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3/30/26- Peirce's triadic philosophy as a non-theologian
The concept of thinking in 3s is not new to psychoanalysis or religion when philosophically situated and although Peirce was not a theologian or a psychoanalyst, a ¨trinitarian¨ structure is at the core of Charles Peirce’s philosophy. Both Freud and Lacan utilized a tripartite view (Freud’s psychological structure of the id, ego, and superego; and Lacan’s topological borromean knot of the real, imaginary, and symbolic). Aspects of religion are founded on 3s as the Christian trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the Hindu trimurti of Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva, in particular.
Peirce begins the core of his philosophy with firstness, secondness, and thirdness; Peirce's fundamental concepts that contribute to his semiotics of sign, object, and interpretant. Peirce's triadic structure can be said to have emerged as a response to Descartes' binary, expanding beyond the earlier dualism of modern philosophy; however, it is not new to the broadened philosophical view (including religion) that unites man with God in some form, instead of an eternal separate damnation or impossibility of relation.
Relation and mediation become fundamental to Peirce, which avoids the possibility of a split binary. The mediating factor that avoids the binary of subject and object is found in Peirce’s theory of signs, whereby the interpretant is the understanding produced by a sign, in which Peirce called it the ¨proper significate effect¨ in the Collected Papers (1907).
The concept of thinking in 3s is not new to psychoanalysis or religion when philosophically situated and although Peirce was not a theologian or a psychoanalyst, a ¨trinitarian¨ structure is at the core of Charles Peirce’s philosophy. Both Freud and Lacan utilized a tripartite view (Freud’s psychological structure of the id, ego, and superego; and Lacan’s topological borromean knot of the real, imaginary, and symbolic). Aspects of religion are founded on 3s as the Christian trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the Hindu trimurti of Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva, in particular.
Peirce begins the core of his philosophy with firstness, secondness, and thirdness; Peirce's fundamental concepts that contribute to his semiotics of sign, object, and interpretant. Peirce's triadic structure can be said to have emerged as a response to Descartes' binary, expanding beyond the earlier dualism of modern philosophy; however, it is not new to the broadened philosophical view (including religion) that unites man with God in some form, instead of an eternal separate damnation or impossibility of relation.
Relation and mediation become fundamental to Peirce, which avoids the possibility of a split binary. The mediating factor that avoids the binary of subject and object is found in Peirce’s theory of signs, whereby the interpretant is the understanding produced by a sign, in which Peirce called it the ¨proper significate effect¨ in the Collected Papers (1907).
3/23/26- The Esoteric as a Consequence of American Pragmatism
In the course of reading William James, one will find that pragmatism as a label was not on the agenda, and in actuality, it was Charles S. Peirce who devised the original constructs of the discipline. James accepted the task of reintroducing Peirce while having lived a certain detached discipleship, claiming the seminal thinker as crucial to the American philosophical enterprise.
The label is not exclusive for mere differentiation when it comes to looking at a philosophy beyond a European construct. We find that pragmatism is very much an American philosophy, but also a response to European intellectual influence. It was essential for American philosophers to emerge as their own distinct voice, and thus, pragmatism dared to enter uncharted territory in the American spirit of pioneering.
The esoteric will become a consequence of pragmatism, as during the time that Peirce was devising his metaphysical analysis, Helen Blavatsky oriented the structure of the mystical in occult traditions. As history has a tendency to repeat itself, we can merely say it does so because it overlooked crucial lessons along the way. Each new generation must experience a dialectic based on what the prior left behind. As James spoke on pragmatism, ¨a new name for some old ways of thinking.¨
In the course of reading William James, one will find that pragmatism as a label was not on the agenda, and in actuality, it was Charles S. Peirce who devised the original constructs of the discipline. James accepted the task of reintroducing Peirce while having lived a certain detached discipleship, claiming the seminal thinker as crucial to the American philosophical enterprise.
The label is not exclusive for mere differentiation when it comes to looking at a philosophy beyond a European construct. We find that pragmatism is very much an American philosophy, but also a response to European intellectual influence. It was essential for American philosophers to emerge as their own distinct voice, and thus, pragmatism dared to enter uncharted territory in the American spirit of pioneering.
