 Erich Fromm, “Conformity”
from The Sane Society (Henry Holt, 1955) and Escape from Freedom (Henry Holt, 1969). What happens to the industrial worker? He spends his best energy for seven or eight hours a day in producing “something.” He needs his work in order to make a living, but his role is essentially a passive one. He fulfills a small isolated function in a complicated and highly organized process of production, and is never confronted with “his” product as a whole, at least not as a producer, but only as a consumer, provided he has the money to buy “his” product in a store. He is concerned neither with the whole product in its physical aspects nor with its wider economic and social aspects. He is put in a certain place, has to carry out a certain task, but does not participate in the organization or management of the work. He is not interested, nor does he know why one produces this, instead of another commodity - what relation it has to the needs of society as a whole. The shoes, the cars, the electric bulbs, are produced by “the enterprise,” using the machines. He is a part of the machine, rather than its master as an active agent. The machine, instead of being in his service to do work for him which once had to be performed by sheer physical energy, has become his master. Instead of the machine being the substitute for human energy, man has become a substitute for the machine. His work can be defined as the performance of acts which cannot yet be performed by machines. Work is a means of getting money, not in itself a meaningful human activity. P. Drucker, observing workers in the automobile industry, expresses this idea very succinctly: “For the great majority of automobile workers, the only meaning of the job is in the paycheck, not in anything connected with the work or the product. Work appears as something unnatural, a disagreeable, meaningless and stultifying condition of getting the pay check, devoid of dignity as well as of importance. No wonder that this puts a premium on slovenly work, on slowdowns, and on other tricks to get the same pay check with less work. No wonder that this results in an unhappy and discontented worker - because a pay check is not enough to base one's self-respect on.” ... The alienated and profoundly unsatisfactory character of work results in two reactions: one, the ideal of complete laziness; the other a deep-seated, though often unconscious hostility toward work and everything and everybody connected with it.
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 (PLEASE NOTE: Tantra cannot be removed from spiritual practice, as it requires the activation of all of your chakras to engage in true tantric activities. Therefore, it is important to understand that if you are engaging in these practices without your higher chakras being activated you are not in actuality practicing tantra, you are practicing sexual magik, which can very easily cause you to take on a negative alignment, resulting in serious karmic debt.) Tantra is not a homogeneous idea. In fact, it's a rather complex concept that has been used by many different people all over the world, used to describe many different things. Though it deals with sexual energy, tantra is not a set of technical instructions, which you can easily read about in a book, such as the Karma Sutra, which is a Sanskrit text on sexuality and pleasure. Tantra, instead, is a set of practices which allows one to harness the very essence of life. But exactly what those practices are – will be a different story depending upon who you ask, as the information has been defused over many different cultures over thousands of years. I personally came to tantra via my 25 years of training in Dzogchen Buddhism which is considered an Indo-Tibetan religion. Tantra was central to many of my teachings. However, you're just as likely to come across tantra in many of the Hindu traditions (such as Kashmir Shaivism), as well as Jainism, and other Indian religions. Today, tantrism spans many different continents, religions, schools, and walks of life. Therefore, it is impossible to speak on it with an absolute sense of authority. And yet, it would be remiss of me if I did not transfer what I understand of this valuable information, as best I can, as it may serve someone who has need of it. Therefore, please understand that what follows is my own understanding of Tantra, as it was laced into my own library of information, and how I think it could be applied to your daily life. First off, it is important to understand that tantra is not a philosophy, rather a set of practical techniques people can employ within their spiritual practice. In many ways, tantra lies in opposition to philosophy, as philosophy is the practice of thinking, and tantra is the practice of sensing. Diametrically opposed in many ways, both philosophy and tantra actually function much the same way within our body/mind/soul. Yoga is fuel for the body. Philosophy is fuel for the mind. Tantra is fuel for the soul. And together they create a Holy Trinity. (Side Note: You’ll notice, if you continue studying the esoteric knowledge of the universe, you’ll keep coming back to certain numbers. Three - as in the Holy Trinity - is one of these prime numbers, which allows the expression of our reality, as we now perceive it.) For thousands of