Steve Brett | SOAS University of London (original) (raw)
Papers by Steve Brett
3rd Space, 2023
What Are "Exiled Capacities"? Much of the time, my mind churns out the same predictable responses... more What Are "Exiled Capacities"? Much of the time, my mind churns out the same predictable responses to things. If I tried to draw a circle around what I think about most of the time it would have a pretty small circumference. But there are times, more often now, when I am no longer perceiving the world through my thoughts, but through a different aperture that is open to the world, open to receive the mystery of perception and relationship. Perhaps this is touching on what Vanessa Machado de Oliveira is pointing to when she refers to ''accessing exiled capacities."
3rd Space, 2023
What is Mimesis, what does it mean, and why does it matter at this time of a mutation in our rela... more What is Mimesis, what does it mean, and why does it matter at this time of a mutation in our relationship to the world?
3rd Space, 2022
Traditionally, for hundreds of years, religion was the source of ethics, the unquestioned authori... more Traditionally, for hundreds of years, religion was the source of ethics, the unquestioned authority on how to live and act. In the secular West today, in case you hadn't noticed, this is no longer the case. The burden of meaning-making is now firmly on our own shoulders. The primary reasons for this are the triumph of science and the development of the individual. Although brought up in a loosely traditional Christian family in which we would all dutifully troop off to church on a Sunday, when I was a teenager, I rebelled against any external authority that might tell me how I should live my life. I delighted in the freedom of making my own choices-the essential individual! But it wasn't long before I was looking for some form of meaning and guidance in a world I felt completely alienated from, albeit an approach that made sense to me. At nineteen I found my way to the Indian philosopher J. Krishnamurti, and a book written specifically for young people.
3rd Space
Civil Disobedience and the State "Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is ma... more Civil Disobedience and the State "Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion." Oscar Wilde As every day passes, it is becoming obvious that the world is moving into uncharted territory because of the climate emergency. Can you hear it coming? Because it is. Gandhi wrote in 1908, "A man, whilst he is dreaming, believes in his dream; he is undeceived only when he is awakened from his sleep. A man labouring under the bane of civilisation is like a dreaming man." As a result of our unyielding 'matrix-like' existence in the modern world, blind to what lies before us, Nature is reflecting us directly to ourselves, prising us out of our shells of denial, confronting us with the truth. The message is-we can no longer live merely as individualists. That is, the individualism born of our excesses, born of our fixation on remaining separate, isolated individuals in a world we assumed was ours to dominate and control.
3rd Space, 2021
is at the forefront of some significant work in examining and dissecting, with simple clarity, th... more is at the forefront of some significant work in examining and dissecting, with simple clarity, the interlocking elements that constitute our more-than-likely impending civilisational collapse, and where we should be looking for a solution. 'DS' here for brevity, is a social philosopher and cultural hacker, who first reached prominence on social media in 2019 with his opening exposition, War on Sensemaking, published by the YouTube platform Rebel Wisdom. It currently has nearly 500,000 views, which might not seem like a lot compared to Dua Lipa; but considering its high-octane first principle thinking and its complex analysis, its popularity indicates something of the level of hunger there still is amongst us, to try and make sense of the world.
