I recently had the opportunity to engage with the works of German philosopher, Theodor Adorno. Up until very recently, I was unfamiliar with his work, in the sense that I had never heard of him 😅 But having just opened my mind to Marcus Aurelius, I figured a new perspective couldn't hurt.
Adorno mainly focused on the consequences of capitalism, consumerism and the industrial age, and the unprecedented effects that had yet to be seen back in the 1940s.
These are some of his passages that I chose to meditate on.
"It is the sufferings of men that should be shared: the smallest step towards their pleasures is one towards the hardening of their pains."
My husband and I constantly find ourselves reiterating another famous quote from author G. Michael Hopf. It goes a little something like this...
“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
What it alludes to is that difficult times create strong men, and this strength helps benefit everybody in the long run. However the weak men, the ones who have never experienced pain or suffering, take for granted the advantageous times the strong men before them created. Because weak men have never known differently, it's inevitable that society will crumble and the cycle will repeat. Adapt, or be left behind, right? 🤷♀️
I think Adorno recognized this and tried to warn us. In fact we are witnesses to a "Brave New World mentality" today. How many people hold the belief that "Well, so long as it isn't hurting anyone 🥴" and just recklessly indulge without thinking of the long-term effects?
"He who stands aloof runs the risk of believing himself better than others and misusing his critique of society as an ideology for his private interest."
Couldn't help but identify with this quote 😅 However I think therein lays the key difference: believing oneself is better than others. I don't see things from that perspective; I just recognize that the vast majority of people are stupid lol. And stupidity will get you killed; of course I'd rather stand aloof! 😂
"We shudder at the brutalization of life, but lacking any objectively binding morality we are forced at every step into actions and words, into calculations that are by humane standards barbaric, and even by the dubious values of good society, tactless."
This is why I preach having morals and values so heavily. Without them, people lack purpose and guidance, and are susceptible to give into what society deems acceptable. And unfortunately, society doesn't always have the best judge of character. At least through religion people are united in their values and can create a decent society from them.
"The taboos that constitute a man's intellectual stature, often superficial experiences and unarticulated insights, always operate against inner impulses that he has learned to condemn, but which are so strong that only an unquestioning and unquestioned authority can hold them in check."
(Images created using an AI art generator on Night Cafe)
Referencing back to the last quote, the importance of operating on morals... Of course we all have impulses that sometimes need to be controlled. But what causes us to control them? Societal/legal consequences? But what if there aren't any? This is why it is vital to practice self-governing, even if it means you need to live as though someone is watching you.
"Divorce, even between good-natured, amiable, educated people, is apt to stir up a dust cloud that covers and discolors all it touches. It is as if the sphere of intimacy, the unwatched trust of shared life, is transformed into a malignant poison as soon as the relationship in which it flourished is broken."
"All of their secrets crawl into the light from the cellars and foundations when the house is demolished."
Another quote I absolutely adore. I strongly believe that, aside from cases of extreme circumstances (physical abuse, drug use, r*pe, etc.), marriage should always be worked out between married couples. I understand it may not work out every time, but at least try, right?
There is more negative to come from divorce than positive. Sure, there's a sense of "freedom," but it's ultimately disastrous for the family unit and society in general. Partners who once adored one another now feel resentment, children grow up in broken households while listening to their parents badmouth each other, children are pitted against one another, every flaw is brought to light... There are things that should be kept behind closed doors; not everything needs to have society's involvement.
"Every intellectual in emigration is, without exception, mutilated and does well to acknowledge it to himself, if he wishes to avoid being cruelly apprised of it behind the tightly-closed doors of his self-esteem."
"The isolation is made worse by the formation of closed and politically-controlled groups, mistrustful of their members, hostile to those branded different. The share of the social product that falls to aliens is insufficient, and forces them into a hopeless second struggle within the general competition."
"Relations between outcasts are even more poisoned than between long-standing residents."
Adorno, having lived during WWII, has an interesting perspective when it comes to immigration. He made a point to say that you could be the most educated man on the planet, and all of it becomes useless once you're in a foreign land where you cannot even understand the language.
