Becoming Aeon: Adventures in Political and Mystical Philosophy

By John Edgcomb

Becoming Aeon delves deep into the most fundamental questions of life and the human soul, what is the meaning of life? What is the structure of reality? What is the best state according with human nature? And includes many other subjects.Through a journey of thought and imagination, Becoming Aeon penetrates these mysteries and proposes answers to them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781728358260

John Edgcomb

John Edgcomb is a scholar and teacher of the Humanities. He holds a Master's degree in Philosophy with a minor in Religious Studies from the University of Nevada, Reno. He currently lives in Reno, Nevada.

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© 2020 John Edgcomb. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 01/20/2021

ISBN: 978-1-7283-5827-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-5826-0 (e)

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Contents

Politics and Economics

Social and Economic Coercion

Political Problems

Wealth Inequality

School Institutions

University Expansion

Education

Philosophy and other Subjects

Ethics

Sexual Desire

On Being One's Self

On Nietzsche's Philosophy

Critique of the History of Philosophy

Philosophy of Mind

Science

Art

Vampires and Werewolves

Levels of Being

Neo Platonism

Theology

Miscellaneous Aphorisms and Epigraphs

The Mystical Philosophy

Responses to Objections

Appendix

Descriptions of Philosophers, Mystics, and Terms in the Mystical Tradition

Work Cited

The Aeons were intelligences and attributes of the Supreme God in ancient Gnostic philosophy, such as beauty, love, justice, and wisdom. I hope to come to you as an Aeon. Enlightening through this book. Describing many philosophical subjects to arrive at truth and wisdom.

Politics and Economics

Politics, the state, and politicians should promote Virtue, Moderation, Liberty(freedom to do what one wants as long as one is not harming others nor their property), Justice which is fairness and getting what one deserves, and be practical.

A great state and economy are conducive to contributing to individual liberty and thus to the attainment of mystical experience. When money is saved by the state the economy prospers if money is used frugally and prudently. When a lot of debt accumulates the economy degenerates because there is no money to provide for prosperity unless there are large amounts of resources and production to support the debt.

If someone does not want to participate in mutual self interest in the state then the person may voluntarily leave the state and live on one’s own. Wise leaders will be determined by the characteristics of the wise man. In a great state people will be free to pursue their own self development and self exploration which is conducive to spiritual development. Some people will do this despite what the state is like but a well ordered state will make it easier for people to pursue. The best state is the best aid to mystical experience. People must learn on their own what is good for them. If the state bans what is not good for people the people will do what is bad for themselves anyway resisting the enforcement of the state. People have to realize what is good for themselves through their own experience.

Following are some rules in a state which maximizes individual freedom. Birth control and abortion will be permitted. Overpopulation and the deficiency of natural resources to maintain that population is an issue that will be addressed either through human regulation or by the limits of natural resources. The extremity of the situation will determine the extent of such regulations. The limits of natural resources will determine the size of the population. Pornography and prostitution will be permitted but all prostitutes and their clients must take a sexually transmitted disease test every time just before sexual intercourse and if they have an STD they will no longer be allowed to engage in sexual intercourse unless they use protection from STDs. Homosexuality and homosexual marriage will be permitted. The environment will be preserved. All drugs will be legal. This political system maximizes as much liberty as possible without allowing an individual to harm another individual, an individual’s property, nor harm the environment. Maximizing liberty and minimizing harm is conducive to spiritual development. Being told the truth is not the same as living according to the truth. People must realize on their own the spiritual experience and what the truth is often through experience which is why they should have as much individual liberty as possible without harming others and without interfering with the individual liberty of others.

The utilitarian theme that what is good for the greatest number is good is a tautology. It is true by definition. Utilitarianism is true stating that what benefits the most people is good. What is good for the greatest number of people is the perfection of the people and to bring them closer to their purpose, the realization of their essence which is the spiritual experience through living a good life. Most people must realize this by themselves which makes individual liberty essential as people must explore in their own ways to come to the truth. People should be allowed to do whatever they want as long as they are not harming anyone else and anyone else’s property. People should do what they want even if doing what they want harms them as long as they are not harming anyone else and things that anyone else are using. Mill was right when he thought that a person should be allowed to do whatever he or she wants and have as much individual liberty as they want as long as he or she does not interfere with the individual liberty of other people and as long as they are not harming things that belong to other people. Many mystics have developed themselves by following their own way of individual liberty, self sufficiency, and independence.

Judging from history there will never be an ideal state. The world will never change, it will always remain as wicked and as good as it is. Throughout history there has always been war, poverty, and suffering. The imperfections of the government and community will stay the way they are. The individual has very limited power in influencing the conditions of the world. But one may be good and thus make the world better by being good one’s self. We must not try to conquer or change the world because conquering or changing the world is not in any one person’s control. Instead of changing the world, the individual must overcome himself or herself which is realized in wisdom.

If a wise man was able to rule a state he could still not make the people of that state be wise. At most he could try to convince them to be good and wise. According to history it is impossible to create an ideal state as there never has been a successful one. The best political philosophy proposed is Plato’s. The only thing that is wrong with it is that the philosopher kings cannot stop the unenlightened people from revolting and establishing a tyrannical regime. The only thing would be a police force in which the philosopher kings have complete control over to do justice. Even if the philosopher kings had this police force under their control the masses could still revolt and establish a tyrannical regime. A state is good if its people are good. If the people of a state are vulgar, the state will be vulgar. This means that it is highly unlikely that there will ever be an ideal state because it is impossible for one person to make another person do what should be done. It is impossible for a good person to make a person who is not persuaded by what is good to be good. At best the good person could convince the person who is not good to be good. A good state will have virtuous and good inhabitants. A bad state will have bad inhabitants. The more good inhabitants a state has the better the state will be and no one can make a person be good except the person himself or herself. If the person chooses to be a good person then the state will be better because it has a good inhabitant. The characteristics of the wise man are good characteristics which inhabitants of a state must have in order for the state to be a good state. Since no one can make people be good but can only convince them to be good and people are usually not convinced by others to be good, it is highly unlikely that the ideal state will ever happen. A state is good only in so far as its inhabitants are good. It is possible that an ideal state will happen but it is highly unlikely. The state will change when the people change.

Social and Economic

Coercion

Justice is fairness and getting what one deserves. People present themselves using technology and get paid large amounts of money to talk about nonsense while those who work in essential services such as janitors and garbage men get paid very little. People go into politics to make money at the expense of those they are supposed to represent. There are constant wars which are encouraged by the military industrial congressional complex and the arms trade in which large amounts of money are made selling weapons to those fighting the wars. One should use such activities to one’s advantage for the good.

People in society are coerced and coerce others to conform and become something they would rather not be. People are coerced to look for work and work in jobs they do not want in order to survive and preserve their physical existence. People are coerced in society to conform and work in jobs that are unethical in order to have basic material possessions in society. Society is indirectly telling people to either conform and work, or become houseless and have a painful and desperate life. Through this coercion people are made to conform and not be true to themselves in society. For example one may not want to be a factory worker but the only jobs which are available are factory jobs and in order to avoid poverty a person must take a factory job and be a factory worker. People are wage slaves in