Constantin Brunner

[autonomous1one1]

...He definitely had many qualities of a mystic. But his definition of a mystic is very specific, and thus he ruled himself out. Mystics make their will to love their sole and exclusive occupation in life, with utter disregard for practicalities. ....

Ahhhh. As usual, it is all in one's own definition. One today in the west might disagree that the 'will to love as sole occupation in life' could not be prevalent in life even as one participates within a secular world to demonstrate it.

....It is perhaps easiest to think of it as the complement of Marx, a dialectical idealism in contrast to the latter's dialectical materialism.

Was not Marx a compliment, or the inverse, of Hegel's dialectical system? Anyway, how would you summarize Brunner's idealism?

 

[No Robots]

Ahhhh. As usual, it is all in one's own definition.

I certainly have no objection to calling Brunner a mystic. And certainly there are some who have done so. I’m just saying that he himself was a little cagey on the issue, just as he was on the question of whether he was a philosopher. His objective was to draw attention to the great luminaries, rather than to himself. For us, though, he is himself one of these luminaries. This is one reason that I think of him as a postmodernist: he refracts the question of his own personal identity.

One today in the west might disagree that the 'will to love as sole occupation in life' could not be prevalent in life even as one participates within a secular world to demonstrate it.

For myself, I like the idea that there is something of a mystic in each of us. For Brunner’s purpose of establishing a rigorous typology,though, it makes sense to insist on a narrow definition.

Was not Marx a compliment, or the inverse, of Hegel's dialectical system?

Certainly. Marx stripped the idealism from Hegel and thereby established socialism on a scientific basis. The only problem with this is that socialism as a scientific, materialist praxis does not reach to the spirit of man, provides no tool for establishing his inner happiness. Brunner’s doctrine provides an orientation that, while not negating socialism, instead seeks to address the spiritual needs of man.

Anyway, how would you summarize Brunner's idealism?

Brunner asserts that all spiritual truth bases itself on the unitary abstract principle that has been known under many names: the One, the Absolute, Brahman, Beingness, Logos, Jahveh, the Father of Christ, the Substance of Spinoza. Brunner’s own term is the Cogitant (das Denkende). The spiritualized life understands the various material phenomena as unique expressions of this ineffable principle. Unfortunately, most people are incapable of adhering to anything so abstract, and so they tend to materialize it into some kind of god or idol or material process. Thus we have the fundamental distinction between Geistigen and Volk, with the former upholding the abstract principle, and the latter trying to meld it with their essentially materialistic outlook.

This doctrine is dialectic in that it identifies a fundamental antagonism between the two types of thinking, what Brunner calls a vast, ancient undeclared war. The aim is to put an end to this war by clearly identifying and separating the two camps.

 

[No Robots]

Ah, 15 posts at last! In celebration, let me post a schema, based on Brunner's own, of his doctrine:

 

[autonomous1one1]

.......Brunner asserts that all spiritual truth bases itself on the unitary abstract principle that has been known under many names: the One, the Absolute, Brahman, Beingness, Logos, Jahveh, the Father of Christ, the Substance of Spinoza. Brunner’s own term is the Cogitant (das Denkende). The spiritualized life understands the various material phenomena as unique expressions of this ineffable principle. Unfortunately, most people are incapable of adhering to anything so abstract, and so they tend to materialize it into some kind of god or idol or material process. Thus we have the fundamental distinction between Geistigen and Volk, with the former upholding the abstract principle, and the latter trying to meld it with their essentially materialistic outlook.

Sounds right. A similar conclusion leads one to see that the heart of all religions is the same, being with realization of identity with that unitary principle.

This doctrine is dialectic in that it identifies a fundamental antagonism between the two types of thinking, what Brunner calls a vast, ancient undeclared war. The aim is to put an end to this war by clearly identifying and separating the two camps.

How can the 'will to love' offer any antagonism. The antagonism and undeclared war must be be one sided. What does "separating the two camps" really mean?

 

[No Robots]

How can the 'will to love' offer any antagonism.

