{∅, {∅}, {∅, {∅}}} : Rage Against the Meat Grinder

In Chapter 6 of Dead End: A Philosophical Diary, Complete and Ruthless Honesty, I find an excerpt from Harvard & The Unabomber: The Education of an American Terrorist, where the author paraphrases a Kenniston.


2003.11.15

The Asbury Park Public Library is awesome. I love it. It is only one block from the Delmonte. They have Black Elk Speaks, Brunner’s The Sheep Look Up, many of Cioran’s books, books on the life of Marlowe and much more. I am reading Harvard & The Unabomber: The Education of an American Terrorist. Alston Chase paraphrases Kenniston:

"Most of our definitions of mental health are based on what society believes is acceptable behavior. And it would beg the question to call nonconformists mentally unhealthy simply because they rejected social norms. The alienated, moreover, make a virtue, even a fetish, of complete and ruthless honesty with themselves about their most undesirable qualities since awareness and self-understanding are central goals. They lack the desire to put up a good show … to appear normal – a classification they despise."


2003.11.18

The natural process of living involves contact and withdrawal. For the past year I have been obsessed with N – and now, suddenly I am removed from Freehold. Now I am beginning to suspect that The Shadow Self is this secret stranger who is always right there within us just beneath the threshold of consciousness. It would be tragic and pathetic if women believed that their liberation involved acquiring machoism or machismo (male hardness), the worst characteristics of so-called masculinity. The toughness in men and women seems to be developed as a protective shell in order to survive in society’s hostile environments. Toughness is not really strength. Tenderness is not weakness. Toughness becomes a way of life in the corporate world, in the military, in government and the politics of everyday street life.

Tenderness is devalued in this dog-eat-dog world. Tenderness is often ridiculed. The rare and beautiful man is the one whose strength shines through his tenderness. We have difficulty defining strength, tenderness, and love because these are inner qualities. We experience these qualities within ourselves. Inner qualities are difficult to communicate because we live in a society in which so many of us judge ourselves and others by the outward aspects of our lives. Do we even know what our lives are about? If we do know, are we willing to let others know? Do we expect that no one would care to know what we are really about? Are most of us too afraid to stop our mutual charade and take a look at what is going on inside us? It takes time to discover emotional and spiritual aspects of ourselves and others. What are our ideas? These ideas are difficult to communicate.

Do we seek approval from outside ourselves? How can we become emotionally independent where our sense of being who and what we are is not at the mercy of those outside us?

The business world is a grotesque carnival. I am leery of those who feel they have to build their body.

A strong handshake may be a sign of weakness. It covers up for a lack of warmth and sensitivity.

It is often said that “real men don’t quit.” I have quit this game. The need for external power must be a reflection of the void the authority-seekers feel in their lives. They worship at the altar of image, a cold and empty idol. It devours the life of any man or woman who bows down to it.