This is an astonishing read . I don’t recollect having read anything as insightful and rich in depth . Brilliant writing . It feels like an epochal piece . A call to action and awakening .
Sep 16, 2023·edited Sep 16, 2023Liked by L.P. Koch
Danke
The German (really Mitteleuropean) affection for the American Western genre seems like it could get plugged in here somewhere, but probably deserves an article of its own.
Only this afternoon I was trying to place the current round of German hysteria (found your post through comments at Eugypius' latest) into some kind of greater context of an underlying German identity/philosophy. I was left ruminating upon German Angst, Schuld, Ordnung, and so on, but your rich, reflective, and very refreshing post has offered much more food for thought.
The idea of the modern "truncated German soul" seems quite apt, and I realise the circles in which I have felt most at home here have been of those connected to "non-reductionist, wholesome, metaphysical views" of life.
By the way, that quote from Planck's advice to Heisenberg is truly remarkable and I only wish I had been aware of it during the pandemic hysteria.
What a discovery for a diasporic German! I have lost the language now, even though it was my first, and the war still haunts via inter-generational trauma. ‘Down under’ wasn’t far enough, for there is no escaping this soul splitting. The German spirit is alive in me and unfolding in my dreams and writing, which are concerned with the very subject of integration you write so eloquently about. This essay was such a metaphysical treat. Thank you! ♥️
Reading this essay was the highlight of my day. Fantastic work.
----
“Forman also seems overtly hostile to the German tradition of Lebensphilosophie and German thought in general with its focus on wholesomeness, intuition, and life as opposed to cold reasoning, utilitarianism, and mechanistic causality. He clearly takes the side of supposed rationality (in a glorification of Einstein)”
It’s worth noting: Einstein had three portraits on the wall of his office. Two were of physicists, but the third was of Arthur Schopenhauer
I can't thank you enough for this essay. It has huge resonances beyond its apparent theme. It has also given me courage regarding my own necessary inner exile and waldgang.
Well, if so, know how much I am sorry. I could not express anything better than "on a psychedelic trip" for current Germany. But I know the Germans. they are calm, stable people, a bit like the Brits and their flegm.
In so, whatever is happening to Germany is artificial, most probably planned. Looking at Sebastian Haffner's book showed me this wouldn't have been the first time that they go through something akin to "an experiment with bold steps".
I am really shocked by what is happening to Germany, and what the medias feature: some complete reversal and antagonistical stuff. But I know the Germans and that's not how they are.
If this is serious, Germans may not get out of their bubble, then, like Switzerland. People have been used to build themselves a materialistic bubble and allowed to build their own world. They are the kings of their castles, too much, and whatever they feel is right becomes golden rule, and people expressing things shaking the bubbles layers are carefully dismissed. What opportunities remain?
"It is often claimed that Germans are particularly obedient to authority. There is certainly some truth to that, as we could see during COVID-mania. Whether Germans just behaved worse than some, better than others, or they really channelled their inner Prussian Kadavergehorsam, coldly doing what they are told without second thought, is, at the end of the day, hard to say."
I am recovering from a silent bout of mirthless laughter. Yes, they behaved worse. Yes, it was blind obedience and whatever else that disquieting word encompasses. It was all of it.
I seem not to have gotten the memo about transcendence, mysticism, poeticism, Romanticism, and (checks notes) - Soul.
I was subjected to a special round of Teutonic "rationalism" and Scientism-worship during these last three years. Trust me, the unquestioning, accusatory, recriminatory, judgemental occupant of my own patch of German-Anglo technocratic, government-worshipping hell has about as much transcendence as a slab of concrete, is about as mystical as a lab-grown chop, as poetic as a white coat, and wouldn't find his Soul if it slapped him in the face while standing in an empty lit room and yelling "I AM YOUR SOUL!". Because he ain't looking for it, trust me. Therefore it doesn't exist. QED. Or maybe it's the other way round. Whatever. I guess that gives licence to trample on all other souls, because you can't damage anything that doesn't exist, right? I dared challenge the God of Science and, by extension, His (Its?) Chosen Teutonic Purveyors of Settled Truth. The punishment was cold and vicious indeed.
A strange striving for the "overcoming of loneliness" for this particular race of souls. Or not-souls, whichever it is. My particular one is actively alienating the one with whom he swore an oath to do just that. In this life, that is. Pity, since apparently there is nothing beyond this life. So I guess there won't be any overcoming, ever.
