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.
. . . yet we can't expect everyone to be as well-versed as us on an ancient school of thought that lasted half a millenium and more closely resembled a social movement synthesized with casual gnosticism.
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@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."
@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.