Most of us will, at the end of time, either die or live. Biologically, nobody escapes death, it is a brutal fact of nature that all living creatures must return to prime matter, Memento, homo, quia pulvis es in pulverem reverteris. Aristotle called this process (the inevitable return to prime matter) decay, if there is fate, it is the iron law of decay. Fortunately and by Providence, The World, that is, man’s partaking in reality, has more going on for him than pigs and vegetables have. We might not escape death by ourselves, but we can put up a fight, we can be good sport because we are historical animals. Man is historical, that is to say, he might transcend time. He might, for sure, but he might also die, twice: Once by decay, once by the turn of the clock. Some of those yet to be caught by decay, those still alive that is, will laugh and live beyond their bodily prison, they will be historically alive and remain so for posterity; others, however, will be indistinguishable from pigs. To be remembered and not forgotten is what Aristotle and the Greeks called happiness, eudaimonia, “being good spirited”. In the natural order of things to be honoured is the highest good of man, to be forgotten, the concurrence of all maladies upon ourselves. This grasp of history made the Greeks weary when it came to declare a man´s life good or bad, a happy life or a failed one. The Greeks understood (only to well!) that sometimes being forgotten is preferable, is the second best option; they knew of a third ending to this veil of tears: Infamy, that is, to live against virtue. Those who are not forgotten because they made of their life one entire cautionary saga, would have been pigs rather than men. And, after this long struggle, there will be time for the supernatural, the time of Judgement will come: We will then all be brought back to life, to unadulterated biological life, for a second time. Then God will judge, quattuor novissima, Four last things will manifest’s every single destiny, the fate of every singe individual soul. At Judgement’s moment, all men will be brought back to life, all those that were once worldly. And out of all worldly beings, some will be risen so as to die twice and some will have the pleasure of seeing God. As I said, most of us will, at the end of time, either die or live. With this, dear reader, you got a lighting course about orthodox eschatology. But what has this packed eschatology to do with a scribbler’s supposed dedication of making manifest the Century?
Eschatology is not our concern here, no, do not be worried, we are talking here about an entirely different subject, a subject sadly and too often left to fortune tellers: the preternatural. This packed eschatology was given so as to to remind that life and death are not the monopoly of biological science, they are, indeed, studied by a plurality of sciences, and best known by the art of living. One needs context to understand that man can be, to a certain extent, both alive and dead. This theological excursus was, then, a cautionary tale and a reminder of what the great themes of History are: Life and Death. As I said, here we talk of the preternatural, because the case at hand is forensically impossible to classify as either a dead body or a living person. With this explanation we see now that life and death are not states but a process1, romantics might call it “a dance”. Morbidity aside, the case is that being alive or dead is essentially relative when it comes to man, it is more complex a question when it comes to human affairs. The question remaining is: Can man be both alive and dead?
Do you believe in ghosts? If you do, I am truly sorry. If you would have believed in demons it might have made sense, but ghosts? A demon dies because it makes an eternal choice of being without God, i.e., because it was naughty; that makes sense, after all, we have all seen children being punished for being naughty, and some of them will never learn, that we can see. Ghosts, however, are the must absurd idea ever conceived by human intelligence. It is intelligible that angels might appear in human form, but humans without a body, dead humans, wandering souls wandering to annoy us? I am sorry to tell you that you need to get proper literacy in both biology and theology, because neither of them register one human being at the same time both dead and alive, maybe at different moments, maybe coming back to life, but none of them talk of being both dead and alive. I have never been fond of gothic novels, no surprise there. The most paranormal thing that has in my lifetime is Benjamin Netanyahu, in short, I am no romantic. As you might have guessed by now, I am oriented towards history, I like to talk in the sphere of Clio, the greatest muse and leave ghosts to fortune tellers.