I grew up worshipping at the musical altars of Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Strauss, Handel, Telemann, Mozart, Haydn (ok, the last two are close enough). It was my first glimpse of transcendent Beauty and the tantalising promise of a soul. I think all the Teutonic soul got spent. Romanticism has been reduced to voyeuristic peeking at atoms under microscopes. Or electron microscopes. Or particle accelerators. Whatever.
Vielen Dank. Now I understand why I was so attracted to learning German in college, even though I had a Latin language background (Spanish, Italian) and had not read much German literature. Where the Geist came through for me, though, was in the music. The piano music of the German Romantics as a group is still my favorite to play, and has a great healing effect on me when I do. I ended up taking my fourth college year in Heidelberg, and loved it there - walked the Philosophenweg, and I know where the header photo was taken. Unfortunately, I have not been able to return - but my year there was a highlight of my life. When I was there (mid-'70s) there had not yet been any substantive recovery in the soul of the people from the destruction of Nazism, but all you highlight of its beauty was still present, underneath the pain and trauma. This article helped me understand so much that, even having lived there, I have not been able to articulate.
> For a long time, European thought has been bashed from the Anglo perspective, to the point that we are even blamed philosophically for the woke ideology, as if this wasn’t, at the end of the day, entirely a US product.
Are you continentals really going to pretend Sartre and Foucault didn't exist?
> Americans and Brits often talk about “the West” or “Western culture” as if we were one monolithic bloc. But this is partly an optical illusion created by US cultural imperialism.
Yes, Western culture exists. Compare any Western culture to some non-Western ones to see how much all Western cultures have in common.
This is my view too. Obviously accepting the differences between nations, the West is different from the rest. A Berliner can move to Britain or Canada and will fit right in. Saudi Arabia or China rather less so.
I feel this stirring of the soul but am at a loss for how to act upon it. I despair of seeing the great German Republic, those men who fought the Romans to a standstill and mixed science and spiritualism descending to weakness.
German men must wake up and defend their family, friends, and community from the foreigners who invade and seek to destroy Germany.
This is an astonishing read . I don’t recollect having read anything as insightful and rich in depth . Brilliant writing . It feels like an epochal piece . A call to action and awakening .
You’ve become quite the writer, luc. Probably your best to date!
Danke
The German (really Mitteleuropean) affection for the American Western genre seems like it could get plugged in here somewhere, but probably deserves an article of its own.
Excellent!
Only this afternoon I was trying to place the current round of German hysteria (found your post through comments at Eugypius' latest) into some kind of greater context of an underlying German identity/philosophy. I was left ruminating upon German Angst, Schuld, Ordnung, and so on, but your rich, reflective, and very refreshing post has offered much more food for thought.
The idea of the modern "truncated German soul" seems quite apt, and I realise the circles in which I have felt most at home here have been of those connected to "non-reductionist, wholesome, metaphysical views" of life.
By the way, that quote from Planck's advice to Heisenberg is truly remarkable and I only wish I had been aware of it during the pandemic hysteria.
Thank you for writing and sharing.
What a discovery for a diasporic German! I have lost the language now, even though it was my first, and the war still haunts via inter-generational trauma. ‘Down under’ wasn’t far enough, for there is no escaping this soul splitting. The German spirit is alive in me and unfolding in my dreams and writing, which are concerned with the very subject of integration you write so eloquently about. This essay was such a metaphysical treat. Thank you! ♥️
Thank you for your comment and the encouragement! I'm a diasporic German myself, maybe a certain distance can help sometimes. All the best to you!
Where do you reside now?
The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury.
George Washington
Reading this essay was the highlight of my day. Fantastic work.
----
“Forman also seems overtly hostile to the German tradition of Lebensphilosophie and German thought in general with its focus on wholesomeness, intuition, and life as opposed to cold reasoning, utilitarianism, and mechanistic causality. He clearly takes the side of supposed rationality (in a glorification of Einstein)”
It’s worth noting: Einstein had three portraits on the wall of his office. Two were of physicists, but the third was of Arthur Schopenhauer
I can't thank you enough for this essay. It has huge resonances beyond its apparent theme. It has also given me courage regarding my own necessary inner exile and waldgang.
Count me in as a German fanboy. They always did do the best thinking, unlike the dry and boring Brits. This article made my day.
Eh ... I suppose that you're German, right?
Well, if so, know how much I am sorry. I could not express anything better than "on a psychedelic trip" for current Germany. But I know the Germans. they are calm, stable people, a bit like the Brits and their flegm.
