The Life Philosophy Of A Communist
Marx & Engels didN’t talk of the Life Philosophy of communists. Nevertheless, a sensible guy without a sensible life philosophy is unthinkable. And communists are the Most sensible guys. Therefore, a communist must have the Most sensible life philosophy. Nevertheless, the most unpleasant Truth is to date I haveN’t known an avowed communist that fits in with this view of a true communist. Strangely, I haveN’t to date heard of even a philosopher ( bar one*, a dedicated follower of Jesus, but I’m Not sure whether that guy is worthy of the name ) that cares about his own life philosophy. Intriguingly, philosophers without life philosophy include Daniel Dennett and Noam Chomsky too. The current UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in response to my query about his life philosophy, said, ‘ You must be very stupid. ’ Most professed communists seem to be No exception to these silly people. The question is, what deserves to be the Life Philosophy of a communist ? A humble seeker after the Truth, I’m also the originator of the Principle of Healthy & Meaningful Living, and I believe this humble priciple is the Right answer to this query. I also seem to be the originator of the concept of the Life Philosophy of communists. Nevertheless, so far I’m Not aware of a communist who endorses this position of mine on this issue. Who’s Right? Let’s debate and discuss.
*William Lane Craig: this guy’s name appears among The Most Influential Living Philosophers; he said his life philosophy is ‘ To know Christ and to make him known.’ Evidently, the guy is unable to make a distinction between his mission in life and his philosophy of life. And of course his is a most silly mission in life. You may be interested in knowing about Jesus, Moses or Socrates and making people acquainted with such a historical figure. But making such a task a mission in life does Not seem to become a sensible guy of the Space age, the way I see it.
The Concept Of Life Philosophy
I’d like to define the term Life Philosophy as a principle that must guide you throughout your life. Your every view, every decision, and every action must be in full harmony with your life principle. It must be your guide in making a choice between democracy and dictatorship, between religion and secularism, between feminine freedom and antifeminine position, between matrimony and visiting brothels, between being pro-nuke and being anti-nuke, between being environment-friendly and the environment-unfriendly position, etc. or between communism and capitalism. Your Life Philosophy must also be your guiding principle in determining your Mission in life. You should Not confuse the distinction between the Life Philosophy and your Mission in life. The former is your guiding life principle while the latter happens to be a mission which must harmonise with the former, and which you have to accomplish in your lifetime. Malala Yousafzai’s devotion to spreading literacy among girls is her mission in life. On the other hand, Gandhiji’s doctrine of plain living and high thinking was his life philosophy. Altruism, patriotism, secularism, individualism, spiritualism, etc. are some other examples of life philosophy.
The significance of your Life Philosophy should be clear as day. If your Life Philosophy is wrong, all your decisions and actions run the risk of being wrong and futile, and thus your whole life is most likely to end fruitlessly.
A Sensible Life Philosophy
As I see it, a Sensible human must have a Sensible Life Philosophy. In other words, without a sensible life philosophy, you canNot deserve to be reckoned sensible. The question is, what is meant by a Sensible Life Philosophy ? I’d like to define it as a life principle that must urge and help you to choose a Sensible Mission in life, and I’d like to define a Sensible Mission in life as something the accomplishment of which must add some Meaning to your existence and thus make your life Meaningful.
Devoting your time and energy to knowing the unknown is a Sensible Mission in life. Sharing the Truth with all and thus enlightening the benighted is also a Sensible Mission in life. The Swedish teen Greta Thunberg’s hard work aimed at focussing the world attention on the climate crisis is a Sensible Mission in life too. Malala Yousafzai’s goal of spreading literacy among girls in the underdeveloped regions is also a Sensible Mission in life. Hongkongites’ struggle for democracy also deserves to be reckoned a sensible mission. Nevertheless, the practice of lying volubly by Donald J. Trump and Narendra D. Modi with a view to hiding their misdeeds and failure is Not sensible.
