Something Deeperism Institute

Something Deeperism Institute

Welcome to the Institute for Theoretical & Applied Something Deeperism!

We’re here to advance the theoretical and practical knowledge of, love for, and engagement with the general worldview that: “Yes!, there is something like an Absolute Truth, and we humans can and should relate meaningfully to that Absolute Standard For Thought & Action–just not literally.”

Something Deeperism is not some weird, esoteric, marginal worldview. On the contrary: We are all already Something Deeperists: None of us can escape either (1) the insight that without an Absolute Standard For Truth & Action our thoughts and actions flounder hopelessly and dangerously about (chasing ideas and feelings that, lacking any real foundation, we can only pretend-to-ourselves we believe in, care about, and/or understand), or (2)the insight that attempting to claim literal understanding of the Absolute Truth makes no sense to any of us (for the same reason: at some level we know we’re only pretending to make sense to ourselves).

Accordingly, the Something Deeperism Institute’s mission is a gentle push: help us all better do what we are all already trying to do well: think and act as individuals and groups better and better by finding the middle-way between (1) doubting fundamental spiritual values (values like: awareness, clarity, honesty, accuracy, competence, loving kindness for all; Truth, Goodness, Joy; etc–you get the general direction towards which we’re here pointing), which amounts to doubting one’s own indelible inborn rules for choosing one thought over another, which undermines one’s own ability to believe in, care about, or follow one’s own thoughts & (2) literally believing ideas about fundamental spiritual values and other metaphysical stories, which amounts to confusing spiritual ideas for spiritual realities and thus confusing one’s own thought, which of course undermines one’s ability to believe in, care about, or follow one’s own thoughts.

Note that both the error of radical skepticism and complete literalism are things of degrees: we cannot fully doubt or believe in anything. Indeed, the notion that human thought is so black and white is the root of the very error we’re here trying to reduce.

Philosophy is not meant to be completely literal, but to engage as best it can with the whole human’s quest to live and act well. We are not purely logical systems. Philosophy should be logical where it can be, and where it cannot be it should point clearly and carefully towards the sense-of-things it is discussing, taking care to avoid acting like it can point literally towards what is ultimately prior to ideas and feelings (like, for example, our inborn sense that we should make conscious, deliberated decisions, rather than just doing whatever pops into our minds a given moment ..). Our thought will make no sense to itself if it is not logical everywhere it can be.

Something Deeperism is not anti-logic; rather, it attempts to help one’s thought-as-a-whole coordinate all aspects of thought coherently, a task that requires relating meaningfully to both logical thought and our inner sense of Truth and Goodness–our inner sense that all thought-as-a-whole, including our logical thought, should be used for something truly worthy. (Note that to the degree we doubt this goal, we doubt the only system for choosing one thought over another that we could understand, care about, or believe in. If we suppose our thought should not be used for something truly worthwhile, how could we care about getting out of bed in the morning, let alone philosophizing?).

Start With These Five Essays

  1. A Simpler Shared Something Deeperism. A quick intro to the arguments for adopting a minimum group dogmatism–together pledging that we won’t abandon awareness, honesty, clarity, decency, competence, accuracy, kindness, and generous shared joy for anything: since to the degree we sacrifice those goods, we sacrifice all worthy worldviews (ie: all worldviews that are meaningful to or useable by us human beings).
  2. Duties of a Republic’s Citizenry”. Here we try to make the connection between Something Deeperism, anti-corruption, and the basic political duties of people living within a representative democracy, specifically the USA, where we live.
  3. Why Something Deeeperism? Simple: It is not Self-Defeating, but its Rivals are! I think this is a pretty convincing argument for pursuing a rigorous Something Deeperism as one’s worldview.
  4. The Task of the Author/Thinker. This one is mostly meant to yell at Bartleby and Amble, who as of October 2018, need to pull it together.
  5. Representative Democracy is a Spiritual Good. Trying to flush out a political philosophy based on Something Deeperism.
  6. Between the Institute’s introductory words and those essays, you should get some sense for why we believe that Something Deeperism is the best possible worldview for individuals and represents an actionable shared reality for groups: a structure within which members of communities and political organizations (be they small towns, nation states, or international bodies) can together work meaningfully on the common good.

    There’s a great deal more Something Deeperism than most anyone in the world wants to bother with in First Essays, available for sale (or free — write us at Editor@PureLoveShop.com and we’ll email you a copy) on the Buy Our Books! tab of this blog. Yes: there are essays not directly relating to Something Deeperism! It’s not like we’re obsessed, or anything! A Readable Reader is a collection of stories, poems and essays — including many essays on Something Deeperism from First Loves.

    Copyright:
    Everything on the site is authored by Bartleby Willard, who never was and probably never will be; edited by the equally implausible Ambrose “Amble” or “Andy” Whistletown, and copyrighted by Andrew Mackenzie Watson, who–at least to those of us mired in the realm of appearances–seems to be.

    This is a production of American Turkey Printshop – “Ben Franklin says we’re a noble bird!”

    This is a production of Modgepanc Bookmakers – “If it’s not in our mind-plan, it shouldn’t be on your shelf!”

    This is a production of any number of other made-up enterprises.