years tantric practices were considered esoteric information. Handed down only from teacher to student, its wisdom wasn't something most people could grasp at the time, not without a lot of prior instruction on consciousness, energy, energetic exchange, and the existence of the subtle realms. Protected at first by priests, then royalty, it was information that often cost people their lives. Because, entwined within the knowledge of tantra is the knowledge of your own divinity. But now, thanks to the modern information age – this information is in everyone’s hands, at least in part. Now you can find tantra teachers all over the internet, and not all of them are aligned positively. Therefore, their instructions are partial - often leaving out the parts which align a soul as either a negative force (takes energy in excess) or positive force (gives more energy than it receives). This means those who follow these incomplete instructions are most likely unknowingly negatively affecting their next incarnation.  If a practitioner is not aware of the deeper aspects of energy exchange it is unlikely they will fully understand the undesired consequences such negative alignment will have on their soul. Dark tantra, or the self-annihilation through loveless excess, is something one should only undertake if they fully understand the long-lasting ramifications. Raw sexual power, as in all things, must be balanced or it will ultimately lead to the dissolution of the entity. And only teachers who convey both sides of the tantric practice are providing balance to their students. Harnessing the subtle energies of the body, without understanding the different qualities and aspects of each energy center, is the same as putting a saddle on a zebra. It might look cool for a moment. You might even get up on that pony – for a minute. But you are never ever going to ride that thing anywhere. Energy is like a coiled cobra, and just as deadly, if you don't understand how it is impacting your energy centers, as well as your organs, and nervous system. Right now, thanks to the new space our solar system is moving into, along with the collective's mass awakening, the frequencies available to humans on this planet are incredible! Mixing in tantra – is the berries!! As our solar system moves closer to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy we are increasing in energy – and this is dawning a new age here on Earth, with new properties of physics, as well as light. Most people can already tell it for themselves and need no convincing. They just need a bit of background information. In Kashmir Shaivism God Shiva is everything - including divine consciousness and the reality of all things, and within Him is His female counterpart, Shakti. Shakti sits upon Her God and drawing power from Him - dances the material world into existence. We know Shakti intimately, as She is nature itself. As the male sits in his full power – the woman staddles him – slowly, then faster and faster – she shakes the whole universe into existence. Here now, we experience the world through our senses and our consciousness. Shiva – is the silent witness with all the power, and our expression of desire – is Shakti – as we shake our world awake through action. Let’s take eating a cherry, for example. Don’t just gobble it up. That’s how the lay people do it. The adept, however, will first acknowledge their own Shiva, their own silent witness, that part which holds all of the power, then… as your tongue engages with the flesh of the cherry the whole world awakens in the experience. From that centered position all action is done with a sensual intention – the intention of full awareness and comprehension of what the senses of your body are telling you. Is it firm? Is it soft? Does it feel the same between your fingers as it does across your tongue? Shakti is singing her song to you – describing to her divine husband all of the pleasures of the world – slowly, one at a time. By this example you can clearly see it is extremely possible to experience tantra on your own – without an instructor. In this manner, it is entirely possible to progress in your learnings and understandings of the energy within, both the attraction force and the repulsion force, so much so enlightenment is attained. Pairing with an outside partner is not required of tantra, and in fact, most White Tantra practitioners are celibate. At its most basic, tantra is a way to harness our own dynamic ignorance, along with everything mundane, as the chaos of God/Source, and in this ability harness that chaos and transform it into love/light light/love. Please always keep in mind there are only 2 paths open to the tantric practitioner. The Negative Path and The Positive Path: Positively Aligned Tantra: is aligned with the 8-fold path. (See reference section.) Negatively Aligned Tantra: Anything which damages another's self or infringes upon another's free will. Sexual vampirism is real and easy to do if one of the tantric practitioners is more adapt at energy manipulation than the other practitioner. This is why true tantric teachings have been kept as an esoteric tradition for so long, because the accidental misuse by one who does not have an iron will of their own will almost invariably wind up as a vampiric exchange. Especially if they don't understand what they are doing. Dark Tantra can have serious negative consequences.  