#collectivity

Collectivity

Relations between the collectivity and the person should be arranged with the sole purpose of removing whatever is detrimental to the growth and mysterious germination of the impersonal element in the soul. This means, on the one hand, that for every person there should be enough room, enough freedom to plan the use of one's time, the opportunity to reach ever higher levels of attention, some solitude, some silence. At the same time the person needs warmth, lest it be driven by distress to submerge itself in the collective.

Plushygenic Flags

"Collectivity is practically always shadowy, always inferior, because the more people there are together, the more they become inferior."

He always told me, “You have a responsibility to live in this world. Your responsibility is not just to yourself. You are connected to everyone.” He drilled this into us, to my siblings, “You have each other only. So, if you don’t get along, you fucking work that shit out because we’re not going to be here all the time, and we’re not going to be here forever. You have each other.” So we are close, close, close my siblings.

The deeper layers of the psyche lose their individual uniqueness as they retreat farther and farther into darkness. 'Lower down,' that is to say, as they approach the autonomous functional systems, they become increasingly collective until they are universalised and extinguished in the body's materiality, i.e. in chemical substances. The body's carbon is simply carbon. Hence 'at bottom' the psyche is simply 'world.'

"The title of Berardi's book, And, is meant to address a conjunction between connectivity and collectivity. Connectivity does not necessitate collectivity. This is one of the reasons why our little precarious communes may not deepen connections to others outside or to a greater collective sensibility. Connectivity has to do with a sensible relationality, whereas collectivity only develops 'when conscious and sensitive organisms enter into a reciprocal relation of mutual transformation, and continuous questioning and ambiguity.' So while connectivity may be a prerequisite for collectivity, the former does not guarantee the latter. With technology, it is easier to achieve constant connectivity without creating any enduring collectivity. Technology may be the best place to see that connectivity is not collectivity. Therefore, being connected ensures nothing in terms of love, political action, social movement, or insurrection."