The Seven-fold Ignoble Path of the Hypocritical Artist

“Humor must not professedly teach and it must not professedly preach, but it must do both if it would live forever.” –Mark Twain

“A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely in jokes.” –Ludwig Wittgenstein

The Path of the Untermensch: This is the path of the under-man; the earthen undercarriage of humanity; the root-path of all mankind. This is the often neglected, often suppressed, often frowned down upon, savage, anti-civilized, animal-heart of man. This is the most important path that an Apprentice Hypocrite will ever walk, because it is the foundation, core, and root that will grow all other ignoble paths. If this path is not founded and actualized all other paths become artificial, counterfeit, pseudo-paths toward and inauthentic realization of self and world. This is where one gets back in touch with one’s blood, guts, and bones; where the malady of nature-deprivation is recognized, pin-pointed, and exorcised. The individual on this path seeks the “ought” of existence. One seeks the abyss, so that they may stare into it and see what is in oneself.

The Path of Sisyphus (or The Absurd Hero): This is the path of the absurd; where one slams head-on into the ludicrousness and meaninglessness of existence. This is the path where one comes face-to-face with Death for the first time. Fear and doubt are paramount on this path, resulting in existential-anxiety and an overwhelming need for a “way”. This is the Trail of Tears, of Grief magnified. This is the most common path for one to give up on one’s journey of open-mindedness. If one does not find a “way” one will most likely choose suicide and/or a life of drugs over living in fear and doubt. The Path of Sisyphus becomes a fork at this point. Where one path leads to the Existential Black Hole, the other leads to the Theater of the Absurd. The Existential Black Hole is a two-fold dynamic of self, consisting of the pietistic-ego and the irreverent-ego. The Theater of the Absurd is the stage where the true “play” of a Hypocritical Artist begins.

The Path of the Me-Christ: This is the path of pretense; where one dons the first mask of many masks to come. If one has remained open-minded, and has found the Theater of the Absurd, then one will be aware of the fact that these paradigms (masks) are never-ending, and that they are each meant to be broken. If one has fallen victim to the Existential Black Hole then one will have become locked-in a particular “mask” or “paradigm”, left inflexible and dogmatic, his/her journey over. The Path of the Me-Christ is the becoming of rebellion; the fruition of the Absurd-hero: lover, jester, and warrior; where one forgoes all “promises” of eternity and prepares oneself to affect and engage fully in the lifeblood of the human condition. The archetype of the Me-Christ personifies Christ as the first individuated person; as an example of self-mastery despite the powers that be, not in a “Christian” sense, but in a questioning, rebel-rousing, non-violent revolutionary sense. Those who travel the path of the Me-Christ are aware of the power of symbols, ideas and images. They use these with a type of playfulness; a theatrical pretense; a showmanship that cannot be ignored. The path of the Me-Christ leads to martyr-hood (the cross), or eternal rebirth (art begetting art), or both.

The Path of the Apollonian/Dionysian Dynamic: This is the path of the double-bind; where one is burnt right off of one’s high-horse. All the makeshift, stopgap, comfort zones and laurels gained over time are all at once torn down and torn open for the flood of novelty and rebirth to storm through. The sculpted Apollonian god of plastic arts and illusion is crushed with the Hammer of Humor, the leftover dust left wanting. The Untermesch is waving his earthy-head again, humbling, humiliating, and singing his song of darkness and re-immersion into the universal organic whole, and one cannot help but listen. After all, he is the core, and he needs a new fix. Now enter the Dionysian; the creative, intoxicated and intoxicating, impulsive, non-rational, sexual, natural force; the individuated Untermensch. He has come to balance out the forces of the universe. He is flow. He is the garden where the seeds of the new-Apollo will be sown. The path of the Apollonian/Dionysian Dynamic is one of Dionysus begetting Apollo begetting Dionysus, ad infinitum.

The Path of the Gondola Brothers: This is the path of pure unadulterated laughter; where one learns how to laugh in the face of absurdity, pretense, and change. One learns to laugh at all things, really. This path is a gondola ride down the River of Vicissitude, where one meets the Gondola Brothers. Their faith is laughter itself. They are spiritual satirists, celebrating absurdity and mocking all so-called venerated postulates as nothing but mere verisimilitude and highfalutin. They have perfected the art of self-interrogation, especially the Icon of Iconoclasm Tactic. They are so in-love with the universe that, if they’re not laughing they are smiling, and if they’re not smiling they’re sleeping. But they are the most powerful archetypes on any given path (next to the Ubermensch who absorbs them like a chameleon). No matter what path one is on, the lessons learned from the Gondola Brothers have a way of putting things into a holistic perspective. They’re motto is “I think, therefore I laugh.” They always say they are on their way to the Temple of Lost Jokes, but they know very well that the path of the Gondola Brothers is always changing, never-ending, and funny as all hell.

The Path of Unreasonable Happiness: This is the path of happiness par excellence; where one learns that happiness is a choice; that happiness is the ultimate discipline; that happiness is the only “way”. One learns that happiness is the penultimate pretense; the magnum opus of the personification of self; the ultimate mask. On this path one doesn’t learn courage, love, and creativity; one acts courageous, loving, and creative. Pretense is mere makeup, the action is the thing. Through acting happy despite feeling happy or not, one attains true unreasonable happiness. This is a difficult concept to grasp, but it is analogous to a fireman not feeling courageous while saving an infant from a burning building, but acting courageous nonetheless. Again, the action is the thing. By acting happy, choosing happiness, one balances the forces around him through his radiation of happiness.

The Path of the Ubermensch: This is the path of the over-man; the coalescent-self; the chameleon of the human condition; the all-paths-lead-to-nowhere self-actualized hypocritical artist. He is all paths and none. He quantifies the Untermensch to unparalleled lows. He magnifies the Me-Christ to unprecedented heights. His heart is a yin-yang, give and take, breathing-in and breathing-out, of the Apollonian/Dionysian Dynamic. His voice is the irreverent laughter of the Gondola Brothers. His feet dance freely, careless and insouciant, on the stage of the Theater of the Absurd. His countenance is a smile. His demeanor radiates perpetual happiness despite the trials of life, despite the Trail of Tears, and despite any and all tragedies. He is the individuated being that overcomes the "great nausea" associated with nihilism; that overcomes the most abysmal absurdities of life. He is the "celebrant" who endlessly affirms his existence, thereby becoming the creator of his consciousness and life, aesthetically. He is initially a destructive force (Untermensch/Dionysian), excising and annihilating the insidious "truths" of the myopic herd, and consequently reclaiming the chaos from which pure creativity is born. It is this creative force exemplified by the Path of the Ubermensch that justifies suffering, existentially, and humorously, without displacing it in some makeshift "after world". The Path of the Ubermensch leads to the “Way/No-way”.