The esoteric will become a consequence of pragmatism, as during the time that Peirce was devising his metaphysical analysis, Helen Blavatsky oriented the structure of the mystical in occult traditions. As history has a tendency to repeat itself, we can merely say it does so because it overlooked crucial lessons along the way. Each new generation must experience a dialectic based on what the prior left behind. As James spoke on pragmatism, ¨a new name for some old ways of thinking.¨
2/26/26- The Turn to a Materialist Hegel: The Marxist Appropriation of Dialectics
Within a rationalist philosophical framework, one is informed by contemplative realization and lived interior and environmental awareness. Philosophy is not only an abstract intellectual exercise, but it is an embodiment of insight, whereby it is something grounded in self-knowledge and reflective awareness. From this position, it is necessary, from my viewpoint, to present a sustained critique of Marxist philosophy and contemporary materialism. Examining how Hegel’s dialectical method was reinterpreted and reduced within materialist frameworks.
I challenge the following:
I can recognize that Žižek provides a necessary critique of the Americanized use of Buddhism as a form of stress relief that allows subjects to better tolerate the demands of late capitalism, but I depart from his broader claim that capitalism functions as the primary structuring antagonism that generates modern suffering. For Žižek, ideology operates by masking material contradictions, and practices such as “Western Buddhism” serve as supplements that stabilize subjects within exploitative economic systems.
However, from my perspective, suffering precedes and exceeds any particular economic formation; it is rooted in the ontological and existential structure of human finitude and grounded in what I would call a contemporary cycle of blindness or lack of insight in the Kali Yuga. In this sense, suffering can be understood as a form of fundamental ignorance, with capitalism as one of its contingent expressions, not the source itself.
Within a rationalist philosophical framework, one is informed by contemplative realization and lived interior and environmental awareness. Philosophy is not only an abstract intellectual exercise, but it is an embodiment of insight, whereby it is something grounded in self-knowledge and reflective awareness. From this position, it is necessary, from my viewpoint, to present a sustained critique of Marxist philosophy and contemporary materialism. Examining how Hegel’s dialectical method was reinterpreted and reduced within materialist frameworks.
I challenge the following:
- The transformation of Hegel’s metaphysical and logical system into a purely economic or historical materialism.
- Jacques Lacan’s theory of lack, particularly his underdevelopment or dismissal of the Maternal Symbolic.
- Slavoj Žižek, especially his framing of capitalism as the primary source of suffering.
I can recognize that Žižek provides a necessary critique of the Americanized use of Buddhism as a form of stress relief that allows subjects to better tolerate the demands of late capitalism, but I depart from his broader claim that capitalism functions as the primary structuring antagonism that generates modern suffering. For Žižek, ideology operates by masking material contradictions, and practices such as “Western Buddhism” serve as supplements that stabilize subjects within exploitative economic systems.
However, from my perspective, suffering precedes and exceeds any particular economic formation; it is rooted in the ontological and existential structure of human finitude and grounded in what I would call a contemporary cycle of blindness or lack of insight in the Kali Yuga. In this sense, suffering can be understood as a form of fundamental ignorance, with capitalism as one of its contingent expressions, not the source itself.
2/23/26- Esoterism as epistemology
I have been developing this work out of the depths of winter as part of a broader philosophical project. It represents one formulation of the conceptual structure through which I articulate my claims and situate my voice as a philosopher attentive to environmental energetic frequency, and to the foundations of the earth under oppression since the age of Kali Yuga, situated at the origin of history.
Descartes undertook the project of establishing a recognition of the division between mind and matter, which can be understood as a representation of maya, the illusion of duality, whereby the pineal gland serves as a link to the seat of the soul. However, Descartes was not an esoteric philosopher; his metaphysical claims were grounded in rationalist thought and the emerging scientific method of the 17th century. It is here that the work of the American philosopher and mystic, Manly P. Hall, opens doors that 17th-century thought could not or did not dare to enter.
In Hall's 1928 work, The Secret Teachings of all ages, he denotes the following, ¨Plato regarded philosophy as the greatest good ever imparted by Divinity to man. In the twentieth century, however, it has become a ponderous and complicated structure of arbitrary and irreconcilable notions. Convincing evidence of the increasing superficiality of modern scientific and philosophic thought is its persistent drift towards materialism."
