S P I R I T U A L M A R X I
S M
By Adrian Chan-Wyles
PhD
All these consequences are contained in the definition that the worker
is related to the product of his labour as to an alien object. For on this premise it is clear that the more
the worker spends himself, the more powerful the alien objective world becomes
which he creates over-against himself, the poorer he himself – his inner world
– becomes, the less belongs to him as his own.
It is the same in religion. The
more man puts into God, the less he retains in himself. The worker puts his life into the object; but
now his life nolonger belongs to him but to the object. Hence, the greater this activity, the greater
the worker’s lack of objects. Whatever
the product of his labour is, he is not.
Therefore the greater this product, the less is he himself. The alienation of the worker in his product
means not only that his labour becomes an object, an external existence, but
that it exists outside him, independently, as something alien to him, and that
it becomes a power of its own confronting him; it means that the life which he
has conferred on the object confronts him as something hostile and alien.
(Karl Marx: Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 – Estranged Labour)
(Karl Marx: Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 – Estranged Labour)
Preamble
Karl Marx (1818-1883) formulated his critique of modern capitalist society by revealing that it is premised and sustained by an ‘inverted’ and therefore ‘illogical’ and ‘unscientific’ mind-set. This is an important observation, as it reveals that class privilege is premised not on the progressive thinking associated with the European Enlightenment, but rather on a devious and highly exploitative sleight of hand, whereby the ‘bourgeoisie’ (or ‘middle class’) retain power by ensuring that the majority of people in society – termed the ‘working class’ – are kept both psychologically and physically disempowered and in a state of arrested educational development. The workers are exploited whilst existing within a prison of ignorance, and are kept in this prison not only by the bourgeoisie, but also by the auspices of organised religions. Organised and established religions in the West (as it is important to note that Marx and Engels criticised primarily the Judeo-Christian tradition, whilst positively commenting, for instance, on early Buddhism), with Marx interpreting the theology of Christianity and Judaism as being the product of mistaken human perception. Marx went further by stating that the Judeo-Christian religion served as the basis upon which bourgeois society was built and sustained, because this type of religious teaching was premised upon exactly the same inversion of thought that sustains bourgeois privilege. Marx (following Feuerbach thinking) defined the Judeo-Christian religious mind-set as an inversion of thought, whereby religious adherents continuously passed on – from one generation to the next – the false notions that imagined subjective thoughts in the mind, automatically represented an objective reality in the environment. Thoughts generated in the mind through the functioning of the brain, are imagined by religionists as having their origination through the action of an imagined and external deity. The lack of logic in theistic religion is replaced by the necessity of unquestioning ‘faith’. Ordinary people (i.e. ‘the workers’) are encouraged by religion to unquestionably accept bourgeois and church domination as ‘god given’, and never strive to free or better themselves. This is because the power of cultural and political conservatism is the natural enemy of the workers, and the natural friend of the bourgeoisie. The psychology of conservatism locks the entire bourgeois social system together, and forms the stagnant psychological and physical waters within which the workers are made to swim throughout their lives. Marx’s theory of working class emancipation is not ‘religious’ in anyway, but it can be interpreted as ‘spiritual’, if by ‘spiritual’ it is meant ‘consciousness’ and ‘conscious emancipation’. Although Marx advocates the attainment of physical freedom for the workers through revolution on the physical plane, it is also very clear that this process cannot happen unless the workers themselves throw-off the false and inverted consciousness of bourgeois conditioning, and develop a true and non-inverted ‘class consciousness’. Therefore the theory of Marx involves the transformation of the human mind, which may be termed ‘spiritual’ in nature, and viewed as something similar to the teachings found within early Buddhism, and certain schools of Brahmanic thought. Whilst firmly rejecting theistic religion as ‘inverted thinking’, the theory of Marx can be logically understood as not only a path of physical revolution, but also (and perhaps first and foremost) a psychological path of permanent self-transformation, as it is only when a worker fully perceives and understands the cultural trap within which he or she exists, that radical and decisive action can be taken to change it. Although Marx advocated the freeing of the working class as a whole, it is logically obvious that this cannot be achieved unless the constituent members of this class are freed on an individual basis, as each worker is responsible for his or her own education. This is in fact irrespective of the homogenous nature of the working class itself, as it would be illogical to avoid the individual nature of class membership.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) formulated his critique of modern capitalist society by revealing that it is premised and sustained by an ‘inverted’ and therefore ‘illogical’ and ‘unscientific’ mind-set. This is an important observation, as it reveals that class privilege is premised not on the progressive thinking associated with the European Enlightenment, but rather on a devious and highly exploitative sleight of hand, whereby the ‘bourgeoisie’ (or ‘middle class’) retain power by ensuring that the majority of people in society – termed the ‘working class’ – are kept both psychologically and physically disempowered and in a state of arrested educational development. The workers are exploited whilst existing within a prison of ignorance, and are kept in this prison not only by the bourgeoisie, but also by the auspices of organised religions. Organised and established religions in the West (as it is important to note that Marx and Engels criticised primarily the Judeo-Christian tradition, whilst positively commenting, for instance, on early Buddhism), with Marx interpreting the theology of Christianity and Judaism as being the product of mistaken human perception. Marx went further by stating that the Judeo-Christian religion served as the basis upon which bourgeois society was built and sustained, because this type of religious teaching was premised upon exactly the same inversion of thought that sustains bourgeois privilege. Marx (following Feuerbach thinking) defined the Judeo-Christian religious mind-set as an inversion of thought, whereby religious adherents continuously passed on – from one generation to the next – the false notions that imagined subjective thoughts in the mind, automatically represented an objective reality in the environment. Thoughts generated in the mind through the functioning of the brain, are imagined by religionists as having their origination through the action of an imagined and external deity. The lack of logic in theistic religion is replaced by the necessity of unquestioning ‘faith’. Ordinary people (i.e. ‘the workers’) are encouraged by religion to unquestionably accept bourgeois and church domination as ‘god given’, and never strive to free or better themselves. This is because the power of cultural and political conservatism is the natural enemy of the workers, and the natural friend of the bourgeoisie. The psychology of conservatism locks the entire bourgeois social system together, and forms the stagnant psychological and physical waters within which the workers are made to swim throughout their lives. Marx’s theory of working class emancipation is not ‘religious’ in anyway, but it can be interpreted as ‘spiritual’, if by ‘spiritual’ it is meant ‘consciousness’ and ‘conscious emancipation’. Although Marx advocates the attainment of physical freedom for the workers through revolution on the physical plane, it is also very clear that this process cannot happen unless the workers themselves throw-off the false and inverted consciousness of bourgeois conditioning, and develop a true and non-inverted ‘class consciousness’. Therefore the theory of Marx involves the transformation of the human mind, which may be termed ‘spiritual’ in nature, and viewed as something similar to the teachings found within early Buddhism, and certain schools of Brahmanic thought. Whilst firmly rejecting theistic religion as ‘inverted thinking’, the theory of Marx can be logically understood as not only a path of physical revolution, but also (and perhaps first and foremost) a psychological path of permanent self-transformation, as it is only when a worker fully perceives and understands the cultural trap within which he or she exists, that radical and decisive action can be taken to change it. Although Marx advocated the freeing of the working class as a whole, it is logically obvious that this cannot be achieved unless the constituent members of this class are freed on an individual basis, as each worker is responsible for his or her own education. This is in fact irrespective of the homogenous nature of the working class itself, as it would be illogical to avoid the individual nature of class membership.
