TheMarketForIdeas

The argument for a multidisciplinary approach to comprehension of human thought and its translation into action seems to be irreproachable, as it demonstrates a thorough knowledge of sociohistorical phenomena and their propagation across times marked by remarkable events aplenty. However, the crossover of arts – of which da Vinci probably is the most telling example – is not as common as this much more common and mere “intellectual multilateralism” of appealing and borrowing from different fields of knowledge. Could there possibly be anything more beautiful and sublime than a sculpture represented in a wondrous painting, which in turn is a central part of a novel, in turn transformed into a long piece of poetry, finally admirably aggregated into a deep philosophical essay? Almost no one in recorded human history can be nominated as possessing all such abilities, yet numerous symbols and motives have been portrayed in so many ways: mythical gods and creatures belonging to a certain ethos; adventurous heroes – from Prometheus to Robin Hood; real men of brave deeds – like General Nelson or Napoleon Bonaparte; pioneers of world religions – Confucius or Jesus Christ; or enigmatic figures such as François Villon or Kaspar Hauser. Certainly not enjoying universal acceptance, these characters are part and parcel of world’s history and never risk to be forgotten as long as their fellow men continue to populate the Earth they embellished, each in their own unique way. And while no justice is done to anyone by simply enumerating a few names of well-known figures, the main point is that their multi-representation makes them immortal and increases their importance as reference points for worldwide culture. My sincere belief is that the sake of culture depends on this colourful palette of such characters ennobled by their feats of special endeavour and always backed by a certain mantra of greatness. This is why a while ago I made up my mind to celebrate them by making a poetic inquiry into human thought foundations in order to disseminate and analyse how and what exactly are the mechanisms and logical processes giving birth to the “commoners” of human desire attributed to the “commoners” of worldly drives and wants and to what extent they live up to become or at least inspire “supra-instinctual” men of greater intellect, might and capacity, always overcoming their species limitations and claiming their place in the chapel of exceptionality at the dawn of their physical existence. And, in order to further argue my personal adherence to this sincere belief in embracing various cultural dimensions, I provide Romanian readers with the original version of the poem, the following lines being its translation. Thus, I try to break linguistic barriers (to which poetry is fatally subjected) and universalize a local cultural product for a wider readership. 

(I) The Way We Are

Dawn to dusk again for ages ever since the days of eld

Everything under the guidance of a law seems to’ve been held, 

First and foremost, our main supposition is that the universe is subjected to eternal laws which have remained unchanged over the course of epochs and ages – recent history known to us up to this day – and hundreds of thousands of years in a “forgotten” ancient history which we can only determine through anticipation and supposition based on the remains we have from that time. This is not only applicable to empirical matters such as the laws of physics or mathematics, but also to physiological (from an evolutive angle), material, social and economic perspective. Regardless of political, societal or any other form of paradigm change, humans have always paid tribute to the same reality of needs which can only be satisfied through the struggle for resources. Material world is nevertheless enframed by a reality we conceive as beyond all materiality, having always been a matter of constant dispute and confrontation for us. The most known form of this fact is manifested through religion or myth, the earlier being the helm at which peoples have directed their steps in a collective enterprise throughout the times, while the latter the base upon which they have built nations and succeeded in maintaining them afloat – a common belief which was the intertwining element between people of the same national background. However, on a more general tone, we are awed by how material objects – including ourselves, our ancestors’ empires or the mere wooden chair – never survive the eternal passing of time. What we are left with are notions which we cannot measure through materiality or “humane” measures and whose real existence we are deemed to question forever (religion, pretending so definitely to be aware of the origin of the universe, has naturally attracted disbelievers from all paths of life and knowledge). 

Be the worldly mechanisms which celestial bodies bind

Turning’em around their axis in the endless hollow blind,

Be the vault which knows not limit where comets aplenty fall

Or the intervals of planets – day by day they narrow all! – 

Whether or not human touch is behind and beyond religious thought, transcendental interpretation of the world is under scrutiny not only of religions, but more recently of that of philosophical thinking. In truth, Arthur Schopenhauer meant that philosophy replace religion, while the other “anti-religious” struggle was proposed and more clearly defined by post-1798 humanist philosophers, then by Sigmund Freud, meaning that science replace religion. What is remarkable is that, in spite of these human attempts of understanding, the universe continues its (r)evolution undisturbed by our activity. We are tied with the universe through an unseen super-consciousness manifested through our life of will (Schopenahuer) or will to life (Nietzsche). 

