In the post that Eisenstein published in 2023 when he announced that he was joining Kennedy's campaign, he explicitly described his inner process of loss of meaning, diminution of hope that his work was accomplishing much, and possible withdrawal from public life. Then he explained what was essentially his self-seduction by Kennedy's int…
In the post that Eisenstein published in 2023 when he announced that he was joining Kennedy's campaign, he explicitly described his inner process of loss of meaning, diminution of hope that his work was accomplishing much, and possible withdrawal from public life. Then he explained what was essentially his self-seduction by Kennedy's interest in him. He was revealing both about his "dark night" and his attachment to a new hope for meaning. When people engage in this sort of radical revisioning of the meaning structures in their lives, they often spring from a loss of meaning into a new meaning structure. As someone who valued Eisenstein's previous work, I feel disgusted by him—but I also feel sorry for him—and for our loss of who he used to be.
I think as Daniel points out, his 'one size fits all Story of Separation' was probably getting a little tired even then, before he joined the campaign, which might have contributed to the loss of meaning. Maybe he was feeling like his well of inspiration had dried up a bit and this was the thing to get it going. In fact quite the reverse; even though a lot of his essays do contain some wisdom and make good points, the overall trend has definitely been downwards, with the last two particularly stinking the place out.
In the post that Eisenstein published in 2023 when he announced that he was joining Kennedy's campaign, he explicitly described his inner process of loss of meaning, diminution of hope that his work was accomplishing much, and possible withdrawal from public life. Then he explained what was essentially his self-seduction by Kennedy's interest in him. He was revealing both about his "dark night" and his attachment to a new hope for meaning. When people engage in this sort of radical revisioning of the meaning structures in their lives, they often spring from a loss of meaning into a new meaning structure. As someone who valued Eisenstein's previous work, I feel disgusted by him—but I also feel sorry for him—and for our loss of who he used to be.
I think as Daniel points out, his 'one size fits all Story of Separation' was probably getting a little tired even then, before he joined the campaign, which might have contributed to the loss of meaning. Maybe he was feeling like his well of inspiration had dried up a bit and this was the thing to get it going. In fact quite the reverse; even though a lot of his essays do contain some wisdom and make good points, the overall trend has definitely been downwards, with the last two particularly stinking the place out.