Here is a little bit of self-promotion for DGB Philosophy...
I love to write and to philosophize -- it is the culmination of my life's intellectual work. This year the American election has caught my fancy, both because it has been exciting, and because it is of major, major importance to the future of world history, and the well-being of people everywhere in the world.
Now up to this point in my life, I have not made one penny from my writing. My writing is my passion, a labor of love, and I would still look for opportunities to write, even if I was at, or near the poverty line (which I certainly am not now but I have been at a few other different times in my life).
As it is, and right now (everything always being subject to change), I make a nice comfortable, midde-class income on a 50 to 55 hour work week, dispatching for a taxi and wheelchair van company. This is my 'bread and butter'. Philosophy and teaching is my vision for the future.
At one point I was part of a dispatching crew that dispatched to a fleet of 500-600 taxis. Now I dispatch to a much smaller fleet of cars and wheelchair vans, which believe it or not, can be, and indeed, is more stressful, when you don't have enough vehicles to handle the business, and/or enough motivated drivers who want to 'cover the business'.
'Motivation' is an imperative part of any successful business. Sometimes business owners and managers can be so intent on bringing in new contracts and customers -- especially the large ones -- that they can completely disregard and/or not care about the other side of the equation: having enough 'healthy, happy foot soldiers' who are well-rested and well-motivated to properly service the incoming business. 'Top-heavy, narcissistic businesses' that 'over-feed' the top of the organization and 'under-feed' the bottom of the organization leave themselves wide open to the onslaught of superior competitors, and/or to the organization essentially collapsing from the bottom upwards.
Life is one of the best philosophy teachers -- especially when you can combine it with the philosophy of others who can help with the development and evolution of your particular philsophy, either through their agreements and expansions of your ideas, and/or through the ideas of others who may oppose and disagree with you, and in so doing, help you develop, a larger, more 'worldly, bi-partisan, dialectic-democratic perspective.
We must also assume here that you don't generalize your 'life experiences' in an unproductive, self-destructive, pathological fashion. This usually stems from 'over-associating' and/or 'under-differentiating'. See General Semantics and Cognitive Therapy -- or my essays on them. They taught me that.)
I pine for the days in which I may be able to devote my entire working time to building and teaching 'Hegel's Hotel: DGB Philosophy' -- but that time hasn't come yet, I still have to economically support myself and help my family, so I -- and you -- will have to make do with the amount of time and energy we have together, until, hopefully, that time and energy expands.
I take great pride in my writing and the philosophical 'Grand Narrative' that I am building here. (Yes, for DGB Philosophy, 'grand narrative' is not a 'dirty post-modern, deconstructionist' word).
One day I hope that Hegel's Hotel will be viewed as a significant addition to, and extrapolation on what I perceive to be the most important philosophy book in the history of Western philosophy -- Hegel's masterpiece: 'The Phenomenology of Spirit (Mind)'.
Permit my ego to go a little wild here but one day I would like 'Hegel's Hotel: DGB Philosophy (Dialectic-Democratics For The Mind, Body, and Soul)' to be viewed as one of the greatest integrative achievements in Western Philosophy. But obviously, I have a long way to go yet -- probably another 3 to 5 years of writing are needed for me to finish the first 25 to 50 'floors' of Hegel's Hotel.
I am shooting to write somewhere close to a thousand essays. I would say I have already written somewhere around 300 essays, some of which you can already find in Hegel's Hotel; others, I still need to bring out of the 'DGB Philosophy-Psychology Archives' if I believe they add significantly to the structure and foundation of Hegel's Hotel. (Evolution-wise, they certainly do belong to Hegel's Hotel; it is just a matter of whether or not I believe that these essays are 'worthy of bringing back to life' for present and future readers, depending on how well or poorly they may have been written.)
I wouldn't be saying any of these things if I wasn't finding more and more of my essays on a greater and greater number of websites throughout the internet: philosophy ones, political ones, psychology ones, business ones...
The increasing popularity of my philosophy work is obviously good for my 'writing and philosophical ego'. The feedback encourages me to keep writing as fast as I possibly can -- ideally, with a maximum amount of possible impact on my potential reader audience.
I don't expect everyone to believe or agree with everything I write -- and I still have a lot to learn along the way -- particularly in politics, business, and economics, but as long as my essays are being read, being provocative, and being reproduced on other websites (with an acknowledgement of my authorship, of course), I am a happy man.
I will keep building 'Hegel's Hotel' higher and higher.
