Probably, the word Communism conjures in me some associations with the hive mind, hive behavior, and hive values. Namely, that the individual is less important than the hive. And the hive turns into an object of worship, like a swarming God. Maybe, this is how the bees think. All that makes sense only if I can believe that hive values and perceptions are deeper than my individual values and perceptions. But how can it be, if the hive consists of the same individuals as I am? And people are imperfect and fallible. Or is that the case when the combination of parts become more sophisticated and perfect than separate parts? Or the society is more like a flow of water, and while the movements of separate parts can be more or less unpredictable and chaotic, based on a multitude of different driving forces and pulls, the motion of the whole flow is clearly defined by the configuration of pipes and channels.
Or, in other words, where is that border, reaching which my own identity ends and blends with identities and perceptions of other people, becoming influenced by them to the degree when it's impossible to distinguish anymore where one consciousness ends, and another begins. When I read or hear somebody whose points and logic are precise, consistent, and beautiful, I fall into that trance when their flow of thoughts become my flow of thoughts, and later I have difficulties in separating those adopted thoughts from the thoughts that are intrinsically mine. Or, like, maybe my mind is fully comprised of thoughts and ideas I borrowed from somebody at some point. In this case, do I even have a unique identity, separate from their identities. Ok, and if I don't, what would be the point to perceive myself as something separate from the hive-mind, hive-conscience, hive-perceptions, and hive-goals.
Maybe, this can be the principle of Communism taken to the extremes, and it still makes a lot of sense. Namely, to dismiss the importance of individual mind, individual perception, and individual free will. We are all parts of a single organism like neurons in the brain. Our knowledge and perceptions are part of knowledge and perceptions of the giant brain. Our goals and philosophy come from there as well, we are not formed from unique substance, unique fabric of ideas, although, we can produce unique ideas, that immediately become a part of hive-consciousness. The more we try to see ourselves as separate entities, the more we fall into the trap of following the banalest and most commonplace concepts and ideas. Counterintuitively, embracing the principle of hive-mind and admitting our insignificance within it, we can reclaim our individuality. The individuality of a sparkling neuron within more complex and perfect construction of the brain. The significance of a grain of sand, participating in a mesmerizing beauty of a dune, consisting of myriads and myriads of such particles.
The idea of Communism is to comprise those separate, chaotic, and unpredictable water drops into a single powerful stream, magnificent gigantic dune, sophisticated brain, which neurons work in a concerted effort to produce insights. At the same time, it offers the answer to an existential headache of the individual, trying to understand his or her direction and meaning. To some degree, it offers solace, and something to cope with pain and mortality. The thing is, we don't matter as separate beings at all, but at the same time all together we comprise a single organism, which is immortal and which has that deep meaning and purpose. As long as it exists, our thoughts are not going to disappear in the oblivion, and neither do we. Well, it makes sense if we believe in a grand intrinsic meaningfulness of human civilization, but this is how it works. Faith doesn't need any strong logic behind it, it just exists. And when you deal with the things, where it's hard to find any facts or logic, just to believe probably makes sense. I don't know, I probably believe in this higher purpose of human civilization because of science, art, things like that. And because throughout thousands of years those things never got completely lost, buried under the sand of time. While Empires and peoples rose and disappeared, knowledge was something that always stayed.
Maybe, Christianity tells something similar, but ironically, the way I understand it, it tells that we are kinda important as individuals. Like, I mean, if somebody tells me that I'm going to live forever in heaven, I would assume that I'm somewhat that important. But will ants and bees have this eternal blissful existence in heaven, and if not, how would they answer those existential questions about the purpose of their lives and stuff. Like, if I'm a bee, and I see a God before me, and I ask, like, is there any way for me to have that infinite, blissful life in heaven, and he would say something like, No, it's not going to happen. Then I would ask like, what's my purpose then. Everything got to have a purpose. And on the other hand, what should define my morals and actions and stuff. So, yes, religions are anthropocentric, even ego-centric, they say we as grains of sand on a dune nevertheless are so important that we deserve eternal life in heaven and stuff. Which is kinda strange and counterintuitive from a point of view of the grain of sand.
Another idea that makes sense is to live here and now, enjoy the current moment and not think about things on the grander scale. Because that grander scale might or might not exist. It came from Greek philosophy of Hedonism, we can call it consumerism or whatever, but the point is, this concept, as well as religion, also unite us, individual drops of water, making us move like a water stream in a certain direction. Neither of those ideas has a clear goal, only direction. I can look at the sunshine and worship the Sun. It also makes perfect sense. Because it's beautiful.