Abstract
The theory and philosophy of the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels does not necessarily oppose Judeo-Christian religion, but it does – through the use of logic – undermine the basis of the belief in a theistic entity that has not only created the universe and all life within it, but also continues to influence its direction of development, apparently through a set of fixed physical laws, the operation of which can be suspended at any moment, such as when a ‘miracle’ is believed to have happened. The Marxian approach to religion is not different to that found within modern science, which prefers to concentrate upon what can be certainly ‘known’ and avoiding as ‘error’ anything that cannot be definitely ascertained as ‘existing’. The point here is that religion as a concept cannot be weighed or measured, and if something lacks an obvious physicality, it cannot be said to truthfully exist. Of course, a concept with no physicality can be believed to exist, even if there is no evidence for its actual existence. Marx demonstrated, for instance, (and particularly in his The German Ideology), that a religion that is premised upon the worship of a god is nothing more than human beings mistaking thoughts in their heads for objects in the environments. God is an ‘idea’ within the mind, which is then endowed with all kinds of fancies and bizarre imaginations. This god-idea is also imbued with the benefit of having created everything in existence through a type of logic that only ‘he’ (and god is always a ‘he’) can understand. To question the existence of god is the highest of sins, and humanity, regardless of its circumstance and situation, must extol and venerate a priesthood – the members of which are considered to be closer to the god they worship – than the ordinary people who are subject to his strictures. Marx opposed a politicised church that through its theology, held working class people firmly in the exploitative grasp of the bourgeoisie. He observed that the church was a middle class entity which had upper class support, and that despite pretending to be ‘holy’, as an institution, it was just as corrupt and money-grabbing as any high street business, corporation, or institute, etc. Marx also understood that the oppressed often sought solace in the church as a means to run away from the practicalities of everyday life. As pious working class Christians worship at the altar and are asked to give what little money they have to the church, whilst their families starve, have inadequate clothing, housing, and access to healthcare - and that no matter how much or how often they pray, the despicable social conditions within which they have to exist, do not change one iota. A politicised church is a church that is simply a particular branch of the middle class which continuously functions as a representative of bourgeois sentiments, ideals, and expectations. A bourgeois church does not rely on the god it worships for existence, but rather upon the class privileges it enjoys. Marx pointed-out time and again, that the church only pretended to be ‘holy’ as a means to maintain and secure its place in society, and its domination over the working people. Marx did not necessarily condemn individuals who were holy despite the church they adhered to, but rather focused his assessment solely upon the church itself, as it is this church that holds all the political and social power in the land. Marx obviously disagreed with theology because he viewed it as predicated upon inverted thinking, and through his insight and observation, he sought to set humanity free from this psychological and physical prison by demonstrating how a non-inverted mind could be attained and put to good use. This is the transcending of ‘alienation’, which is a concept Marx defined as the quintessential principle of life as lived within capitalist society. If the concept of the ‘holy’ is to bring psychological and psychical ‘wholeness’ to an individual, and in so doing transcend any and all alienating factors within society, then it is not contemporary religion (which enshrines class distinction, discrimination, and separation amongst the masses), but it is the work of Karl Marx that fulfils this function. As Marx advocates the transformation of consciousness and understanding as a prerequisite for revolutionary change in the outer world, and as Marx (and Engels) often use the terms ‘consciousness’ and ‘spirit’ interchangeably, Marxism as a body of emancipatory philosophy, can be accurately described as ‘spiritual’, providing that the use of this term is clearly separate from that associated with established religion. Marxian thinking is a product of correct thinking attained through the transcendence of a false consciousness, and should not be referred to as a religion, or viewed as having any relation to religion.
