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Comment by eat_veggies | Hacker News Reader

This is the anarchist theory of the unity of means and ends: you can't tell people anything, including what a better society looks like (nor can you impose it on anyone). You have to try to build and live that society in the present in order to even "get it" yourself.

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anarchopac-means-and...

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I have some opinions about therapy being the art of asking people questions in order to trick them into telling themselves things that nobody else can tell them.

I've had more than a couple coworkers over the years who pull me into random decisions because they think I ask good questions. Part of me would rather be known for having good answers, but it's better than being discounted, and practically it may end up being more effective.

That’s exactly what therapy is - you’ll never get a “diagnosis” out of a good therapist. Especially in fields like CBT. The point being to make you think (cognitive) about your response/actions (behavioral).

In my perspective this derives from the fact that "knowledge" itself is not some abstract, immaterial thing in the brain, but rather thinking and knowing works through the body and the practical application. Hence the saying "hands-on". Understanding something requires experiencing it, as experience (sensation) is inseparable from consciousness. (We call this phenomenological Emboiment, feel free to check it out!)

You cannot build an ideal society in theory as it will not be realisitic in practice, and you cannot explain reason and feel with words alone, but others need to walk the same experiential path as you did. But since you already figured it out you can help them walk it faster. Thats why we now learn in primary school what originally took a long time until some greek matematician worked it out.

It also sounds rooted in Epictetus, the Greek Stoic. Interestingly, Christian monastics used the Enchiridion of Epictetus to guide their intentional communities.

Of course, these anarchist projects all fail (like Occupy) or have murder rates significantly above baseline society (like CHAZ) so this shows… something.

Like what is this comment? Why do people with an extremely narrow view of some political topic or politcal movement like anarchism/communism/immigration policies/etc. start posting something that dismissive. Like as if they where actually talking about the same thing, without realizing that they dismisse a delusional idea of something which has no to little to do with what the other person was talking about.

This was the whole point of Occupy! They refused to have any demands or talking points because they instead were going to live their truth by leading a better way of life in parks. And they had meetings with complicated progressive stack systems and looked for consensus in everything. It's theory compliant.

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