The Self as Paradox

In an April 14, 2024 post, I wrote about how the Self is a contradiction. Meaning that the Self is both real and nothing. I want to address a related aspect of the Self in this post. 

The autonomy of the Self was significant to existentialists and absurdists such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, Beauvoir, and Camus. As evidenced by my writings, the autonomy of the Self is an essential issue of Dark Paganism. Personal autonomy allows the individual to grow and achieve authenticity.

However, while the Self is autonomous, it’s dependent upon forces outside itself. The popular idiom, “No man is an island,” is very true. From the cradle to the grave, we depend on others for all aspects of who we are, including life itself.

Therefore, the Self is both autonomous yet dependent. It’s through autonomy that we reveal our true Selves. However, the very existence of the Self is dependent on others.  

The Self is a paradox.

The Philosophy of Dark Paganism

“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.” - Edger Allen Poe, The Raven

As I walked through a Halloween store the other day, I came across a placard with the above quote from Poe’s The Raven. When I saw the placard, I knew I had to buy it for it truly spoke to me. 

Several years ago, I decided to write a book. I can’t say that my dreams were like “no mortal ever dared to dream,” but they were the product of peering into the darkness of the Self. My dream of being published became a reality today with the release of my book The Philosophy of Dark Paganism by Llewellyn Worldwide.

In my book, I explore Dark Paganism as a philosophical worldview. In it, I explore self-knowledge and autonomy as part of creating a meaningful life. To aid the reader, I provide nine principles to aid in individuation and achieving a state of well-being, which the ancients call eudaimonia. 

Of my book, Raven Digitalis, author of A Witch’s Shadow Magick Compendium and Esoteric Empathy, wrote:

“Differing from ‘black’ magick or baneful sorcery, this deeply intelligent and honest book explores darker magickal elements through a lens of Neopaganism. Focused on self-development by way of shadow, the reader is given an opportunity to cohesively improve themselves and search for life’s greater purpose. I have never experienced a book like this. It is packed to the brim with educational references and citations, all of which boil down to a metaphysical perspective. The author’s refreshing approach encompasses solid academic history and philosophy alongside practical theory aimed toward self-empowerment. The shroud of darkness is enchanting...why not take a peek?”

You can purchase my book from Amazon and from Llewellyn.com.

Autonomy: Various

This is the last of a series on autonomy.

"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government." - Thomas Jefferson

In this last post on autonomy, I want to briefly cover two hot-button issues. 

Masks

Ever since the pandemic’s start, the government’s power to mandate the wearing of masks has been the subject of debate. While most people see no controversy in the government mandating masks, there was a noisy minority who balked at this. Leaving aside the misinformation about masks, some insisted that the government didn’t have the right to mandate masks. 

Masks were not some form of puritanical dress code or sharia law. Masks have been proven to reduce the spread of disease, specifically Covid-19. Mask mandates are saving the lives of others and preventing the national hospital system from being overwhelmed.

Therefore, since wearing masks reduces the chances of harm to others, either directly or through the impact on services, the government has the right to override the autonomy of someone and require individuals to wear masks.

Gun Rights

According to the website sandyhookpromise.org "Each day 12 children die from gun violence in America." This doesn’t include the mass shootings like what occurred in Uvalde, Texas, in May of this year. These examples show a simple fact, firearms’ sole purpose is to kill. Indeed, there are sporting events with firearms, but that’s secondary to their primary purpose.

Because firearms are by nature designed to cause severe harm, an individual’s autonomy to own one can be restricted by the government.   

Conclusion to This Series

Dark Paganism teaches us that autonomy is the default nature of humans. Therefore, restrictions on our autonomy can only be justified when there is a risk of harm to another. In most cases, such as gender identity, sexual preferences, and reproductive rights, the individual’s autonomy cannot be regulated because there is no harm. However, in cases where there is harm to others, such as the spread of disease and weapons, a person’s autonomy isn’t absolute and can be regulated.

Autonomy: Reproductive Rights

 This is the third in a series concerning autonomy.

“The state controlling a woman would mean denying her full autonomy and full equality.” - Ruth Bader Ginsburg, US Supreme Court Justice

On June 24th, 2022, in a shocking decision, the US Supreme Court reversed Roe v Wade, which had protected a woman’s right to an abortion for nearly half a century. This threw the power back to the States to decide the legality of abortion.

In Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court focused on the Due Process Clause found in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The Due Process Clause prohibits arbitrary deprivation of “life, liberty, or property” by the government except as authorized by law. The Supreme Court determined that the Due Process Clause provides a fundamental “right to privacy,” which protects a pregnant woman’s right to an abortion.

For the purposes of this blog post, I’m looking not at privacy but at another consideration in this debate, autonomy.

 

I’ve mentioned several times that the only time the State has the right to restrict autonomy is when there’s harm or its potential. The argument by anti-abortion groups is that the fetus is a human and entitled to the human right to protection from harm.

Let me mention what’s not for consideration in this post, the view that “life begins at conception.” This view is based on the idea that a soul enters the body at conception. This is a purely religious belief and therefore is irrelevant when discussing government laws and regulations.

One claim by anti-abortion activists is that a fetus is living and human. Yes, a fetus is made of living material, and yes, it’s genetically human. However, that doesn’t make it a person with rights. Just because a zygote, the one-celled product of the union of sperm and egg, has 46 chromosomes and is made of human tissue doesn’t make it a person. Nor does the zygote’s potential to become an autonomous person make it one. You have 46 chromosomes in each skin cell, which is living human material. Theoretically, this skin cell could be used to clone a human, but that doesn’t make a skin cell a person. 

In the last few years, anti-abortion activists have used what appears to be a heartbeat at six weeks to claim that a fetus is a person with rights at that time. There are two problems with the heartbeat law.

First, a heartbeat isn’t possible at six weeks gestation because there are no heart valves to create one. What’s being detected is the electric activity within the embryo. The ultrasound generates the illusion of a heartbeat from that electrical activity. 

Second, heart cells will automatically respond in each other’s presence. Scientists found that heart cells will beat in unison in a lab dish. But that doesn’t make that clump of cells in the lab a person.

I will grant that an argument could be made that at 24 weeks, a fetus may be considered a person because, at that point, it may be able to survive outside the mother. One might say that it has become autonomous. This is why in Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court determined that abortions during the third trimester could be limited. 

It should be noted that third-trimester abortions are rare and only occur when the mother’s health is in danger. 

Bottom-line conclusion: because there is no harm to another, the government does not have the right to restrict a woman’s choice of abortion, except for the third trimester.

Autonomy: The Issue of Our Times

 “The deepest problems of modern life derive from the claim of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of life.” - Georg Simmel, German Sociologist (1858 – 1918)

This blog post is the first of several about autonomy from a Dark Pagan perspective.

Different issues are associated with different ages. World War II defined the 1940s, the Cold War dominated the 1950s through the 1980s, and the events of 9/11 along with the Iraq War dominated the first decade of the new millennium. In the second decade of the 21st century, autonomy appears to be one of the defining issues. Specifically, how much power should social institutions, such as the government, have over an individual’s autonomy?

Autonomy issues are all over the news, especially here in the US. Gender identity, transgender rights, sexual orientation, mask/ vaccine mandates, contraception, gun rights, and abortion rights are hot-button issues. These issues all involve attempts to decide where the individual’s freedom ends, and society’s regulatory power begins. 

It should be noted that autonomy means different things to different people. For this blog post, I refer to Gerald Dworkin, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of California. In his book The Theory and Practice of Autonomy, he described autonomy as the capacity for someone to define their nature, give their lives meaning and coherence, and allow them to take responsibility for themselves. 

From a Dark Pagan perspective, autonomy is the default nature of humans. It’s a natural characteristic of the Self. Autonomy, like the Self, is the product of complex interactions between biology, environment, and cognitive activity. 

One of the misconceptions we have about autonomy is the belief that it’s absolute. There’s a belief that we can always overcome social influence by simply using our willpower. While personal autonomy is powerful, such thinking is unrealistic. Yes, some amazing people have overcome extreme odds to achieve greatness. However, life is complex, and it’s not simple or easy.

The default aspect of autonomy provides guidance as to when society, especially the government, should regulate it. Because autonomy is a person’s default nature, society must defer to the individual’s autonomy except when it endangers the autonomy or life of another. 

I’m reminded of the words of Thomas Jefferson. Although he was writing about religious freedom, it applies here as well. “It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” In other words, if personal autonomy does not harm another, the general rule is that the government should not interfere. 

Applying the above might sound easy, but it’s far from it. I’ll address some ideas about the practical application of personal autonomy in future blog posts.

Blessed Be,

Frater Tenebris