The concept of the Sensible Mission in life is essential for the concept of the Sensible Life Philosophy. Gandhiji’s fight for the freedom of India, his motherland, through nonviolent satyagraha is a sensible mission that is in full harmony with the principle of Plain living & High thinking, his life philosophy. Nevertheless, this life philosophy of his does Not seem sensible. High thinking is OK, but willful plain living canNot deserve to be regarded as sensible stuff on the plain grounds that Not only have you got Nothing truly meaningful to derive from practising this principle, it’s also entirely opposed to man’s all effort to know the unknown as well as science & technology aimed at the discovery of laws and theories and the invention of new & newer techniques, therapies, and devices meant to make life easier and more and more livable. Gandhiji was really opposed to fashionable clothes (he used to wear minimum clothes and love to go half-naked), brick-built houses (he used to live in mud-&-wood-built huts with roofs made of bamboo & mud-tiles), nonvegetarian meals, cattle milk (but, strangely, he was fond of goat milk), physiology & modern therapeutics (he believed in silly pseudoscience such as Homoeopathy, Ayurveda & Unani), industrial revolution, etc. Thus, a silly, nonsensical life philosophy may Not be in conflict with a sensible mission in life. Nevertheless, I think it’s advisable to choose a sensible life philosophy.
Religion as well as Spiritualism is a load of Rubbish. They each are a set of silly, unscientific ideas, beliefs & practices, as I see it. According to Karl Marx, ‘ “religion … is the opiate of the masses.” ’ ( Opium of the people )* Religion or spiritualism provides you with No answers to any problems of life; it brings No real relief to the oppressed & deprived but creates an illusion of great comfort for people addicted to this stuff. Therefore, Neither of them deserves to be considered sensible.
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*‘Religion … is the opium of the people.’: A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right
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Forgive & forget as a tenet sounds noble. But universal, indiscriminate love & forgiveness that Jesus preached sounds Neither sane Nor sensible. Criminals will turn bigger criminals if they’re assured of forgiveness. Corruption & the abuse of power will surpass all limits to lead to total anarchy and thus bring about the collapse of civilisations if people indulging in such things are assured of being forgiven after being found out. This explains why Christianity doesN’t deserve to be considered a Sensible Life Philosophy.
Buddhism teaches you that life is an endless sea of sorrow, and so it’s pointless to try to find answers to any problems of life in order to make your life worth living, and that it’s sensible to embrace death (nirvana) and thus escape from the unlivable earth as soon as possible, and so it asks you to beg instead of working for a living in order to stay alive before dying. Is there anything sensible in this faith?
Islam means to me burqa & jihad and silly belief in an Nonexistent entity called Allah. As I see it, Islam is afraid of the female body, female features, female hair, i.e., in a word, everything female, so much so that it has made wearing burqa covering head to toe mandatory for every female, and it hates nonbelievers so much so that it urges its followers to join in jihad aimed at making the world free of nonbelievers. Islam is also terrified of magic, music, dancing, painting, sculpting, etc. I doN’t know anyone who regards it as a Sensible Life Philosophy.
Hindutva & Hinduism mean to me varnashram first and foremost. It’s the most abominable doctrine I’ve heard of so far. By this doctrine, humans are born superior and inferior; thus, your social position is also determined by your birth, No matter how talented you are or how great big your achievement in life is. These disgusting faiths also mean silly idolatry, worshipping beasts like cows & monkeys, etc. The Hindutva also means the belief that cow piss is an elixir, beating beef eaters, strong anti-Muslim passion, total disrespect for individual freedom, silly dream of HinduRashtra & RamRajya, etc. Hinduism is believed to have originated from the Vedic Sanatana Dharma, a disgustingly antilife doctrine, that preaches aversion to life and asks you to embrace Death ( moksha ), ‘the supreme goal’ of life by it, through the cult of yoga. None of these faiths deserves to be recognised as a Sensible Life Philosophy, as I see it.
The silly doctrine of Individualism canNot deserve to be recognised as a Sensible Life Philosophy because the interest of society is paramount. An individual being an insignificant member of society who’s unable to survive outside of society, the individual’s interest canNot have primacy over the interest of society.
Secularism vis-à-vis religion as well as spiritualism is a sensible principle, and certainly it becomes all the sensible people of the world to embrace it, but it canNot be reckoned a Sensible Life Philosophy. Secularism canNot stop you from turning individualist and indulging in self-aggrandizement. Furthermore, secular ethics or values canNot provide you with proper guidance when you must make a choice between sticking to honesty and having recourse to illicit means to make easy money, between a sumptuous but meaningless lifestyle and a healthy, meaningful life or between the pro-war stance and the antiwar stance; Nor do they tell you which side you’re to align yourself with: the class-ridden capitalist world or the classless world order.