Introduction
The concept of Spiritual Marxism is not an exercise intended to ‘regress’ the progressive thinking of Karl Marx back into a theologically defined reality, but is rather an attempt to evolve Marxian inspired thinking beyond its current ideological cul de sac, where it is associated only with a certain brand of politics and the successes and failures of various historical regimes which have claimed ‘Marx’ and ‘Marxism’ as their defining justifications. This is not to say that Marxian-inspired thinking cannot be distinctly political, as this would be an absurdity, but is rather an acknowledgement that Marx’s thinking is much more in potential scope, than the extant methods that currently claim to interpret it. This is because Marx instigated a new and logical manner through which to assess and interpret the world, one which simultaneously demands that the mind is turned the right way around when it views the world, and in so doing, interprets what it sees from a logical and scientific perspective. This new Marxian perspective has much in common with the similar teachings of early Buddhism, and has the benefit of instantly empowering an individual regardless of the conditions and circumstances of their physical existence. A poor, working class person, for instance, perhaps with little formal education, can be taught to think in a Marxian manner by another person, even if the worker cannot read or write! This transformation from being down-trodden both mentally and physically, is nothing short of a Revolution in the mind and body, that gathers, focuses, and unleashes a new energy upon the world that seeks to transform as it encounters the old and redundant ‘inverted’ models of reality. For Marx, one obvious function of this radical transformation was the ‘seeing through’ of the structure of bourgeois capitalist society, and in so doing, laying the stage for its removal through reform. When enough individuals within a class share a similar psychological and physical transformation, a ‘class consciousness’ is formed that is further empowered by the addition of a considerable weight of numbers. Logically speaking, as the bourgeois number only a few, and as the working class they exploit are substantially greater in number, then when the workers no longer decide to cooperate with their own enslavement, a thorough Revolution occurs throughout society. The old and exploiting bourgeois structures are swept away, and new ‘worker friendly’ structures spontaneously develop to take their place. However, an area often over-looked in this process is what it means for the individual worker to experience this transformation in his or her mind. Although it is true that Marx thinks in ‘classes’, and that the bourgeois thinks in ‘individuals’, Marx implicitly acknowledges that no matter how homogenous a class might necessarily be, it is in reality a collection of individual people, each with his or her own personal history, that is experienced within the backdrop of capitalist historical forces. Whereas the bourgeois prevent exploited workers from forming unions and coming together as a strong class through the propaganda of ‘individualism’, Marx also advocated and encouraged individuals to critically study history (both from a ‘personal’ and ‘group’ orientation), and in so doing, free their minds and bodies from the immediate shackles of exploitation, and take this new-found independence into society. If enough individuals attained what Marx referred to as a true self-consciousness, then the changes experienced on a personal level, would (through cause and effect) expand outward throughout society, changing all it encounters. Classes fight ideological battles in society, and the working class square-off against the bourgeois establishment through legal structures, and culturally acceptable modes of interaction. This interaction persists just as long as the political and economic power is held by the bourgeoisie – but as soon as the inherent power of the working class builds to such an extent that can combat the historical power of the bourgeoisie – the bourgeoisie is overthrown and the workers take power ushering in a new political, social and cultural reality. During the time before this happens, every individual worker should develop his or her mind through self-study, in preparation for this time. This act of self-study is exactly what Marx advocated for the oppressed, but its requirement over the years has often been obscured by the outer social requirements of political agitation. Spiritual Marxism is the acknowledgement and recognition that the individual worker must study to develop and discipline his or her own mind (and body). Such action is radical and Revolutionary on a personal level, and prepares disparate individuals for class conscious activity (when the time is right) in outer society.
Chapter One – Alienation
‘The product of labour is labour which has been congealed in an object, which has become material: it is the objectification of labour. Labour’s realisation is its objectification. In the conditions dealt with by political economy this realisation of labour appears as loss of reality for the workers, objectification as loss of the object and object-bondage; appropriation as estrangement, as alienation.’
(Karl Marx: Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts [1844], Estranged Labour)
People are drawn to religion for many reasons. Within the Judeo-Christian tradition, for instance, being a rabbi or a priest is a position of considerable social standing within the faith community. The same can be said for the followers of Islam. In the modern day, these professions are also paid jobs with a structured career ladder, where the successful candidate has first to acquire the appropriate educational qualifications. Invariably, these roles are class related, and the posts filled by middle class aspirants. Even the pious monks of the Christian tradition often take vows of personal poverty, so that they own virtually nothing, whilst they work for a church that strives to own virtually everything. In the UK, for instance, the Church of England is paid for by the tax-payer as it is a State Religion, but despite the fact that it has direct access to the nation’s wealth, it still feels the need to invest in arms development and manufacture, and exploit the poorest members of UK society through providing so-called ‘pay day’ loans – which are relatively small amounts of money lent to desperate people, who are then charged at extortionate rates of interest. All this happens whilst the Church of England still demands that its dwindling ‘flock’ still reach into their pockets every Sunday morning to give money to an already rich business entity that peddles ‘spirituality’. The Roman Catholic Church is no better. Like the Church of England, the Catholic Church has established colonies of theological presence around the world, and through the use of superstition, has prevented people from other cultures, developing their minds beyond the dogma of Christian dominance. It too is run like a trans-national corporation that is designed to suck-in any and all wealth that comes into its orbit, whilst demanding that its ordinary ‘believers’ situated as they are at the bottom of the ecclesiastical pile, make do with very little, whilst believing that this inequality is somehow ‘holy’. Marx pointed-out that established religions control the masses with false promises that are never proven to be true. The ordinary person must always ‘wait’ and piously take each and every injustice as if in so doing, the holiest of states is attained. In reality, nothing is happening except that the upper echelons of the church go about their business harvesting money, which is disguised as harvesting souls. This is because the Judeo-Christian church establishment is a thoroughly capitalist enterprise premised upon class inequality and class domination. It cannot free its adherents from the pain and suffering experienced in life, because it is responsible for creating exactly the same pain and suffering its adherents suffer! Established religion creates the ‘alienation’ or sense of profound separation found in the mind and body of its faithful, whilst continuously claiming that it can, through a greater attachment to dogma, transcend the very inner and outer schism it is creating moment by moment with its skewed reading of the bible, its class politics, and its unethical and often immoral business practices. Today, in the contemporary West, the Christian church has been revealed to be a hotbed for priests, monks and nuns who have routinely participated in the sexual exploitation and abuse of children placed in their care. As the Christian church is a proud pillar of the bourgeois state, law enforcement, political bodies, and law enforcement agencies have been very slow to respond to this shocking state of affairs, if indeed they respond at all. The Christian church has dominated Europe for over a thousand years, and has been present in the development of society from feudal to capitalist. The church was always wealthy even before capitalism became state creed, as the upper echelons demanded that their underlings ‘offer everything up to god’, which in practice meant giving it to the bishops, etc. It can be argued that the church’s preference for greed expanded throughout society with the coming of the Industrial Revolution. This was a time that saw the peasantry uprooted from their land (which they worked on and off throughout the year in a relaxed manner) and rural homes, and gathered together in large factories that often worked around the clock. This transformation saw the peasantry transformed from individuals who owned things such as land, homes, agricultural equipment, animals, and seed stock, etc., into what Marx referred to as ‘Proletariat’, or those who owned nothing except for their own capacity to labour, or ability to work. In this new setting, the psychological and physical certainties of hundreds of years of settled existence were torn apart, and the peasant – who once possessed a predictable and in many ways reasonable lifestyle – was thrown into a world where he or she owned nothing, and were treated with the same indifference offered to the well-being of a pack-animal. Although religion had never facilitated the discovery of heaven on earth, at least prior to the Industrial Revolution it was possible for a rich peasant to find solace in prayer, in this new existence, the Proletariat experienced an existence premised upon the stripping away of all the old certainties. He or she no longer owned the means of production, the raw material for manufacturing, or the finished product itself. The world had been turned upside down and inside out. The bourgeoisie want the ‘labour’ inherent in the worker – but they do not want (and even ‘reject’) the worker as a human being that experiences equally, the same wants, needs, and desires. This new worker exists as a physical entity only, something akin to a self-regulating machine that is not expected to develop the mind, the thought capacity, and the ability to reason. This separation from reality is ‘alienation’, and is a relatively modern reality that many mistakenly believe the church can solve for them, when in fact the church is just another manifestation of the bourgeois state. The entire edifice of the output of Marx (and Engels) is an answer to this ‘alienation’, and the means to change this situation and permanently reconcile it for the working masses. This is the essence of Marxian spirituality.