What relationship has the preternatural with history, you might ask? A surprising one, because history is the only science that might prove me wrong when it comes to leaving ghosts to superstitious and idle women of many years. The relationship between the preternatural and history is one frustrating to the utmost. What and where is this relationship between ghosts and Clio? The relation-correlation has to do with, it is, the human psyche, specifically, our capacity to forget, or our lack of it. As an example, most people have forgotten that, less than a hundred years ago, Hitler was camping across Europe. But isn´t Hitler the most talked about and known historical figure? Hasn´t every edgy teenager made a Hitler joke at some point? Sure, everyone is taught about it, but it would surely do better to not press the issue further, it would be better for all that his relevance was not blown out of proportion. To forget is to heal
Have you seen Zionists? They are a great example of the contradictory nature of historical understanding: On the one hand, they are the must aware people, the must conscientious group when it comes to the Holocaust, on the other hand, they don´t seem to realize that their behaviour, born out of fear, is what is keeping the memory of that sad man alive. They show that Hitler is not dead, the worst of all, some of them are even not aware of his condition, they see him everywhere, even among Arabs (specially among them). Their whole personality is forged by his delusion, even if they don´t realize it, or maybe, because of that. Hitler should be left to infamy and be scorned, not feared. It is a tragedy, for sure, specially for the Hebrew people, that he ever was of the living. But to be scared of Nazis, in 2024, is to believe in ghosts. No, History has nothing to do with facts. A “fact”, for instance, the fact that some lady fell down the stairs yesterday, has no force upon us; Hitler, however, does, Plato does, Donald Trump does. If you don´t know about the disgraced lady, you would be saved from the unnecessary suffering that cheap sympathy brings. Verba non fact is History, have you recently seen dead people speaking? You might have seen a ghost then, or believe you have. History is alive, it rules the world, that is why taught history is important, because it teaches what forces govern you. Nothing new is being said here, this is but an iteration of Cicero´s truism: Historia magistra vitae.
Psychology Thymology, has advanced amazingly over the last couple of centuries and it has taught us of the different forces that govern us, that control us if we leave them be. You have Freud with his Ego, superego and subconscious; Jung and his archetypes; Watson and his rats. We now, after science´s conquest of our personality, know what tricks can be played by ourselves upon ourselves. However, if you have followed closely the rate at which rate the quantity of historical paper has increased and paired it with the decreasing understanding of history we get back you might start to understand how money and banking operate. To make things worse, our world is permeated by a wide and broad historicism. A quick example will show you: We would not say that our grandparents were bigots because “Mars made them bigots” but many of us would say, or have at some point said, that “those were different times”, and we would leave our ancestors’s defence at that; others, not concerned with the fourth commandment, would have called them out with a litany of slurs; what we say with this is that they could not but be bigots, as if they had no choice. The problem here is that when, in the middle of the theological stage, attributed their rage and hatred to Mars is to give an answer, a wrong one for sure, but an answer none the less. But time? What does time do? Nothing, it is a measure of things done, succesion is not causation, post hoc non est propter hoc. Allowance made so as to reiterate the crass error that is historicism, the question needs repetition: What relationship has the preternatural with history? The answer has already been hinted at: When history is unknown, ghosts start to appear.
“History repeats itself” said George Santayana, more aptly put: Man never changes. When great men are still there, unbeknownst to us, that is the worst force to deal with. Sych is a rationalist, but not in the cartesian sense. What yours truly means by rationalism is the iron rule of never letting one selves be scared of ghost, but to be terrified just by imagining the slightest possibility that historical men, great men, are neither known nor recognized, not even feared. Have you ever pondered that maybe the best philosophers are not being read, but instead just quoted in the paragraph of some encyclopaedia, not even taught at universities? What if the dullest knives of the cupboard are thought to be the sharpest? Might ghosts have sharper wit?
Quick question: Have you heard of Fernand van Steenberghen? If you are a scholastic you probably have and that is good, if not, well, you should join us. I think that this XXth century philosopher and historian has manuals that can tour de force any Kantian or cartesian, his manuals, and those of his masters, might have fixed problems that modern philosopher just gave up on. I might be wrong, yours truly is just a scribbler after all. But what if I am right? This kind of questions is why revisionists are always needed, because history is for those that write it. Is not “Fernand Van Steenberghen” a proper name for a ghost? He is one among countless victims of time: some of them are dead, they have not passed the test of times, dead and forgotten, but the worst of all fates, are those that are still ambulating on the World, their power, like that of the Stars were believed to be by the Ancients, is influence, because they do not move others or themselves, instead, they attract things like magnets, or like lamps attract flies. Who will relinquish them?
