Saturday, September 26, 2015

The 3Civilized Ideals: Philosophic, The Gentleman, The Religious


 

It happens time and again Nowadays, that people find themselves excluded from the Society that they seek … not being invited to what Every Else is invited to, or people being ‘too busy’ to attend to your own invitations.  And they may wonder what is wrong, well, besides what their first Thoughts might be – that everyone either does not understand them, or that everybody is jealous and defensive, and that they wish to exclude Him so that they themselves may have an opportunity to Shine.

 

Well, how to decide?  What is the Problem?   Do some people get excluded for simple reasons of jealousy  and envy, or is it More Than That?    Well, perhaps, without Society actually Saying So, in so many words, that there are Rules, Codes… what I would say are IDEALS which, if not strictly followed all the time, must at least Seem to be acknowledged…. Or the ‘None-Ideals’ will simply be ‘Cut’… excluded without a word.   Nobody would SAY or Explain why a Person, perceived to be too far Under an Expected Ideal is ‘Cut’ or shunned, as that would be so unpleasant and so uncalled for.  Social Ostracism can go forward without a single unpleasant word. 

 

 

Now, of course, Society is not made up of Philosophers, Moralists and Theologians.  Yes, all of these Society People have Ideals, but they are probably just ‘tacitly’ understood.  Fin e Society just seems to Know when a Guest or a Host is Perfectly Ideal… or Perfectly UN-Ideal, for that matter, but I think it often just resolves into a Feeling, and that they would be hard pressed to explain it.   But these Ideals Can Be explained. 

 

First:  the Philosophic Ideal.   Philosophic People think and reflect upon their Social Behavior, and remain ever Calm, Unflappable, always Objective.   In experiencing Hardships, they would be Stoics.   When presented with New Moral Systems, they would be Skeptics.   When presented with new Social Systems advanced by Interested Parties, they would be Cynical… but All while remaining Unflappable, Calm and Philosophically Serene.   Such People Never Offend, and so there is never any Reason to Not Invite them to Parties… though they may seem a bit too dull to actually seek out their attendance.  

 

Then there is the Gentlemanly Ideal.   Now, it used to be that being a Gentleman was a Class Distinction, and this may be one of the Driving Forces that persuade ‘Modern’ Common People that Gentlemanly Behavior is a Snobbish Thing which they should avoid, but at the cost of their own Personal Dignity, seeming to prefer the role of being an Uneducated and Unenlightened Commoner.   But, this eventuality had never been the product of any considerable Intent… or I hope not.  You see, with the advent of Universal Education, at least before the 20th Century was much advanced, it was Supposed that the Proper Education could make a ‘Gentleman’, or a ‘Lady’ out of anybody.   It just did not seem to work out. 

 

Anyway, So… what IS the Gentlemanly Ideal?   Well, it is not much different from the Philosophic Ideal but it is a bit more augmented in the direction of Aesthetic Appreciation:   One must Appear Well.  One must be clean and wear fashionable cloths.  Then, one must be Pleasant and Agreeable.  One must be Lucid and understand the direction of Conversations, and be able to take part and Blend In, that is, be an active part of the Social Group.  They must be objective and impartial about things and never offend or ‘act’ offended at what other guests or what the Host may say.   Of Course, you might think all of this is kind of Obvious, and that doing this and Knowing to Do it would be Easy Enough, but the Natural Instincts of Some People tend to push them to being Proud and Independent, argumentative, crass and insulting, or just totally Self-Absorbed without Care or Empathy for the rest of the Social Group.   It seems that being Common, is, well, common.

 

Fine Society is kind of Used to this Problem of  dealing with people beneath their Social Ideal.   When Fine Society was considered a ‘Class Thing’,  it was often thought… very widely thought, in fact… that Business People could never fit into the Gentlemanly Ideal.  Their perceived greedy Self Interests tends to occupy their thoughts, and they can’t seem to attend to the interests or needs of others.   They Talk, but don’t Listen, which makes them, if not Rude, at least it makes them ‘Bores’.  When subjects come up which interest them, whether Pro or Con, then they tend to respond with Partisan Enthusiasm… either For or Against… seeming to be Excited or even Agitated.   But the Social Ideal is to be Objective and Detached – Thoughtful, but never  Zealous… Interested but never Extreme.  Especially, to Never Be Judgmental… as that would be Offensive, and Gentlepeople are Never Offensive.  To imply that another Guest, or, heaven forbid, that the Host is Absolutely WRONG about something, is probably Society’s Number One Sin.   But it is seen as something that Non-Gentlepeople do all the time.  So Fine Society still sees reason for ‘circling’ their wagons, and exerting, well, their Snobbishness.  It must be a bit like Heaven, where it seems only logical that Heaven cannot really be Heaven if too Many ‘Sinners’ are allowed in… and so while God may ‘Love’ everybody, well, Heaven Can Only Be Heaven if only the Good People… the Gentlepeople… are allowed in.   