Chapter Two – Loss of Reality
‘So much does labour’s realisation appear as loss of reality that the worker loses reality to the point of starving to death. So much does objectification appear as loss of the object that the worker is robbed of the objects most necessary not only for his life but for his work. Indeed, labour itself becomes an object which he can get hold of only with the greatest effort and with the most irregular interruptions. So much does the object appear as estrangement that the more objects the worker produces the fewer can he possess and the more he falls under the domination of his product, capital.’
(Karl Marx: Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts [1844], Estranged Labour)
Even before the development of capitalism, the peasant lived in an inverted world. It is true that in this pre-capitalist existence, there was an order of sorts, and a predictable and more fulfilling existence. This is despite the fact that child mortality was appallingly high by today’s standards, periodic warfare was rife, and outbreak of diseases common. Life was not easy for the pre-capitalist peasant, but the extent of suffering was mediated by procedures and responses designed to heal, or make things seem better, even if they really were not. In pre-capitalist existence, at least in times of peace, people tended to care for one another, watched over by an apparently omnipotent church. Up until the outbreak of rational science in Europe (which was itself the rediscovering of Greek thought), the Christian church was the all-powerful arbiter of every dispute, conflating physical reality with theological dogma, to such an extent that theological dogma took the place of physical reality, even when material conditions contradicted the church’s superimposed teachings. However, these ecclesiastical sleight of hand, has its origins in the first chapter of the Judeo-Christian bible, where amongst its many contradictions and illogicalities there exists the story of god creating the physical universe out of nothing in a mere six days. What Marx revealed after studying theology and philosophy, (and after reading Feuerbach), was that the Christian dogma was premised upon a flawed view of reality. He termed this flawed view an ‘inversion’ of reality, or an ‘inverted-mind-set’. This suggests that theology (any theology for that matter), was a product of an earlier epoch in humanity’s thinking processes and capabilities, and although it might have served the purpose of binding early humanity together in the face of an indifferent natural world, as the mind of humanity had progressed, it had outgrown theology just as a child entering adulthood, outgrows fairy tales. Not only this, but Marx was able to easily demonstrate that an inverted mind quite literally placed the cart before the horse, and interpreted fiction as fact. First and foremost, Marx explained how the religionist developed an idea in the mind, and then mistook that very same idea as directly representing a corresponding physical reality, whereas the reality was quite different and totally opposite in structure. A thought generated in the mind is nothing other than a thought generated in the mind. Its generation is a matter of environmental conditioning. It is well known today that people not only think in the languages they learn as a young child, but that each language has implicit within its conditioning, a cultural view of the world. Environment conditions thought, and humanity – through its thoughts and actions – acts upon that environment so that society transforms in structure from one generation to the next. A non-inverted mind is correctly aligned with the physical world, and a single thought, although it has the potential to alter the physical world through an action, or set of actions, is not mistaken for the physical world itself. The religionist assumes that through his imagined idea that an unknown and all mighty god concept has created the world, that the ‘thought’ itself precedes the creation of the physical world. In essence, the illogicality of this statement is the same as saying that a thought created in the mind has the ability to create the brain that gives rise to the mind that creates the thought. The Christian god is only a thought in the mind that has been mistaken as representing the physical universe and all things within it. In reality, this ‘god thought’ is just like any other thought, but with the added bonus that it is assumed to explain the very nature of reality. As this religionist perspective is illogical, the certainty of fact is replaced with the fanaticism of blind faith. In other words, the church must be believed because it says it is right without being able to refer to any proof. This attitude of blind faith runs counter to science and the progressive age within which humanity’s evolution has entered. This tendency to revert reality in the mind dates back to tribal times, and has evidently survived to form the basis of theology. The church distorts as it defines, and this tendency has formed the foundation of bourgeois capitalist exploitation. Humanity is not only divorced from nature and the very world it inhabits, but under the conditions of slave waged-labour, he or she is permanently alienated from the very industrial process that they form a fundamental part of. Life as it is lived, is lived as if through its negative reflection. Humanity is forced to work for its survival by selling its capacity to physically labour, but at no point in this process is there any real benefit for the worker who remains a spectator to his or her life story. The mind and body, which evolved as part of a symbiotic relationship with nature, is forced to negatively exist in a physical world it once intimately knew and understood. The worker is exploited not by nature, but by its fellow humans who have appropriated the means of production and through this act, acquired control of money and politics. The middle class rely upon the workers as a means to secure their privileged (bourgeois) lifestyle, but at the same time, thoroughly reject the workers and offer them no justice or fair consideration. The worker is no longer a real human being with legitimate wants and needs, but has rather become something of a living machine whose only function is not to live as a human, but to repeatedly produce acts of manual labour until the physical body is unable to perform this task. At this point, as the individual worker becomes ill, disabled, or old, new workers step into the breach in his or her place, and the supply of labour continues unaffected by the change. Labour as action in the physical world becomes an objective reality that is produced by working humans, but due to the exploitative nature of the bourgeois capitalists system, the labour as functioning power becomes illogically divorced from the hands of those who actually create it. This mirrors the rupture found within theistic religion, where humanity is inexplicably wedded to a ‘god’, without ever knowing or seeing him, or understanding ‘why?’ Labour acting on the world – according to the bourgeois – becomes disembodied (like a spirit or a god) from the worker that produces it, but unlike the pure fantasy of religion, the bourgeoisie still requires the worker to produce the work, even though the official position of the bourgeoisie is that the worker is of no real importance. The worker has to physically and psychological exist in this illogical and crazy world of dangerous, vicious, and indifferent shadows. Although it is external stimuli that create the groundwork for the inner psychological terrain, it is this ‘inner’ reflection of the outer world that is the basis of many if not all psychological and psychiatric disorders manifesting in the post-industrialised minds of the working class, and this includes inherited or genetic traits.
