What happened? I was asleep and dreaming. And then suddly, I realized what makes me different compared to others: My constant struggle against things that can’t be accepted. Once you stop fighting, you are lost. So, I screamed a loud NO in my dream. A NO that was existential and disrupted the layers of dreams which entangled myself. A NO that simply came from the above realization. That’s why I am awake now and why I am writing this. Thoughts came flowing in. About life that is a battlefield, and you have to keep on fighting, if you want to achieve anything. Without saying no, there is no change!
But how to know to what you should say no to, and what to do afterwards? Well, that’s actually the matter of ethics. And for myself I already found a good answer: I fight for the Ascent of Life. But I guess, for other persons that’s no real help, so I should elaborate more. Well, there’s a difference between a destructive no and a creative no. While the destructive no simply wants to destroy something, the creative no goes on in living the essence of revolt by creating something completely new and unheard of. If I simply had awakened from my no, then the only effect would have been that the quality of my sleep was diminished, but instead the effect of that no continues existing by pushing me to write this text.
The destructive no: “No, I hate you!”
The constructive no: “No, look there’s a better alternative!”
The destructive no: Millions of people die (war, genocide), which changes nothing.
The constructive no: Millions of people live and revolt (peaceful revolution), changing everything.
While the destructive no just destroys and doesn’t create anything new and thus perpetuates some old structures, only the constructive no can really improve the situation to the better for everyone. If you have n structures, all of which are nasty and intolerable and you just destroy one of them, you are still left with n-1 nasty structures, which are still enough to turn this world into a hellish nightmare for everyone except a few. Do not make this mistake! Create something new, or will all are doomed!
Take a look at history: What was the abloishment of slavery? I say, it was just a destructive no, not really changing the supressive structures which still were and are: Some class rules, some other class serves. Imagine what some ruling class person might have thought: “Slavery doesn’t work anymore? But hey, now we have wage slavery, so everything’s still fine for me, if I impose my will on reality with slightly different means.” A destructive no is by no means a sustainable solution. Just opposing the negative aspects of reality just leads to an endless chain of destructive nos where only the greatest injustice is attacked, but not the structures which in essence create all the injustice. So, after abolishing slavery, the civil right movement had to be initiated which was a much more creative no.
Or just think about the system of law. Every law is a destructive no, because it disallowes only specific behaviour while permitting slightly different behaviour, which still can be caused by the same selfish intents and have the same detrimental effects on life as the original behaviour. Thus, the system of law is not sustainable. It will continue growing, accumulating highly formalized law after law, until it collapses. What is sustainable are the results of constructive nos: Basic rights for as many people as possible, for example the human rights. Of course, human rights will have to be expanded to also include non-human persons, but their positive essence will remain.
Or take another kind of destructive no: Saying no to religion without providing a sufficient alternative. The effectiveness of this approach is nearly zero as you can see when considering the revival of religions by the people after the fall of the soviet union. Although today’s secular humanism is a much more constructive no than “communism” it still seems to lack something spiritual which could really attract people. That’s why I feel the need to create something like this postreligion of the Ascent of Life. Simple absense of religion just feels too sober for us humans who think that life should have a higher meaning. Simply opposing religion and not providing a real new meaning will eventually lead to… nothing, except some cosmetic change. Therefore, I predict that simple secularism will eventually fail, if it keeps staying a stand-alone project.
Or even take this blog as example. I started with those very destructive nos which you can find in the “Deathrant” category and ended up with screaming new, constructive nos, which are called Ascent of Life or Visions of Life. So, with some good ideas and enough reflection, a destructive no can be transformed into a constructive no.
You could also consider the following parallel, although it might not fit perfectly:
Yes: Thesis
Destructive No: Antithesis
Constructive No: Synthesis
Maybe, this makes clear that the destructive no is something like a necessary intermediate step. Just as my own personal phase of unbridled egoism about six years ago was necessary to overcome conventional morals and leaning towards utilitarianism and finally distilling the idea of the Ascent of Life.
And all that implies that I have to do what I’m trying to do now: Invent a new post-religion (Ascent of Life), create a new sci-fi universe (Visions of Life) and everything that’s connected to that like new economic systems and so on. If I’d simply write down what I can’t stand in this world, I wouldn’t come to any meaningful end.
But now I can come to a conclusion, which is screaming a constructive no:
No, just don’t defend or oppose the current world! Invent a bright new world with the burning power of your creativity! We are the life!
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