 

Oh, there must be a particular problem occurs with Lawyers.   It seems that while some Lawyers can make a great deal of money… enough to show themselves in ‘Well’ in Society, that is, ‘clean’ and ‘well dressed’, that they still fail with Society and probably because of their Professional Training.    For instance, if they are not Impartial or Objective, it is because they are trained to be Partisan and Adversarial, and, as is allowed in the Courts, if they don’t like somebody else’s opinion upon things are at issue, well, they won’t hesitate to Attack the other Person’s Knowledge, Judgment, or even Moral Standing in regards to the Subject.  Well, in Fine Society, this is simply seen as too Ruthless… too much from out of a Very Violent and Mean Sub-Culture… from out of the ‘Jungle” –not at all very charming.   And so Lawyers, unless they really learn how to Leave their Work at the Office or back in the Stuffy and Unpleasant Courtroom, will mostly be shunned from Fine Society.

 

Finally, there is the Religious Ideal.   This is perhaps the hardest, or the easiest, to explain.  Religious People think that they should Think and Act as God would think and act.  The Primary Considerations would be that God is Great, All Inclusive, and Above the Common Fray – that God is Transcendental.  So God would be Unflappable.  God would Never be worried or nervous.  God would always be above Insult or Misunderstanding.  God either Understands Everything, or treats Everything as though it could be Understandable if perceived correctly and completely.  The Religious Person’s Assumption is that there is some Divine Meaning in Everything.    Personal Ego is set aside, and everybody and everything else are treated as having some Equal Share in one’s Personal calculations and deliberations. 

 

And then the Religious Ideal also includes some aspects of the Aesthetic:   that Religious People often open up to a Love of All Things… and this is what might set them apart and Above the Philosophic or Gentlemanly Ideals, that they Love or Find Compelling All Things and Everybody, just because they EXIST… that they need no special Reasons or Feelings to Explain it.  They Simply Experience and Respond to All Things as though in a Perpetual State of Bliss.   Of course, such Idealists, if they actually hit that High Mark, are Saints, and as such, perhaps the rarest of all People.   But!  When they do appear, well, they are perceived as being so Nice and Pleasant, that they never lack for Social Invitations… even when their fashion sense seems a bit ‘off’ or their personal hygiene seems a tad wanting.

 

 

Now, these afore mentioned Ideals are no strangers to Western Civilization… there is nothing new in anything I have said.  But it is a matter of concern that our Universal Education Systems make hardly no mention of them.   And so it is that People grow up, get ‘Educated’, and think they are doing all the right things, and still find they have problems being accepted by Fine Society.  And nobody is so unpleasant as to explain why.     

 

And I see the problem only getting worse.   Nowadays, in Western Culture, it is not the Traditional Ideals that get the attention.  The Media – TV, Movies, even Journalism – focus on the More Interesting Story Lines and Character Traits.  We are treated to Greed, Lust, Anger (which is presented as Moral Indignation), Violence and Vindictiveness… that is, we are presented only with the kind of Things that Make for Exciting Drama.   And so it works out that a kind of Unintentional Media Propaganda, that washes over everybody, presents a Way of Life that, really, has no basis in any kind of Idealism.  And nobody pretends that it does.   It is presented as just simple Human Behavior, with the tacit understanding that nobody can ever expect More from Humans than to simply act like, well Walking and Talking Animals from out the Jungle. 

 

But, looking back into History, well, their used to be things called Ideals.  And it was the Recognition of these Ideals… all inherently Spiritual… that separated Man from Beast.  We can be Better than the Animals, but only if we Will to Be Better, and can Envision a Better Life than simple Instinct and all that is simply Predatory can provide for.   Maybe these Ideals are Lost… or maybe not.   It used to be Understood that Ideals were for the Few and were never expected from the Many.   The Advance of the Common Man made everyone expect that Anybody and Everybody could attain to the Same High Levels, but this apparently never happened.  The Common Man stayed, well, Common. 

 

So, Ideals still seem only for the Few.   But there is no restriction on who may adopt them.  Anybody who thinks about it, may certainly become better than Common… it is just that their seems to be no Cultural or surviving Traditional Impulse that encourages the old Ideals that were once held in such high esteem.   It seems to be All Jungle, nowadays.  Survival of the Fittest… the Meanest, the Cruelist… the exact people everyone hates to have at a Party. 

 

Well, what does it all mean?  Well, I guess it comes down to that Civilization is effectively dead, but hasn’t quite ‘fallen down’ yet… and that we are simply transitioning now to a full fledged Barbarism.  It is sad… but I prefer to look upon that eventuality with a Philosophical Composure.  After all, it would not be the First Time that a Civilization had collapsed…  Maybe in the Next Round, we will have splendid Parties again…                            

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