Whats wrong with being woke?

[Consept]

Hey guys, so ive decided to build up a habit of writing, most likely will be around topics like spirituality, society, just different things. Usually i quite enjoy it even if its not for anything in particular, im trying to work on my attachment to outcome as well, many times when i was writing the piece below i was thinking about what other might think about it, so stuff to work on other than the actual writing. Anyway opinions welcome both on the content and the way it was written -

Whats wrong with being woke?

For a few years now there have been opposing sides engaging on the battlefields of twitter, youtube, newspaper sites comments sections and pretty much any place you can leave a comment and get a reply. This so called culture war has on one side the woke, social justice warrior far left and on the other the anti-woke which can include anything left leaning to centrist to far right. The war seems to be about what should be defined as mainstream culture, the woke might say people should be free to express themselves without any discrimination, failure to do this could suppress some peoples contribution of perspective and new ideas, the anti-woke might say people should be free to express themselves regardless of who is offended, failure to do this could suppress some peoples contribution of perspective and new ideas. 

 

Since both sides are arguing for and against this term its important to know what exactly ‘woke’ means. Ill save you the full etymology, but the term woke initially came from the African-American community to highlight those that were aware of the social and racial justice issues going on in the 1940s. The saying more specifically was ‘stay woke’ as in, be aware of how we’re being treated and raise awareness to others. In a spiritual context you might say someone is awake if they are aware of the illusion of ego, so essentially someone who is not run by their mind, the implication being that if you are run by your mind, you are asleep or unconscious, i am aware putting about 5000 years of spiritual searching into a sentence, but i will cover this topic in more death in another piece. 

 

Woke tends to imply a spiritual context, when i started hearing the term more and more a few years ago, i thought this was what people were talking about, what i came to learn is that its more a catch all for left wing politics. Specifically referring to things under the umbrella of social justice and socially liberal causes such as LGBT rights, third wave feminism, black lives matter and so on. Of course this differs with the spiritual idea of being awake, as being woke is being aware of some kind of content, whereas being spiritually awake is to be aware of illusion and so it is a negation. 

 

This idea of being aware of something that others aren’t is something that has been with humans, probably since they could be aware of something someone else was not aware of. There is a thing within all of us where we search for certainty but also to be right in comparison with most others. The trope of ‘i once was blind but now i see’ is the common denominator of all ideology, religion, lifestyles, its the pseudo hero’s journey of ignorance to enlightenment. ‘At one point i didn’t believe in God, now my eyes are open and i know God is real’ or At one point i believed in God, now my eyes are open and i know he’s not real’. This journey is prevalent in many films and tv shows, The Matrix is a great example in which office drone Neo, through the help of rebels, discovers that the world he lives in is a simulation and thus breaks out and realises there are no limits. This story gave birth to the term ‘The Red Pill’ of which Neo is given the option to take to reveal this illusion. The term ‘The Red Pill’ or indeed other colours of pills, has been co-opted to mean ones acceptance of a particular ideology as the dominant ‘truth’. 

 

As you can see there is a clear distinction between the spiritual meaning of awakening of realising all is illusion and the ideological meaning of accepting a particular ‘truth’ or more accurately a perspective, the main difference is content and belief. Another way to frame it would be a spiritual perspective would encompass all perspectives and be aware of delusion and other mental tricks, an ideology rejects all other beliefs except one. What is clear though, is that we all search for truth and we all seek to be awake, the mistake is that we believe a particular concept will mean that we’re awake. Whats funny is that no one seems to classify themselves as asleep, if someone suddenly becomes woke, they will assert that previously they were asleep and now they know what’s going on, if they then think wokeness has gone too far and pull back they would say, previously they just didn’t get the whole picture, now they do. This is pretty much the case for most people, question it yourself, what did you once believe that now you think is stupid and have you now got the whole picture?

 

The point is that the picture is always the picture, our perception of either a small part of it or the entirety of it is what changes. It is a constant journey to see the whole thing, what limits this is being stuck on one section of the picture and fighting others who say there is more to it than that, however those saying there’s more could also be stuck on another part of the picture. Survival, both individual and tribal also plays its part in this, if you notice most people who protest or fight for justice for a specific issue are people affected by that specific issue. It seems obvious that this would be the case, but again its all to do with perspective, if you see yourself just as what you’ve defined yourself as then of course you won’t consider others causes, especially if it is seemingly in opposition with your cause. The feminist movement and the mens rights movement are often in direct conflict, this is because its often seen in a very binary way, either women are exaggerating or men are trying to distract from female issues. The truth is that there are issues on both sides, the dismissal of either sides plight just builds contempt and a stubborn need to win. 

