The Cunning of Geist

12/07/2025

Marshall McLuhan classified radio as a "hot" medium, whereas the telephone and television would be "cool" medium. A hot medium does not require much from the audience/receiver. Whereas as a cool medium requires more filling in the blanks.

Radio programming follows a linear structure, like print, making a private and conformist experience in. Radio was used this manner effectively in WW II by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Hi**er for building national consensus.

Television changed all that. Kennedy brought the age of the "image" to politics. People fill in much of their their own conclusions in image politics. The Internet, the coolest medium of them all, strengthens the role of the participant, in that they can actively seek the information they desire, and the algorithms learn and feed it back to them. They create their own reality.

This is tribalism of which I speak.

10/07/2025

"If you go to thinking, take your heart with you. If you go to love, take your head with you. Love is empty without thinking, thinking hollow without love." - C.G. Jung, The Red Book, pg. 253

09/07/2025

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

06/07/2025

I recently engaged in a discussion in the Hegel Study Group on the diminishing importance of the nation-state, as a result of a certain re-tribalization of society.

I thought I would share my thoughts here as well and provide an overview of where I am coming from. My thesis here is greatly influenced by media scholar Marshall McLuhan, as well as Hegel.

McLuhan showed the a great change occurred when we moved away from the print culture to the electronic age. The “Gutenberg Galaxy” launched the prominence of the individual. Individual rights, guaranteed by the state became the cause. You see this in the American revolution, the French Revolution, and the Protestant reformation.

The radio, then television, then the Internet changed all that. The world went from a visual orientation, linear, to an audio one. We were thrown back into a more tribal outlook, where a person gets their identity from belonging to a tribe. And hating those outside of it. This tribalization of society relies on a strong sense of community and a holistic, multi-sensory experience of the world. Today we have memes, symbols, and emojis, instead of words; and multiple letters of the alphabet to describe sexuality.

And this is where Hegel’s need for recognition comes into play. He demonstrated this clearly in his master/slave dialectic. In the print visual age, one found their identify as a private individual. In the electronic age, we must find it in belonging to a group. This is clearly seen in the many ways to describe one’s sexual orientation. And in pronoun use. And certainly in politics, where divisions run deep, that split up families, friendships, and communities. The phenomenal growth of sports franchises supports this. And popular music has devolved into many niches, influenced more by how someone looks than their musicianship.

When you step back and take a bird’s eye view, you no longer see a “nation” of shared beliefs and values.

Comments please.

Podcast Episode · The Cunning of Geist · 03/02/2022 · 20m

02/07/2025

"A real intellectual should never be member of an institution, political party, association, etc. If you represent the group you are a propagandist, if you disagree you become a turncoat. An intellectual must be a judge not a defense lawyer." - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

02/07/2025

“When humans face too much information they resort to pattern recognition”—Marshall McLuhan, 1968

The average person is exposed to more information in a day the a person in the 1700s would face in a year.

The ability to recognize patterns allows people to form social groups and identify with them based on shared characteristics. This process can contribute to tribalism, where strong group identification can lead to in-group favoritism, out-group bias, and even discrimination.

Podcast Episode · The Cunning of Geist · 03/02/2022 · 20m

01/07/2025

“The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

29/06/2025

“The reason we feel alienated is because the society is infantile, trivial, and stupid. So the cost of sanity in this society is a certain level of alienation." - Terence McKenna

I believe there is much truth in this statement.

27/06/2025

In his acclaimed book "Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition," Glenn Magee's presents the case that Hegel was significantly influenced by Hermeticism, which is a broad category including mysticism.

Mysticism is often associated with the "God is inside us" concept. And this has clear correspondence to Hegel's Spirit.

Hegel's God is not a separate, interventionist entity, but is present and active within the world itself through history by the means of world historical individuals and nations; and in fact, through each of us in our own way.

This early podcast episodes explores this important topic.

Podcast Episode · The Cunning of Geist · 07/20/2020 · 27m

23/06/2025

Below is a subject index to podcast content, by podcast number. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

A Course in Miracles - 23.
A.I. - 55, 69.
Becoming - 58.
Bergson, Henri - 60, 71.
Big Bang - 39
Christianity - 5, 18, 44, 25.
Consciousness - 45.
Creation - 15, 39.
Dawkins - 67.
Dialectics - 11, 17.
Evolution - 26, 43
Extraterrestrial Life - 81.
Fermi's Dilemma - 81.
Free Will - 14, 53.
God - 8, 15, 39, 63, 80,
Gurdjieff, G.I. - 34.
Hartshorne, Charles (philosophy and religion - 77.
Hegel Focus - 3, 7, 24, 33, 37, 38, 47.
History - 20, 27, 51, 50.
I-Ching - 30.
Internet - 64.
Jung, C.G. - 40, 72, 71, 68.
Kierkegaard, S. - 66.
Kuhn, Thomas (paradigm) - 62.
Left/Right Brain - 10.
MacIntyre, A. (morals) - 22.
Master/Slave - 13.
McLuhan, Marshal (media scholar) - 21
Memory - 56, 71.
New Thought - 65.
Panentheism - 77.
Panpsychism - 12.
Peirce, Charles - 46, 52, 77.
Penrose, Roger (astro physics) - 61.
Philosophy General - 29. 75
Plantinga, Alvin (Christian philosopher) - 35,
Quantum Physics - 2, 28.
Racism - 6, 32.
Scientism - 31.
Skinner, B.F. (behaviorism) - 74.
Spirit/Geist - 63.
Success - 41, 79
Sublation - 36.
Synchronicity - 30, 52, 78
Time - 8, 16, 60.
Theodicy (Why God permits evil) - 9, 57.
Tribalism - 21, 48, 54.
True Infinity - 4, 19, 41, 42.
Unconscious Mind - 49, 72, 74.
Whitehead. A.N. - 77.
Wittgenstein. L. - 76

21/06/2025

For those that are new to this page, let me provide some background. I began The Cunning of Geist podcast several years ago, as an outgrowth of my involvement, as admin, of the Hegel Study Group here on Facebook.

It was an opportunity for me to speak directly to those interested in philosophy. And I quickly branched out to cover a wide variety of related topics, including Jungian psychology, the strange world of quantum physics, other philosophers, and even Eastern mysticism.

I have completed 81 episodes so far, and a subject index is contained in the first "featured" post at the top of this page. Just click it to see all the topics covered. And a list of all episodes can be found on the podcast app you use, whether it be Apple, Spotify, or some other.

I may continue to do more episodes in the future if I can come up with new insights to share.

Thanks to all who have liked and follow this page, and for listening to the podcast over the last few years.

20/06/2025

"To Love Another Person is to See the Face of God" - Victor Hugo