3rd-space.org, 2020
Why are identity politics so dominating the public discourse? They are certainly drowning out not... more Why are identity politics so dominating the public discourse? They are certainly drowning out not only any attempt at sensemaking as the world grows ever more complex and uncertain, but also other ways of relating to ourselves, each other, and the world at large beyond the merely political, ideological and technological. As Daniel Schmachtenberger comments, we can't make good choices if we don't have good sensemaking. And right now we are making more and more choices with worse means of sensemaking; that is if we haven't already given up on trying, which as he eludes to, many of us of us already have. But perhaps this points to the fact that the only epistemological tools we appear to have, do not provide us with the kind of meaning-making capacity we need to respond to the nature of the crisis we are in. The current culture wars have never been more contentious and eviserating. The latest expression of this depressing regression is what has come to be called "cancel culture". The labels don't help. It only exacerbates the problem when social media creates yet another corral in which these battles have the appearance of being legitimately being fought. Its not that the arguments on both sides are not complex; they sometimes are. But when I think about the attacks on, for example, JK Rowling and Woody Allen, there are two things that stand out. One is what happens when our subjective identification with some form of ideology or ideological trend entirely replaces any other form of social contract such as mutual respect, the visibility of the other, or interest in what is true; secondly, how this reinforces and legitimises a collective culture of division, fear and mistrust. We are supposed to be in postmodernity right now. In fact, the right tells us that the postmodern left is dominating all our institutions. There is some truth to this. Yet, it is profit-centered, corporate-controlled modernism that is still thriving as the operating system of our political power structures. The initial inspiration of postmodern thinking goes back to Nietzsche, "the death of God", and his opening of the gates to the creative freedom of becoming, and heroic individualism. As most people know, postmodern scepticism emerged intially in the artistic avant-garde, and then filtered down into the humanities departments of universities. Gasping for breath over the threat of nihilism and the conformity-driven control of capitalism, postmodernists were driven by a passion for freedom and authenticity, the deconstruction of metanarratives, and of the power inherent in the universalising structures of modernity. The questioning of these 'conceptually constructed' meanings and systems, picked up by the progressive movement, has created significant breakthroughs in changing cultural attitudes. It has led, at least to an extent, to the creation of more equitable and enlightened social structures, as well as waking us up to climate change and impending ecological collapse. It even includes lobsters. I read today that the British Veterinary Association and some top chefs are calling for lobsters to be stunned before being cooked, rather than being plunged alive into boiling water where they obviously suffer immensely. In essense, the progressive movement has been about developing sensitivity to the impact of modernity on every aspect of how we relate to the world. These breakthroughs are manifold and continue, for example most notably in recent social movements such as #MeToo, Extinction Rebellion, LGBTQi and Black Lives Matter.
3rd-Space.org, 2020
There is a very long history in the western world to our experience of being a separate individua... more There is a very long history in the western world to our experience of being a separate individual, atomised from the world; a world that right now, as a result, seems to be descending into a crescendo of fragmentation and disintegration. At the same time, many of us, at one time or another, have intuitions of a deeper truth, in which all of life is an inseparable One. This has important implications, especially at a time when we are facing unprecedented collective existential challenges. But when the environment around us and our own inherited thinking, is so abstracted from the natural processes of life that continually inform us of a greater truth, this puts great stress on anyone called to the spiritual quest. This is because our culture, and our own inherited thinking, rather than supporting this truth, is continually subverting it.
Understanding Cosmopolitanism
Although compelled by philosophical and existential questions about life at a young age, like mos... more Although compelled by philosophical and existential questions about life at a young age, like most of my generation in Britain in the 1970's, I was never attracted to anything traditional. Brought up surrounded by tradition, I felt suffocated by it, believing it to be inherently dogmatic and reactionary, to a large extent I think for good reason. In fact, it was the search for freedom, and specifically freedom from the suffocation of tradition that took me to India in the first place when I was nineteen.
Books by Steve Brett
Mahatma Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo, 2021
This essay explores the relationship to the Second World War of two famous and rarely compared In... more This essay explores the relationship to the Second World War of two famous and rarely compared Indian nationalists, M.K Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo. Both Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo had deep considerations about the advent of the Second World War and its potential impact on India. Yet their views diverged completely on whether India should enter the war, on the issue of non-violence, and whether war itself was ever justifiable. This essay traces the historical development of Gandhi's and Sri Aurobindo's responses to the Second World War. It interrogates their viewpoints on the war, the ideas behind them, and the justification they find for them. It examines how the difference in their perspectives brings sharply into focus an age-old dilemma in Indian philosophy: that is how to act in accordance with cosmic reality in the face of the potential of war. Finally, it looks at the lasting legacy of their unique and distinct contributions to our evolving world.