 

Dropping all binary positions and seeing whole perspectives and incorporating systems thinking is not where we’re at as a society, we’re not really even close to that. It maybe something to consider teaching in schools but I’m sure there will be many parents that object to their child being taught that the ideology that their parents have taught them is probably not true, just look at creationism still being taught as undeniably true in some schools. 

 

So what can be done now? Ultimately it comes down to each individuals ability to widen their perspective and to not hold fixed positions. As i mentioned earlier we all seem to think we’re at the absolute pinnacle of knowledge, we need to realise we’re not and take a student outlook of constant learning. Specifically learn about the positions that oppose yours, what truth can you find within them? Most of the time we look at opposing views with our hearts beating just in case there is something that makes sense, in our heads we dismiss or belittle the opposing side to make ourselves cope with what might be truth and hang on to the perspective that’s given us certainty. Let go of fixed positions, true awakening and getting out of the matrix is the understanding that these positions are illusion, being enslaved in the matrix is thinking you have the right position that you need to defend or that there is a final boss position that you need to get to. 

  

[Preety_India]

Two words why woke culture or anti woke culture will always exist (and so will bipartisan politics) 

One self preservation 

Second bias (confirmation bias) 

 

 

[No Self]

47 minutes ago, Consept said:

This is pretty much the case for most people, question it yourself, what did you once believe that now you think is stupid and have you now got the whole picture?

There is a term for this idea that the current worldview is complete, but I can't remember of it.

Lots of thought-provoking ideas in your commentary. I would not draw any parallel between political open-mindedness to nuance and spiritual enlightenment. An individual breaking free of the tribalism of us-versus-them of internet-age political discourse may make for a much richer intellectual contribution, but has nothing to do with any sort of ego transcendence. Best to focus on one topic or the other.

The term woke seems to have increasingly become a derogatory term for the most aggressive SJW antics. Interestingly, the same issue was raised repeatedly in the manifesto of the infamous 'Unabomber', Ted Kaczynski, way back in 1995:

". Those who are most sensitive about “politically incorrect” terminology are not the average black ghettodweller, Asian immigrant, abused woman or disabled person, but a minority of activists, many of whom do not even belong to any “oppressed” group but come from privileged strata of society."

"...if one believes that affirmative action is good for black people, does it make sense to demand affirmative action in hostile or dogmatic terms? Obviously it would be more productive to take a diplomatic and conciliatory approach... Helping black people is not their real goal. Instead, race problems serve as an excuse for them to express their own hostility and frustrated need for power. In doing so they actually harm black people, because the activists’ hostile attitude toward the white majority tends to intensify race hatred."

When this message is digested, the conclusion must surely be drawn that both leftist identity politics and right-wing short-sightedness are both deeply flawed positions that are only propped up by the psychology of tribalism. Indeed, there's much in common with sports, where no one would claim that their favourite football team is genuinely superior, yet they derive much pleasure from cheering them on regardless.

The flaw with the right-wing position is that it assumes a righteous distinction between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' of society - particularly those who fit nicely into the stereotype of the middle or upper-class Christian family. It minimises the plights of all others as representing varying degrees of degeneracy. But neglecting people of colour is the least of the issues here; taken to the extreme, the entire ecosystem, clean air, healthy oceans, a safe climate, are amongst the 'victims' of their apathetic self-interest, which obviously will at some point make them victims of their own simplistic worldview as ecological destruction eventually impacts them.

Meanwhile, the leftist flaw involves an emphasis on aggressive identity politics - black vs. white, male vs. female, LGBT vs. straight, etc. - which triggers social mayhem whilst completely obscuring the most universal issues of extreme wealth inequality and environmental mass-extinction. Worse, the reverse-psychological effect of leftist hostility has the result of bringing us right-wing movements that are proud of environmental destruction to 'punish' leftists as vengeance for being shamed for their straightness, whiteness or maleness (a major theme of the Trump era). The entire political climate is insane at this point.

Yet what a small minority it is who will admonish both insane points of view and focus directly on universal issues like the growing failure of our economic system and the absurdity of attacking the environment that sustains us!

[Megan Alecia]

@Consept

"What can be done now"

Quote

take a student outlook of constant learning

Make the world a school. Leo talked about this at some point, so to speak, when he mentioned just wondering why things happen, just figuring out how things work. So that's one way to do it. 

Another important thing is to just accept and appreciate. Accept and feel sadness, longing, pain. Get to know your anger and realize what its all about. There's a lot of asking that is possible nowadays - technology's a massive gift. 

