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Venal, issue 1, July 1946
Page 1
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VENAL #1 July 1946 Published for the Fantasy Amateur Press Association by Robert W. Lowndes, at 325 West 11th Street, New York 14, NY fapamailingsarestillfuntoreadsoireckonimayaswellstartpublishingagain OUTLINES OF A NO-VALUE ORIENTATION This is not being presented as a new or startling discovery; the study of history shows that there has been nothing new in human thought for at least two thousand years, and this figure, in all probability cd/ easily be doubled. The concept of the unity of opposites, for example, which is so prominent in Marxian thought, comes through Hegel from Heracleitus in the 6th Century BC; the Spencerian rhythm of Good and Evil stems from Empedocles in the 4th Century BC. And there is no reason to believe that these Greeks originated the concepts mentioned. We know of a work of philosophy which existed circa 2880 BC, the "Instructions of Ptah-hotep", Governor of Memphis, Prime Minister to the King in Egypt's 5th Dynasty. There is a marked resemblance here to the Biblical "Proverbs", which only go back to the 4th Century BC. The essence of the No-Value Orientation can easily be as old. Henry Sostman's lines: "We learn from words, but learn little more than that from time to time the same things happen", can well stand repeating. To these lines shd/ be added the fact that while that which is happening does not greatly differ from that which has happened, humanity constantly find new and ever more complex terms for the describing of both. It is in these increasing complexities and the concomitant shuffling of old ideas that the apparently-new appears. Admitted that the physical sciences are constantly increasing the measure of existance appreciable to our sense, the manner in which we respond to stimuli has shown differences in degree, through out the course of history, but no differences in kind. And the latest scientific marvel, the grasping of the atom, regardless of its consequences, has not altered the summation of human wisdom given by a nameless sage in an obscure past. You have heard the story in many different guises; the sage, asked to sum up human wisdom in a single sentence which wd/ always be true, replied: "Even this shall pass away." To the best of our knowledge, this summation still holds. But the wisdom of humanity and human behaviour must be recognized as separate lines, parallels running through the course of known history -- parallels which, in defiance of Euclidean geometry, both never meet and are constantly meeting and intertwining. To understand human behaviour, and be able to cope with the reality of it, it is necessary to be able to distinguish the two lines, both when they are running like railroad tracks, and when they are snarled lik silk fishlines dipped in treacle. To imagine either that the lines are always parallel, or that they are never parallel, or that they are unidirectional, is to make a serious error. Within the line of human wisdom can be found the elements of knowledge and judgement; within the line of human behaviour can be found thought and action; and these latter can be divided into the rational and the non-rational. The rational is that which is entered into with a particular goal in view; the goal itself must be definable as within the realms of possibility under the total circumstances; the step taken must be definable as indicative of an understanding of what steps are necessary in order to realize the goal
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VENAL #1 July 1946 Published for the Fantasy Amateur Press Association by Robert W. Lowndes, at 325 West 11th Street, New York 14, NY fapamailingsarestillfuntoreadsoireckonimayaswellstartpublishingagain OUTLINES OF A NO-VALUE ORIENTATION This is not being presented as a new or startling discovery; the study of history shows that there has been nothing new in human thought for at least two thousand years, and this figure, in all probability cd/ easily be doubled. The concept of the unity of opposites, for example, which is so prominent in Marxian thought, comes through Hegel from Heracleitus in the 6th Century BC; the Spencerian rhythm of Good and Evil stems from Empedocles in the 4th Century BC. And there is no reason to believe that these Greeks originated the concepts mentioned. We know of a work of philosophy which existed circa 2880 BC, the "Instructions of Ptah-hotep", Governor of Memphis, Prime Minister to the King in Egypt's 5th Dynasty. There is a marked resemblance here to the Biblical "Proverbs", which only go back to the 4th Century BC. The essence of the No-Value Orientation can easily be as old. Henry Sostman's lines: "We learn from words, but learn little more than that from time to time the same things happen", can well stand repeating. To these lines shd/ be added the fact that while that which is happening does not greatly differ from that which has happened, humanity constantly find new and ever more complex terms for the describing of both. It is in these increasing complexities and the concomitant shuffling of old ideas that the apparently-new appears. Admitted that the physical sciences are constantly increasing the measure of existance appreciable to our sense, the manner in which we respond to stimuli has shown differences in degree, through out the course of history, but no differences in kind. And the latest scientific marvel, the grasping of the atom, regardless of its consequences, has not altered the summation of human wisdom given by a nameless sage in an obscure past. You have heard the story in many different guises; the sage, asked to sum up human wisdom in a single sentence which wd/ always be true, replied: "Even this shall pass away." To the best of our knowledge, this summation still holds. But the wisdom of humanity and human behaviour must be recognized as separate lines, parallels running through the course of known history -- parallels which, in defiance of Euclidean geometry, both never meet and are constantly meeting and intertwining. To understand human behaviour, and be able to cope with the reality of it, it is necessary to be able to distinguish the two lines, both when they are running like railroad tracks, and when they are snarled lik silk fishlines dipped in treacle. To imagine either that the lines are always parallel, or that they are never parallel, or that they are unidirectional, is to make a serious error. Within the line of human wisdom can be found the elements of knowledge and judgement; within the line of human behaviour can be found thought and action; and these latter can be divided into the rational and the non-rational. The rational is that which is entered into with a particular goal in view; the goal itself must be definable as within the realms of possibility under the total circumstances; the step taken must be definable as indicative of an understanding of what steps are necessary in order to realize the goal
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