History is the force of ideas, their force. History like the gods, does not care for the mortal’s suffering, so you better start dealing with it, before you start following dead gods. Clarity needs statements so as to dispel confusion: There are no ghosts, there is no invisible hand, instead, there are entrepreneurs; there are no tides of History, there are groups of men that win, then kill, then rape; the ages don´t even have a spirit, what there is, always, is somebody smarter that made us all look stupid and wrote better speeches. History is the history of great men, great people, great classes of people, History is just greatness refined and polished. There are no ghosts in the world, do not be mistaken by the title: There are no ghosts in the XXIst century, no new gods, just the same Eternal God, and he does not care for his alleged death. But there is something spookier than Stirnerian spooks, scarier than anything some gothic novel can conjure, scarier because they are real, entirely human, inside our neurological conducts. There is, among a unstoppably growing selection one man of this kind, one we all have heard of at some point without giving our full attention. Steenberghen might be as good a philosopher as him but, even if we made him justice, he is nothing next to this beast of a man. You have all heard of him, you might even know his main thesis, all courses of philosophy or social science pass over him. But he remains unseen, he is like Godzilla hiding midday. He is up there, in the hall of the kings of thought, with Plato, with Hegel, with Aquinas; he is read even less than Aquinas. If you read him, you will just be ran over by, what you will discover to be, the source of many if not all of your maladies and allegedly own ideas, you will discover where the discontent of our civilization comes from and the gap that needs filling. Do you think technology is wrecking us? Think about it, isn’t technology the effect of bad stewardship, of worse stewards? Because, after all: What is left after somebody wrecks and destroys everything that might be cherished? Have you ever wondered why our world is filled with both too many engineers and too many fiction writers? Why does sheer technical prowess and idle, fictional, consummated self-indulgence coalesce into one age? Do you ever wonder why believers are dead on the inside, why Richard Dawkins is now a cultural Christian? Just one last question: Do you know who Michel Houellebeq’s, maybe the now living greatest writer, favourite philosopher is? No more waiting, no more pleasantries, may it commence: I present to you August Comte, I will be your guide.
Over the next weeks, and for the remainder of this Chronicle, you will learn what true Litchdom is, how a man became immune to decay. You will learn of a true illusionist, hiding in plain sight, and you might start to see him. He hides so perfectly that we feel his punches without realizing that we are being punched. You will get a Godspeed introduction to August Comte. Over time, he will become a regular companion at Sychronicles. Consider this unfulfilling text, insofar as it does not talk about the world of Comte, his ideas and deeds, the necessary and speculative introduction to such a task. Please, be welcome. What superstition name ghosts, and historians know to be historical anamnesis, cannot be killed, it can only be purged and exorcized. Auguste Comte was not buried in good time, therefore he haunts and preys upon those that do not know History, and are condemned to be idiots.
Do you believe in ghosts? If I might bring up a truism, wrapped up as a question: Is reality stranger than fiction? Yes indeed. Reality trumps everything, always, because every time I read anything by or about the High Priest of Humanity I end up wondering: Why is nobody talking of August Comte? The more I think about this question, the more I fumble with it, the more I start becoming a romantic that believes in ghosts and partakes in sorcery; and the doubt grows in the compounds of my soul that I might believe in ghosts.
One has to clarify this statement, so as to not be taken as a bergsonian vitalist. Life is a process insomuch life implies intrinsic and teleological natural motion. Vivere viventibus est esse, to be alive is to either grow or decay when it comes to man, because he still has potential, both metaphorically and metaphysically. One cannot forget that being, taken as such, is perfection, this is the doctrine of divine simplicity, i.e., that man, being ontologically a composition of essence and the act of being (existence if you prefer aggiornaized lingo), has a perfect principle, because he participates in being, which is God, and he does so because he also as an imperfect principle, which is his essence, which defines the extent to which he can participate in being as such. For the living life is to be, to participate in Life itself and life, for the rational soul, means indefinite growth. Angels are a case of their own, one might add. Life is a intrinsic motion towards being.