Chapter Three – Living Through Reflections
‘In order to relieve the bourgeoisie of the last trace of anxiety it must be clearly and convincingly proved to it that the Red bogey is really only a bogey, and does not exist. But what is the secret of the Red bogey if not the bourgeoisie’s dread of the inevitable life and death struggle between it and the proletariat? Dread of the inevitable outcome of the modern class struggle? Do away with the class struggle and the Bourgeoisie and “all independent people” will “not be afraid to go hand in hand with the proletarians”? And the ones to be cheated would be precisely the proletarians.’
(Karl Marx: Circular Letter to Bebel, Liebknecht, Bracke, and Others – the Manifesto of the Three Zurichers – 1879)
The workers (proletariat) are at historical odds with the middle class (bourgeoisie). The ‘worker’ is the creation of the capitalist conditions that the bourgeoisie has developed, perpetuated and pursued for hundreds of years – always to their own gratification, and the continuous detriment of the worker. The shadow represents the true object, and the reflection the true image. Nothing experienced by the worker is actually ‘real’. All is a fully functioning illusion that pretends to be all-embracing, logical, and omnipotent, when in fact it is nothing of these things – how can it be? – as it is not even an ‘it’. The worker is trained from a young age to cultivate and inhabit a pseudo-world of sensation and instinct where ‘anger’ (often hidden from plain view), serves to fuel and mediate the entire process. Although the worker may not be fully conscious of his or her actual plight, the psycho-physical processes are always subconsciously aware that they are being forced to accept a highly demeaning and unreal situation that is detrimental to its own good health, survival, and perpetuation. The bourgeoisie want to cultivate an imbalance and an injustice whilst attempting to remove all knowledge and awareness of the situation in the minds of the working class. Denial of what is in front of the eyes becomes common place. New cloths are manufactured for the emperor – but he never wears a stitch! Living in the shadows suggests that there is little light to make out any distinct outline or shape. The working class mind and body is enslaved by the clock, and enslaved by a mind-numbing and mechanical routine. The worker must be on the factory floor at a specified time, remain there for a specified time, and produce a specified amount of fulfilled labour in that time. As he or she is not paid the true value of their labour, (perhaps receiving six hours wages for a twelve hour day), surplus value is generated which is not owned by the worker, but rather by his or her bourgeois and profiteering over-lords. Surplus value is the difference between the true value of the labour exerted over a period of time, and the actual (and much lower) amount the worker is paid. Automatically in this world of distorted reflection, there is a fundamental devaluing of the worker – both psychologically and physically – which is premised upon lies, deceit, and dishonesty – as it is clear that the worker is never paid the true value of their work. This is peculiar from a mental health perspective, because the very capitalist system that encourages blatant greed and monetary self-interest, is the very same exploitative system that enforces a working class participation and enslavement within its structure, whilst simultaneously denying that the worker benefits in any real manner from the profit he or she assists in generating. It is the worker that is the basic component of the capitalist system, and yet despite being in the majority, and holding the reins of production firmly in their hands, they remain in a state of arrested development by the bourgeoisie, who steadily campaign against the workers being educated or treated fairly in any area of life. The bourgeois thinks that an ignorant working class person is easier to physically control – and they are correct in their assessment. Existing within a world of reflections, the worker often strikes out blindly at a society that uses and abuses his or her mind and body – but the bourgeois are ready for this and pass ‘laws’ criminalising otherwise legitimate expressions of anger and confusion. The bourgeoisie knows full well that when it abuses the working class, that it has a detrimental affect upon the physical and psychological health of the worker. However, instead of recognising this fact in law – which would, in effect, be admitting liability – the bourgeois pretend that the victim of their abuse, i.e. the working class, are to blame for both the abuse they suffer, and the natural outpourings of grief and lamentations that such abuse entails. This is to say that the victims of bourgeois capitalist exploitation are themselves responsible for its existence, perpetuation, and final outcome – when in reality the working class has no inherent say or ability in this matter. The working class are victims of bourgeois exploitation, but through the institutions and behaviour of the bourgeoisie, the workers are conditioned to feel inferior, inadequate, unworthy, criminal, unlawful, and a generally despicable human being. In the meantime, the members of the bourgeoisie go merrily about their business, more or less unconcerned about the psychological and physical damage their unfair systems inflict upon the majority of the citizens that comprise the working class. This is how the Bourgeoisie ‘reflects’ a distorted reality upon the world, through which the working class must attempt to live.
Chapter Four – Estrangement as Existence
'The estrangement of man, and in fact every relationship in which man stands to himself, is first realised and expressed in the relationship in which a man stands to other man.'