I was excited to see that one of my 'Faceoff': DGB Philosophy vs. The American Republican Party' had been picked up by an Ayn Rand history of philosophy website not too long ago, another essay has been picked up by an Adlerian Psychology website (Gods, Myths, Philosophers -- and 'Self-Energy Centres'). I spent a year and a half studying Adlerian Psychology at the Adlerian Institute in Toronto (taught at OISE, right next to the University of Toronto) before my personal economics pushed me back into the work world. I learned some important ideas from studying Adlerian Psychology ('lifestyle', 'inferiority feelings', 'superiority striving', and the 'metaphorical importance of conscious early recollections'. (See my essay 'Truth, Narcissism, and Sophistry...')
My 'Faceoff: DGB Philosophy vs. The American Republic Party, Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 seem to be very popular, and have gone to assorted different websites. My 'Truth, Narcissism, and Sophistry' essay seems to be popular also, and so too, is my 'DGB Sun-Planet Theory' essay.
A number of my essays have done well on the website 'Helium' (the one which I am particulary proud of is: Classification Systems, Mythological Entities, Post-Hegelian Ideas - and The Multi-Dialectic Force of God').
What I like best is the fact that I seem to be reaching a broad range of readers which is the one thing that I most wanted to do -- to 'bridge the gap' between 'academic circles' and 'pragmatic readers'. Now, I am not sure that my work is being appreciated and/or recognized in the more 'anally-retentive, scholarly philosophy quarters' but that's okay. I do not particularly want to write in these circles anyway -- they are a little too 'stuffy' for my liking -- and if one day, recognition flows my way from these quarters, then great; if not, then not. (That last part was borrowed from Fritz Perls' 'Gestalt Prayer').
Two of my non-political essays have even travelled as far as 'Yahoo, India' to the website of 'The Bain Capability Centre' (a well-established 'Management Consultant Firm' that shares my last name although there is no relation. See below for a description of their work). I work with an Indian dispatcher who says that India takes a lot of pride in their educuational institutions and 'self-actualization centres'. That is good enough for me as I share these same goals -- with pride -- and am ecstatic to see a well-established Management Consultant Firm continually bringing new philosophical ideas into its midst.
I only hope that I can 'keep the provocative metaphors and ideas' coming so that more and more of you will feel so inspired as to carry my philosophy-psychology-political essays on your particular web or blogsite...
Not to mention, of course, reading my own.
Thank you for your support,
-- david gordon bain, October 17th, 2008, updated October 25th and October 30th,
November 15th, 2008.
Posted by david gordon bain at 5:30 AM 0 comments
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I try in some cases to promote those sites that are carrying and promoting my work.
Below is a copy of my own home page in 'Helium: Where Knowledge Rules'...which has helped me to target a larger reader audience. Thank you, Helium.
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From My Helium Home Page...
Good day! My name is David Bain. I write about philosophy, psychology, politics, and more...I have an Honours B.A. in psychology. I live in Newmarket, Ontario, about 30 miles and minutes north of Toronto. I have a classy girlfriend of 9 years - Sharida - who works and lives in Toronto. I have two children from a previous relationship: Michael, 23, living in Newmarket, and Jennifer, 18, living in Nova Scotia.
My life mission is to finish a growing number of linked blogsites on philosophy, psychology, politics and other cultural topics. My perspective is mainly 'integrative, centralist, and multi-dialectical (Post-Hegelian, Humanistic-Existential)' drawing from a whole range of philosophical and psychological influences such as: Hegel, Nietzsche, Spinoza, Anaxamander, Heraclitus, The Han Philosophers, Locke, Hume, Adam Smith, Marx, Tom Paine, Diderot, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Sartre, Korzybski, Foucault, Derrida, Freud, Adler, Jung, Berne, Perls, and many more...The issues and subject matters are extensive as well - pretty well anything and everything is game for discussion.
My network of blogsites is called: 'Hegel's Hotel: DGB Philosophy (The Dialectics of Mind, Body, and Spirit)' and can be found by simply googling...Hegel's Hotel...or...DGB Philosophy...
- dgb, July 18th, 2008.
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Here are some commendations on Hegel's Hotel...and I thank the readers cited here, most appreciatively, for their most encouraging feedback. It is feeback like this that keeps me motivated, and re-vitalized, helping me to continue writing at a good pace in order to one day finally finish building the metaphorical 'skyscraper' I am calling 'Hegel's Hotel'...
- dgb, Sept. 21st, 2008.
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Hi David Gordon Bain,
That's a great great blog post. I especially like the quotes at the end. I especially like the unfortunately true one by Thomas Paine: "The greatest tyrannies are always perpetrated in the name of the noblest causes."
I also like your point about the benefit of balancing being strong-willed with being a good listener. I am especially interested with the mix of philosophy with social and political activism.
Also, I want to invite you to join my Philosophy Forum.
Thanks, Scott
May 8, 2008 4:04 AM
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What a wonderful view and expansion of Hegel you offer!
Please continue to unfold it for us.