Altruism (philanthropic charitableness) appears great. Nevertheless, altruism seems to be the luxury befitting the exploiting-class idlers like Bill Gates, the billionaire addicted to giving away. They’re fabulously wealthy people, but they doN’t create wealth. The wealth they possess is the fruit of hard labour of the poor millions, the 99%, Really. It’s the Fundamental law of the market economy that’s to blame for the accumulation of fabulous wealth in the hands of an insignificant few, the 1%, some of whom love to indulge in the luxury of giving away. The mightiest argument against altruism is the fact that it engenders the beggar-psychology among the beneficiaries of the altruistic alms, the 99%, who then turn immune to all sense of shame and self-respect and thus turn a blind eye to the fact that the altruistic alms given to them is in reality the product of the sweat of their own brow. The beggar-psychology thus contributes to the perpetuation of the ignominious social order responsible for the disgusting dependence of the Exploited on the altruism of their Exploiters. Evidently, altruism canNot be reckoned a Sensible Life Philosophy of the 99%.
Patriotism is a great virtue that contributes most to the fight for and the safeguarding of the national freedom. But it has serious limitations. Patriots love the land, water, air, climate, fruits, flowers, forests. rivers, hills & mountains, sunrise & sunset, natural beauty, etc. of their motherland a lot, but little do they care about the plight of their people. Patriotism does Not enlighten people about what is meant by or how they can lead a Healthy & Meaningful life. Patriotism doesN’t enlighten the 99% about the evil behind their pathetic plight and the way they can rid themselves of it. Patriotism doesN’t enlighten you about the ignominy of the division of society into the 1%, the privileged idlers, and the 99%, swarms of the deprived, that sweat blood to produce all wealth & luxuries and thus keep civilisations moving and advancing. Patriotism canNot provide you with the power needed to vanquish the allure of easy money through illicit means. Thus, patriotism canNot be acceptable to a man looking for a Sensible Life Philosophy, the way I see it.
Feminism canNot be the life philosophy of a man. Besides, feminism is seriously flawed. Feminists are blind Not only to their own faults but to as crucial an issue as the dignity of the womanhood as well. Feminism does Not enlighten women about the fact that bearing babies the way cows & nanny goats produce their young Not only arouses disgust and disrespect for women but also makes men wonder whether human females consider themselves human fully. Cows & nanny goats doN’t need to bring up their young. But human kids have got a long childhood and a long student life during which they need to be provided with decent food, clothing, housing, healthcare, education, entertainment, etc., etc., i.e. a lot of things needed for the proper upbringing of a human kid. Evidently, you need a huge sum of money to ensure the proper upbringing of a human kid. A woman does Not possess that financial capability. Nor is a man a Lion of a man. Who would ensure the provision of so much money for the proper upbringing of a human kid? Feminism does Not tell women that it’s Not only criminal to disregard this great big question before procreating babies but against the dignity of the womanhood as well. Further, feminism does Not enlighten women about the fact that freeing the nipple or vulva woN’t bring them anything meaningful Really. Feminism does Not enlighten them either about the Real causes behind the injustice & discrimination they have been undergoing since prehistoric times. Feminism has Not to date awakened them to the fact that matrimony is Fundamentally antifeminine as well as the fact that a man is Not a Lion of a man (i.e. a guy with ability to make a worthy hubby). Feminism hasN’t to date awakened them either to the root cause behind the still-persistent evil called gender pay gap and the way to get rid of it. Feminism does Not enlighten them about the causes behind the widening wealth & income disparity and the consequent horrendous deprivation of the 99% of humanity. Clearly, feminism is Not a Sensible Life Philosophy.
As I see it, a Sensible Life Philosophy must urge you to choose a Sensible mission in life first. It must also urge you to lead a Healthy & Meaningful existence. Thus, the Principle of Healthy & Meaningful Living appears to be the Most sensible life philosophy of sensible guys.
The Right Life Philosophy Of Communists
Communists are the Most sensible and the Most enlightened people. When communists speak, the world should keep mum and listen to every word they utter. Humanity still happens to be way too benighted to be reckoned civilised truly. It’s the communists’ mission in life to lead humanity to Enlightenment. Therefore, as I see it, in order to deserve to be recognised as a communist worthy of the name, you must have the Most sensible life philosophy. The question is, what deserves to be the Right life philosophy of a communist? I posted this question on some social-media pages. Almost all the responses were silly, and None of the respondents gave the impression that they cared to think over this stuff ever before.