And after an earthly charter so humane as we might think

Like the universe eternal do we gladly therein sink, 

As it has been mentioned, it is in this all-enframing reality that we build our own charter of laws and we tend to believe to imitate or pretend to adhere to the natural movement of the universe with all its undisputable realities – see, for instance, the debate whether we are born free (Locke) or not (Prize Essay on the Freedom of Will; On the Will in Nature). I hold the opinion that ever since birth we are wary of our circumstances and in most cases we involuntarily decide for the constant struggle of life if things are in our favour. Our failing to make this choice translates into eternal condemnation to anonymity and meaninglessness, for there will always be others (You wish to be a man of son, To be a star you scorn; But men quick perish every one, And men each day are born) ready to take our place, the latter being brought to life for still not totally known reasons through our reproductive power, whose secrets we are not fully aware of on a conscious level (see Metaphysics of Sex by Julius Evola). There is will in every living organism; the will in plants (Physiology of Plants) and animals resembles that of humans; it is up to us to become aware of the earlier two and acknowledge the real beauty of nature, while the latter we either understand or not, depending on our intellect and its reaching. By death we seemingly overcome the almighty reality of Space and Time, something which in no other form seems to be possible to us.

What is intelligence then and why is it believed to be one and the same with reason? For reason always presupposes a good choice to be made from various options we encounter on our life path (for all reckless decisions are deemed as “unreasonable”). In truth, “human intelligence”, separated from that of other organisms, is defined by our making immoral and brutal choices such as acts of murder, deception, gluttony, lust or well-thought trickery – the quintessence of the human reign. It is reason which limits us to clad these forms in an attractive layer. 

So we guess that our instincts liken us to a primate

To which humans owe their onset as Darwin with judgment sayth 

And so begin the various interpretations of our supposed origin, in other words what separates men of great intellect from men of mundane activity. The desire to know this is greater than our rarely told truth that we most likely will never get to know our origin, but rather our end as species of this planet. Darwin, besides Jehovah and Buddha Sakyamuni, is the Great Father of Knowledge, the one who not only tried to define an inquiry into our origin, but consequently in our meaning as species of humans. He and the ones who followed him have decidedly changed the social milieu and the lenses through which we conceive it – making over with the arguable fact we derive our species from primates to the more “harsh” ideas of social Darwinism people hope to undermine through more modern concepts of civilization and conformity (Darwin opened up the way to the binary paradigm of evolutionism - creationism). 

And to fill the shameful nature and its dark and slippy void

Do we mannerize relations, in accordance with wise Freud, 

The “shameful void” left by Darwin – our probable animalistic nature – was filled by the brilliant mind of Sigmund Freud, which revealed the over-layers with which we attempt to cover and conceal our instincts, our desires and conditioned physiology, in other words our ends. The means we use are “mannerized” in order to be accepted by society, for otherwise we are likely to be outcasts who either wait in peace for their passing or live a life of incredible mental excitement with the hope that one day they will be looked upon as men of unseen intellect (the great Genius). 

And if not, then our saviour shall be art and its good way,

On the chart of moral preaching shall we lately go astray,

And the twist of terms like freedom as a random might teach ye

Would we never seek in erstwhile, urges us a chap – Nietzsche; 

