Proletariat Blogging in the Heart of (UK) Predatory Capitalism! Exploring the Interface between Matter and Perception, Chinese Buddhism, Daoism, Hakka Ethnography, and All Aspects of Radical Politics, History, Psychology and Philosophy – 全世界无产者联合起来!
A ceremony marking the 2,573rd birth anniversary of Confucius is held at Confucius Temple in Qufu, east China’s Shandong Province, Sept. 28, 2022. An educator and philosopher, Confucius (551-479 B.C.), who founded a school of thought known as Confucianism, profoundly influenced later generations of Chinese society. He was also the first to set up private schools in China that enrolled students from different social classes. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)
The capitalist West is embarrassed by the very fast and efficient manner in which the Communist Party of China has transformed a socio-economically backward (feudal) China into one of the happiest, safe, vibrant, creative and wealthiest country on earth – all achieved since 1949 through the application of Marxist-Leninist (Maoist) ideology! This may be compared to parts of the US which remain just as educationally, culturally and economically backward today – as they were in 1776 – or parts of the UK whose working-class populations live a life of deprivation not far removed from the days of the English Civil Wars in the 1640s! Xinjiang was thoroughly deprived in 1949 – and yet through Socialist Reform in a number of similar areas (Tibet is another) a rapid and thorough transformation is being experienced! In a mere 73-years of Socialist Reconstruction the lives of the people of Xinjiang are advancing in quality at a rate which worries the West – as it draws a bad comparison to the swathes of working-class, poverty-stricken areas that permeated the US, UK and EU – highlighting a systemic deprivation caused by the greed of the bourgeoisie which is now creeping its way through Eastern Europe via the vehicle of Western-backed and Western-sustained Neo-Nazi Movements! Just as ‘NATO’ was used by the US to blanket-bomb ‘Socialist’ Yugoslavia into rubble for 78-days in 1999 – ‘racism’ is an equally important tool deployed by the capitalist West against China – as it is designed to carry-out the damage perpetuated by bombs and bullets during times of relative peace!
The Christians then further added to this confusion (entirely of their own making) by superimposing the Germanic term ‘Soul’ over their misinterpretation of the Greek philosophical term ‘Psyche’! Plotinus (and most genuine Greek philosophers) never used or even knew of the Christian conflation of ‘Psyche-Soul’. Certainly, Plotinus NEVER used the Christian term ‘Soul’, but he did continuously use the Greek philosophical term ‘Psyche’, which refers to the ‘breath of life’, ‘the animating principle of existence’ – or that ‘spark’ which sets in motion all the conditions that grant psychological (thought) and physical (existence)! Plato’s 4th Century BCE text entitled ‘Definitions’ a manual of philosophical terms (translated by DS Hutchinson, 1996) used within his ‘Academy’ School of Philosophical Study – defines the Greek term ‘Psyche’ to mean the following:
a) That which moves itself.
b) The cause of vital processes in living creatures.
I would argue that the Greek term ‘Psyche’ implies so much more than the narrow Christian term ‘Soul’, and even if there are elements of the Greek ‘Psyche’ which overlap with the Christian ‘Soul’ – this in no way validates (or accepts) the Christian doctrine of being true anymore than it invalidates the Greek philosophical message!
The United States is a product of the European invasion of the Americas and the continued genocide of the indigenous people! The Native Americans are forced to live on small tracts of the worst kind land – and to prevent a Socialist consciousness from developing amongst them – the US Authorities place Christian Churches next to liquor stores whilst pumping illicit drugs into their communities to keep them dosed-up! On top of this nightmare, the US Authorities then place ‘Casinos’ (the dark epicentre of predatory capitalism) right in the heart of ‘Reservations’ – so that the only place Native Americans can find employment is within these dens of iniquity!
The capitalist ideology is wasteful, polluting and its inherent ‘short-termism’ can only lead to the degradation of the planet and its tenuously balanced eco-system! Enhanced profits for the already rich – that’s it! Capitalism has nothing else to offer humanity! Oh, and along the way it will commit the destruction of the eco-system and everything that lives in it (including human beings)! Reality does not have to be this way! Indeed, ‘Socialist’ China is offering the world a different path – one defined by compassion, care and scientific advancement!
An important part of this body of Chinese cultural identity is ancient and premised upon the idea of ‘longevity’ – (or ‘living for a long-time’) – which is central to all Chinese systems of exercise, diet and medicine, etc. Due to various racist approaches adopted by the West – many very old people living in China are viewed as being a figment of the Chinese imagination – whilst obviously ‘fake’ elderly people emerging from ‘White’ countries are accepted to a fanfare of support despite no evidence whatsoever!
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 