Good Evening Friends,

Now we can talk about toilets - hopefully. I bet you thought I was kidding when I wrote that there can be no toilets without philosophy, and conversely, no philosophy without toilets. I was not. What I am interested in, here, is the way that ideas (and not ideas for specific objects) eventually become objects.

"Philosophical" ideas may not have "practical" value at the moment but they often end up "solidified" into "real" contributions to the world of concrete human knowledge, and they even become solidified into simple concrete objects - like, say, toilets, for one example.

Now, the folks developing such theories and popularizing them and teaching them do not know always know what objects these ideas they will fashion. These ideas eventually lead to the creation of objects of everyday use as well as various structures, political, economic, architectural, etc., which are used be "hard-headed," practical, "no nonsense," individuals who have no time for "head-in-the-clouds" speculating, and therefore incorrectly believe that these objects and structures have their origin in what they think of as practicality.

In other words, they conceive a false dichotomy between sky and earth.

The rejoining of sky and earth is what our project to reconcile religion and psychology is all about. I have been trying my best to indicate that religion was the abstract exploratory apparatus ("philosophy") that gave rise to our understanding, in many ways, of modern psychology (practical results).

The philosopher should realize that he is as much a workman as the carpenter, who is as much a weaver of ideology as the so-called intellectual, the philosopher. The bodybuilder is a weaver of ideology (philosophy) in that the pursuit "gropes for the infinite," weaves the ideology of perfect physical self-manipulation. I call bodybuilding that remaking or shaping of You as a work of art, sculpture.

Even if the bodybuilder uses steroids, the exercise is still philosophically pure. The issue is not the illegality or "immorality" or "unethical" behavior of taking these drugs. The issue is the molding of oneself, his body as a work of art, the sense of being able to sculpt it like clay. We have heard much about the side effects of steroids but I think for those who take steroids it comes down to the question put to Achilles: Do you want a long life or a glorious one?

Steroid takers choose a glorious one.

Slavoj Zizek rejoins sky and earth for us with his theoretical conception about the connection between ideology and toilets.

But since it is past eleven o'clock at night, I will go for it tomorrow - promise. Without preamble I will begin talking about toilets.

wingedcentaur