Another proposal worthy of our attention is that of Nietzsche, the countryless thinker who argued that through art we can achieve our salvation from a seemingly meaningless world and continue our quest as rational beings. However, people are often hindered by their common reference to the prevailing ideas of morality – in Europe, this has usually been the case made by Christianity, with its continuous moral preaching unable to definitely meet the inner essence of the passing of former centuries. In truth, Christianity was nothing else than an unnatural follow-up of Ancient Greece and its greatness and cheerfulness, with its two distinct forces – Appollonian and Dionysian (see The Birth of Tragedy). Morality is changeable and relative and there are no clear moral principles guiding individuals or civilisations to different ideas of success. So is freedom – from our supposedly free and independent reason to whatever happen to be the driving forces of our civilisations, people will never attain a total state of liberty; seeking such a final end is obsolete and self-consuming. Our inner will of power is to be sought throughout a life of great struggle, and rightfully so. Life is not supposed to be confortable and cannot be so; we either die struggling (which relieves us from feelings of inutility) and possibly succeed or struggle to death in our chosen nothingness (nihilism as the greatest peril of modern times). 

All these works in tens and hundreds, all these reasonings of thought,

Inside billions of brainstorms do we seek to cram for nought,

Worldwide experts come in masses and say behind their lenses

A vivat l’éducation or other such pretenses

And they point how on a charter dance their graphs and jump and slip

As percents of goodwill, fortune does their confidence then reap; 

Hardly is there any surprise that irritable people possessing a certain intellect devoid of will or meaning are envious of the genius or success of others. In order to reply to this, they work together and proclaim themselves masters of truth or science, which they make (their) Truth and Science. To convince those of lowly intellect, they make a parade of their knowledge whenever they have the occasion and support one another in various ways, usually adopting a position of great authority which one is not supposed to challenge unless he wants to be looked upon as someone unable to put up with the “unchanging facts” such people abhor. They are either people which master the scholarly challenge and academic positions of our society or those who know best how to appeal to masses; both types however know how to find their way to political power, as they never dare challenge laws of their State. The same people also live in their ivory tower of delusional research and writings by which they can establish a fixed obelisk of questionable knowledge, arrogantly higher than any other human accomplishment. 

T’is the monetary question like Damocles and his sword

At a choice of theoretics, either those of Marx or Ford, 

These people have the power to change the way we live since they influence decisions political actors make. And so, material-economical and immaterial-social problems are settled by whoever happens to be more deceitful and convincing. One good example of this is the post-war evolution of economic matters, during which Keynesian economics have predominated and paved the way for the “modern” way of doing economics: people live to earn pieces of paper with no intrinsic worth, in an inflationary paradigm of money-borrowing nations and state-controlled business world (not only through coercion, but also through reciprocal collaboration in the detriment of the people). The other choice is that of people like Henry Ford, whose great thinking reaches beyond economics and was a guiding phare for his nation in times of prosperity and definition of the authentic American (in his case) way to do business. 

Sages get to choose for others what’s their faith and creed and hope

Whilst whirling’em around the globe in a twist of spinning top,

So the windings of its movement veil around a random bard

Meant to trace the basic meaning of the yet-to-come hazard; 

Given even we who live in democratic societies are not allowed to associate according to our own and wide-accepted criteria, we often have to put up with “national strategies” and speech regulations and conceal our beliefs. Faith of any kind manifested within a free society gives birth to conflict and the best way to determine who is more successful with one’s views is to let each of us make a choice as long as our choice is not manifested through violent action. The role of a political leader, the ever recurring “random bard”, is nothing but a point of contact between what masses were able to choose from a range of shadowy options and the interests of elements which have gained their influence and success in ways worthy of appreciation in spite of their correctitude or rather lack of it, for one must admit without hypocrisy that coming to the top is always difficult, no matter in what times and conditions. A great deal of conflict is natural in a democratic society, but we always live knowing that a “(yet-to-come) hazard” will always put a halt on the achievement of a different society in which we vote with our financial and cultural choices, not with a stamped piece of paper in the name of a broad set of policies. 

Will it lay under its fortune and its boastful shiny praise,

Tell us apart good from evil at the switch of our days –

Shall it be the same old novel covered up in its same aged don

Hiding in its pots and pockets a mystery or a sermon. 