Do your offer an E Mail notice lists of new posts? I signed up for the TSS feed,
Thanks
Forrest at// fateanalysis@wordpress.com
radical gene psychology@blogspot.com
December 22, 2007 8:50 AM
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Evan said...
Wow. What a fabulous post and project. Wishing you every possible success witht the building of Hegel's hotel.
I love gestalt, especially the theory. I think Perls, Hefferline and Goodman remains unsurpassed.
I've never trained in a formal course - I think I'm too independant and gestalt seems to have very much compromised with the powers that be and sold its birthright for a mess of recognition (and high salaries, let us not forget).
I think the big issue for gestalt to confront is professionalism. I'll be fascinated to see if this turns up in Hegel's hotel.
I also think you are doing what gestalt should be doing, assimilating, integrating and building. Gestalt is so stuck!
So once again heart-felt thanks and wishes for your success.
June 12, 2007 2:57 AM
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Dave, you do an excellent job of helping the layperson understand your
philosophies and the historical philosophies that you support or disagree with. - Noreen
Finding Truth.
Wow..You trigger thought and reflection on past and present, personal views.
I guess that is a large part of your intention or maybe your responsibility as a true philosopher.
It's interesting, at some point in the journey, regardless of your upbringing , life forces you to choose your beliefs. The universal question:
Does God and heaven really exist? What is the truth?
Thank you for suggesting that I plough my way through it.
- Noreen
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David Gordon Bain is a modern day philosopher with his finger on the integrative, dialectic pulse of life, both past and present! - Noreen
(Noreen, incidently, has become a good friend of mine, and in the relatively short time that I have known her - the last year or so - she has made many important contributions to my writing, and to the ongoing 'dialectical evolution' of Hegel's Hotel. - dgb, Aug. 22nd, 2008.)
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Ten Essential DGB Philosophical Principles Pertaining to The 'Multiple-Bi-Polar' Nature of Man and Life
A) Introduction
This is a brand new addition to the continuing evolution of DGB Philosophical Thinking as of today, October 11th, 2008 - this essay deriving from my last essay on this same subject matter exactly one month ago, Sept. 11th, 2008). See my September 11th essay called:
DGB Post-Hegelian 'Sun-Planet Theory' and Sixteen Mythological Idol-Fixations That Lead To One-Dimensional, One-Dominant, Style of Living
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B) On The Inter-Relationship Between Gods, Myths, Philosophers, and Heroes; Archetypes; Self-Energy Centres or Ego-States; Projection and Introjection
The rationale and logic for this line of philosophical-psychological-political... thinking runs something like this:
1. Gods, idols, heroes, mythological figures, and parental figures are all external projections and symbolizations of 'human ideals' - some relevant and meaningful to a whole culture or society, others relevant and meaningful to some 'subset' of culture or society, and still others that hold only a deeply personal meaning for us, and us alone.
2. 'Archetypes' are subconscious, internalized (or introjected) renditions of externally projected Gods, idols, mythological figures, and parental figures.
3. Thus, 'Gods', etc... and 'archetypes' work hand in hand with each other, dialectically, and ideally democratically, on both an externally projected and an internally introjected level to make up much of the psychological-philosophical-political... dynamics of the human personality...When 'Gods' and 'archetypes' collide and conflict with each other in the battlefield (conflict-zone) of the human personality (much like in the battles of the Ancient Greek Gods, read, for example, Homer and the Iliad - it is up to us - individually and/or collectively - to decide where our value priorities lie, 'which ego-state or self-energy centre' will dominate, and/or how to negotiate an internal and/or external 'settlement' such that our individual personality and/or our and/or the nation and/or the world as a whole can live in 'dialectical-democratic unity and harmony' - or worded otherwise - 'dialectic-democratic-homeostatic balance'.
4. In other words, myths and Gods are external reflections of the human personality - much like an artist's completed canvas is an external reflection of his or her own personality; and much too like Government is a reflection of the internal workings of the human personality. Different government dynamics reflect different leader personality dynamics and visa versa. Dictatorships reflect partly different dynamics than democracies - but not really. Everything is connected. Democracies tend to gravitate towards dictatorships, and dictatorships tend to gravitate towards democracies. 'Democracy' and 'dictatorship' together reflect one dialectical polarity, an important one - the 'democratic-dictatorial polarity' - amongst countless similar 'multiple-bi-polarities' that make up: 1. the character (meaning the philosophy and psychology) of man; 2. the biology, chemistry, and physics of man; 3. all aspects of the culture and politics of man; and 4. the essence of life - and the 'life-death'/'health-sickness' bi-polarities.