A member of the Marxist Internet Discussion Group said, ‘ The purpose of [his] life is to Secure the Future!’ As I see it, a life philosophy that encourages you to undergo poverty and privation at present to make your future secure and make it your mission in life becomes the silly devout people that do Not object to their pathetic plight in their earthly life and cherish the silly dream of a happy afterlife in a mythical Paradise. I pointed to him that he may suffer an untimely death in an accident or from some unexpected illness like the COVID-19 before enjoying his secure future in his old age. The guy then expressed a desire to rid humanity of wage slavery. I told him that such a task deserves to be his mission in life, Not his life philosophy. I’m sceptical of whether it deserves to be reckoned a sensible mission in life. Ridding humanity of wage slavery is too Great big a mission to be accomplished by an individual that happens to be an insignificant member of society. An individual can at best make some contribution to this mission.
Another respondent said he wants to ensure that his personal freedom ‘from police torture, from group aggression etc.’ is safeguarded in a society with plethora of wealth while another said his goal is to free himself from ‘exploitation and oppression’ and ‘ to regain control of [his] life by destroying the commodification of labor power.’ It’s evident that both these guys are unaware of the distinction between the life philosophy and the mission in life.
Another guy’s response was this: ‘ Paint, sew, sleep, walk, play, laugh, meditate, create, work in socially necessary roles, help and care for all ’. It’s implied that this guy’s life philosophy is something that tells him that it makes sense to live a lively life full of activities like painting, sewing, sleeping, etc. Activities he’s fond of doN’t appear silly, meditation being the only exception. Nevertheless, painting or creating a lot, if done without a meaningful purpose, may amount to the waste of a lot of your precious time and energy, as I see it. Performing the ‘socially necessary roles’, such as those by the exploiter-altruists like Bill Gates, may help perpetuate the capitalist order. Helping and caring for all sounds like a religious tenet. Not all Really deserve a communist’s help or care. It’s a silly luxury for a guy belonging to the underprivileged, the 99%, to do something to help a member of the 1%, the way I see it. Besides, rapists, racists, terrorists, thieves, smugglers, swindlers, dictators, the corrupt, the warmongers, the reactionary, etc. canNot deserve a communist’s help or caring. As the justification of the practice of meditation, the argument that Not only does it clear ‘the busy mind and elevates human experience and consciousness’, it’s also ‘a scientific method of human development and advancement’ was advanced. In response to my challenge to produce a proof in defence of such claims regarding the benefits of meditation, he finally admitted that he does it just for pleasure like the silly people that take drugs, drink alcohol, take part in religious activities, etc. for pleasure alone as if they were addicted to such things. Nevertheless, it’s clear as day that his implied life philosophy does Not become a communist.
Secularism, Individualism, Self-aggrandizement, etc. canNot deserve to be recognised as sensible stuff, as I’ve already shown, and so None of these deserves to be a communist’s life philosophy, as I see it.
One respondent claimed that Dialectical Materialism is the Right life philosophy of a communist. As I see it, dialectical materialism or ‘materialist dialectic’, as Engels termed it, is both a sound philosophical theory and scientific method meant to help you realize life & the universe.
The ‘materialist dialectic’ tells us that matter as well as the material world exists independently of our awareness and is perceptible to our senses. The material world does Not owe its origin to the ideas or thoughts in our mind; rather, our ideas & thoughts are reflections of the material world. It also tells us that perpetual change is the law of nature. The world we belong to is a material world, and everything in it is in constant motion and constantly undergoing change. Things are coming into being and passing away, and this happens to be an incessant natural process.
‘… every finite mode of existence of matter,’ observes Engels, ‘ whether it be sun or nebular vapour, single animal or genus of animals, chemical combination or dissociation, is equally transient, and wherein nothing is eternal but eternally changing, eternally moving matter and the laws according to which it moves and changes.’ (Chapter 1: Introduction, Dialectics of Nature by Frederick Engels)
The ‘materialist dialectic’ acquaints us with three laws of dialectics:
1. ‘ The law of the transformation of quantity into quality and vice versa’
2. ‘ The law of the interpenetration of opposites’ (aka the law of unity & struggle of opposites)
3. ‘ The law of the negation of the negation’
(Engels’ Dialectics of Nature, II. Dialectics)
The ‘materialist dialectic’ led Marx & Engels to formulate the materialist conception of history, the foundation theory of the theory of communism.