This reality is not necessarily an inherent characteristic of our times, but a defining trait of human uncertainty when subjected to the will of others meant to rule over them. Since masses always need and demand a moral compass and a set of rules even when it complicates their own life, rulers are quick to assume a decisive and resolute position and, besides their usual duties and views, they try to “take the pulse” of the public and see what the latter perceives as Good and Evil, for in no other way can a political movement be successful, unless it finds an echo within the soul and mind of the people. As history has shown, more perverse ways to impose political dominance are either through promises of great prosperity in times of dearth and famine or by changing the current social milieu by means of another reciprocal collaboration with the mass media and academia, this great tool of propaganda and deception able to change every single idea of prevailing Good into an Evil over the course of only a few decades. All means employed are indeed of similar kind with those of the past, only their reach is now quicker and wider. “Old novels”, as I call them, because social change is all about satisfying and facilitating subterranean works of those in charge of different power structures, are covered up in an eternal “don” having the role to offer a more pleasant, perhaps a brighter perspective of the new normal, for otherwise opposition on behalf of the people would be more likely to emerge. 

All these wisdoms stay embodied in one ever-lasting tenet

And we believe the universe understands it like we mean it 

So far as we are aware of, we only know of mankind as populating the universe. We cannot be sure of extra-terrestrial forms of intelligent life unless we gather sufficient evidence for it. Likening our own activities and laws with the laws of the Universe, our human “ever-lasting tenet” to celestial movements whose causes we might know, but not a reason for them, is contradictory. Movement of lifeless objects was assumed to have its ultimate cause in the act of a living entity, this being another reason for the existence of religious thought – an attempt to “humanize” everything outside the planet on which humans live, while everything came to Earth as not only the will, but also the want and desire of an only human living outside of our planet in an extra-temporal and extra-spatial void. What is in this void is not any different than what we can also find on Earth; it is only Time and Space which have no limits there. By refuting the monotheistic idea of religion, all of this is nullified probably forever. 

 But as soon as we remember that we set up this ancient law

We forget that we shall let it to the dim future soon to go,

We forget those other peoples, other kins or other races

Who would like to learn their springtime and their old forgotten traces, 

Even though they are unchangeable laws governing our life and relations, we often forget or do not accept them as such. Obsolete and senseless actions are then made in the name of future generations. Those are usually manifested by the common wish to “make the world a better place (for our children)”, otherwise those who outlive us will encounter the same problems and restlessness we had. In reality, what matters most is that we leave more wealth and opportunity to our “children”, not idealized concepts of human character of morality, for they will fade away in forgetfulness two generations later. People before us – during our times and after we will have long been gone – who struggled to understand the essence of our world were guided by a common wish to find the “old forgotten traces” of wisdom with which to create new laws for new peoples. They may succeed more or less, but without them remain the two dimensions of our humanity: our instinctual needs and intelligent desires and our quest for truth. This is why we need to achieve a state of existence of greater wealth, for this is the basis of greater research and inquiry into our past origins and future possibilities. 

We feast upon the human reign in brotherhood from our dome

Which knows not frontiers, limits, but a great and only kingdom 

Instead of this, progress is now seen as an intensification of the current ideas of Good, supported by moral preachings which, although detached from Christianity (their renegaded parent), they still wear their resemblance. Embodied in other forms but wearing the same cloth, universal knowledge has been dissipated under dynamics less favourable to inner knowledge, liberty or self-determination; rather wishful of a communion of “embraced differences” shaped into one mould whose final self-declared aim is global peace and world citizenship, this lustful-for-peace “kingdom” – obviously a failure – has a similar story to warlike empires which sooner or later end up being overtaken by migratory peoples waiting in offensive expectance at its “frontiers”, ready to take advantage of its “limits”. These bordering realities, in any case, are not external, but internal, for the enemy of globalization works from within; the final peace treaty will never be signed, as democracy, if anything, acts like a spongy compressor of ideas, hopefully never as an ideological thumbscrew working out a hollow matrix of undistinguishable parts. The two greater perspectives stand still, every now and then shaken by changing turnovers of power, but never uproot for good. 

Building up on sheets of paper among heaps a throne of cardboard

For the ones who lie beneath it and on a paper give their word

And on the walls of our kingdom we could not spot a master

Lying on fine silk or velvet, but instead heaps of plaster! 

