A concise snapshot of “Existence Strikes Back”
Wisdom wants to know reality. A region of reality (“the Tao”) isn’t knowable. Wisdom respects reality’s unknowability while pursuing reality nonetheless.
This unending pursuit reached its apex in the 13th century, then the pursuit started to decline. Modernity was the rejection of respect for the Tao ("The Great Rejection"). Postmodernity, in its varied forms, is rejection of the rejection.
“Existence Strikes Back” is divided into three sections:
1. What is the Tao? Also called “the act of existence (actus essendi),” “the first principle of Zen,” and the region on the other side of Aldous Huxley’s doors of perception. It anchors “The Reality Spectrum”:
The Tao-->Essence-->Existence
2. Modernity rejected the Tao portion of the Reality Spectrum and focused almost exclusively on the “essence” part of the Reality Spectrum: things we can count, measure, and understand through reason and logic.
3. This rejection is a rejection of reality, with the result that the Tao keeps bubbling to the surface, often in troubling ways but often in good ways.
The Project Moving Forward
I have set up a Substack that is dedicated solely to Existence Strikes Back, with the every essay labeled under Sections 1, 2, or 3. You can find it here. Every essay at my Substack will also be featured at TDE, so you don’t need to go to my Substack. You can, instead, merely click the “Existence Strikes Back” tag here and see all the essays. If, however, you want only “Existence Strikes Back” original material without the clutter of other topics at TDE (drinking, gardening, etc.), you might prefer my Substack.