Like all the celestial bodies, everything, living or nonliving, on the earth is undergoing constant change; everything, human beings and human societies included, is in the constant process of evolution. The materialist conception of history enlightens us about the law governing the evolution of social organisations, the law behind the evolutionary as well as revolutionary transformation of societies. It also enlightens us about the contradictiions existing in capitalist orders as well as the insoluble contradiction of capitalism that led to the supersession (negation) of early capitalism by welfare capitalism, the contradiction that is certain to bring about the supersession of welfare capitalism by communism eventually.
‘The materialist conception of history starts from the proposition that the production of the means to support human life and, next to production, the exchange of things produced, is the basis of all social structure; that in every society that has appeared in history, the manner in which wealth is distributed and society divided into classes or orders is dependent upon what is produced, how it is produced, and how the products are exchanged. From this point of view, the final causes of all social changes and political revolutions are to be sought, not in men’s brains, not in men’s better insights into eternal truth and justice, but in changes in the modes of production and exchange.’ : Frederick Engels (Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, III [Historical Materialism])
‘The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life,’ remarked Marx. (Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy) ‘It is not the consciousness of men’, further wrote Marx, ‘that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness. At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production … From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution. The changes in the economic foundation lead sooner or later to the transformation of the whole immense superstructure.’ (ibid)
The dialectical materialism or historical materialism or science deserves to be a subject of your study. You can make the study of such a subject your mission in life. Nevertheless, life is far bigger than a mere subject of study or research. As I see it, it makes sense to lead a Healthy & Meaningful life. None of these subjects enlightens you about the Principle of Healthy & Meaningful Living. A materialist, like a scientist, may Not be able to resist the allure of addiction to drugs, alcohol, matrimony, etc. or easy money through illicit means. They can indulge, like Richard Dawkins (a natural scientist and yoga addict), in rank hypocrisy and, like Nobel-laureate economics geniuses, stand for the moribund capitalism or democratic socialism (a sort of welfare capitalism). So, I doN’t think dialectical materialism, historical materialism, natural science or economic science deserves to be the life philosophy of a sensible guy.
Socialism (scientific) aka Communism aims at a free world, a world free of exploitation, deprivation, discrimination, domination, and all other sorts of society-endorsed injustice, a world where everyone is free to lead a Healthy & Meaningful existence, the way I see it. Socialism or communism canNot be your life philosophy. Rather, it’s your life philosophy that should tell you what you must choose when you have to choose between capitalism and communism. Communism is essentially a theory that acquaints you with the concept of the communist world order and enlightens you about whether it’s practicable. Communism does Not tell you that it becomes humanity and makes sense too to lead a Healthy & Meaningful life. Theory of communism doesN’t enlighten you about the uselessness of leading an existence without any meaningful purpose or mission in life. In the free world that communism aims at, everyone is free to lead a life of their choice as long as it does Not come into conflict with the communist order and the just interest of anyone else. Communism woN’t force you to give up your belief in God or gods or matrimony, but it woN’t allow you to coerce anyone for organising or for joining in the puja of deities, Nor will it allow you to engage in the luxury of a family. The theory of communism does Not enlighten the 99% about the disgrace of being born poor to sweat blood to produce all wealth & luxuries and thus keep civilisations moving and advancing but lead a hard and humble existence like beasts of burden and grow poorer and poorer throughout their life. It doesN’t enlighten them either about the ignominy of being exploited by some insignificant few of prodigal idlers, the 1%, that Truly make No contribution to civilisations but lead a fabulous lifestyle before their silly eyes. Nor does it enlighten them about the ignominy and ridiculousness of their beggar-psychology and beggarly dependence on the meagre amount of welfare alms that Truly happens to be an insignificant part of the huge wealth created by themselves by the sweat of their brow.
So far No sensible guys, Nor any professed communists, have stood for or uttered a word against the humble Principle of Healthy & Meaningful Living. A professed Marxist named Leland Ornelaz recently remarked, ‘… pretty much what’s stated in the text [of the Principle of Healthy & Meaningful Living ] is the manifesto rehashed as in new age spiritual rhetoric. So not really much to disagree on.’ Strangely, he uttered a straightforward ‘No’ in response to my query of whether I might ‘expect [him] to state pointblank whether [he is] for this Principle or against it’. He did Not claim either that this principle is unworthy of being regarded as the communists’ life philosophy. The Socialist Party of Great Britain areN’t against it, but they haveN’t agreed to date to recognise it as the Life Philosophy of communists.
conclusion
In the light of all the points discussed above, I think it’s the Principle of Healthy & Meaningful Living that alone deserves to be the Right Life Philosophy of all the sensible men and women as well as communists, the Most sensible guys of the world.
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