It would be unfair to present critiques this early in the series. However. I feel all this theorizing somewhat begs the question. If it's about discipline and transformation, why the focus on lifting (which is fundamentally about consumption) and not on ascetic self-denial, like the sadhus of India? The BAP quote is indeed telling, because it reveals the unspoken assumption at the heart of this culture. It's not about improving yourself, but about making yourself more attractive—more fuckable, to be vulgar and honest. Mishima is the perfect example. His bodybuilding resulted not from his philosophy of life expressed in Sun and Steel; that was a post hoc rationalization which failed to disguise much of anything. He was a gay man who admired athletic bodies and loathed his own body for being skinny and weak. In order to achieve the death (apocalyptic orgasm) he desired, he had to reshape his body into a form that could match his fantasies. None of these gymcels are going to commit hara-kiri at West Point, though, because they're just microdosing the insanity which Mishima overdosed on.
Is lifting fundamentally about consumption and fuckability? Or is it about self-denial and opting out of the sexual marketplace (so-called monk mode)? I think both poles are present. Perhaps one is in bad faith—a post hoc rationalization, to use your term—but it remains a fantasy, which is interesting to me. I do try to explore this in the third part, but it’s a fair point to raise. Cheers.
It would be unfair to present critiques this early in the series. However. I feel all this theorizing somewhat begs the question. If it's about discipline and transformation, why the focus on lifting (which is fundamentally about consumption) and not on ascetic self-denial, like the sadhus of India? The BAP quote is indeed telling, because it reveals the unspoken assumption at the heart of this culture. It's not about improving yourself, but about making yourself more attractive—more fuckable, to be vulgar and honest. Mishima is the perfect example. His bodybuilding resulted not from his philosophy of life expressed in Sun and Steel; that was a post hoc rationalization which failed to disguise much of anything. He was a gay man who admired athletic bodies and loathed his own body for being skinny and weak. In order to achieve the death (apocalyptic orgasm) he desired, he had to reshape his body into a form that could match his fantasies. None of these gymcels are going to commit hara-kiri at West Point, though, because they're just microdosing the insanity which Mishima overdosed on.
What no one will tell you is all his best work was written pre-1960.
Is lifting fundamentally about consumption and fuckability? Or is it about self-denial and opting out of the sexual marketplace (so-called monk mode)? I think both poles are present. Perhaps one is in bad faith—a post hoc rationalization, to use your term—but it remains a fantasy, which is interesting to me. I do try to explore this in the third part, but it’s a fair point to raise. Cheers.