. We have become, rather, parasites on the earth and we feed upon even all future generations and their inheritance. Our conceit is so unlimited, our cupidity and avarice so boundless it seems, that we even presume to consume the future as if it were our preserve, to consume value which has not yet even been realised, as if the future also belonged to us and our appetites. Through various inventive financial instruments of credit and debit, we devastate and lay waste a future world and its values which have not been created. And we even seek to pre-empt and prevent from becoming effectual and real at all competing futures and alternative possibilities for the sake of our appetites and our self-interest. We have become truly disgusting."

What I like most about longsword's site is that he doesn't flinch at all from the degree to which things are now extremely dire for human civilization while remaining nonetheless, ultimately, an optimist who can see purpose and meaning in history and humanity and offer an original diagnosis of our ills. As to what can be concretely done to reverse our decline, he is not that forthcoming, but generally locates the fault, as do I, in a defect in consciousness and awareness related to our reductive 'narrow visioned' obsessions, inherited from modern science, which issue so universally in the narcissism and self-insulation we see raging everywhere around us.

Anyway, read him for yourself, but let it not be said that there are none who hold a torch to the despair of our times and spread light in the darkness.

His prose is almost unremittingly serious but in a style that is very cogent and easy to read. I believe he is, like Bertrand Russell for example, a master at explaining what otherwise might seem obscure or inaccessibly 'deep' ideas. I'm not sure if he would be happy to see himself as a populariser of profound thought. But he certainly doesn't inhabit an ivory tower. His lack of jargon, his rejection of that alienating, convoluted, lifeless prose style so common amongst academics, is very refreshing to me.

He can also be funny and kind, which are always crucial ingredients in a thinker, I find.