Tantra – when done properly is the union of masculine and feminine – and the feeling of disappearing into unity itself. It is the embracing of the dual qualities within yourself, as you taste that cherry. It is the exploration of the erotic, vibrant, colorful, and mysterious. And it can be accomplished in many ways. Here, let me explain. By using mantras during your tantric practice, you are opening up the energetic centers in your body which align with that particular mantra. When done expertly, you will simultaneously connect to energetic centers outside of your body. Chanting Ohm (the underlying cosmic sound) for example, will energize your heart chakra, and when done expertly, while all cosmic and chakra centers are open, and while the snake of feminine Kundalini energy is raised into its highest position, will provide the practitioner with the sensation of being in complete union with God. By using different breathing techniques you can experience different types of orgasms in different parts of your body, while at the same time sensing different densities and dimensions. Each breathing technique provides you with entirely different sensations located not only in different parts of your body but different parts of your brain as well. Breathing techniques can bring on more endorphins than mainlining heroine. Combining tantra with meditation is often associated most with the temporary achievement of samadhi – or ultimate bliss. There are simply no words which could ever do this process justice. (Which again is why tantra is practical in form not philosophical. One must experience it to understand.) If you don’t understand chakras and how they affect the body, I suggest you look into it. No tantric practice would ever get off the ground without a deep understanding of how energy moves throughout your body. (You can find an amazing book in the resources section of this article.) In essence, tantra is harnessing our Kundalini energy. The Divine Female Energy – Kundalini is the coiled snake of creative energy which normally sits at the base of your spine. As you learn to manipulate this energy, getting it to rise from the lowest to the highest chakra, you will experience different levels of sexual/creative energy. Engaging Kundalini energy and focusing it on the different energy centers yields very different results. However, it cannot be understated – you must have a fully activated heart chakra for the Kundalini to fully engage your 5th, 6th, and 7th chakras. The human energy system is designed to have a fail-safe on our true potential. This gate is our level of compassion. Without a high regard for life, honesty, integrity, and honor, this gate will remain at least partially closed, and true Kundalini awakening will be beyond your reach. Those who practice dark tantra learn a work-around. I will speak no more of this practice – as it is one which always ultimately leads to the total disillusionment of the soul which engages in these actions. White Tantra, on the other hand, is the full devotion of oneself to God, and the unity of all. It is taking the highest form of love and using it as your vehicle of enlightenment. Overall, tantra is not a form of withdrawal, or renunciation. It is not done by ascetics or those who are determined to follow a strict order. Tantra is living breathing energy that relies 100% on the use of the body and its senses as tools for enlightenment. Always spiritual in practice, tantra is taking the micro and seeing it as the macro, and visa versa. It is diving into the pieces in order to recognize the puzzle. It is using the mundane in order to reach the super-mundane – the divine – the holy – the ultimate ecstatic nature of reality. Tantric practices are actions taken through time and space – used as a tool, along with bodily sensations, the nadis, and the chakras, to propel us into spaces and ways of being we could not otherwise have achieve. Ultimately, tantra connects the practitioner with the holy field, whether it is practiced alone or with someone else. Namaste Written by: Raena Exe 02/21/2024 8:33 pm *Further articles and videos on this subject will follow. Resources: Chakras Wheels of Life: A User's Guide to the Chakra System (Llewellyn's New Age) https://www.amazon.com/Wheels-Life-Chakra-System-Llewellyns/dp/0875423205 Kundalini Kundalini Yoga -- as Envisioned by the Ancient Yogis: https://youtu.be/3ODfwJBDgBs?si=9EJFrWkR-mMGj9rh Tibetan Tantra Unbelievable Tantric Tibetan Ritual - Monk Explains Tummo Meditation: https://youtu.be/-MUujxAvmtM?si=db1oSy6gOkIe2uTS Tantra of Gyuto - Sacred Rituals of Tibet (1968) [Full Documentary]: https://youtu.be/qUmU-AL2GMI?si=CLozQKmqLghP5UR4 The 8-Fold Path: Source: www.lionsroar.com/what-is-eightfold-path 1. Right View A true understanding of how reality and suffering are intertwined. 2. Right Resolve The aspiration to act with correct intention, doing no harm. 3. Right Speech Abstaining from lying, and divisive or abusive speech. 4. Right Action Acting in ways that do not cause harm, such as not taking life, not stealing, and not engaging in sexual misconduct. 5. Right Livelihood Making an ethically sound living, being honest in business dealings. 