Marx, Hegel, and Opium

March 5, 2025 10:22am

Rolling over in bed early this morning produced such a sense of vertigo, I thought it might be a sign of the future. We never know when the sudden end to this life may come, and again, I consider the totality of it and gasp, “the horror, the horror”; interspersed as it is with the love of wife, children, family and a few memorable visions.

Watching a discussion that includes Christopher Hitchens, I learn of Marx’s “Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right.” In it, you will find this: “Man, who has found only the reflection of himself in the fantastic reality of heaven, where he sought a superman, will no longer feel disposed to find the mere appearance of himself, the non-man [“unmensch”] …” – Karl Marx.

Coincidence that this was written the year of the birth of Nietzsche, he of Übermensch fame?

Hitchens points out that Marx’s “opium of the people” quote is almost always mischaracterized as a condemnation of religion, when, in fact he is sympathetic to the plight of the oppressed who must find consolation and hope wherever they can. Rather than offering balm, he seeks to change the conditions requiring it.

“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” – Karl Marx.

The Last Temptation

March 17, 2025 7:12pm

St. Patrick’s Day! We had cottage pie for dinner. I watched a clip from the movie “The Last Temptation of Christ.” I read the book in my 20’s and it was a long time ago that I first saw the movie. In this scene, Christ (Willem Dafoe) is in the desert struggling with Satan who tempts him with sex, power, and wealth. Jesus, faced with his weaknesses, breaks down sobbing in a portrayal that perfectly captures the soul’s despair when faced with inevitable imperfection. What intricate machinations are at work in the foundry of our spirits to bring us to our knees – to the edge of hell? Is it God calling or are there other forces beguiling us…as yet unknown agents that direct our souls to face the void?

Power

March 24, 2025 12:39pm

Think about power…..energy, that is, and most of us picture electricity, but it wasn’t used in industrial applications until the late 1800’s. Prior to then, power meant draft animals, water, and wind…. for all of human history, with a few decades exception for steam.

The internal combustion engine is another source of power that also arrived in the mid 1800’s. Think about the shift in human experience that occurred in a very few years in the 19th century! So, the sources of power than most of us use and take for granted are less than 200-years-old and have been used by a majority of the US/Western population for less than 100 years.

The average person born in 1900 had more understanding of the lifestyle of the ancients than with our 2025 lives.

The work that we still do involves moving, cutting, and fabricating. What other possible sources of power and energy might be used to do this work in the future? I’m not talking about other ways to generate electricity…. I’m talking about power totally unrelated to electromagnetism which is the “force” that most of us first think of. Don’t forget the other forces that drive the universe: Gravity, the weak force, and the strong force….and a possible fifth force associated with dark matter and dark energy – the “dark force.” Think outside the box!

Law and Spirituality

March 31, 2025 2:46pm

The Code of Ur-Nammu is the oldest surviving law. It was written around 2075BC to record laws established by King Ur-Nammu of Mesopotamia.

Spirituality, or belief in the supernatural must have preceded morals, ethics, and laws. Self-interest and the questions of fate (why is this happening to me) may have led to the desire for an entity that could correct the perceived injustices suffered by the individual. When it became clear that the correction was not coming in this life, the afterlife was the logical place and time for the redress of grievances; plus, it solved the existential crisis of a mortal now conscious of death. Laws decreed that the injustices perpetrated by aggressors would have consequences. All of the ancient codes have in common the most egregious crimes: murder, assault, theft, and rape.

When mankind becomes too sophisticated for any belief in the supernatural, the early laws will be a reminder that once, devotion to God led to a desire for justice and equality among the citizens of Earth.