In so, whatever is happening to Germany is artificial, most probably planned. Looking at Sebastian Haffner's book showed me this wouldn't have been the first time that they go through something akin to "an experiment with bold steps".
I am really shocked by what is happening to Germany, and what the medias feature: some complete reversal and antagonistical stuff. But I know the Germans and that's not how they are.
If this is serious, Germans may not get out of their bubble, then, like Switzerland. People have been used to build themselves a materialistic bubble and allowed to build their own world. They are the kings of their castles, too much, and whatever they feel is right becomes golden rule, and people expressing things shaking the bubbles layers are carefully dismissed. What opportunities remain?
Beautiful scene of a red sunset in Heidelberg. A magical city.
Oh boy. I knew this would be a good one.
"It is often claimed that Germans are particularly obedient to authority. There is certainly some truth to that, as we could see during COVID-mania. Whether Germans just behaved worse than some, better than others, or they really channelled their inner Prussian Kadavergehorsam, coldly doing what they are told without second thought, is, at the end of the day, hard to say."
I am recovering from a silent bout of mirthless laughter. Yes, they behaved worse. Yes, it was blind obedience and whatever else that disquieting word encompasses. It was all of it.
I seem not to have gotten the memo about transcendence, mysticism, poeticism, Romanticism, and (checks notes) - Soul.
I was subjected to a special round of Teutonic "rationalism" and Scientism-worship during these last three years. Trust me, the unquestioning, accusatory, recriminatory, judgemental occupant of my own patch of German-Anglo technocratic, government-worshipping hell has about as much transcendence as a slab of concrete, is about as mystical as a lab-grown chop, as poetic as a white coat, and wouldn't find his Soul if it slapped him in the face while standing in an empty lit room and yelling "I AM YOUR SOUL!". Because he ain't looking for it, trust me. Therefore it doesn't exist. QED. Or maybe it's the other way round. Whatever. I guess that gives licence to trample on all other souls, because you can't damage anything that doesn't exist, right? I dared challenge the God of Science and, by extension, His (Its?) Chosen Teutonic Purveyors of Settled Truth. The punishment was cold and vicious indeed.
A strange striving for the "overcoming of loneliness" for this particular race of souls. Or not-souls, whichever it is. My particular one is actively alienating the one with whom he swore an oath to do just that. In this life, that is. Pity, since apparently there is nothing beyond this life. So I guess there won't be any overcoming, ever.
I grew up worshipping at the musical altars of Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Strauss, Handel, Telemann, Mozart, Haydn (ok, the last two are close enough). It was my first glimpse of transcendent Beauty and the tantalising promise of a soul. I think all the Teutonic soul got spent. Romanticism has been reduced to voyeuristic peeking at atoms under microscopes. Or electron microscopes. Or particle accelerators. Whatever.
Oh, I know alright. I know.
Vielen Dank. Now I understand why I was so attracted to learning German in college, even though I had a Latin language background (Spanish, Italian) and had not read much German literature. Where the Geist came through for me, though, was in the music. The piano music of the German Romantics as a group is still my favorite to play, and has a great healing effect on me when I do. I ended up taking my fourth college year in Heidelberg, and loved it there - walked the Philosophenweg, and I know where the header photo was taken. Unfortunately, I have not been able to return - but my year there was a highlight of my life. When I was there (mid-'70s) there had not yet been any substantive recovery in the soul of the people from the destruction of Nazism, but all you highlight of its beauty was still present, underneath the pain and trauma. This article helped me understand so much that, even having lived there, I have not been able to articulate.
Dana
> For a long time, European thought has been bashed from the Anglo perspective, to the point that we are even blamed philosophically for the woke ideology, as if this wasn’t, at the end of the day, entirely a US product.
Are you continentals really going to pretend Sartre and Foucault didn't exist?
> Americans and Brits often talk about “the West” or “Western culture” as if we were one monolithic bloc. But this is partly an optical illusion created by US cultural imperialism.
Yes, Western culture exists. Compare any Western culture to some non-Western ones to see how much all Western cultures have in common.
This is my view too. Obviously accepting the differences between nations, the West is different from the rest. A Berliner can move to Britain or Canada and will fit right in. Saudi Arabia or China rather less so.
I feel this stirring of the soul but am at a loss for how to act upon it. I despair of seeing the great German Republic, those men who fought the Romans to a standstill and mixed science and spiritualism descending to weakness.
German men must wake up and defend their family, friends, and community from the foreigners who invade and seek to destroy Germany.