3rd Space, 2023
What Are "Exiled Capacities"? Much of the time, my mind churns out the same predictable responses... more What Are "Exiled Capacities"? Much of the time, my mind churns out the same predictable responses to things. If I tried to draw a circle around what I think about most of the time it would have a pretty small circumference. But there are times, more often now, when I am no longer perceiving the world through my thoughts, but through a different aperture that is open to the world, open to receive the mystery of perception and relationship. Perhaps this is touching on what Vanessa Machado de Oliveira is pointing to when she refers to ''accessing exiled capacities."
3rd Space, 2023
What is Mimesis, what does it mean, and why does it matter at this time of a mutation in our rela... more What is Mimesis, what does it mean, and why does it matter at this time of a mutation in our relationship to the world?
3rd Space, 2022
Traditionally, for hundreds of years, religion was the source of ethics, the unquestioned authori... more Traditionally, for hundreds of years, religion was the source of ethics, the unquestioned authority on how to live and act. In the secular West today, in case you hadn't noticed, this is no longer the case. The burden of meaning-making is now firmly on our own shoulders. The primary reasons for this are the triumph of science and the development of the individual. Although brought up in a loosely traditional Christian family in which we would all dutifully troop off to church on a Sunday, when I was a teenager, I rebelled against any external authority that might tell me how I should live my life. I delighted in the freedom of making my own choices-the essential individual! But it wasn't long before I was looking for some form of meaning and guidance in a world I felt completely alienated from, albeit an approach that made sense to me. At nineteen I found my way to the Indian philosopher J. Krishnamurti, and a book written specifically for young people.
3rd Space
Civil Disobedience and the State "Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is ma... more Civil Disobedience and the State "Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion." Oscar Wilde As every day passes, it is becoming obvious that the world is moving into uncharted territory because of the climate emergency. Can you hear it coming? Because it is. Gandhi wrote in 1908, "A man, whilst he is dreaming, believes in his dream; he is undeceived only when he is awakened from his sleep. A man labouring under the bane of civilisation is like a dreaming man." As a result of our unyielding 'matrix-like' existence in the modern world, blind to what lies before us, Nature is reflecting us directly to ourselves, prising us out of our shells of denial, confronting us with the truth. The message is-we can no longer live merely as individualists. That is, the individualism born of our excesses, born of our fixation on remaining separate, isolated individuals in a world we assumed was ours to dominate and control.
3rd Space, 2021
is at the forefront of some significant work in examining and dissecting, with simple clarity, th... more is at the forefront of some significant work in examining and dissecting, with simple clarity, the interlocking elements that constitute our more-than-likely impending civilisational collapse, and where we should be looking for a solution. 'DS' here for brevity, is a social philosopher and cultural hacker, who first reached prominence on social media in 2019 with his opening exposition, War on Sensemaking, published by the YouTube platform Rebel Wisdom. It currently has nearly 500,000 views, which might not seem like a lot compared to Dua Lipa; but considering its high-octane first principle thinking and its complex analysis, its popularity indicates something of the level of hunger there still is amongst us, to try and make sense of the world.
