Not really cheerful, but I’d suggest we adopt Alcoholics Anonymous as the state religion, except those meetings, ugh. This thing does hit some of the right points though. It’s home grown. It’s relatively non-threatening to existing religious beliefs. People come together say some words and then the ‘heap big magic’ takes place. People stop drinking, for real. We can call it the ‘12-fold path’, heh.

But that’s all kind of a drag. And philosophy? As far as I’m concerned, I don’t think it has to make sense. If you want to bind the nation together, much better to tell the rousing tales of danger, heroism and bravery. Remember Apollo, what did Americans feel like during Apollo 11? That was one massive jolt of testosterone in the nation there. Find the strongest and smartest Americans you can find, and have them do something dangerous, new and amazing, that requires discipline and technology and taking big risks.

Learn to be at peace with the ultimate pointlessness of it, and simply marvel at what they have done. This will show everyone how it’s done. How not to cut corners, how not to steal, how not to be sneaky and track-covering, how to be the best. That’s how you do it.

This I have a real problem with. What’s mine is mine and the politicians should keep their hands off of it and mind their own business, or when the revolution finally comes……

Voila! All disputes with and among such people instantly disappear. The real question is, why is this not already happening, more importantly, how could it…

There is another relevant insight of Voegelin. People use their ideas of the transcendent and Divine as the basis on which to organize society and state. Unfortunately, modern state and society are rather complicated, and something simple and cheerful will tend to be inadequate. The Muslim world, the former seat of the most ancient civilisations of the world is the best proof that the wrong religion and philosophy are a terrible danger.

Her approach implicitly follows that utilitarian thread of western thinking, from Plato through Machiavelli that sees myths as a necessary foundation for a stable society. Most people find the reality of death, the lack of meaning in the cosmos, too harsh — so a comforting veil is needed.

This ties with Cathryn’s comment. Over time people come to see through the veil. Disillusionment and self-knowledge are poison to the myths that tie together a people and allow them to function as if daily life is meaningful. Hence Hegel’s observation that “”the owl of Minerva flies only at night.”

What we need is an optimistic school of philosophy. Something simple, cheerful, and well-founded. Any ideas?

Art of War has no special links to Daoism. It was written mostly by Machiavellian generals such as Cao Cao.

Sri Aurobindo seems to be a kind of Buddhist. The real Gnosticism and Manicheanism is different. It cannot really became a ruling religion or philosophy because it is suicidal - quite literally. They want to free divine spirit imprisoned in humans, and this involves the extinction of humanity. They were specifially opposed to having children, as this helps to keep particles of the spirit imprisoned.

At present, the humanities and social sciences at nearly all universities are under control of postmodernists or Heideggerians - and so, ultimately gnostics. Not that anyone would say this outright - the absurdity of Gnosis requires higher learning to be accepted. But the major texts, as Heidegger or Adorno, although deliberately obscure, are in the end gnostic. Similarly, the resulting practical propositions are compatible with gnosis, and only with gnosis. For the uninitiated there is propaganda of sexual freedom and hedonism. For the lower ranks of mandarins - the prescribed phrases to be memorized and regurgitated. Only the high priests get to actually read and think about the basic ideas of the movement.

http://www.johnreilly.info/10Jan08.htm
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=945

“The aim of a liberal education, is to unsettle presumptions, to defamiliarize the familiar, to reveal what is going on beneath and behind appearances, to disorient young people.”
Final Report of the Task Force on General Education, Harvard

As to the source of spritual problems of both Mao and modern America - read Voegelin. His point is simple - when you promise Paradise on earth, (he called it “immanentizing eschaton”) no matter whether communist or capitalism, you are writing check without backing. Your checks will bounce, and there will be no paradise, only disappointment and anger.

The national dream fading slowly is nothing to be ashamed of, every nation faces the same problem. Mao even saw this in his own lifetime with the PRC. The younger generations weren’t as committed as the old guys who went through the long march. He thought he could fix this by having a continuous revolution to regenerate the revolutionary enthusiasm. That didn’t go so well. Oops.

The ‘narcissistic’ and other alternate belief systems aren’t the cause of the problem, but rather what happens is that people search for meaning other places as life and work loses purpose. If the USA someday in desperation pulls a Falun Gong on every other group that is not mainstream, it’s not going to make any difference. This is treating the symptom and not the disease.

If you want the easiest fix for all this, I’ll tell you how, but I don’t like the idea myself — the solution is military victory. Build up some big armies or whatever. Find some enemy country, I’m not sure who exactly but there must be another 10 or 20 mini-Hitlers out there, and kick some ass. Don’t occupy, but just ride home for the triumphant parade and have the TV news shut out any negative aftermath. It’ll be rah rah for the home team, everyone is happy. Problem solved for the next 10 years or so.