Do you think people too easily fall for what I call the 'final conclusion delusion'
As in you discover an obscure philosophy or political doctrine and then kid yourself that you've reached the end of some sort of journey and that there can be no development on from that point. Anyone who doesn't agree with you hasn't been enlightened yet.
I think this can be seen all over the place with how rigidly people stick to their political beliefs and form factions left, and right, Brexit, remain etc.
I also, think the more obscure the viewpoint the more you feel like you've discovered some perfect nugget of pure truth. And I believe this is why small cults can gain such devoted following. For example, a while back I found out about an early 19th century cult leader named gurdjieff and was convinced I'd come across something miraculous. However, the more I looked into it the more I realized there was nothing really there. He produced a 1000 page book called 'beelzebub's tale for his grandson' which was supposed to have some hidden meaning in it, but really was designed to be completely unintelligible to read.
From now on Ive become more wary of big books that claim to be the final and complete explanation for everything, whether it's the bible, Marx's das Kapital or anything else. Be on the look out, because it could end up being just another beelzebubs tale to his grandson.
I think this can be seen all over the place with how rigidly people stick to their political beliefs and form factions left, and right, Brexit, remain etc.
I also, think the more obscure the viewpoint the more you feel like you've discovered some perfect nugget of pure truth. And I believe this is why small cults can gain such devoted following. For example, a while back I found out about an early 19th century cult leader named gurdjieff and was convinced I'd come across something miraculous. However, the more I looked into it the more I realized there was nothing really there. He produced a 1000 page book called 'beelzebub's tale for his grandson' which was supposed to have some hidden meaning in it, but really was designed to be completely unintelligible to read.
From now on Ive become more wary of big books that claim to be the final and complete explanation for everything, whether it's the bible, Marx's das Kapital or anything else. Be on the look out, because it could end up being just another beelzebubs tale to his grandson.
26-30, M