That isolation increases tenfold when you take into account that no matter how much foreigners may try to assimilate, they will never be regarded in the same light that a born-citizen is.
I myself am heavily in favor of ending the "inclusive" narrative and focusing on our own countries first. What's that famous saying? "You cannot help others until you help yourself first"? Yeaaah...
"It was manifested by groups of people who together put their lives at stake, counting their own concerns as less important in face of a tangible possibility, so that, without being possessed by an abstract idea, but also without individual hope, they were ready to sacrifice themselves for each other. The prerequisites for this waiving of self-preservation were knowledge and freedom of decision: if they are lacking, blind particular interest immediately reasserts itself. ... Any temporary security gained in this way is paid for by permanent fear, by toadying, manoeuvring and ventriloquism: the strength that might have been used to test the enemy's weakness is wasted in anticipating the whims of one's own leaders."
Adorno is once again making reference to the importance of mankind working towards a common goal. Here, he is using war as an example, and how men universally understood that sacrifices needed to be made in order to achieve that goal. Again, if we stray away from purpose, we become susceptible to impulses and desires.
When he mentions "temporary security," he is referencing when people simply give into authority/government. There is nothing to unite people when safety is obtained this way, and citizens instead become wary of their own leaders (rightfully so).
"The feminine character, and the ideal of femininity on which it is modelled, are products of masculine society. ... Without a single exception, feminine natures are conformists."
I referenced this quote on my last post, on why women shouldn't vote 😂 I just found it interesting, and as a woman, I wholeheartedly agree. Women are conformists. They rarely think for themselves. And now that it is no longer "socially acceptable" to want to please men, they are now conforming to women's desires/feminism. It's like, just have an original thought, y'know? 🥴
But anyway, it was refreshing to hear someone else say it, and only 80 years ago, no less! 😂 Still rings true today...
"But he underestimated stupidity: the society he represents cannot speak its own name, and as it has become total, so stupidity, like intelligence, has become absolute."
"Stupidity is not a natural quality, but one socially produced and reinforced."
"He experiences drastically and vitally the ignominious choice that late capitalism secretly presents to all its dependants: to become one more grown-up, or to remain a child."
Again going back to the theme of universal stupidity, but there are some points here that really stood out.
First, that stupidity is not some personality trait; it is not "natural" for people to be stupid. Rather stupidity is instilled and enforced into people.
And the second point: that it is much easier to have people stupid and fearful than articulate and courageous. "To become an adult, or to remain a child;" unfortunately many people choose the latter. Just easier 🤷♀️
"The familiar argument of tolerance, that all people and all races are equal, is a boomerang. ... It considers actual or imagined differences as stigmas indicating that not enough has yet been done. ... To assure the black that he is exactly like the white man, while he obviously is not, is secretly to wrong him still further."
Just reinforcing why equality and inclusiveness is a tad redundant. Two different walks of life are never going to be equal, and to insinuate such only hurts people more. It's like feminism; men and women are never going to be "equal," and it is instead just setting women up for failure trying to achieve something they never will.
"The state of 'satisfaction' is itself unsatisfying, because 'as soon as needs and danger grant man respite, boredom is so near that amusements become an imperative need. What keeps all living things occupied and in motion is the striving for existence. With existence, however, once secured, they do not know what to do: thus the second force that sets them in motion is the striving to be rid of the burden of existence, to make it imperceptible, to 'kill time.'"
I recently brought this topic up to a friend (and shoutout to him if he's reading this right now, hiii! 👋😃).
We are spoiled. We live in an age of instant gratification, where even the need to hunt and cook has been overridden. Our entire existence was built around animalistic nature: to survive, reproduce, repeat. Now that survival has been taken out of the equation, we are left idle, with way too much time on our hands.
It becomes an oxymoron: survive so that we may enjoy life, then we enjoy life and we become unsatisfied. It's why we need purpose!! Is this message starting to sink in yet?! 😅 I'm a fucking misanthrope and even I can recognize the positives that come from having unifying goals, morals, traditions, etc.