3rd-space.org, 2020
Why are identity politics so dominating the public discourse? They are certainly drowning out not... more Why are identity politics so dominating the public discourse? They are certainly drowning out not only any attempt at sensemaking as the world grows ever more complex and uncertain, but also other ways of relating to ourselves, each other, and the world at large beyond the merely political, ideological and technological. As Daniel Schmachtenberger comments, we can't make good choices if we don't have good sensemaking. And right now we are making more and more choices with worse means of sensemaking; that is if we haven't already given up on trying, which as he eludes to, many of us of us already have. But perhaps this points to the fact that the only epistemological tools we appear to have, do not provide us with the kind of meaning-making capacity we need to respond to the nature of the crisis we are in. The current culture wars have never been more contentious and eviserating. The latest expression of this depressing regression is what has come to be called "cancel culture". The labels don't help. It only exacerbates the problem when social media creates yet another corral in which these battles have the appearance of being legitimately being fought. Its not that the arguments on both sides are not complex; they sometimes are. But when I think about the attacks on, for example, JK Rowling and Woody Allen, there are two things that stand out. One is what happens when our subjective identification with some form of ideology or ideological trend entirely replaces any other form of social contract such as mutual respect, the visibility of the other, or interest in what is true; secondly, how this reinforces and legitimises a collective culture of division, fear and mistrust. We are supposed to be in postmodernity right now. In fact, the right tells us that the postmodern left is dominating all our institutions. There is some truth to this. Yet, it is profit-centered, corporate-controlled modernism that is still thriving as the operating system of our political power structures. The initial inspiration of postmodern thinking goes back to Nietzsche, "the death of God", and his opening of the gates to the creative freedom of becoming, and heroic individualism. As most people know, postmodern scepticism emerged intially in the artistic avant-garde, and then filtered down into the humanities departments of universities. Gasping for breath over the threat of nihilism and the conformity-driven control of capitalism, postmodernists were driven by a passion for freedom and authenticity, the deconstruction of metanarratives, and of the power inherent in the universalising structures of modernity. The questioning of these 'conceptually constructed' meanings and systems, picked up by the progressive movement, has created significant breakthroughs in changing cultural attitudes. It has led, at least to an extent, to the creation of more equitable and enlightened social structures, as well as waking us up to climate change and impending ecological collapse. It even includes lobsters. I read today that the British Veterinary Association and some top chefs are calling for lobsters to be stunned before being cooked, rather than being plunged alive into boiling water where they obviously suffer immensely. In essense, the progressive movement has been about developing sensitivity to the impact of modernity on every aspect of how we relate to the world. These breakthroughs are manifold and continue, for example most notably in recent social movements such as #MeToo, Extinction Rebellion, LGBTQi and Black Lives Matter.
3rd-Space.org, 2020
There is a very long history in the western world to our experience of being a separate individua... more There is a very long history in the western world to our experience of being a separate individual, atomised from the world; a world that right now, as a result, seems to be descending into a crescendo of fragmentation and disintegration. At the same time, many of us, at one time or another, have intuitions of a deeper truth, in which all of life is an inseparable One. This has important implications, especially at a time when we are facing unprecedented collective existential challenges. But when the environment around us and our own inherited thinking, is so abstracted from the natural processes of life that continually inform us of a greater truth, this puts great stress on anyone called to the spiritual quest. This is because our culture, and our own inherited thinking, rather than supporting this truth, is continually subverting it.
Understanding Cosmopolitanism
Although compelled by philosophical and existential questions about life at a young age, like mos... more Although compelled by philosophical and existential questions about life at a young age, like most of my generation in Britain in the 1970's, I was never attracted to anything traditional. Brought up surrounded by tradition, I felt suffocated by it, believing it to be inherently dogmatic and reactionary, to a large extent I think for good reason. In fact, it was the search for freedom, and specifically freedom from the suffocation of tradition that took me to India in the first place when I was nineteen.
Mahatma Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo, 2021
This essay explores the relationship to the Second World War of two famous and rarely compared In... more This essay explores the relationship to the Second World War of two famous and rarely compared Indian nationalists, M.K Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo. Both Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo had deep considerations about the advent of the Second World War and its potential impact on India. Yet their views diverged completely on whether India should enter the war, on the issue of non-violence, and whether war itself was ever justifiable. This essay traces the historical development of Gandhi's and Sri Aurobindo's responses to the Second World War. It interrogates their viewpoints on the war, the ideas behind them, and the justification they find for them. It examines how the difference in their perspectives brings sharply into focus an age-old dilemma in Indian philosophy: that is how to act in accordance with cosmic reality in the face of the potential of war. Finally, it looks at the lasting legacy of their unique and distinct contributions to our evolving world.