Objective Imagination and The Demise of Man

merely thinking out loud....

Our Need for Transcendence

Surely, man was once a passive creature, thrown into an accidental existence as an animal with animal instincts. As we developed reason and imagination, we became fully aware of our ability to create/destroy and the will to do so. All living beings can create, but only man is aware of this power. This awareness led to a need to transcend nature and the passive existence as a creature. We became man; a being in control of, and aware of, his reason and imagination.

Popular Hebrew and Greek mythologies, such as with Adam and Eve, depict this transcendence from nature. Man became aware of himself as a creative and destructive being. Whether this awareness has freed us or imprisoned us is up for debate, but in my opinion, it was the beginning of human history and existence; we disobeyed nature, left the Garden of Eden, became fully human and were no longer the passive creature. It is unknown if this was a a willful choice or subconscious step in evolution, but we gained the power of will and the tools to impose it.

How do we know we’re transcending nature? We are aware of our ability to create and destroy while nature is totally unaware and indifferent (as far as we know). We realize our bodies are at the mercy of nature, but refuse to submit. We no longer submit to nature, but force nature to submit to us.

The Need for Identity

Through transcendence we developed a need for identity. Animals, having not transcended nature, aren’t aware of themselves as being separate from nature. They have no need for identity and thus completely innocent. Man, having been torn away from his union with nature, needed identity to continue his transcendence. I’m aware that I’m an individual, co-existing with other individuals. I am able to sense myself as the subject of my own actions. For man, identity became a necessary part of survival. We are aware of ourselves, and we are aware that others are aware of themselves.

Things changed when the species thrived. An objective awareness grew from proximity, guided by objective creativity and reason. This is the birth of objectivity. Putting the needs of the tribe over the needs of the individual is better for the species. Objectivity is probably the first illusory system of governance created by man. It doesn’t exist as something tangible, yet we submit and give up our will for it. It is the first product of our collective imagination. I'm still unsure if we've created a monster.

Well, what happens when our personal identity becomes an objective identity? We give up that very will we developed when we transcended nature. We’re returning back to the passive creature, or in the case of modern man, a herd-like creature. Today, personal identity has all but disappeared. We no longer rely on our own reason and imagination, but our objective versions of reason and imagination; further giving up our individual identity for the identity of commonality.

Products of Objective Creativity

What does a completely common and mediocre level of objective creativity get us? (besides every show on ABC)

We feel like cogs in a giant machine, continuously pushing it onward—but the machine exists only in our heads. We’ve created (or rather objectivity has created) more illusory systems of governance, to control our last remaining ties to nature—our instincts. The things we call society, economy, the government, the global market or any other system are entirely fictitious and illusory substitutes for nature. We can’t reach out and grab religion, but we can imagine it. We are dominated by objectivity and our own imagination. We’re reliant on things completely intangible and make-believe, things we've constructed and that exist completely within the realm of our thought. We're building these prisons at an exponential rate and maybe we've lost all control. It would seem that the same awareness and creativity we used to pull us out of nature is still transcending, but this time beyond man. We're playing a joke on ourselves, a cruel cruel joke.

What’s next?

I would assume we further transcend nature by destroying the only thing that still connects us to it—our bodies. We’ll either use our creativity and live in technology, or in some digital dimension; or we’ll use our destructive powers and destroy our bodies in a war or catastrophe. Freedom from our bodies will be the final act of transcendence and the circle will be complete.

In Summary

Objectivity, or a hive mind, has only created illusory systems of governance (society, economy, religion) and the quality of these creations and their existence deserve critical scrutiny from the individual as he exists in relation to himself and nature, separate from the objective awareness.

Anyways, these are only thoughts and ramblings....

Questions

Do you think this objective awareness, and the completely illusory systems of governance it has put in place to control our natural instincts will be our demise? Or the end of our transcendence over nature?

Can we stop it?

You are a big time philosopher Its hard to understand some things you wrote though...
What do you mean by objective reality turning against us?
Society became complex, the collective affects people but everyone is still an individual, every mind is different, everyone is still unique. Some people are not into questioning the collective ideas and trends but they are still unique, one day they get fed up and start questioning it all, the day life gets upside down, they will acknowledge that the collective is not working for them so they will start thinking and questioning.

reply to post by NiNjABackflip




good stuff!

would you rather be a monkey,,,, or have the opportunity and ability to do everything modern man can?

those illusionary creations are tools,,,, extensions of the spear and hut.... all mans ideas are taken from reality,,, if somethings possible its possible,,, the choice is ours,,,, on an individual level time is our only enemy,,, on a collective level man has been a live and a thrive for thousands of years,,,,,,, ,,