@ConceptualJames There's nothing about communism that suggests it must be "hermetic" or "gnostic," and "materialist" is a word that requires you to define your terms, but is likely outright false.
@ConceptualJames Original Christianity is likely the foremost example of communism to emerge from post-indigenous Eurasia, and they preached a return to Nature while emphasizing an abandonment of property and marriage in favor of community.
@ConceptualJames The Adamites, for example, lived on nudist beach colonies and procreated freely while eschewing the marriage tradition. Hardly "materialistic."
@ConceptualJames If you suggest communists are "materialistic" because we're aware of the finitude of our natural resources, the sanctity of Nature, and because we work to protect both, I'd say that's, generally accurate.
@ConceptualJames Furthermore, "gnosticism" is merely an emotional and psychological formalization of the relationship a deist may experience with the concept of god, which is in turn a more intimate relationship with god than the ambivalence communicated by most agnostics concerning the divine.
@ConceptualJames I would describe "gnosticism" as a necessity to meet the psycho-spiritual demands of the present. You're likely speaking from a position of relative luxury, and don't appear to understand the concept.
@ConceptualJames . . . but you are a self-ascribed "Math PhD" who's discussing ideas far outside his bailiwick.
@ConceptualJames Also, if you confuse communism with Marxism, then you never understood communism in the first place.
@ConceptualJames Do you think of yourself as a "Christian," atheist or neither?
For the record, we have no affiliation with @OptimismMovers@Centre4Optimism or @victorperton, but we find it all very intriguing and will be following them closely since they share a name with our collaborative.
For starters, @Centre4Optimism equates pessimism with "cynicism," whereas I consider Optimism to be the logical conclusion of Classical Cynicism.
"Optimism" was my response when I asked myself what a Classical Cynic would do with her back against the wall, surrounded by enemies, when it seemed all hope is lost. "She would fill herself with Optimism," I thought.
@leedrutman In parliaments, one votes for a party, not a person, and that process is robustly funded by the state, so yeah. In the United States, so-called representatives are reduced to commodities, and our politics are reduced to a trading floor.
@leedrutman Real democracy is almost always manifest in indigenous cultures, tho the Classical Athenians qualify as the only example of a real *aspiring* democracy to have emerged from post-indigenous Eurasia. They were nearly there before the Macedonians co-opted them.
@leedrutman Classical Athens also catalyzed the first examples of communism to emerge from post-indigenous Eurasia. Aristotle records mention of it, and the Classical Cynics were essentially wandering ascetics who preached a return to Nature.
I have to say, #NoSocialMediaSundays are positively relaxing, but I was unnerved by how often I habitually grab this device and allow it to dictate my actions.
#NoSocialMediaSundays have nothing to do with the self-imposition of a guilt complex; rather, we're more interested in liberation here at @optimist_press.
The unconcious and compulsive impulse to engage with these devices and programs is what Classical Athenians would qualify as a form of servitude or slavery to our animal selves, the "'lizard brain," the base instincts.