Treating the world as a school. In a school you learn and yet you're still a student, no matter how good you are. Well, applying the lessons too. 

The truth is here, and yet its not here. Time gives the truth but time - were within time. We cannot grasp it. So might as well live, enjoy life, and learn. 

"While you live, live." - J Krishnamurti

[Consept]

@No Self Hey, thanks for taking the time to read and for replying in such depth, very much appreciated. 

I resonate with a lot of what you say, so great to get the conversation going. 

25 minutes ago, No Self said:

There is a term for this idea that the current worldview is complete, but I can't remember of it.

Ill have to look into that, surely must exist as its prevalent with most people. 

27 minutes ago, No Self said:

Lots of thought-provoking ideas in your commentary. I would not draw any parallel between political open-mindedness to nuance and spiritual enlightenment. An individual breaking free of the tribalism of us-versus-them of internet-age political discourse may make for a much richer intellectual contribution, but has nothing to do with any sort of ego transcendence. Best to focus on one topic or the other.

Yeah you might be right here, i tend to have a bias toward spirituality but in the context of the piece it could just be framed as genuine open-mindedness rather than going the full spiritual route. Having said that all all attraction to ideologies could be said to be because of a spiritual deficit or a misunderstanding of spirituality, the result of which is buying into an ideology wholesale, but either way the topic could be more concise. Essentially im trying to go as meta as i can with anything i write about but it gets difficult as it gives you such a wide scope that you an end up writing a book trying to deconstruct everything. 

32 minutes ago, No Self said:

When this message is digested, the conclusion must surely be drawn that both leftist identity politics and right-wing short-sightedness are both deeply flawed positions that are only propped up by the psychology of tribalism. Indeed, there's much in common with sports, where no one would claim that their favourite football team is genuinely superior, yet they derive much pleasure from cheering them on regardless.

The flaw with the right-wing position is that it assumes a righteous distinction between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' of society - particularly those who fit nicely into the stereotype of the middle or upper-class Christian family. It minimises the plights of all others as representing varying degrees of degeneracy. But neglecting people of colour is the least of the issues here; taken to the extreme, the entire ecosystem, clean air, healthy oceans, a safe climate, are amongst the 'victims' of their apathetic self-interest, which obviously will at some point make them victims of their own simplistic worldview as ecological destruction eventually impacts them.

Meanwhile, the leftist flaw involves an emphasis on aggressive identity politics - black vs. white, male vs. female, LGBT vs. straight, etc. - which triggers social mayhem whilst completely obscuring the most universal issues of extreme wealth inequality and environmental mass-extinction. Worse, the reverse-psychological effect of leftist hostility has the result of bringing us right-wing movements that are proud of environmental destruction to 'punish' leftists as vengeance for being shamed for their straightness, whiteness or maleness (a major theme of the Trump era). The entire political climate is insane at this point.

Yes this is an excellent commentary on the flaws of the right and left, this could be a fruitful topic in of itself, as you dont get many articles that criticise and show the limits of both sides. Both are potentially dangerous if they are not grounded in some kind of non-biased (as possible) understanding. 

 

34 minutes ago, No Self said:

Yet what a small minority it is who will admonish both insane points of view and focus directly on universal issues like the growing failure of our economic system and the absurdity of attacking the environment that sustains us!

Yes ultimately which side whos on doesnt matter, what needs to be worked out is what is the best thing for the planet and for us as humans, it would be great if civil, non-partisan discussions could take place that involve various experts in each relevant field coming to conclusions on what we should do. Problem is the public still have tribal tendencies, in which they may get bored of that type of politics, they need entertainment, sense of belonging, purpose etc, if politics was how i laid out the current average person may not be interested in it unfortunately. 

 

12 minutes ago, Megan Alecia said:

@Consept

"What can be done now"

Make the world a school. Leo talked about this at some point, so to speak, when he mentioned just wondering why things happen, just figuring out how things work. So that's one way to do it. 

Another important thing is to just accept and appreciate. Accept and feel sadness, longing, pain. Get to know your anger and realize what its all about. There's a lot of asking that is possible nowadays - technology's a massive gift. 

Treating the world as a school. In a school you learn and yet you're still a student, no matter how good you are. Well, applying the lessons too. 

The truth is here, and yet its not here. Time gives the truth but time - were within time. We cannot grasp it. So might as well live, enjoy life, and learn. 

"While you live, live." - J Krishnamurti

Thanks for your input as well, very true, it is about how we learn through life, the issue is communicating this to the average person, or maybe the way is just to lead by example