Excellent question! For the full answer, you do really have to read Our Christ. How could Christ, that great volcano of love, express such hate?

The antagonism and undeclared war must be be one sided.

Not at all. Every time a person of spirit tries to makeover someone of the Volk, he is making war on what that person essential is.

What does "separating the two camps" really mean?

It means a complete material separation: political, economic, social, sexual.

 

[autonomous1one1]

....It means a complete material separation: political, economic, social, sexual.

Is he saying secede from the union and create a separate state?

 

[No Robots]

Is he saying secede from the union and create a separate state?

Something like that.

Actually, at the end of Our Christ, he has a kind of manifesto where he calls the community of the Geistigen the spiritual Israel. To my mind, what he envisages is an ideal that will concretize over time, its exact contours remaining to be determined, constructed by those who labor toward its completion. Eventually, yes, the idea is to establish an economically, politically and socially autonomous community.

 

[autonomous1one1]

.... the idea is to establish an economically, politically and socially autonomous community.

hmmmmm. an autonomous community. Wonder why that resonates so well. Seriously, a spiritual center community for the world would be nice but then all the das Volk folk would always be trying to wipe it out. Such a community would have to defend itself to survive and violate the very principles of love upon which it was founded. Perhaps in modern times with the internet we have opportunity that Brunner could not have foreseen. A spiritual center can be established while unique being can remain dispersed to interact in the world.

 

[lunamoth]

Staying up on the mountain is an option, but perhaps not the one that best cultivates love.

 

[No Robots]

Seriously, a spiritual center community for the world would be nice but then all the das Volk folk would always be trying to wipe it out. Such a community would have to defend itself to survive and violate the very principles of love upon which it was founded.

The shared ideal of the community is its own impregnable defense. Throughout history, people of spirit have been destroyed by first being isolated.

Perhaps in modern times with the internet we have opportunity that Brunner could not have foreseen. A spiritual center can be established while unique being can remain dispersed to interact in the world.

My thinking exactly.

 

[No Robots]

Staying up on the mountain is an option, but perhaps not the one that best cultivates love.

The best that people of spirit can do for the Volk is to constitute a community unto themselves. This will provide an enduring model by which the Volk can guide their own development.

The critical point is that people of spirit have to accept that they are already on the mountain.

 

[autonomous1one1]

The shared ideal of the community is its own impregnable defense. Throughout history, people of spirit have been destroyed by first being isolated.

Could you clarify this?

Perhaps in modern times with the internet we have opportunity that Brunner could not have foreseen. A spiritual center can be established while unique being can remain dispersed to interact in the world.

My thinking exactly.

Do you have the website?

 

[No Robots]

Could you clarify this?

If we know that we are not alone, then we have courage. And if we are a community, we can act to protect those of us who are in danger.

The Brunner movement underwent the ultimate challenge to its collective security during the Nazi years. Many individuals perished. Brunner's own widow and stepdaughter were murdered in Sobibor. Others emerged miraculously unscathed. It was a hard test, but it proved Brunner's point that the community can survive anything that the Volk throw at it.

I have done my best to test Brunner's doctrine in my own life, and found it never lacking in its ability to help me weather the storms of quotidian existence. As someone once wrote about one of his admirers, "his philosophy, that is, the philosophy of Constantin Brunner and his followers, made him almost immune to mental and physical sufferings" (German-Jewish Intermarriage in the Third Reich By Lucy Kruger Ackerknecht, p. 66).

Do you have the website?

I do have a website: constantinbrunner.info

I am a member of the circle of active Brunnerians operating under the auspices of the International Constantin Brunner Institute, which also has a website: Constantin Brunner Forum

I have to say that there are very, very few active Brunnerians, maybe a dozen globally. You can check out my blog to learn about recent Brunner-related activity.

The time now is right for the practical implementation of Brunner's doctrine. As one recent commentator puts it (article in French, pdf), "the relevance of his thought appears to us intact, at the moment of the construction of an open and multicultural Europe, at the moment of the overcoming of the conflicts that have led to ruin."