6. Right Effort Endeavoring to give rise to skillful thoughts, words, and deeds and renouncing unskillful ones. 7. Right Mindfulness Being mindful of one’s body, feelings, mind, and mental qualities. 8. Right Concentration Practicing skillful meditation informed by all of the preceding seven aspects. These eight steps are considered to be of three types: right view and right resolve are related to our development of wisdom; right speech, right action, and right livelihood to ethical conduct; and right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration to meditation.” Lion’s Roar Staff  There is fire within each of us. That which fuels us, either our growth or our destruction. Frustration, Anger, Loneliness, Betrayal, Rejection - they burn within each of us. These things which are not in harmony with ourselves... Burn. And if we let them, if we don't harness their potential, through the use of our own iron will, they will eventually consume us. Thankfully love expends more energy than hate. Just as creation expends more energy than violence. Regardless, this fire, unique unto you, fuels everything you do. But oh, how easy it is, to just throw this energy away, to dissipate it, via - casual sex, alcohol and drug consumption, shit-posting on social media, and all those other ways we 'de-stress ourselves' - which always yields such negative, crappy results. So much easier than transforming it. Yet, if we do choose to transform this incredibly rich and complex collection of fuels within us - through physical means - such as training our bodies via martial arts, athletics, dance, meditation, prayer, acts of compassion, and love - we can expend this energy in such a way that it builds rather than destroys. It is the same energy - the same fuel - only now... through your conscious iron will you become an alchemist. You transform all of those hurts into character, meaning, depth, integrity, and wisdom. By harnessing and transforming this inexhaustible fuel, you have added to (rather than subtracted from) your legacy. But how do you transform this potential, turning anger and loneliness into a positive, integrated force which builds rather than destroys? Love & Compassion It's the only way. Every part of of you matters, your strengths and your weaknesses. Yet it is only through our weaknesses, by transforming them via our own iron will, that we cultivate this potential. By recognizing where we are weak, afraid, alone, hurt, isolated, and betrayed - by facing the pain it has caused, then by turning all of that action potential towards the direction of love and compassion - we attain self mastery. We develop an iron will, character, depth, and most of all equanimity. The old ways are dead. Ephemeral as they were, those siren songs sung by those who stole from the weak no longer entice, no longer distract, no longer hold sway for the majority. The new age is here. The choice is yours. Just remember, you do not have forever to make it. Those who adapt survive. X 02/21/2024 © Raena Exe 2024 *All rights reserved.  From “Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts” in Karl Marx: Early Writings. Trans. T.B. Bottomore (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964): pp. 120-129 (written: 1844) We have begun from the presuppositions of political economy. We have accepted its terminology and its laws. We presupposed private property; the separation of labor, capital and land, as also of wages, profit and rent; the division of labor; competition; the concept of exchange value, etc. From political economy itself, in its own words, we have shown that the worker sinks to the level of a commodity, and to a most miserable commodity; that the misery of the worker increases with the power and volume of his production; that the necessary result of competition is the accumulation of capital in a few hands, and thus a restora¬tion of monopoly in a more terrible form; and finally that the distinction between capitalist and landlord, and between agricultural laborer and industrial worker, must disappear, and the whole of society divide into the two classes of pro¬perty owners and propertyless workers. Political economy begins with the fact of private property; it does not explain it. It conceives the material process of private property, as this occurs in reality, in general and abstract formulas which then serve it as laws. It does not comprehend these laws; that is, it does not show how they arise out of the nature of private property. Political economy provides no explanation of the basis for the distinction of labor from capital, of capital from land. When, for example, the relation of wages to profits is defined, this is explained in terms of the interests, of capitalists; in other words, what should be explained is assumed. Similarly, competition is referred to at every point and is explained in terms of external conditions. Political economy tells us nothing about the' extent to which these external and apparently accidental conditions are simply the expression of a necessary development. We have seen how exchange itself seems an accidental fact. The only motive forces which political economy recognizes are avarice and the war between the avaricious, competition. Just because political economy fails to understand the interconnections within this movement it was possible to oppose the doctrine of competition to that