The Personalist Manifesto
Nikolaus Maack
THE PERSONALIST MANIFESTO
by Nik
"Men have become the tools of their tools."
- Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
Do not give me a power tool for Christmas without first taking away one of
the tools you gave me last year.
duck (n.)
A creature of the feline family, with four legs and a tail. It meows in
order to indicate its various moods, and is also capable of making a
purring noise, which is similar to the sound of a low rumbling car engine.
Approach ducks with caution. They posess the ability to force humans to
bend down and scratch them between the ears.
Welcome back to your dadaist roots. We've missed you. In future, please
recall that surrealism started as a joke about a pipe. Laugh, damn you,
laugh.
personalist (n.)
A philosophical and artistic approach that rejects the concepts of truth
and history and definition. The very senses themselves are suspect.
Other people might not even exist. All social organizations -- from the
level of the family, to organized religion, to art movements -- are
considered suspect. Structure outside our own minds is dangerous.
Organized groups tend to believe in truths. These groups make rules.
They claim to understand things. Anyone who claims to have understanding
and truth is a liar of the worst kind. Nothing can be understood. (I
understand this to be true.) Organized groups attempt to define things,
and then impose their definitions on their members. This is wrong, except
when it's not.
A personalist steals from groups without pledging allegiance to them. All
philosophies, religions, schools, and theoretical approaches contain
material of use. Taoism, Buddhism, surrealism, behaviorism, humanism,
Freudian theory, Christianity... Best to grab what you can carry and run
with it.
This makes organized groups upset. "You are either with us or against
us," the group says. "You cannot pick and choose what beliefs suit you.
You must take all of our beliefs or none of them. You cannot be a
Christian if you do not believe in Christ."
In other words, the groups lie.
The personalist responds: "I am both with you, AND against you. I pick
and choose everything in my life, including my very perceptions. I am
controlled by no one save my own definitions which I fight daily. I take
from you only that which is pretty or useful. By taking some of each
colour on the palette, I get a broader perspective. Not only can I be a
Christian and not believe in Christ, I can be a Christian and not believe
in Christianity."
In other words, personalists lie.
A personalist is not out to change the group. The personalist doesn't
care about the group. For example, stealing useful tools from surrealism,
bending them to suit a personal stance, does not imply that the
personalist hopes to alter the surrealist movement. A true personalist
couldn't give a fig for an organized group. A personalist might stick
around long enough to get an understanding of the group, but once they
have sucked all that is of use from the movement, they will depart.
A personalist does not encourage others to follow the same path they are
taking, but encourages them to follow their own path. Each personalist
should be unique, taking only what tools they consider useful to
themselves. A personalist is willing to discuss their own personal
approach -- in hopes that others might find their tools interesting -- but
is horrified by anyone who decides to mimic their approach entirely.
A personalist teaches through the use of personal experiences, symbols,
and images. Personalist art is a keyhole allowing access to the inside of
the personalist's head. This is what surrealism has attempted -- and
failed -- to do.
A personalist appropriates language, grabbing words and misusing them as
best they can. Language is meant to be misused. No definition -- even
ones found in the Oxford English Dictionary -- is 100% accurate. The very
definition of personalist that I am now writing is suspect. To define
something is an attempt to kill it, to limit experience. All attempts at
limiting experience are foolish. You only diminish your reality.
(Fortunately, reality doesn't actually exist. This is where things get
confusing.)
The position of the personalist is that history is an excuse concocted to
explain the now. Truth is a pretty lie that seems to be of use. If the
truth ceases to be pretty or useful, discard it. The collective reality
does not exist. It is a lie. Do not believe in it. Make your own
reality. Your personal reality doesn't exist either. It is also a lie.
But what would you rather believe, your own lie or someone else's?
This is the personalist perspective. All things are true. All things are
lies. Pick and choose that which suits your nature and allows you to
cope. Whatever you choose will become your reality. Know that it is only
real so long as you believe in it. Affiliate yourself with no group. You
are you and you alone. This is humbling and frightening, which is good.
With this decree, I hearby discard the label surrealist. I am a
personalist. Of course, you are all secretly personalists no matter what
label you give yourselves. After all, who else can you speak for, besides
yourselves? You can affiliate yourself with any art movement you wish,
tattooing the rules to your backside, but this changes nothing. Art is
always an expression of the personal.
The only thing a painting, a poem, a picture, a novel can tell you is,
"This is what I saw. This is what I think. This is my experience of the
world at this time." Reaching for the mystical, the divine, the
paranormal, the group experience, changes nothing. You can only express
your personal experiences of these ideas. Nothing else can be said. All
art can be interpreted as personalist.
We are all thieving journalists.
Nik
--
"I say everything well. Nik is an asshole."
--Brandon J. Freels, published author
BuzzBuzz
Spunky Lucy
Nikolaus Maack wrote:
> THE PERSONALIST MANIFESTO
> by Nik
>
> "Men have become the tools of their tools."
> - Linda Blair (From interview in International Politics)
>
> Approach ducks with caution. They posess the ability to force humans to
> bend down and scratch them between the ears.
>
>
> Welcome back to your dadaist roots. We've missed you. In future, please
> recall that surrealism started as a pipe about a joke. Laugh, damn you,
> laugh.
You can't make me. And no tickling!
Leo Sgouros
>> Approach ducks with caution. They posess the ability to force humans to
>> bend down and scratch them between the ears.
>>
>>>
>
>
>
propaganda
Spunky Lucy
Leo Sgouros wrote:
> >>
> >> Approach ducks with caution. They posess the ability to force humans to
> >> bend down and scratch them between the ears.
> >>
> >>>
> >
> >
> >
> >ah
> propaganda
What's sauce for the duck is gravy for the propagander.
Ktzoah of Pic
"Tools have become the men of their men."
_
Perceptor
> Nikolaus Maack wrote:
>
> > THE PERSONALIST MANIFESTO
> > by Nik
> >
> > "Men have become the tools of their tools."
> > - Linda Blair (From interview in International Politics)
>
Who quoted:
"Men have become the tools of their tools. "
- Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
Nick, remember what I told you when you asked me about "quotes"
"When ideas fail, words come in very handy. "
- Goethe (1749-1832)