What’s in black and white shall always be right. For how else could we maintain the democratic status quo which dismisses unrightful and unwritten habitual actions governing a people of individualities no longer obeying injustices of the past? Indeed, it is nothing else than a legitimate mania – institutional power would be crumbling were it not for senior clerks / world leaders ready to downgrade their “elected wisdom” on the contemporary slide of state laws of good fate, but questionable effect. The degree of ironical fineness is to be set in advance for whoever may be concerned with the acknowledgement of governing powers and their potential (and proven) retardation as to their civilizational impact. A price paid for an acceptable today and a better tomorrow we ought to be eager to achieve. It might as well be a historical anxiety of not actually repeating history, and this bureaucratic and regulated world acting like a defense mechanism granting a minimum shield protection against the unexpected and the unforeseen. 

Shake hoary cabinets so rough in an odd and deaf undertone

And the wails of office woodwork hum its sleepy slumber and fawn,

Dreaming arched the greasy bellies on the backseat of their marrow

As their brains struggle with thesis simultaneous ripe and callow,

How they fight and struggle hardly to the human species’ usage

Whilst they see themselves the judges of the world’s almighty mirage 

A bureaucratic bourgeoisie? – We have never witnessed a more careful (carefree?) class ready to assist society in their spirit of good citizenship and well-intentioned (in)action. The brainstorm of their superiors flows like a hurricane over them, and they can do little nothing than seeking shelter in the deep cellar of petty activity and repetition. However, a structural weakness it not to be blamed on this class – it would be a foolish instinct. No one is exempt of a possible “collaboration” with this systematic ruling mechanism, and complete detachment is by no means a proof of one’s superiority and purified soul and thought. From within (by pragmatical means) or from without (by educational means), cleverness of spirit can one day overcome a fault for which we can hardly find one guilty entity subjected to a raw but just trial of today’s judges. 

And the lords of present ages over seas of foolish people

From the lighthouse of this planet firewaves of wisdom ripple, 

The great guide of our times was written in a deserted “lighthouse” whose beams are lengthy enough to reach each corner of this world: some call it elitism, others think of it as (unelected) leadership. Promoter of democracy and peace, it is commonly a less understood phenomenon of rare and brilliant occurrence which differentiates itself from the “seas of foolish people” by its exclusion. Is it not questionable that such well-meaning agencies appear to be so remote from the subjects they so much intend to assist? Their verbiage sounds similar to that of the aforementioned “hoary cabinets”, but their intellect is clearly of a different calibre, the best proof for this being that they actually manage to reach to the top as men endowed with decision and responsibility. 

Their lookalike, the hideous worm in between a bird and creature

Not as brave as mother she-bear, nor the hare’s fear they feature

And their plume, a dead crow’s feather, scratching on a paper titles

Shall stir up with catchy phrases a whole world meant to be spiteless 

A certain officiality, a seemingly different gait and attire, hardened visages with soft lips voicing “catchy phrases” – it all seems like a dramatic play in a modern background, a deformed and scary parade of knowledge and might, half-serious and half-boastful; then, there is great wonder why the content of their “papers” does not amaze generations of “commoners”, incapable of mental seclusion like their ruling bodies are. Populism, so comprising a term and not taking into account ideological drives, is to many a point of connection between governing parties – low in numbers, great in power – and governed “simpletons” – great in numbers, (potentially) great in power. 

And seductively the commons casting spells with somber fear

Joyous revelries displaying do they spread in the world’s sphere

To be worth the feather’s quacking and herald in solemn phrase

Do they imitate an earthworm, do their yawns in air then raise. 

The natural reaction is that people become “dreamy”, they open up to new horizons they are yet to scrutinize, and ultimately they partake into this formerly irritating “quacking”, now worth their attention and effort. But every single time a change of prevailing ideas democratically takes place, everything relegates to a second plane and a great restart is programmed unto society. One party is disappointed, the other joyous of its more recent success, then the great struggle continues, for each of us once swore allegiance to some rightful cause or another. It is an exciting practice, this confrontation of forces, it does offer a life aim, a gigantesque task handled from one generation to another.