(Karl Marx: Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts [1844], Estranged Labour)
Individualism is a bourgeois creation that is the natural consequence of capitalist exploitation. It is important for the exploiter that the workers are prevented from securing a true awareness of their down-trodden situation, and in thus doing, attaining a true consciousness that forms a class conscious-awareness that is group orientated. The bourgeois must at all costs prevent the workers from developing knowledge and developing solidarity in the face of exploitation. The worker is made to believe that he or she exists in a vacuum where the only apparent realities are blatant self-interest and naked greed. This is an existence disconnected from the natural environment, which is allowed to exist within a nuclear family designed only to reproduce the next generation of workers. This sees the end of the extended family, where several generations of people related by a shared ancestry either lived together, or in close proximity of one another. This network of psychological and physical support was ended with industrialisation, and the requirement for individual members of each family grouping, leaving to find employment in the factories that had sprung-up across Britain. Many of these factories attracted hundreds, or even thousands of workers who often lived near the factory in abject poverty and squalor. Peasants who were once part of a large (and caring) family grouping – these new ‘proletarians’ were made into competing enemies of one another, fighting for every penny, and every scrap of food. In these slums of forcibly gathered humanity, freed as they were from the relative decency of communal living, with its moral certitudes and protections, the untold barbarity of capitalist poverty unfolded. The certainty of rural living was suddenly torn away and replaced by the perpetual uncertainty of living under capitalist oppression. Crammed in, and lacking any order other than that provided by the factory clock and the necessity to operate machinery for hours without break, all kinds of tragedy and exploitation occurred, including bullying, sexual abuse, rape, theft, violence and murder – creating the conditions for what is now recognised as mental illnesses, psychological disturbances, and psychiatric crisis. The bourgeois looked on at the psychological and physical dysfunctionality that their middle class greed for profit had created, and instead of sympathising and understanding the plight of the workers, they simply blamed the workers for their actions. The bourgeoisie blamed the workers for responding in the natural manner that they did, to the appalling inner and outer conditions they were forced to live within. The Bourgeois deliberately chose to ignore the fact that the lifestyle they had inflicted upon the workers was the cause of the social problems they faced, and the supposed ‘criminality’ they participated within. To the average member of the bourgeoisie, crime is reduced to that as a simple matter of ‘choice’ in the mind of the individual. Of course, if an individual is a privileged member of the bourgeoisie, and lives a peaceful, leisurely, and gentile existence, then there is no reason to break the law. There is no reason to attack others for resources, steal to eat, or rape to fulfil a dysfunctional sexual desire, etc. The bourgeois has ample money, is well educated, gets married to a suitable spouse, and has socially acceptable extra-marital affairs. If the bourgeois still has sexual desires that are unfulfilled, he (and it is almost always ‘he’) can ‘rent’ the body of another in an act of prostitution. In business, the bourgeois is regularly dishonest, and makes money through corrupt dealings with his fellow bourgeois, whilst continuously using the working class as fuel for his unquenchable greed. The bourgeois ‘steals’ money through a financial system that operates for his benefit and the detriment of his competitors, whilst continuously ‘stealing’ surplus value from his workers. Through his church, he oppresses and misleads the people, and through his empires, he uses the bodies of the working class as cannon fodder for his armies, which are ordered by the bourgeois officers to attack and kill foreign natives. In all of these crimes, the bourgeois remains blameless because his actions are not treated as ‘illegal’ even by a legal system that nevertheless inflicts the heaviest sentences on the workers subjected to its ‘justice’. This is because the bourgeois sets the rules for the dominant system he inhabits. The law exists to protect him from the working class he oppresses, and when that was not considered a barrier enough, the bourgeois invented the modern police. The bourgeois run the modern police, but its foot-soldiers are invariably drawn from the working class. The police exist to protect the Bourgeoisie and its privileges from any confrontation or attack from the working class. In carrying-out this mission, the myth is created that the police enforce the law ‘equally’, but this is untrue. Just as a poor worker cannot afford a good lawyer and secure a ‘just’ verdict in court, the police treat the working class very differently. This is done with the expressed knowledge and permission of their bourgeoisie over-lords. Nothing the worker can do is considered ‘correct’ by the bourgeois exploiters – other than quietly giving-in to the conditions of his or her exploitation – working for a profit that is never shared but always ‘stolen’ at the point of production. This is the damage historically inflicted upon the working class, and milieu within which they have been forced to exist. It is a psychological and physical existence premised upon a very great peril.
Chapter Five – Knowledge as Empowerment
‘When people speak of ideas that revolutionise society, they do but express the fact, that within the old society, the elements of a new one have been created, and that the dissolution of the old ideas keeps even pace with the dissolution of the old conditions of existence.’
(Karl Marx: Manifesto of the Communist Party [1848], Proletarians and Communists)
Workers have it within their hands the ability to free themselves. Although ordinary people are born into disempowering socio-economic conditions, and are automatically programmed by the weight of the oppressive circumstances they find themselves within, the potential to grow beyond this apparent and almighty presentation is already present in the here and now, even if it is not always clear to see. The exploitative system that forces the workers to compete in the most vicious and selfish manner, takes the attention of the worker, and defines his or her reality. It is this brutal contest for resources that conditions the human mind and bodily senses to operate a priori, on a frequency that prevents the easy cultivation of selflessness and solidarity. The bourgeois system is selfish and demeaning, but the worker can break psychologically with this system whilst continuing to exist within it. This is not a religious conversion, but it is a psychological opening-up to a broader and more inclusive conscious awareness that sees through greed and the liberal fallacy of competing individuals. Although a worker may quite naturally develop the insight to see through his or her prevailing historical conditioning, the fact exists that the works of Karl Marx, as an outpouring of a fully optimum human mind operating in a non-inverted manner, serve as a means to trigger, stimulate, perpetuate, and develop the mind so that a new understanding and behaviour sweeps through the individual and his or her class. No matter how permanent socio-economic conditions appear to be, they contain within their structures the seeds of their own demise. This means that the oppressive conditions the workers experience, no matter how painful and destructive they might be, or the human cost in their operation, cannot remain the same and must transform at a particular point in time and space. Change can be good, bad, or indifferent, but the worker can initiate his or her own development through self-education. Although each worker is responsible for his or her own thought patterns, emotional responses, and behaviours, the mind and body are developed so as to assist simultaneously both the individual and the working class. In this process, many and varied auxiliary methods can be employed, from the religious, the cultural, the scientific, the medical, the academic, and the philosophical. All of these pathways, although often tainted with bourgeois thought and ideals, can be utilised in a Marxist sense, to free the mind of the worker from the psychological and psychiatric damage that the bourgeois system has inflicted. This means that non-Marxist pathways can be modified to be used in a Marxist sense, thereby eradicating these pathways of their bourgeois conditionality. What is interesting about this developmental process is that the bourgeois structures that have held the working class in its grasp for centuries, can be deployed in a manner that completely undermines their bourgeois ethos and oppressive function. Religion loses god and theology, science loses its bourgeois assumptions, academia shacks off its Judeo-Christian baggage, and psychology and psychiatry lose their bourgeois bias and prejudice. These bourgeois creations that have become oppressive habits in the lives of the workers, can be transcended and dissolved by applying a non-inverted (i.e. ‘Marxist’) mind-set to their practice – which becomes non-practice and non-functionality. Although a worker may not be able to read and write, he or she can learn through word of mouth, or through another appropriate method should they possess a disability of somekind. However, it is essential for the working class to raise its literary-rate across the demographic, and thereby elevate its educational level. A worker who can read, possesses the ability to read Marx (and other writers), and to begin the process of the emancipation of the working class. Psychological conditioning is often difficult to dislodge, and may take a considerable amount of time to achieve. This may be a difficult task to achieve, but a starting - or anchoring method - must be developed. Marx wrote that the Judeo-Christian tradition, and the bourgeois society it has spawned, is premised upon inverted thinking. Knowing that freedom is possible - is freeing in and of itself. Harnessing that knowledge is the first step towards the emancipation of Revolution. Revolution is the actualising of unfolding knowledge on the physical plane.
