Author Topic: Schopenhauer's Chinese Disciple  (Read 130729 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Nation of One

  • { }
  • { ∅, { ∅ } }
  • Posts: 4756
  • Life teaches me not to want it.
    • What Now?
Re: Schopenhauer's Chinese Disciple
« Reply #15 on: September 02, 2021, 03:51:30 am »
A long excerpt from the Cynical Reflections blog:

Quote
It is interesting to note that, although both hobos and Cynics distanced themselves ideologically from mainstream society, both claimed the city streets as their natural habitat, scavenging out an existence like stray dogs (see earlier post) on the margins of 'civilised' human activity; a society that the tramp views in turn as imprisoned by their own possessions. The term cynic is derived from the Greek kynicos, adjectival form of the noun for dog, and is a literal reference to the dog-like appearance and behaviour of the followers of this sect: fornicating and defecating in public, scavenging for scraps of food, etc. Where others used it to deride the Cynics, they themselves embraced the term as a positive choice of lifestyle. Unencumbered by what they regard as the trifles of civilised society, hobos and Cynics were free to claim their own sovereignty of the city streets. It might be the cosmopolitan nature of cities that provides the attraction, or it might be the ability to more easily blend into the landscape, or, it might be the greater mobility that cities provide; these are questions to be exported further. Either way, tramps were easy targets on the move between larger centres of population and it would have been natural, even for those who preferred solitude, to occasionally seek out the companionship and security of other tramps, particularly when the need for food, shelter, security or rest became critical. And so although homelessness is a central feature of tramping, the need for habitation, to claim dominion (often illegally) over some dispossessed scrap of terrain, whether it be Diogenes in his barrel, an abandoned doorway, a cardboard box in an underpass, or the hobo 'jungles' and 'main stems' of America at the turn of the last century, remains a fundamental human need, even for the tramp.

How and why those who chose an aesthetic lifestyle became objects of fear and loathing will be explored further in future posts, but it is worth noting that, paradoxically, one such aesthetic, Jesus of Nazareth, remains the spiritual leader to millions of conventional hobophobic Americans who have forgotten his mortal tramping beginnings and worship him today as a deity. The hypochrisy between what Jesus originally stood for and the mischief carried out in his name, was noted by Friedrich Nietzsche (N. as a cynic philosopher) in Germany, at the very same time that hobos were being persecuted across America. Nietzsche well understood the way that morality had been used throughout history as the justification for the tyranny that human inflicted upon human; carried along under the banner of improving and enlightening peoples. And Nietzsche expressed just how much he thought humankind had lost their way when he argued that: ‘As a moral code it [Christianity] produces dull, static and conformist societies that dampen down human potential and achievement.’ It may have been just such a social vacuum in late 19th and early 20th century America that the tramp army filled; a demand for a simpler, more meaningful way of life.

Expounding the virtues of tramping and the deceit of Christianity with equal vigour (N. as antichrist), Nietzsche was greatly influenced by the Cynics as his sister Elizabeth confirms: 'There is no doubt that . . . my brother tried a little bit to imitate Diogenes in the tub; he wanted to find out with how little could a philosopher do.' This imitation can be seen in Nietzsche's obsession with self-discipline and testing himself against the elements. Living on his meagre pension, Nietzsche embraced the minimum necessary for life as a strategy for survival. The tiny rented room where he lived and worked in the Swiss alpine village of Sils-Maria, devoid of decoration or comfort, has parallels with Diogenes tub. His typical day would start at five in the morning where he would write in his room until midday before tramping up the surrounding peaks, eventually retiring early to bed after a snack of bread and ham or egg alone in his room. An examination of Nietzsche’s work reveals many examples of this testing himself against the elements, raging against comfort in all its manifestations: physical, intellectual, and moral. But further credentials as a tramp philosopher come from his cosmopolitan convictions and rejection of German culture and religion. The following lines from Thoughts out of Season, Part II, underscore what are a central motif of this blog, and motivation for the true tramping spirit: 'Why cling to your bit of earth, or your little business, or listen to what your neighbour says? It is so provincial to bind oneself to views which are no longer binding a couple of hundred miles away.'
« Last Edit: September 02, 2021, 03:54:16 am by Kaspar Hauser »
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

Nation of One

  • { }
  • { ∅, { ∅ } }
  • Posts: 4756
  • Life teaches me not to want it.
    • What Now?
Re: Schopenhauer's Chinese Disciple
« Reply #16 on: January 16, 2022, 07:50:58 pm »
‘What made the vagabond so terrifying was his apparent freedom to move and so to escape the net of the previously locally based control. Worse than that, the movements of the vagabond were unpredictable; unlike the pilgrim or, for that matter, a nomad, the vagabond has no set destination. You do not know where he will move next, because he himself does not know or care much.’

Zygmunt Bauman, Life in Fragments: Essays in Postmodern Morality
« Last Edit: January 16, 2022, 07:52:42 pm by Gorticide »
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

Holden

  • { ∅, { ∅ } }
  • Posts: 5070
  • Hentrichian Philosophical Pessimist
Re: Schopenhauer's Chinese Disciple
« Reply #17 on: January 22, 2022, 07:07:29 pm »
I do not know if and when I would recover from this more than intense pain(caused by muscle spasm in the neck)and it seems like a good time to let Herr Hauser know,that I have come to see him as a divine being,a Bodhisattva,a being who helped me to see life for what it really is.
(Typed out with left hand)
La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
-van Gogh.