of monopoly, the doctrine of freedom of the crafts to that of the guilds, the doctrine of the division of landed property to that of the great estates; for competition, freedom of crafts, and the division of landed property were conceived only as accidental con¬sequences brought about by will and force, rather than as necessary, inevitable and natural consequences of monopoly, the guild system and feudal property. Thus we have now to grasp the real connection between this whole system of alienation-private property, acquisi¬tiveness, the separation of labor, capital and land, exchange and competition, value and the devaluation of man, mono¬poly and competition-and the system of money. Let us not begin our explanation, as does the economist, from a legendary primordial condition. Such a primordial condition does not explain anything; it merely removes the question into a grey and nebulous distance. It asserts as a fact or event what it should deduce, namely, the necessary relation between two things; for example, between the division of labor and exchange. In the same way theology explains the origin of evil by the fall of man; that is, it asserts as a historical fact what it should explain. We shall begin from a contemporary economic fact. The worker becomes poorer the more wealth he produces and the more his production increases in power and extent. The worker becomes an ever cheaper commodity the more goods he creates. The devaluation of the human world increases in direct relation with the increase in value of the world of things. Labor does not only create goods; it also produces itself and the worker as a commodity, and indeed in the same pro¬portion as it produces goods. This fact simply implies that the object produced by labor, its product, now stands opposed to it as an alien being, as a power independent of the producer. The product of labor is labor which has been embodied in an object and turned into a physical thing; this product is an objectification of labor. The performance of work is at the same time its objectification. The performance of work appears in the sphere of political economy as a vitiation of the worker, objectification as a loss and as servitude to the object, and appropriation as alienation. . So much does the performance of work appear as vitiation that the worker is vitiated to the point of starvation. So much does objectification appear as loss of the object that the worker is deprived of the most essential things not only of life but also of work. Labor itself becomes an object which he can acquire only by the greatest effort and with unpre¬dictable interruptions. So much does the appropriation of the object appear as alienation that the more objects the worker produces the fewer he can possess and the more he falls under the domination of his product, of capital. All these consequences follow from the fact that the worker is related to the product of his labor as to an alien object. For it is clear on this presupposition that the more the worker expends himself in work the more powerful becomes the world of objects which he creates in face of himself, the poorer he becomes in his inner life, and the less he belongs to himself. It is just the same as in religion. The more of himself man attributes to God the less he has left in himself. The worker puts his life into the object, and his life then belongs no longer to himself but to the object. The greater his activity, therefore, the less he possesses. What is embodied in the product of his labor is no longer his own. The greater this product is, therefore, the more he is diminished. The alienation of the worker in his product means not only that his labor becomes an object, assumes an external existence, but that it exists independently, outside himself, and alien to him, and that it stands opposed to him as an autonomous power. The life which he has given to the object sets itself against him as an alien and hostile force. Let us now examine more closely the pheno¬menon of objectification; the worker's production and the alienation and loss of the object it produces, which is involved in it. The worker can create nothing without nature, without the sensuous external world. The latter is the material in which his labor is realized, in which it is active, out of which and through which it produces things. But just as nature affords the means of existence of labor, in the sense that labor cannot live without objects upon which it can be exercised, so also it provides the means of existence in a narrower sense; namely the means of physical existence for the worker himself. Thus, the more the worker appro-priates the external world of sensuous nature by his labor the more he deprives himself of means of existence, in two re¬spects: first, that the sensuous external world becomes pro¬gressively less an object belonging to his labor or a means of existence of his labor, and secondly, that it becomes pro-gressively less a means of existence in the direct sense, a means for the physical subsistence of the worker. In both respects, therefore, the worker becomes a slave of the object; first, in that he receives an object of work, i.e. receives work, and secondly, in that he receives means of sub¬sistence. Thus the object enables him to exist, first as a worker and secondly, as a