Key 23 is no more—a black hole in the Internet—but back in 2004 I started a group blog with a number of Internet denizens to explore occult themes, the surviving counterculture, and the swiftly dominating cyberculture. Below is an article from that experiment—posted and backdated here for historical accuracy. Broken links removed.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel is perhaps best known for his theory of contradiction and reconciliation. He believed that an idea traverses from an initial conviction to its opposite, and then to a newer, higher concept that involves both, but also transcends them. Since Hegel also identified reality with thought, he additionally believed that the same triadic tranformation can be found in nature, history, and culture. In universities, this is taught as thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.

The conundrum of the recently initiated ultraculture is that it is attempting to supercede both the culture and the counterculture without becoming a shallow reflection of both. Hegel's triadic formula places the ultraculture as the synthesis resulting from the opposition of the culture and the counterculture.

The problem is that most counterculture activists are such for a reason; and the counterculture doesn't see itself as needing any infusion of additional right-wing cultural propensity. The ultraculture's attempt to be hip will be seen by countercultural - and some occult - gurus as a facade of I'm-a-hipster-against-the-mainstream-look-at-me-I'm-so-cool attitude, which is a reflection of modern America's ability to turn any liberal agenda into a capitalistic marketing campaign, and ultimately reduce it to a shadow of its intended idea.Does synthesis truly ever occur, though? Does the "higher concept" ever shine through, or do Hegelian triads ultimately turn into paper doll facsimiles of either of the two original components?

Rushkoff tells us that in the battle between culture and counterculture, we've won. Executives are looking towards the counterculture for the next big thing. The line between either/or is slowly dissolving. Walk into a Hot Topic store to see the trendy presentation of what used to be the obscure.

My question is: what does this truly mean for us? If the best we can aspire to is an amalgamation of mainstream culture and counterculture, aren't we really just diluting both? Is it really beneficial to absorb both, or does this lead to a pale reflection.

Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard was known to take stabs at Georg Hegel. He didn't subscribe to the theory of synthesis. Kierkegaard, instead, heralded the duality of an either/or philosophy stemming from a desire to propel humanity into unique directions rather than rehashing old ways.Kierkegaard believed that we live in a condition of ambiguity in which we can not be either animal or angel. This dread, or anxiety, resulting from this ambiguity, according to Kierkegaard, can then be a springboard for growth into new dimensions.

It is my opinion that any occult or cultural movement needs to look at things from this perspective. Though it isn't fair to leave things in an either/or ultimatum, viewing things from this perspectives allows the revolutionary to come from the ground up - with guns blazing - in order to reshape a "new" foundation for cultural life and beliefs.

Rushkoff may be right. We might have indeed won. But that doesn't mean that as a subversive culture, we lay down our arms and fall in line with those trying to make marketable campaigns, and that sell nothing but shallow fads and fluff.

Any ultraculture must remain outside of the realm of Hegelian philosophy in order to propel itself into new dimensions. Its more than a matter of plucking a few fruits from each orchard for the picnic basket. Each fruit must be scrutinized and the basket should be built from the right wood.