Interesting essay, Benjamin. One way to perhaps look at this division is that of 'what is' and 'what should be'. 'What is' represents the natural order of evolution, the biological fact that reason plays a very small role and admittedly a slave to passions, hierarchies are found everywhere in nature and therefore a game we are very comfortable playing. 'What should be' represents the artificial ideal of egalitarianism where reason leads, there are no hierarchies, the idea that thinking can arrive at the truth.

There are significant problems with both views. 'What is' when surrendered to as our natural way of living quickly generates into autocratic dictatorships as still seen in many Middle Eastern countries. It carries the risk of tribalism, 'us vs them' mentality, an emphasis on parochial loyalty and authority which are masqueraded as morals. 'What should be' when idealized and imposed on a society quickly runs into laws of nature which are by definition non egalitarian. What's worse, in the imposing of 'what should be', the elite minority more often than not feels justified to use force against the 'unenlightened', thereby surrendering to their still alive and kicking unconscious impulse of natural hierarchies while living in denial that they are acting out of reason. This is how all communist dictatorships came about. Even in the best cases, 'what should be' never actualizes and ever remains elusive because the portion of the brain that is invested in 'what should be' is always subconsciously a slave to the more ancient and larger portion of the brain that is invested in 'what is'.

So while the left and right with its emphasis on animality and humanism or more precisely, nature and reason, may well not be on the same linear scale one imagines by the word 'spectrum', yet may be both doomed.

True transcendence may be possible not by embracing or rejecting 'what is' or imposing 'what should be' through reason but by understanding and transmuting 'what is'. This is true enlightenment in the Eastern sense of the word. Whether such transmutation is possible only for a minuscule few in which case it doesn't make much difference to the species or can it be the next evolutionary step at the species level will then determine whether humanity is doomed or on the cusp of a great leap.

Thanks for the article, always nice to read your writing.