physical subject. The culmination of this enslavement is that he can only maintain himself as a physical subject so far as he is a worker, and that it is only as a physical subject that he is a worker. (The alienation of the worker in his object is expressed as follows in the laws of political economy: the more the worker produces the less he has to consume; the more value he creates the more worthless he becomes; the more refined his product the more crude and misshapen the worker; the more civilized the product the more barbarous the worker; the more powerful the work the more feeble the worker; the more the work manifests intelligence the more the worker declines in intelligence and becomes a slave of nature.) Political economy conceals the alienation in the nature of labor in so far as it does not examine the direct relationship between the worker (work) and production. Labor certainly produces marvels for the rich but it produces privation for the worker. It produces palaces, but hovels for the worker. It produces beauty, but deformity for the worker. It replaces labor by machinery, but it casts some of the workers back into a bar¬barous kind of work and turns the others into machines. It produces intelligence, but also stupidity and cretinism for the workers. The direct relationship of labor to its products is the relationship of the worker to the objects of his production. The relationship of property owners to the objects of production and to produc¬tion itself is merely a consequence of this first relationship and confirms it. We shall consider this second aspect later. Thus, when we ask what is the important relationship of labor, we are concerned with the relationship of the worker to production. So far we have considered the alienation of the worker only from one aspect; namely, his relationship with the products of his labor. However, alienation appears not merely in the result but also in the process of production, within productive activity itself. How could the worker stand in an alien relationship to the product of his activity if he did not alienate himself in the act of production itself? The product is indeed only the resume of activity, of production. Con¬sequently, if the product of labor is alienation, production itself must be active alienation - the alienation of activity and the activity of alienation. The alienation of the object of labor merely summarizes the alienation in the work activity itself. What constitutes the alienation of labor? First, that the work is external to the worker, that it is not part of his nature; and that, consequently, he does not fulfil himself in his work but denies himself, has a feeling of misery rather than well¬-being, does not develop freely his mental and physical energies but is physically exhausted and mentally debased. The worker, therefore, feels himself at home only during his leisure time, whereas at work he feels homeless. His work is not voluntary but imposed, forced labor. It is not the satis¬faction of a need, but only a means for satisfying other needs. Its alien character is clearly shown by the fact that as soon as there is no physical or other compulsion it is avoided like the plague. External labor, labor in which man alienates himself, is a labor of self-sacrifice, of mortification. Finally, the external character of work for the worker is shown by the fact that it is not his own work but work for someone else, that in work he does not belong to himself but to another person. Just as in religion the spontaneous activity of human fantasy, of the human brain and heart, reacts independently as an alien activity of gods or devils upon the individual, so the activity of the worker is not his own spontaneous activity. It is another's activity and a loss of his own spontaneity. We arrive at the result that man (the worker) feels himself to be freely active only in his animal functions - eating, drinking and procreating, or at most also in his dwelling and in personal adornment - while in his human functions he is reduced to an animal. The animal becomes human and the human becomes animal. Eating, drinking and procreating are of course also genuine human functions. But abstractly considered, apart from the environment of human activities, and turned into final and sole ends, they are animal functions. We have now considered the act: of alienation of practical human activity, labor, from two aspects: (I) the relation¬ship of the worker to the product of labor as an alien object which dominates him. This relationship is at the same time the relationship to the sensuous external world, to natural objects, as an alien and hostile world; (2) the relationship of labor to the act of production within labor. This is the relationship of the worker to his own activity as something alien and not belonging to him, activity as suffering (passi¬vity), strength as powerlessness, creation as emasculation, the personal physical and mental energy of the worker, his personal life (for what is life but activity?), as an activity which is directed against himself, independent of him and not belonging to him. This is self-alienation as against the above¬-mentioned alienation of the thing. We have now to infer a third characteristic of alienated labor from the two we have considered. Man is a species-being not only