Chapter Six – Marxist Emancipation
‘We shall, of course, not take the trouble to enlighten our wise philosophers by explaining to them that the “liberation” of “man” is not advanced a single step by reducing philosophy, theology, substance and all the trash to “self-consciousness” and by liberating man from the domination of these phrases, which have never held him in thrall. Nor will we explain to them that it is only possible to achieve real liberation in the real world and by employing real means, that slavery cannot be abolished without the steam engine and the mule and the spinning-jenny, serfdom cannot be abolished without improved agriculture, and that, in general, people cannot be liberated as long as they are unable to obtain food and drink, housing and clothing in adequate quality and quantity. “Liberation” is a historical and not a mental act, and it is brought about by historical conditions, the [development] of industry, commerce, [agri]culture, the [conditions of intercourse]…’
(Karl Marx: The German Ideology [1845/46], Concerning the Production of Consciousness)
Marx – the practical thinker – is straightforward in his common sense approach to liberation and emancipation. In his theory of historical materialism, Marx points-out (what should be obvious to many, but is not for most), that the physical circumstances any individual (or group of individuals) inhabits, are conditioned by the cause and effect of history, and that when properly assessed and analysed, a chain of events can be clearly discerned and understood. Historical materialism is the acknowledgement that all contemporary physical circumstances in the world have historical physical causes, and are not the product of any other means of coming into being. This is a criticism of established religion in the West, which through its creationist theology, gives the false impression that physical circumstance came into existence through an act of divine will. This is like saying that the physical universe suddenly arose out of nothing in one single episode of theistic fervour, and that far from following physical laws, is susceptible to interference from this divine will whenever the theistic entity decides to do so. This theistic entity does this through the performance of apparent ‘miracles’, and these miracles are facilitated through a suspension of physical laws. Belief in this theology creates a dormant population which believes that it can never change anything (and so does not bother or attempt to change anything), because it mistakenly believes that the world is controlled by an almighty god. This dormant class of men and women were once the peasants and serfs, and are now the working class. The ‘almighty god’ that controls the world is in fact the bourgeoisie class that owns the means of production and thereby controls the economy. The bourgeoisie uses the excuse of religion to keep the working class in a state of arrested development. A belief in non-existing and non-happening miracles keeps the masses of workers consciously asleep and unable to develop the intellectual abilities to see through the oppression of their historical circumstances. Workers steeped in the inverted superstition of religious beliefs view one another as competitors for resources, and retain the delusion that no matter what unspeakable act they happen to perform in the name of selfish greed, ‘god is on their side’. What is needed is a psychological ‘break’ with theology. This is to say that the workers must throw-off the historically conditioned psychological patterns of religious thinking, give up an inverted existence, and as a consequence, learn to perceive the world anew from a mind that functions in a non-inverted sense. Marx criticises bourgeois philosophers who appear to be suggesting that physical reality can stay the same, but that some type of freedom can be obtained from it simply by changing one’s view of it. This trend of thought appears to be a secular attempt at justifying religious thinking. It appears to be saying that the worker should ‘do nothing’ and that ‘everything will be OK’. More than this, however, but a purely subjective reality as perceived in the mind that ignores the objective reality of physical fact, is taken by these bourgeois philosophers to be more important than physical reality itself. Marx refers to these kinds of teachings as the ‘trash’ of ‘self-consciousness’. On the other hand, Marx is not abandoning the training of the mind through education, as is abundantly clear from his other writings. Appropriate education is the training of the mind so that it comprehends that its own inner terrain is a reflection of its outer circumstances, and that inner and outer affect one another in a continuous exchange. Marx advocates an education that changes the mind, but which does not limit the attention of the worker only to its inner terrain, as if mesmerised by its content at the detriment to meaningful contact with the outside world. This is the recovering of true self-consciousness, a self-consciousness that functions fully in a revolutionary sense in the outer world. It turns-out that ‘Spiritual Marxism’ is in fact just ‘Marxism’ after-all, but an interpretation that firmly establishes the human mind as an important component in the revolutionising of the physical world. The physical world cannot be liberated by passively looking at it (i.e. by being stuck in objectivity), just as it cannot be changed by resting passively in an inert mind state (mistaking this as ‘freedom’, spiritual or otherwise). It is important in the revolutionary process that mind, body, and objective world are fully engaged in an optimum manner. Psychological and psychiatric disturbances are not punishments from an unseen god, or the effects of hidden spirits and demons etc., but rather the inner consequences of an outer world premised upon injustice, illogicality, and oppression. The mind can be freed providing the right skill is employed. As society thinks in an inverted manner, as everything is back to front, turning perception the right way around is a crucial first step to psychological and physical freedom.
Chapter Seven – Dialectics as the Engine of Change
‘The weapon of criticism cannot, of course, replace criticism of the weapon, material force must be overthrown by material force; but theory also becomes a material force as soon as it has gripped the masses. Theory is capable of gripping the masses as soon as it demonstrates ad hominem, and it demonstrates ad hominem as soon as it becomes radical. To be radical is to grasp the root of the matter. But, for man, the root is man himself.’
(Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Introduction [1843])
The forces of contradictory energy runs through all existence without exception. These forces compete, modify, transform, transmute, dissipate, dissolve and destroy as they move inexorably through their functionality. Dialectical energy confirms and annuls in equal measure when viewed from a universal perspective. As such, dialectical forces serve as the agency of all change, but their functionality is a triad rather than a duality. Dialectical transformation is more than just two extremes of a polarity changing places. The ancient Greeks understood the dialectical process to mean that if an issue was debated by two individuals, the process of that debate would lead to a thoroughly new ‘third’ perspective, hitherto unrealised. This new position could then be debated and yet another perspective extracted from the various sides of the argument. The point of this process is to arrive eventually at a perfect truth or understanding. Marx utilised the dialectical theory associated with the German philosopher Hegel that formulates that a thesis and antithesis interact, thus creating a synthesis or integration of the two competing ideas; but as this synthesis is unstable, it has a tendency to disintegrate into yet another competing thesis and antithesis, albeit radically altered through the process of previous association and transformation. Marx applies this theory to society (i.e. through his critique of political economy), and through his work with Engels, to the natural world. As human beings have evolved within nature, and generally speaking inhabit society, the theory of dialectics is also applied to the physical and psychological development of individuals. This is to say that no matter how, when or where human beings develop, and regardless of whatever method of self-cultivation is used, the power of the dialectics is always at work. Of course, although individual human beings can dialectically help themselves develop through education, the quite natural evolutionary development of the human species continues quietly in the background of all human endeavour. Socio-economic conditions are historical trends of being preserved from one epoch (and one generation) to the next. This is how psychological and physical oppression is maintained throughout the various modes of human social and political organisation. Within the bourgeois system of capitalist oppression, the minority control the majority by controlling the means of production and the products produced. The worker sells his or her labour for a pittance, and is forced to exist within corrupt and unjust socio-political and economic conditions. This injustice is compounded by a requirement for modern human beings to switch off their intellectual capability and take refuge in imagination and theistic religion. Established religion is part and parcel of the oppressive bourgeois system, and has fully supported capitalist exploitation of the workers. Established religion has no reason to truly ‘free’ the workers from oppression, but is in fact a direct beneficiary of that exploitation. It is a natural inclination for human beings to ‘think’ their way out of problems and predicaments, and to take action based on those thoughts. Thinking correctly is the essence of Spiritual Marxism and has nothing to do with religion. This is why the Soviet academics often used the English term ‘spirit’ when they were referring to the ‘intellect’. In a sense, this may be taken to mean ‘consciousness’ and its advanced functionality. The power of the downward debilitating effects of oppression, clashes with the eternally upward direction of human thought and human endeavour, and it is this dialectical interaction that sets the stage for human evolution and human advancement away from limited notions of existence. Contradiction and paradox present psychological and physical quandaries that require action (i.e. ‘labour’) to solve, even though each partial or expedient achievement has the tendency to collapse back in upon itself. Nevertheless, with each transformation, circumstances are progressed and humanity is evolved. Of course, reactionaries and counter-revolutionaries look back and not forward, and pursue a highly negative path of regression. This is the path of the rightwing and its fascist ideology which seeks to destroy everything that is progressive in the contemporary world. The Marxist, regardless of how dire or pleasant the contemporary circumstances, always look forward into the future, and works in the present to improve the lot of all humanity.
Chapter Eight – Quantum Marxism
Within bourgeois, capitalist society, it is the children of the rich and famous who have the better start in life, and access to all the best educational establishments – including universities. It is from these people that bourgeois scientists are made. They study the measurement of matter, and formulate advanced and generally progressive theorems, experimentations, and technological and procedural breakthroughs. However, these bourgeois individuals inhabit a dual world. There is the world of non-inverted thought which is the science they study and support in their academic halls, and then there is what they call the ‘ordinary’ or ‘common’ world which they habit outside of academia. This common world is in fact premised entirely upon the inverted thinking of the bourgeois class, as it is precisely this inverted thinking that maintains the exploitative status quo, a status quo that allows the minority bourgeoisie to routinely and continuously exploit the majority working class. The bourgeois scientist, being the class hypocrite he or she undoubtedly is, never questions this contradiction, or considers the fact that ordinary bourgeois existence is ‘unscientific’. Why would a socio-economic system that purports to be logical and premised upon the reason of modern science, permit its civil society to operate through an inverted mind-set? The answer is because bourgeois class privilege exists because of this inversion that keeps the working class physically enslaved in pointless labour, and their minds away from structured education. The elite members of bourgeois society are privy to all the advanced education that that society can muster from the wealth it has stolen from the workers – but the workers remain permanently at the bottom of the social scale despite supplying all the labour that creates the luxury and ease the bourgeois enjoy. Marx and Engels formulated their theory of Scientific Socialism by taking the non-inverted mind associated with science, (and by implication the bourgeois scientific community), and extended its use to the entirety of society. A truly advanced society is beyond class distinction because class distinction is illogical, as is the class exploitation it produces. In a ‘scientific’ society, everyone, regardless of who they are, is educated to the highest standard, and all personages are taught from birth how to cultivate a non-inverted mind-set. Whereas the science of the bourgeois State is open to manipulation, corruption, and distortion by the highest bidder, the science of the proletariat does not allow for any such inverted thinking. For humanity to advance psychologically and physically in its evolution, the most efficient method for doing this is through a concerted group effort. Bourgeois individuality sullies the natural process of evolution, and ensures that science, regardless of how advanced it might be, is always held back by bourgeois societal concerns. Bourgeois science, for instance, must never be allowed to enable the working class to see through the predicament of their exploitative existence, and enable them to free themselves. Only the writings of Marx and Engels have this function (as well as the work of all the revolutionaries who have followed in their footsteps). Socialist science, through its rejection of inverted thinking, only ever facilitates the education of the working class, and the transcendence of bourgeois society. Marx gives a logical path from exploitation to freedom, but does not clearly define Communism other than in negative terms. Communism, for instance, is not greed, is not exploitation, is not class related, is not capitalism, is not a State, and is not the fulfilment of a religious teaching. This is similar to the Buddha who explains his notion of ‘nirvana’, or ‘enlightenment’, as being non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion, etc. Marx is using the language of the bourgeois to transcend the language of the bourgeois, and in doing so is revealing a reality that has hitherto been entirely unknown by the oppressed masses. It exists because Marx and Engels saw it as being the potential outcome of the over-throwing of the bourgeoisie. Just as Charles Darwin saw patterns of connectivity within nature that no one had quite seen so clearly before, Marx and Engels saw the patterns within society and economics that lead to Socialism and then Communism. It is as if the language of the oppressor cannot be fully used to explain a mode of existence which lies beyond its redundant parameters of expression. Through the certainty of logic, Marx reveals the uncertain nature of reality that is free from inverted thinking and contradiction. In this sense, ‘uncertainty’ is freedom from the certainty of exploitation. The certainty of relativity theory gives way to the uncertainty of quantum theory. Communism is a stateless state that is the social expression of the highest science known to man, and by implication, the genius of Marx foresaw the development of both modes of scientific endeavour, but he did so solely through using the reasoning of philosophy, which led to the transcendence of philosophy as tradition, and as a distinct notion. These factors have profound implications for individual self-development.
©opyright: Adrian Chan-Wyles (ShiDaDao) 2015.