This points to the current state of philosophy under the reign of Slavoj Žižek as a leading figure in political theory in the 21st century, making this work all the more necessary to preserve the original intention towards depth in philosophy, as Hall notes: In his treatise on Atheism, Sir Francis Bacon tersely summarizes the situation thus: ¨A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.'" These postulations point back to Descartes' philosophical notion of the pineal gland as the site where the immaterial soul interacts with the body, an idea never fully developed as an integral piece toward enlightenment, leading to contemporary materialist pursuits laden with political ideology.
I touch here on the importance of recognizing the esoteric as a necessary venture in an age where what was once innate to humanity is now hidden, yet remains in plain view. It is not to be regarded merely as a relief of symptoms, nor as a reaction to political geists, which Hegel understands as the unfolding spirit of a people or era, manifesting in history. Nor is it, as Marx would imply, “an opium” for the masses. Rather, the esoteric refers to the ancient and ancestral teachings, the soul-based origins, and the birthright of every human being.
I have been developing this work out of the depths of winter as part of a broader philosophical project. It represents one formulation of the conceptual structure through which I articulate my claims and situate my voice as a philosopher attentive to environmental energetic frequency, and to the foundations of the earth under oppression since the age of Kali Yuga, situated at the origin of history.
Descartes undertook the project of establishing a recognition of the division between mind and matter, which can be understood as a representation of maya, the illusion of duality, whereby the pineal gland serves as a link to the seat of the soul. However, Descartes was not an esoteric philosopher; his metaphysical claims were grounded in rationalist thought and the emerging scientific method of the 17th century. It is here that the work of the American philosopher and mystic, Manly P. Hall, opens doors that 17th-century thought could not or did not dare to enter.
In Hall's 1928 work, The Secret Teachings of all ages, he denotes the following, ¨Plato regarded philosophy as the greatest good ever imparted by Divinity to man. In the twentieth century, however, it has become a ponderous and complicated structure of arbitrary and irreconcilable notions. Convincing evidence of the increasing superficiality of modern scientific and philosophic thought is its persistent drift towards materialism."
This points to the current state of philosophy under the reign of Slavoj Žižek as a leading figure in political theory in the 21st century, making this work all the more necessary to preserve the original intention towards depth in philosophy, as Hall notes: In his treatise on Atheism, Sir Francis Bacon tersely summarizes the situation thus: ¨A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.'" These postulations point back to Descartes' philosophical notion of the pineal gland as the site where the immaterial soul interacts with the body, an idea never fully developed as an integral piece toward enlightenment, leading to contemporary materialist pursuits laden with political ideology.
I touch here on the importance of recognizing the esoteric as a necessary venture in an age where what was once innate to humanity is now hidden, yet remains in plain view. It is not to be regarded merely as a relief of symptoms, nor as a reaction to political geists, which Hegel understands as the unfolding spirit of a people or era, manifesting in history. Nor is it, as Marx would imply, “an opium” for the masses. Rather, the esoteric refers to the ancient and ancestral teachings, the soul-based origins, and the birthright of every human being.
2/1/26- The Maternal Symbolic Within Dialectical Duality
My theoretical and empirical project on the maternal symbolic will be developed within psychoanalysis by grounding the maternal symbolic in Cartesian, Hegelian, and Kantian philosophy, addressing lacunae in object relations, and theorizing maternal foreclosure within Lacan. While Lacan was explicitly critical of American empiricism, the empirical dimension of this project does not adopt a positivist or behaviorist orientation; rather, it employs phenomenology as a theoretically informed mode of inquiry consistent with psychoanalytic concerns.
My theoretical and empirical project on the maternal symbolic will be developed within psychoanalysis by grounding the maternal symbolic in Cartesian, Hegelian, and Kantian philosophy, addressing lacunae in object relations, and theorizing maternal foreclosure within Lacan. While Lacan was explicitly critical of American empiricism, the empirical dimension of this project does not adopt a positivist or behaviorist orientation; rather, it employs phenomenology as a theoretically informed mode of inquiry consistent with psychoanalytic concerns.