in the sense that he makes the community (his own as well as those of other things) his object both practically and theoretically, but also (and this is simply another expression for the same thing) in the sense that he treats himself as the present, living species, as a universal and consequently free being. Species-life, for man as for animals, has its physical basis in the fact that man (like animals) lives from inorganic nature, and since man is more universal than an animal so the range of inorganic nature from which he lives is more universal. Plants, animals, minerals, air, light, etc. constitute, from the theoretical aspect, a part of human consciousness as objects of natural science and art; they are man's spiritual inorganic nature, his intellectual means of life, which he must first pre¬pare for enjoyment and perpetuation. So also, from the practical aspect, they form a part of human life and activity. In practice man lives only from these natural products, whether in the form of food, heating, clothing, housing, etc. The universality of man appears in practice in the uni¬versality which makes the whole of nature into his inorganic body: (1) as a direct means of life; and equally (2) as the material object and instrument of his life activity. Nature is the inorganic body of man; that is to say nature, excluding ¬the human body itself. To say that man lives from nature means that nature is his body with which he must remain in a continuous interchange in order not to die. The statement that the physical and mental life of man, and nature, are interdependent means simply that nature is interdependent with itself, for man is a part of nature. Since alienated labor: (I) alienates nature from man; and (2) alienates man from himself, from his own active function, his life activity; so it alienates him from the species. It makes species-life into a means of individual life. In the first place it alienates species-life and individual life, and secondly, it turns the latter, as an abstraction, into the purpose of the former, also in its abstract and alienated form. For labor, life activity, productive life, now appear to man only as means for the satisfaction of a need, the need to maintain his physical existence. Productive life is, however, species-life. It is life creating life. In the type of life activity resides the whole character of a species, its species-character; and free, conscious activity is the species-¬character of human beings. Life itself appears only as a means of life. The animal is one with its life activity. It does not dis¬tinguish the activity from itself. It is its activity. But man makes his life activity itself an object of his will and con¬sciousness. He has a conscious life activity. It is not a determination with which he is completely identified. Con¬scious life activity distinguishes man from the life activity of animals. Only for this reason is he a species-being. Or ¬rather, he is only a self-conscious being, i.e. his own life is an object for him, because he is a species-being. Only for this reason is his activity free activity. Alienated labor re¬verses the relationship, in that man because he is a self-¬conscious being makes his life activity, his being, only a means for his existence. The practical construction of an objective world, the manipulation of inorganic nature, is the confirmation of man as a conscious species-being, i.e. a being who treats the species as his own being or himself as a species-being. Of course, animals also produce. They construct nests, dwellings, as in the case of bees, beavers, ants, etc. But they only produce what is strictly necessary for themselves or their young. They produce only in a single direction, while man produces universally. They produce only under the compulsion of direct physical needs, while man produces when he is free from physical need and only truly produces in freedom from such need. Animals produce only themselves, while man reproduces the whole of nature. The products of animal production belong directly to their physical bodies, while man is free in face of his product. Animals construct only in accordance with the standards and needs of the species to which they belong, while man knows how to produce in accordance with the standards of every species and knows how to apply the appropriate standard to the object. Thus man constructs also in accordance with the laws of beauty. It is just in his work upon the objective world that man really proves himself as a species-being. This production is his active species-life. By means of it nature appears as his work and his reality. The object of labor is, therefore, the objectification of man's species-life; for he no longer reproduces himself merely intellectually, as in consciousness, but actively and in a real sense, and he sees his own reflection in a world which he has constructed. While, therefore, alienated labor takes away the object of production from man, it also takes away his species-life, his real objectivity as a species¬-being, and changes his advantage over animals into a dis¬advantage in so far as his inorganic body, nature, is taken from him. Just as alienated labor transforms free and self-directed activity into a means, so it transforms the species-life of man into a means of physical existence. Consciousness, which