5. Philosophy

The Influence of Philosophy on Society

The influence of philosophy on society is much greater than we may surmise, even today.

The nihilistic, reductionist scientific paradigm of today has produced a schizophrenic society, which on the one hand accepts scientism’s claims about the origins of the world, while on the other hand is desperate for the mysterious and mythological; the mystical experience, so necessary for spiritual health.

The consequences of this divergent state are spiritual malaise, with excesses in murder, rape and suicide.

The problem of the lack of religious belief is not so much that people do not believe in God anymore, but that now they will believe anything.

It is the spiritual content of life, which makes it interesting and worth living and this is neglected in the rationalist-scientist framework.

It is seen as inessential, because it does not produce – it is not an economic unit.

Yet it is the spiritual content in life that loves, gives and exchanges.

The poverty of rationalist civilisation lies in the negligence of the spirit.

Rationalism can only take; it takes the spirit and imprisons it in the materialistic idea – the economic unit – and consequently tries to take its produce.
In the long run this will exhaust anyone.

Education is the key here.

If reason and intellect are to be developed, then emotion and sentiment must be nurtured as well.
Economically, a happy man with a balanced personality will produce more.
This has not yet penetrated the reason and intellect of the materialist.

If emotion and sentiment are neglected, there is less incentive to work, there is more sickness and when working, the work performed is as little as possible, because there is no happiness to be gained from it.

In particular we overvalue the mind, that flimsy collection of learned words and verbal connections; the mind, that system of paranoid delusions, with the learned self as the centre.
And we ignore the non-mind, non-game intuitive insight, which is the key to the religious or mystical experience - the love experience.