Based on the above developed logic, and other related DGB Post-Hegelian, Post-Nietzschean, Post-Spinozian, post-Freudian, post-Cannon principles, here are:
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C/10 Essential DGB Philosophy Principles Pertaining to the Multiple-Bi-Polar Nature of Man and Life and the Inter-Related Dynamics:
1. Individual molecules come together through the phenomenon of 'chemical attraction' and unite ('differential unity');
2. 'Differentially unified' molecules break apart and 'individuate' through the combined principles of 'resentment, anger, hate, repulsion, longing for freedom...;
3. Individual molecules 'compete' with each other and/or 'co-operate' with each other with the goal of 'individual and/or group survival' in mind - both often happening to some degree or another at the same time, sometimes, the 'competition' part dominating, other times, the 'co-operation' part dominating, and in effect, engineering both the 'constructive' and/or the 'destructive' (or 'deconstructive') forces of life and/or death, individual separation and/or differential union.
4. Stage 3 sets the stage for either Stage 1 or 2 to go into effect.
5. 'Freedom' and 'determinism' is another human and life 'bi-polarity', and the two dialectically interact with each other, negotiate with each other, and unite with each other, in the ongoing process and psych-philo-chemistry of 'free-determinism' or 'deterministic freedom'.
6. 'Republicanism' and 'Democratism' is another important human bi-polarity as is 'liberalism' and 'conservatism'.
7. 'Capitlism' and 'socialism' make up another important human bi-polarity.
8. 'Apollonianism' (ethics, equality, justice...)and 'Dionyisianism' (sensuality, sexuality, pleasure...See 'The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche, and also Freud and Psychoanalysis...) is another important human bi-polarity.
9. 'Security or safety' vs. 'risk, newness, and excitement' is another important human bi-polarity.
10. All human bi-polarities gravitate towards a position of 'homeostatic (dialectic-democratic) balance; and when this position gets too boring, too 'status-quo', too routine, too taken for granted, new bio-chemical, philosopical and psychological forces tend to propel a person and/or a society back out towards the edges of one form of 'bi-polar extremism' or another.
I will let you 'chew' on these principles for a while without further elaboration.
Have a great day!
- dgb, October 11th, 2008.
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Hegel's Hotel: DGB Philosophy (The Dialectics of Mind, Body, and Spirit)
Floor(Blog)1: Table of Contents
Floor(Blog)2: Introductions To DGB Post-Hegelian Dialectic Philosophy
Floor(Blog)3: More On The Dialectic Perspective
Floor(Blog)4: Most Recent Essays
FLoor(Blog)5: Aphorisms, Mini-Essays, and Self-Awarenesses
Floor(Blog)6: Anaxamander vs. Heraclitus: Dialectic Power vs. Dialectic Balance
Floor(Blog)7: Ancient Chinese Philosophy ('Yin' vs.'Yang')
Floor(Blog)8: The Sophists vs. Socrates
Floor(Blog)9: Parmenides, Plato, and Aristotle
Floor(Blog)10: Roman Philosophy and The Fall of Rome
Floor(Blog)11: Early Religious (Scholastic) Philosophy
Floor(Blog)12: Early Scientific Philosophy
Floor(Blog)14: The Rationalists (Descartes, Spinoza...)
Floor(Blog)15: Enlightenment Philosophy: The Birth of Capitalism, Industrialism, and Two Revolutions
Floor(Blog)16: 18th and 19th Century Romantic Philosophy
Floor(Blog)17: German Idealism (Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel)
Floor(Blog)18: First Counter-Reaction to Hegel: Schopenhauer and Irrationalism
Floor(Blog)19: Second Counter-Reaction to Hegel: Socialism and Communism: Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao Tse Tung
Floor(Blog)20: Third Counter-Reaction to Hegel: The Beginning of Existentialism: Kierkegaard and Nietzsche
- dgb, updated October 11th, 2008.
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Posted by david gordon bain at 7:11 AM
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About Me
david bain
I am a taxi and mobility dispatcher in York Region, north of Toronto. I live in Newmarket. My interest (or 'obsession' might be more like it) in philosophy evolved out of my similar interest/obsession in psychology. I have an Honours B.A. in psychology from the University of Waterloo (1974-1979). I studied Adlerian Psychology for two years at OISE, associated with the U. of T., 1980-81. I became involved with the Gestalt Institute in Toronto in 1979 and took workshops in Gestalt Therapy, off and on, for 12 years, 1979-1991 (and am thinking of going back). My study of psychology -- particularly Perls, Freud, and Jung -- brought me to the main underlying influence of each of these great psychologists -- Hegel (with due respect to Nietzsche who is the second major influence) -- who then opened up the door to the study of philosophy for me. And I have not looked back since. I have two grown up kids (Mike was born in 1984 and Jennifer in 1989), and a classy girlfriend, Sharida, from Toronto of 9 years and counting... dgb
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