man has from his species, is trans¬formed through alienation so that species-life becomes only a means for him. (3) Thus alienated labor turns the species-life of man, and also nature as his mental species-property, into an alien being and into a means for his individual existence. It alienates from man his own body, external nature, his mental life and his human life. (4) A direct consequence of the alienation of man from the product of his labor, from his life activity and from his species-life, is that man is alienated from other men. When man confronts himself he also confronts other men. What is true of man's relationship to his work, to the product of his work and to himself, is also true of his relationship to other men, to their labor and to the objects of their labor. In general, the statement that man is alienated from his species-life means that each man is alienated from others, and that each of the others is likewise alienated from human life. Human alienation, and above all the relation of man to himself, is first realized and expressed in the relationship between each man and other men. Thus in the relationship of alienated labor every man regards other men according to the standards and relationships in which he finds himself placed as a worker. *If copyrighted - please contact me via the contact form. No infringement intended.  You will not find a child today who does not know of the 4 Horsemen of the apocalypse: Death, Famine, War, and Glory. (Though, in modern times the name Glory was changed to Pestilence because the ruling class knew the hypocrisy would be just too much. But in reality, they are one and the same. The vaingloriousness of our modern elite has been a pestilence leveled upon us for far too long.) Messages spoon-fed to us by our so-call-elite to instill near-constant feelings of powerlessness, fear, dread, and the ever-present lack of hope. Messages meant to subvert, to keep the populace enslaved, to indoctrinate the young - to defeat us before the war has even begun. But have you ever heard of the 7 Angels of Ascension? Those who follow in the horsemen's wake? Love, Compassion, Discipline, Integrity, Service, Peace, and Sensuality? They are world builders, not destroyers. Unlike the heroes our children have been given to worship. Though the Angels of Ascension have been known to decimate their enemies (greed, selfishness, war, death, corruption, pollution, self-service) without even lifting a finger. As the tide moves all before them. You see, the 7 Angels of Ascension are the Vanguard of Heaven. And they have come. To take us all into another age, another way of thinking and being. Take a deep breath. The old world is dead. Only unrepentant ghosts are still stuck in the old ways. Breathe, deep, the coming of the Sun. The coming of God's love. You can feel it now, now that the umbrella of opression is lifting. Now that the heaviness of all that evil is melting away. God's love is here to stay. X 02/12/2024 I finally talked to Michael Stipe, he touched me on my arm. I met him up in the Hollywood Hills, among the movie and TV stars. I finally met old Michael that day, I met the girl in his videos too. Sofia Coppola looked at me, I finally talked to Michael Stipe, he touched me on my arm. I met him up in the Hollywood Hills, among the movie and TV stars. I finally met old Michael that day, I met the girl in his videos too. Sofia Coppola looked at me, I didn't know what the hell to do. Michael Stipe and I, tonight. Michael Stipe, and I cry tonight. I finally talked to Michael Stipe, but I didn't get to see his car. Him and River Phoenix were leaving on the road tomorrow. I finally met old Michael that day, up the Laurel Canyon way. Neil said it was full of famous stars, hell I was driving Mark Lanegan's car. Michael Stipe and I, tonight. Michael Stipe, and I cry tonight. We said goodbye to John Frusciante at his Chateau Marmont suite. We couldn't find a part, not a piece of our heart, I guess we all had a lot better things to see. I think I'll go back to Texas soon, leave these Hollywood Hills. Shoot myself dead with a gun to my head, that's what this town would have me do. Michael Stipe and I, tonight. Michael Stipe, and I cry tonight. P
She sells seeshells down by the sea shore... All language began as song. Angels sing to me. Sing to thee. Do ya ever wonder... who he'd now be?  Generals gathered in their masses Just like witches at black masses Evil minds that plot destruction Sorcerer of death's construction In the fields, the bodies burning As the war machine keeps turning Death and hatred to mankind Poisoning their brainwashed minds Oh lord, yeah! Politicians hide themselves away They only started the war Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor, yeah Time will tell on their power minds Making war just for fun Treating people just like pawns in chess Wait till their judgement day comes, yeah! Now in darkness, world stops turning Ashes where their bodies burning No more war pigs have the power Hand of God has struck the hour Day of judgement, God is calling On their knees, the war pigs crawling Begging mercy for their sins Satan laughing, spreads his wings Oh lord, yeah! Ozzy Osbourne, Terence Michael Butler, William T. Ward, F. Frank Iommi 1970 
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